Not so surprisingly many patients and clients will come to me and ask the same questions over and over. I love educating people on health, chiropractic, and fitness and I truly believe that education and understanding is a powerful tool for health and well-being.
I began to realize that I could make a list of the same 5-10 questions I receive almost daily.
If I become really good at answering these few questions I might be the richest man in the industry. I also thought if created this post people might read it and never have to ask again! Right!? Well, probably not but I attempted to answer them anyway. The goal was to create incredibly simple answers to these questions to cut through the vast amount of confusing information out there. It’s human nature to have a lot more questions than answers so I imagine that this blog will be the first of many of this nature. Here are the top 5 questions I hear all the time and my best attempt to answer the questions without the use of the classic and oh so frustrating “it depends!” Here it goes……
1. What is the best type exercise I can do?
Keeping with the theme of short and simple; the answer is the one you’ll do! I know…. not that exciting. There are debates left and right about which exercises is the best. It is true that some may be better than others. I have seen people have amazing success with running, yoga, Pilates, weight training, Zumba, and even pole dancing!! The list goes on and on.
I promise that all of those will work. Which one is the best? The one you stick to!
2. What it the best type of program I can do?
Now this question is a little different than the first. When someone has a performance goal in mind then failing to stick with a plan suited to those goals won’t necessarily get them there. The answer for 99% of athletes without fail is the best plan is a progressive resistance training program (weight training) 2-3 times a week with some aerobic conditioning 2-3 times a week (cardio) that focuses on individual weaknesses.
Don’t overthink it. That is the best type of program hands down for nearly everyone. Heck you can even incorporate all of the exercises in question 1 in this program if that means you will stick to it.
3. Who can cure me of my musculoskeletal pain?
The easy answer to this amazingly complicated question? It’s YOU. The ability to live pain free ultimately is in the hands of the patient. Of course you may need some guidance and education along the way but the answer will always be you. A chiropractor, physiotherapist, personal trainer, naturopath, and medical doctor can give you amazing advice. However, they only see you for a very small fraction of your life. Find a good support system of these types of people get educated and practice what they preach to you the other 98% of your life.
4. What is the difference between a chiropractor and physiotherapist?
A chiropractor does 4 additional years of schooling to become a doctor of chiropractic and a specialist in back pain and musculoskeletal conditions. A physiotherapist does 2 additional years learning about the whole body, and then decides where to focus after they graduate which can include sports injuries, stroke rehab, post knee surgery, pelvic floor rehab, etc. Depending on what an individual chiropractor or physiotherapist decides to do after they graduate, they may practice in a very similar or different way.
5. How can I lose weight and be healthy?
This surprisingly is the easiest answer to come up with. However, I do not discredit the difficulty of its accomplishment. The easy answer comes down to 4 things; have strong relationships, get your sleep, eat healthy 80% of the time, and move and sweat daily. Simple eh? Now reread that. Maybe even post it on your wall. Now, there have been thousands of books written on all of these topics however, if you always remind yourself of this simple answer it will always keep you on track.
There you have it. My personal answers to some very difficult questions that I receive every single day. I know it doesn’t seem ground breaking however, the simplicity of these answers make this true. The more I stick to these principles I remind myself to not get caught up in the flavour of the week answers.
If you have more questions for me send them my way and we can do a Part II sometime.