Happy New Year to everyone. I am absolutely positive that everyone is excited to see a new year roll around.
A great opportunity to start afresh with new opportunities and possibilities. We hope everyone got to have family time over the Christmas break.
We are super excited and slightly nervous that Carrier St Chiropractic will soon be going paperless. We hope this will help to streamline the Practice and make it easier to receipt and claim health insurance. To help us with this transition we ask that you make sure all your personal details are up to date.
We also plan to resume the monthly kids colouring competition!
OSTEOARTHRITIS – WHAT IS IT AND WHAT CAN I DO TO MANAGE THE SYMPTOMS?
Osteoarthritis is a common type of chronic joint damage. Our joints have protective tissue, cartilage, which covers the ends of the bones. When the cartilage breaks down the bones within the joint begin to rub together, causing pain, muscle stiffness and loss of normal joint motion. Because osteoarthritis is degenerative in nature, we usually see it in older patients. However, osteoarthritis can occur at any age especially if the joint has been subjected to a past injury resulting in torn cartilage, dislocation or injuries to the joint ligament tissue. Other factors which can cause osteoarthritis to occur in a joint include poor posture, low or excess joint motion (especially associated with poor exercise form or technique), obesity, family history and even your gender.
Symptoms of pain, stiffness and joint inflammation are usually worse after long periods of rest, such as first thing in the morning or after a long stint sitting in the car or after excessive work or exercise. OA is chronic and progressive so being proactive can really help you manage your symptoms and slow/ minimise progression.
Some basic lifestyle changes can really help with osteoarthritis.
1.) Regular exercise – this helps to keep your joints mobile and functioning properly. Exercise helps to prevent muscle wasting and can help minimise joint pain. Walking, yoga, pilates, swimming, general weights and cycling are all ideal exercises.
2.) Maintain an ideal weight – being overweight, even just moderately impacts weights bearing joints and can increase the pain of osteoarthritis. For every kilo you’re overweight you add 2-5 times the equivalent pressure to joints just when walking. So even losing 5-10 kgs can reduce joint stress by 10 -30 kgs of extra stress.
3.) Get adequate Rest – rest allows our body to repair so without regular quality, ample rest, joint pain, stiffness and inflammation are likely to worsen.
4.) Keep hydrated – this will help to reduce joint inflammation and muscle tension.
5.) Eat a low inflammation diet – reduce or eliminate grains, processed and packaged foods, foods high in sugar, limit alcohol and red meat. Opt for lots of fresh vegetables and fruit, free-ranged meats, eggs, deep sea, wild-caught fish, avocados, nuts seeds and olive oil.
6.) Stop smoking – smoking reduces oxygen in the body, slowing down tissue healing time and increasing the likelihood of joint tissue degeneration.
7.) Supplementation – Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in the form of fish oil and Tumeric have been shown to have a positive effect on joint inflammation and pain. In joints with mild to moderate levels of osteoarthritis, glucosamine chondroitin has been shown to help with joint cartilage repair.
8.) Get adjusted! – Regular Chiropractic care helps maintain proper joint motion and function helping to minimise joint tissue damage.
For more information speak to Dr. Michelle.
New Year, New You!
For many of us, the new year heralds a time to motivate us to change or improve some aspects in our life. For many of us it’s to improve our fitness level.
Running is something most of us can do. It’s cheap to do (only need a decent pair of shoes) and you can do it anywhere in relative safety, and 5 kilometres is a great, achievable target to aim for.
Things to remember,
• Start off slow and build up slowly to avoid fatigue and injury.
• Keep hydrated and fuel your body with a healthy diet.
• Listen to your body – if you feel tired, sore or unwell, go slower or miss that day of training.
• Brisk walk followed by a jog.
Being able to walk and/or run 5 km without stopping is an achievable aim for anyone wanting to get moving or to increase their fitness levels to incorporate running.
Check out “Couch to 5K” podcasts or www.runnersblueprint.com/couch-to-5k, for a simple training guideline to be completed over 8 – 13 weeks depending on your fitness level.
Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.
Joseph Addison
Does Vitamin B Repel mosquitos?
Summer is here and so are the mosquitos! There are many urban myths as to how to prevent being targeted by mossies. Mosquitoes find their host by their sense of smell, so the most effective repellents work not by killing the mosquitoes but by preventing them from wanting to come close to you.
Some people seem to be less affected by mosquitoes and that is down to us all having different natural chemistries that cause us to be either more attractive or repugnant to mosquitoes. There have been some people who say that increasing vitamin B-1 intake makes your blood chemistry less attractive to mosquitoes.
Researchers from New Mexico State University conducted a study comparing various insect repellents with DEET (N, N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) to see which worked best at deterring mosquitoes from biting. Non DEET repellents that worked best included one with a combination of lemon eucalyptus and p-methane-3-8-dio (this is a chemical in fruit that smells similar to methanol).
However, the researchers found the vitamin B-1 patches did not repel the mosquitoes from biting. Other studies have shown that the vitamin B-1 taken orally produced inconsistent results. This may be because some people have more natural mosquito–repelling odours than others.
So, although vitamin B1 hasn’t been shown to be the most effective at repelling mosquitos, it is not likely to cause you any harm when taken, as excessive amounts can be excreted in the urine.
Glut Bridges
When it comes to improving our low back and core strength, glut bridges are a fantastic, easy to do exercise that helps to activate your gluteal (bum) muscles. These muscles help to stabilize your pelvis and low back and are primarily involved in hip extension (think swinging your leg backwards). Unfortunately, poor posture and long periods spent sitting, can weaken our gluteal muscles leading to pelvic and low back pain.
Glut Bridge
• Lie on your back, knees bent, heels on floor and your toes pointed upwards.
• Squeeze your hips and slowly raise your bum off the floor. Hold for 2 – 3 seconds before slowly lowering to the floor.
• Repeat 10 times.
Single-legged glut bridge
• Lie on your back, with your knees bent and heel on the ground, toes raised. Place one foot across the other bent knee.
• Squeeze hips together, activating your gluteal muscles and lift the pelvis off the ground.
• Hold for 2 – 3 seconds before slowly lowering the pelvis down.
• Repeat 5 times on each leg
Or another version of a single leg glut bridge exercise.
• Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat on the floor.
• Raise your pelvis up and extend one leg out straight and hold for 30 seconds.
• Release your leg down and then extend the opposite leg and hold for 30 seconds.
• Lower your leg and then lower your pelvis.
“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind”.
CS Lewis
So Why Have Regular Chiropractic Care?
Okay, so you have attended all your prescribed appointments, done your exercises and you feel a decrease in your pain and stiffness. In fact, you no longer feel any of the discomfort and symptoms that prompted you to seek care in the first place. So why continue care??
How much chiropractic care you have is always up to you. However, there are many reasons why we encourage regular maintenance or wellness care.
- Your body is dynamic, that is the stresses placed on you are forever changing in nature and amount. Regular care helps you to function at your best by being better able to adapt to these ever-changing stresses rather than become injured when challenged.
- Just like losing weight or getting fit, our spinal health is something that you need to work at regularly to help it function optimally. Without regular care minor changes can lead to joint dysfunction and tissue break down over time.
- Your spine houses your nervous system, the information highway linking your brain to the rest of the body. In order for you to function optimally and maintain health, and wellbeing, your nerve tissue has to be irritation free. So, ensuring good spinal joint motion can aid nerve function and in turn, help to keep you healthy.
- And finally, often problems can be occurring without any symptoms such as pain or stiffness to indicate an area of your spine moving less than optimally. Regular spinal checks help to detect these issues before they become chronic problems.