Playing it forward

After a long week end helping a friend establish her garden, it suddenly dawned on me that I had paid a cosmic debt and played it forward. You see a few years ago I was in that same position. I had just built a new home. Moving on with my life with my girls was important and instead of renting long term I decided to put down some roots and establish a home.

The juggle was enormous, but so uplifting and rewarding. We finally were able to move in Yahoo!!! The house was ready, the walls needed to be painted but we were good to go.

However the garden was a sand pit. The thought of getting it looking presentable was daunting. But true to form some dear friends of mine came to the rescue. Armed with plants from their garden, by the looks of things their whole garden shed and food, they descended onto my garden.

The effect was nothing short of a miracle. We dug through the sand removing as much of the grass runners as we could, a trailer was soon filled. Plants were planted and organised. Eat your heart out backyard blitz.

They even came back and did it all again when my darling other half decide to surprise me and while I was away constructed my patio.

So now as stood in my friend’s garden, my hands tight and sore, the pain soon turned and eased. I had unknowingly played it forward. The garden complete with veggie patch looked wonderful. Her dogs looked a little put out, their backyard had changed overnight but they’ll get used to it. I can honestly say the feeling of accomplishment was replaced with a deep sense of gratitude that I had for my chance of making a difference.

Going home to our house later the next day and walking out to our veggie patch to gather Asian vegies for a stir fry, I know our friend will be doing the same in a few short months. And something tells me, she will be playing it forward too.

Illness or a healthy body?

If a child runs a temperature are they sick? Or is their body doing what is should be doing?

If you throw up, are you ill or is your body doing what it should be doing to get rid of the issue.

Illness is often described as being in a state of poor health. So if a child runs a temperature generally, does that make them ill or can we see it from the point of view that the body in its infinite wisdom will raise its core body temperature to make it inhospitable for that pathogen, therefore changing the state of balance. If the pathogen cannot survive in this new environment it dies, the body takes care of things. Is that ill health?

Maybe we need to reassess how we look at the bodies actions. Let’s take the case of you having eaten a meal that didn’t make you feel all that well. A good case of food poisoning. What does your body do – it makes you throw up to get rid of the offending meal. Is that considered an illness? To right the balance – homeostasis,

Human homeostasis refers to the body's ability to physiologically regulate its inner environment to ensure its stability in response to fluctuations in the outside environment and the weather. An inability to maintain homeostasis may lead to death or a disease, a condition known as homeostatic imbalance

The body has several techniques up its sleeve to correct the state of play internally. Raising the core temp, throwing up and what even about sneezing, all natural for the body to do.

Maybe helping the body along the way would be good instead of stopping its natural mechanism of sorting things out. Of course there will be times when intervention is necessary. But I’m saying work with the body when you can; make it stronger by helping it, not making it reliant on the outside.

Soothing a child with an elevated temperature, keep an eye on things. Rehydrate the body after it has purged the meal from its system, give the body what it needs to make it stronger in the way of nutrients first before you jump in and take over from its natural ability.

Consider the ABCs.

Adjust your attitude to health and well being.

Modify your behaviour so that you work with the body by being proactive not solely reactive.

Try Chiropractic; allow the body to experience its full health potential.

Fibromyalgia Update

Following on from two recent studies dealing with how best to help a patient with FM, it has been suggested that along with behaviour therapies a gentle form of exercise is also recommended. This could be tailored to suit the individual. All the studies so far show positive results for FM patients.

The key points raised were.

 With the help of behaviour therapy patients can get help with their fear of pain and help set realistic goals to increase their level of daily activity. Gentle exercise done frequently helped in the management of stress and anxiety levels

 With patients that tended to overdo it, an exercise plan was set out to work at a much more reasonable level .Thus not falling into the pitfalls of doing too much and then not being able to do much at all. Working on a program that focused on frequently doing some form of exercise, but choosing from a low impact range of activities was more beneficial.

 Not only were the patients better able to cope, but it was reported that they shown signs of improvement in areas of depression and anxiety up to 6 months after the trials were completed.

 Tai chi was used with a group of patients as the form of exercise and the results proved that they had experienced a decrease in pain and an increase in the ability to do daily tasks without pain and with less fatigue.

Water walking is an excellent choice of exercise also. Low impact and helps to strengthen the core muscles.Unlike walking on an even soft surface like grass, walking in water allows the joints in the lower half of your body to be used, but not stressed. Allowing you to use the whole body in its correct form and posture allows the body to regain some of its tone and flexibility

Management was the aim behind all of these studies.

Sleep Apnea

I come from a long line of Sleep Apnea sufferers. This isn’t a getting to sleep type of problem but more of a disorder of the breathing mechanism- either the breath is paused or there is a reduction in airflow. And an apnea is referred to as the period of time that the breath stops or is reduced.

My dealings with it occurred whilst I was pregnant with my second daughter. Then soon after her birth my symptoms disappeared. The rest of my family are not so lucky. Mine was more of the obstructive type – where the brain sends the signal to the muscles involved with breathing and then the muscles respond as best they can but they are unsuccessful because of some type of obstruction. Therefore the airflow is not adequate for the bodies needs and waking occurs. The obstruction was caused by my increased weight gain during pregnancy and the awkwardness that some pregnant mother experience whist sleeping. Being a stomach sleeper just makes being pregnant and sleeping very challenging.

For the rest of the family, they deal with Central Sleep Apnea or a combination of both. Central sleep apnea occurs when the brain does not initially send the signal to sleep; therefore the muscles don’t get any signal at all.

Diagnosis after years of struggling was a much welcomed relief. They all attended a sleep lab to correctly diagnose which type that they were dealing with and then what level of intervention was required. It was a long road of changing habits of a life time, but when a good night’s sleep and feeling rested resulted from their hard work and effort there was no going back. The use of a mask to deliver oxygen was used initially to reset the central sleep apnea and other devises to help with the obstructive portion were then used.

The long term effects of sleep apnea are debilitating. High blood pressure, history of stroke, congestive heart failure, insomnia, mood and mental disorders can all be worsened by any of the forms of sleep apnea.

I can’t recommend enough after seeing patient after patient struggle with sleep, and watching loved ones go through the pain of caused by sleep apnea, to go and investigate the possibility of sleep apnea as a cause of their troubled sleep. After looking after their spinal health through Chiropractic and making recommendations of changing their sleep posture and bed, sometimes other measures are required

A quarter of all our mothers either during or after their pregnancies experience an episode of depression

Beyond Blue Australia quotes that “Around 10 per cent of pregnant women in Australia experience antenatal depression” That is depression during pregnancy. Combined with the 16 percent that experience post natal depression – over a quarter of all our mothers either during or after their pregnancies experience an episode of depression. Those figures are staggering.

Like most life changing moments in our lives becoming a mother for the first or third time can and does make a great impact. Experiencing postnatal depression myself after the birth of my first child caused me to re-evaluate how I saw depression overall. Trying to keep it to myself only made it harder for me to function. Juggling life and keeping all the balls in the air (so to speak) made for a life that wasn’t stable. The balls did fall and the aftermath was that the world didn’t crumble as I thought it would, it actually opened avenues of help.

Now in practice I’m seeing the increase in antenatal depression. Harder to detect I suppose due to the fact that we often just dismiss a mother that is struggling with her pregnancy as she is just learning to cope. But we see her sometimes not developing a bond with her unborn child, a detachment to the pregnancy as if it were happening to someone else. She might also experience some of these symptoms;

• Inability to concentrate and difficulty remembering

• Difficulty making decisions

• Anxiety about the pregnancy or becoming parents

• Feeling emotionally numb

• Extreme irritability

• Sleep problems not related to the pregnancy

• Extreme or unending fatigue

• A desire to eat all the time or not wanting to eat at all

• Weight loss or weight gain not related to pregnancy

• Loss of interest in sex

• A sense that nothing feels enjoyable or fun anymore, including the pregnancy

• Feeling like a failure, feelings of guilt

• Persistent sadness

• Thoughts of death or suicide

Giving a mother the support she needs to venture out and discuss her feelings is one of the greatest gifts that we can offer her. Encourage her gently to open up about these issues or letting her know that should she need it your door is always open. Hopefully the mothers that we see in practice here at Hillarys Chiropractic know that the practice stands behind them during and after their pregnancies. Looking after their spinal health is an important link in the mothers and child’s overall health and well being.

For more information please see

Beyond Blue

Panda

Understanding Fibromyalgia.

The National Institute of Health describes Fibromyalgia as

“Fibromyalgia makes you feel tired and causes muscle pain and "tender points." Tender points are places on the neck, shoulders, back, hips, arms or legs that hurt when touched. People with fibromyalgia may have other symptoms, such as trouble sleeping, morning stiffness, headaches, and problems with thinking and memory, sometimes called "fibro fog."

No one knows what causes fibromyalgia. Anyone can get it, but it is most common in middle-aged women. People with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases are particularly likely to develop fibromyalgia.”

This is a debilitating problem for anyone.

New studies have now shown that a patient’s brain activity can help to unlock the mystery why sufferers seem to experience more pain than other. Vitaly Napadow PhD found that the brain of the FM sufferer was more likely to have an increase in the connection between areas of the brain that sensed and processed pain. Therefore the FM patient had a higher response to pain than an average person would.

That is a great relief to the FM patient, because for so long they have been labeled unfairly. The pain they feel is real, they are just more likely to feel a greater range of pain as opposed to someone who had less connections.

In the text -Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain: A Survival Manual (2nd Edition) it is discussed that FM should renamed Central Nervous System Sensitization due to the fact that is primarily a CNS issue and not a muscular issue. The muscle fibres are originally healthy and only after a prolonged period of time would the exhibit changes due to long term stress created by the pain experienced.

The typical areas of trigger points that FM patients experience are

Managing the high level of pain messages that the brain receives and dealing with the trigger points makes a dual directional approach to the FM patients care plan. Chiropractic care can play an important part of this plan. Our focus on the whole body and the neurological integrity of the central nervous system allows us to help in the overall functioning of the patients’ body.

Homework

As a student I loathed it.

As a teacher I gave it out in bucket loads.

Now as a parent I’m the supervisor of making sure it all gets done.

But as a Chiropractor I’m very interested in how it gets done and where.

I’ve seen homework done on the floor in front of the TV. On their lap (again in front of the TV), sitting on their bed, on the school bus and even on the way to school in the car. None of which are any good as far as posture is concerned.

Any chance of concentrating at the task at hand is severely diminished if the body has to do two things at once. Concentrating on the homework is best achieved if you’re sitting at your desk or a similar table – like the kitchen table. Much like the recommendations for office ergonomics, the students work environment should have the basics.

The desk or table for them to study at that has enough space for the student to write on and have a few books open. Writing space must be directly in front of the student. If the space is also shared with a computer, then the keyboard should be able to be moved from its central position to be then out of the way. Thus making sure the student has enough space directly in front of them when writing.

A students chair should have the ability to change the overall height of the chair, the base to be tilted and the back rest to be moved up or down. This allows the students posture to be maintained per the individuals needs. One size does NOT fit all. When seated the students should sit into the back of the chair. There should be a gap between the base of the chair and their calf. The base should allow for the hip and knee to be level or even the knee lower than the hip (this promotes a more upright posture). The back of the chair should extend up to the shoulder blades.

Some students may also require a foot rest. Especially for upper school students who spend long hours at their desk, the use of the foot rest helps to remove the stress/ fatigue from their legs and enables them to keep their correct posture for longer.

If a computer is used (more often than not these days they are.) I do recommend the use of a desk top variety. That way the correct seated posture can be easily maintained. If a laptop is used at home, using a separate keyboard and mouse makes the students work environment ergonomically sound. Then they are able to raise the laptop screen to a higher level and use the attached keyboard lower down.

A document holder placed on either side of the screen at the same level of the screen is a great idea. That way notes can be transcribed easily looking either left or right of the screen instead of looking down at the desk.

And last but not least, making sure that they take regular breaks. This helps the brain and the body from becoming fatigued.

Looking after your lower back

You’ve been sitting down all morning trying to get to the bottom of your work pile when you notice that you haven’t moved in hours from your desk. You think it’s high time you got out of that chair and stretched. Your Chiropractor has told you often enough..

Do you know why?
After only 15 minutes of sitting down your lower back experiences compressive forces that reduce your natural spinal curve and the height of the vertebrae themselves and the discs,– even when you’re doing it well!! 15 minutes isn’t long in anyone’s books. How are you going to reduce the stress in your lower spine – spinal de-compressive exercises.





Seated Exercise
Sit forward in your chair as shown in the picture below. Rest your hands behind you on the chair. Keep your arms slightly bent. Start by lifting your chest in an upward direction, followed by your lower back. Keep your bottom still on the chair. This should feel like something is pulling you towards the ceiling. Next focus on stretching and straighten out your elbows. Keep this stretch for a count of ten and relax. Repeat two or three times.

This coordinated stretch reduces those forces felt in your lower back after sitting down. When done frequently throughout the day, it releases the tension and helps the mind stay on track.


If you’re able to get down on the floor and do a double leg lift, or even bring one knee towards your chest (knees and toes pointing to the ceiling) at a time. Alternate and feel your lower back relax.

How much force is your lower back experiencing?

Lets say you’re an average 70kg person.Your standing at ease. The third lumbar vertebra in your lumbar/lower spine experiences roughly 51 kg of force. That equates to about 73% of the bodys weight felt at the joint.

Here are some more statistics

Sitting without a lumbar support equals 71 kg of force on the L3 vertebrae – Yes more than the actual weight of the individual.

Sitting with a lumbar support 41 kg – time to get that chair looked at isn’t it?

Coughing produces 61 kg of force.

Doing sit ups 122 kg of force.

Bending forward and rotating 20 degrees holding a 10 kg weight – 214 kg of force!!!. Think of yourself getting the shopping out of the car and reaching into the corner of the boot to get that last shopping bag. Or bending down to pick up your toddler and placing them on your hip. 10 kg now becomes 214 kg.

In a moment of not thinking about what you’re doing or how you’re doing it, you can put extreme force on your lower spine without even realising it. We often forget just how much work our lower back is doing for us. And what do we do for it? Do these stretches to start with and have your spine adjusted by your Chiropractor.

Yours in Health

Dr Lucy

Source

http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com

Disc Pressure Measurements NACHEMSON, ALF L. MD (C) Lippincott-Raven Publishers.

Draw your own line in the sand.

All too often the greatest disservice we do is to ourselves is when we compare ourselves to others and make the assumption that we aren’t enough. We aren’t wealthy enough, smart enough, and thin enough, tall enough. Comparing ourselves to others and making this comparison diminishes our own magnificence.

Draw your own line in the sand.

All that you are is enough.

Only you have the ability to set these standards for yourself according to where you are standing and were you want to be. Hold yourself accountable to your standard and no one else’s.

Find peace with that.