Meet the Giants Chiropractor

Meet the Giants Chiropractor

By Pat Battle
NBCNewYork.com
updated 1/26/2012 11:47:52 AM ET

The road to the Super Bowl is fraught with neck spasms, aching legs and sore hamstrings. But when the Giants head west to Indianapolis, Dr. Rob DeStefano will be there to smooth out those pulled muscles and stiff necks.

A member of the team’s elite medical staff for more than a decade, the Hackensack-based chiropractor is making his second trip to the Super Bowl with Big Blue. He was there when the 2007-2008 team brought home the world title, and says this team is cut from the same fabric.
“This group rivals them,” he told NBC New York. “They’re all friends, they have dinner together, there’s a lot of interaction off the field, which I think is why they mesh so well. And the coach brings it all together. He’s very humble.”
DeStefano started treating individual players more than 20 years ago, but in 2002, when former Giants Amani Toomer and Tiki Barber became regular patients, he was introduced to the team’s head trainer, Ronnie Barnes.
Soon after, he was invited to work with the entire team.

“I’m just a piece of the puzzle,” he says. “The medical staff at the Giants is the best in the world, top-notch. We work together as a team on the medical side. All our egos are put aside. It's about getting the player back on the field, however we can do that.”
Often, the doctors have less than two minutes to assess an injury, treat it and get the player back in the game.
“There’s a peril and a potential injury for each player," says DeStefano. "If you’re a defensive back, it’s upper body because you’re hitting hard with your shoulders and neck. If you’re a lineman, a lot of it can be lower extremities because you’re pushing and the legs are prone to injury and hamstring issues.

"I have a very specific requirement that I fulfill," he says. "They come get me if someone has a neck or hamstring or lower back or shoulder injury.”

They don’t have to go far to find him. He paces the sidelines between two posts so that the athletes can always spot him.
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Sometimes he can treat them on the bench, but he also has a table on the sidelines at all times. The pregame is actually his busiest time – loosening up the players, getting them ready and making sure their muscles are functioning as they should be.
”The challenge is because they’re such elite athletes, we have to make sure they’re working efficiently," says DeStefano. "And a lot of the treatments are not necessarily for major injuries. It’s more fine-tuning a machine to make sure it works well.”
DeStefano credits his revolutionary approach to muscle repair to keeping Big Blue fit for the field.
The premise of the treatment, detailed in his New York Times-bestselling book “Muscle Medicine,” is focusing on “what’s wrong with the muscle pulling on the bone, and when we can restore the muscle back to full health, then the bone moves properly and the joints work effectively.”

He calls it the “pin and stretch” technique: “if you shorten the muscle, pin the muscle, then lengthen the muscle, you can stretch the muscle,” he says.

DeStefano played football himself and competes in decathlons as well. He’s worked with athletes most of his career, including Olympic bobsled and women’s hockey teams. But he downplays the thrill of adding a second Super Bowl ring to his trophy room.

“It’s amazing to be back and I’m excited to see what this one will bring, but if you allow yourself to get caught up in the hype, you can miss your purpose and what you’re trying to accomplish," he says. "I’m just doing my part for the team, to go out there and win the game. I think they’re feeling pretty confident about that, but I don’t want to jinx it and talk about it beforehand. I’ll just say we’ll go out and do our best.”

Dr. Brooks

Chiropractor Fairfax VA, 22031

Coffee helps prevent diabetes, now scientists learn why

By Marni Jameson, Orlando Sentinel
January 16, 2012, 1:25 p.m.
Scientists have long known that coffee drinkers have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, but researchers out of China may have figured out why.

Researchers Ling Zheng, of Wuhan University, and Kun Huang, of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, have found that compounds in coffee inhibit hIAPP (human islet amyloid polypeptide), a substance linked to diabetes. Their study appeared in a recent issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Prior global epidemiological studies have shown that those who drink four or more cups of coffee a day have a 50 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, the most prevalent type of diabetes accounting for 95 percent of all cases. Every additional cup reduces the risk by an additional 7 percent.

Scientists looking for ways to prevent diabetes have been investigating ways to block hIAPP, which is present in high levels in the pancreases of those with the disease. Zheng and Huang decided to study whether coffee was doing that.

They analyzed the effects of the major active compounds in coffee, including caffeic acid and caffeine, on hIAPP, and found it inhibited hIAPP significantly. "These findings suggest that the beneficial effects of coffee consumption on type 2 diabetes may be partly due to the ability of major coffee components to inhibit the toxic aggression of hIAPP," the authors concluded.

"A beneficial effect may thus be expected in regular coffee drinkers," they said.

Dr. Joshua Brooks

Chiropractor Fairfax, VA 22031

Is Yoga Dangerous? | Yahoo! Health

Is Yoga Dangerous? | Yahoo! Health

Hot controversy is raging in cyberspace about a New York Times article called “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” with medical practitioners and yoga devotees taking vehement stands for and against this popular workout. The article is being flamed on Facebook, and normally zen-like yogis are up in arms.

The Daily Beast quoted one yoga teacher describing the article as fear-mongering, while a yoga publication contended that The New York Times is trying to “wreck yoga” with an article that “cherry picks a few extreme events.”

The number of Americans who twist themselves into pretzel-like postures in search of mental and physical benefits has soared from 4 million in 2001 to 20 million in 2011. But is the exploding popularity of this ancient workout causing an epidemic of injuries and even disabilities? Or is William Broad’s article slim on science, as critics charge? Here’s a look at the debate.

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Is Yoga Harmful?

The article quotes a yoga teacher, Glenn Black, who advises “the vast majority of people” to give up yoga because it’s simply too likely to cause harm. Yet Black, whose clients include celebrities and prominent gurus, continues to train students in this supposedly dangerous activity, while warning that even celebrated yoga teachers “injure themselves in droves.” He cites two cases in which an Indian yogi broke three ribs during a spinal twist and a leading American teacher lost movement in her hip joints.

Black is also quoted as saying that clients often seek him out after being hurt in other yoga classes, due poorly trained teachers who have jumped on the yoga bandwagon and who push students beyond their physical limits, with increasingly difficult poses, such as shoulder and head stands.

Yet Black also acknowledges that he has no formal training himself in determining which poses are helpful or harmful for students.

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Is there any scientific proof that yoga causes damage?

The article claims that many commonly taught yoga positions are “inherently risky.” As evidence, Broad cites a 1972 “article” in British Medical Journal reporting that certain yoga poses might cause stroke in relatively young people due to hyperextension of the neck, as can also occur during whiplash. However, the “article” is actually a letter to the editor and not scientific proof.

Broad also describes several bizarre case reports from medical literature, including a 28-year-old woman who had an apparent stroke after doing a yoga pose called the "upward bow," leaving her with harrowing disabilities. That calamity occurred in 1973. Broad also reports that ER visits due to yoga injuries are “rising quickly,” with the Consumer Product Safety Commission reporting 13 such visits in 2000 and 46 in 2002 (the most recent year listed). That’s actually lower than the number of Americans struck by lightning each year (about 270).

Chiropractor Fairfax, VA 22031