When to Seek Help for Back Discomfort

Are you pushing through your back discomfort thinking everything will be fine? It may not be ok. I'll go over 3 situations when you should seek help.

3 Tips to Avoid Putting on Weight This Christmas

If you are sick of your pants being tighter in January or feeling sluggish from too much food, this video is for you.

Try This Simple Exercise for a Cranky Mid Back

I get it, that annoying discomfort between your shoulder blades can be a real drag whilst you're at work. This video is a must watch if this sounds familiar as I'll be showing you a great exercise to do to ease your cranky mid back.

The Missing Piece to Fixing Shoulder Pain

Shoulder pain can be a real drag as it can make it hard to put clothing on or even get a good night's sleep.

Here is why you should watch this video: I am going to show a quick and effective exercise that targets an often forgotten area when it comes to recovering from shoulder pain.

What You're Missing When Foam Rolling Your Shoulder

Shoulder pain can range from a niggle through to debilitating pain and reduced movement. Foam rolling your shoulder can be great to help with shoulder pain BUT that is only half of the puzzle.

In this video I'm going to show you:

1) What other areas you need to massage

 2) What you should be using instead of a foam roller 

If you have any questions about this please leave your comments below as we would love to answer them.

If you have shoulder pain and would like help with it please phone us on 8096 6781 or book online.

Yours in health,

Fiona and Loai

P.S. It's not a shoulder problem, it's a posture problem.

P.P.S. I have included this video on our YouTube channel, where you can see our other videos.

Help With Running Pain & Arthritic Knees

With the chillier weather, along with the rugby and soccer seasons starting up again, those arthritic joints start playing up too. Research has shown that running or walking backwards can help. It reduces the amount of pressure your knee cap places on your knee joint, therefore decreasing arthritic pain. The reduced load on the lower body from running/walking backwards is great for those who have arthritis and especially for adolescents due to their hormonal changes and increased growth.

It takes less backwards compared to forwards running to create changes in the muscle tissue, so it is more efficient. It also creates less muscle damage and inflammation.

If you would like to know how to incorporate it into your training schedule, please refer to point 4 in the graphic.

Just make sure to watch out for trees and other people! 

If you would suffer from pain whilst running or arthritis, we can help. To make a booking, please contact us or book in online.

Turmeric and Vascular Health

You may have heard that turmeric is great for helping to reduce musculoskeletal pain due to its anti-inflammatory properties. These also aid your vascular system by helping to prevent and reduce arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries, which can cause a heart attack). It does this by reducing oxidative stress by improving the balance between free radicals and the ability to rid oneself of them. Heart disease can progress silently, so watching your diet and exercising at any age helps to reduce the likelihood of its onset.

If you have any questions regarding this or would like help with your back pain, please contact us so one of our chiropractors can help you to start feeling better today. To do so, please contact us or book online.

Golf and Back Pain

Playing golf can cause injury primarily to the back, shoulder, elbow, hand, and wrist. Golfers are especially prone to low back pain because it uses muscles that aren't usually worked in everyday activities of life, as well as from the impact of hitting the ball and incorrect form. This alters ones joint alignment and posture which in turn alters performance.

Factors affecting injuries experienced during golf include weakened muscles (causes incorrect spinal joint movement and muscular contraction), reduced flexibility, excessive exercise, insufficient warm-up and an incorrect swing form.  

Due to the asymmetrical nature of golf, the uneven development of muscles can cause spinal and pelvic imbalances making it harder to maintain normal spinal curves, reduced movement range, weakened abdominal muscles and back pain. This research showed that chiropractic care in conjunction with a tailored stretching and flexibility program had a positive result on low back pain in golfers. This is something we can help you out with.

If you experience back pain either during or after golf, please see one of our North Ryde chiropractors. To do so please either email us or book online, to start feeling better today.

Alcohol and Sleep

Ever felt sleepy after consuming alcohol? Alcohol doesn't help you to sleep, it actually sedates you. Similar to a light anaesthesia. It breaks up your sleep because it causes you to wake up many times for a short period, you just don't remember it.

It also suppresses REM sleep. This is when we dream and if we suffer from lack of REM sleep it impairs our ability to learn complex tasks. (1) Even moderate consumption of alcohol in the afternoon and evening can impair this.

Consuming alcohol before bed can affect your ability to form new memories, not only for any that day but for several days prior as well. This is from research where test subjects were given 2-3 shots of vodka (This is the equivalent to 2-3 standard glasses of wine or beer)
after learning new information. Those that drank alcohol retained the least amount of information when retested 7 days later, followed by those who drank 2-3 days after learning the new material and those who didn't drink at all remembered all of the new information. (2)

Any amount of alcohol appears to affect one's sleep quality. Sounds like a couple of alcohol free days per week is good advice.

If you have any questions regarding this or would like help with your back pain. Please contact us as our chiropractors would love to help you out.

(1) https://www.howsleepworks.com/types_rem.html

(2) 'Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams', Matthew Walker

Thrills, Spills, Pills 2

Welcome to ‘Thrills, Spills and Pills 2’.  It is an article containing three tips which reflect the three different types of stressors we typically experience in our lives.

Thrills: Mental and Emotional Stress – relationships, work, finances etc
Spills: Physical Stress – Sitting, sports injuries, training, car accidents etc
Pills: Chemical Stress – Diet, alcohol, cigarettes, pollution, supplements, medication etc

Thrill Tip: The 10 Min Practice: this is an exercise to help purge yourself of a negative self-image. If you are constantly beating yourself up, this exercise is great to reset your thinking. Here’s how it works: every morning, before you do anything else, write down every negative thought about yourself that you have. Try to aim for at least 20 things. Really be brutal with yourself. Then turn around each statement and write down the list again, this time writing the opposite of each thought.  This is another one that only seems to work if you hand write it out.

Spill Tip: Ever wanted to increase your low back mobility? Probably the best exercise for this is the full squat. Here’s how to do it: stand with your feet roughly shoulder width apart and with straight arms held out in front (this helps with balance but is not essential). Slowly squat down into a full squat position. Your buttocks should almost be touching the floor and your heels should be flat on the floor. Let your tailbone sink down and under. If you’re having difficulty balancing, use a pole, table, doorframe etc to hang onto and lean back until your heels are flat. Aim for 10 minutes cumulatively per day.

Pill Tip: Ever tried to start the day with a smoothie but found it unfulfilling? Were you hungry only an hour later? Try the following to supercharge your smoothies: ensure that you add plenty of fat and protein. Do this by adding two raw eggs and a whole scoopful of high quality protein powder. You may also wish to add a tablespoon of coconut oil or a some full-fat, pot-set, organic, biodynamic yoghurt. The extra fat and protein from these additions will bring your smoothie to a much more satisfying level.