As you lace up your old gardening shoes and head out to the yard, do you think of stretching before you pull on your gloves and get to work? Most gardeners don’t, which is why according to the Ontario Chiropractic Association, “gardening is the most common source of back and neck pain reported by patients in the warmer months.”
When bending over while gardening, keep your back straight and a slight bend in the knees.“I don’t think that people realize that gardening is a form of physical activity,” said Dr. Katherine Tibor, a chiropractor with a practice called Balanced Healthcare in Toronto. “They think of it as a chore and something that needs to be done, and forget about warming up and taking care of their bodies when gardening.”
To avoid stiff joints, sore muscles and, even worse, chronic neck and back pain, what exactly should you do before you start digging in the dirt? It may seem silly standing in the grass doing warm-up exercises, but your body will benefit in the long run. Tibor recommends doing a bit of gentle cardio, such as walking on the spot and then stretching out the muscles that you’re going to be using that particular day.
For example, high knee bends will stretch out the lower back and arm reaches forward will prep the upper body and middle spine.
There are also certain precautions gardeners should take once they get into the yard to plant or weed or hoe. Tibor said that one of the most common complaints she gets from patients is low back pain because a homeowner has gardened for a whole day or a whole afternoon without taking any breaks. However, other injuries can inadvertently occur while you’re lifting and straining and digging, as well.
One day last spring, Yvonne Cunnington, a garden writer who lives in Ancaster, Ont., was out in the garden for several hours, crouched down, transplanting perennials.
“My right ankle got pretty sore after several hours of this, but I wanted to get the job done,” she remembered.
Cunnington figures a bad sprain a year prior and the repetitive flexing from crouching caused her old injury to flare up again. After that long day, she couldn’t walk — her ankle was so swollen and in pain she needed crutches. Cunnington now uses a kneeling pad so that she’s not crouching and putting unnecessary strain on both her knees and ankles.
Besides stretching before and after gardening, there are also routine, preventive measures that can be taken, such as doing yoga.
“As gardeners, we tend to lovingly jump into tasks such as planting, weeding and pruning, forgetting about how we use our body,” said Jane Rostek, a yoga teacher at the Clayton Park location of Breathing Space Yoga in Halifax. “Regular practice builds strength and flexibility,” she explained.
Yoga also conditions our bodies to engage muscles not otherwise used in daily life and allows us to become more in tune with the capabilities and limitations of our body, she said.
According to Rostek, a few yoga poses that are beneficial to gardeners include: child’s pose, which stretches the lower back and shoulders; downward facing dog, which builds shoulder strength and stretches the muscles in the back of the legs and ankles; seated forward bend, which provides a stretch behind the legs; and all of the warrior poses, which build strength and flexibility in the legs, core and shoulders.
“Lengthening and strengthening poses tend to build strong shoulders, stretch the front of the body and are excellent for wrists — you will love and hate these poses at the same time,” Rostek said.
If you do feel pain, it’s important not to ignore it.
“Keep in mind the longer you’ve had the complaint, the longer it takes to go away,” Tibor said.
Make an appointment with your doctor or another health-care professional, such as a chiropractor, to address your concerns.
“Remember your body is your best gardening tool,” Rostek added. “Take care of it and it will serve you well!”
Nolan, Tara. “Prep your body — the most important garden tool of all.” Toronto Star. July 9, 2016.
Our bodies are negatively impacted from long periods of sitting or inactivity. In addition, most people do not maintain proper posture while using a computer, driving, watching television, walking standing, etc. Poor posture arises for two main reasons:
Tight Tonic Muscles – your tonic muscles are responsible for holding your posture. They can constrict and tighten making it more difficult to achieve and maintain correct posture.
Weak Phasic Muscles – Your phasic muscles are used for dynamic movement. They can weaken and lengthen, making you more prone to slouching.
Improving your posture can:
Reduce pain in your back and neck
Increase your range of motion
Increase blood flow to the heart
Improve breathing
Improve nerve signals from the spine
Reduce fatigue and positively impact sleep
Reduce the risk of joint damage
The Posture Medic targets the causes of poor posture in three simple ways that can be done anytime and anywhere:
Stretch – release tense muscles to improve posture and range of motion
Strengthen – simple exercises that strengthen muscles associated with maintaining correct posture
Wear the Posture Medic to gently remind you to maintain better posture
Try one today. Available at our clinic in different sizes and strengths. For more information please visit www.posturemedic.com
Magnesium is crucial for our bodies. It’s used by every cell to build proteins, repair DNA, and provide energy. It’s estimated to be used in over 350 different biochemical reactions! Magnesium has what is takes to build our bones, relax our muscles and calm our mind.
But why Magnesium Glycinate?
By itself, glycinate is called glycine, which is an amino acid. Amino acids link together to form proteins. Proteins make up our cells, muscles, and tissues. There are 500 amino acids in nature but your body only uses 21 of them, one being glycine.
Glycine is used to help make a lot of useful things in your body such as:
Collagen – used to heal wounds
Serine – an amino acid that helps the brain
Glutathione – used in the liver as an antioxidant
Hemoglobin – an essential component of red blood cells
Magnesium Glycinate is also gentle on the bowels. Your intestinal walls have different channels that move different nutrients into your blood. These channels are like doors for nutrients. Some move minerals and others move sugars. There are many different kinds of channels. Amino acids, like glycine use on of the many dipeptide channels. Because magnesium and glycine stay together, they travel through dipeptide channels together. And because there are many, more magnesium can be absorbed by your body. Magnesium not paired with glycinate can upset your digestive system. These magnesium ions draw extra water into your stomach and intestinal tract that can cause bloating or diarrhea.
Please speak to your health practitioner about magnesium gycinate.
People injured in car crashes sometimes experience a strain of the neck muscles and surrounding soft tissue, known commonly as whiplash. This injury often occurs when a vehicle is hit from the rear or the side, causing a sharp and sudden movement of the head and neck. Whiplash may results in tender muscles (Grade 1) or limited neck movement (Grade 2). this type of injury is usually temporary and most people who experience it make a complete recovery. If you have suffered a whiplash injury, knowing more about the condition can help you participate in your own recovery.
Understanding Whiplash
Most whiplash injuries are not serious and heal fully
Signs of serious neck injury, such as a fracture, are usually evident in early assessments. Health care professionals trained to treat whiplash are alert for these signs.
Pain, stiffness and other symptoms of Grade 1 or 2 whiplash typically start within the first 2 days after the accident. A later onset of symptoms does not indicate a more serious injury.
Many people experience no disruption to their normal activities after whiplash injury. Those who do usually improve after a few days or weeks and return safely to their daily activities.
Just as the soreness and stiffness of a sprained ankle may linger, a neck strain can also feel achy, stiff or tender for days or weeks. While some patients get better quickly, symptoms can persist over a longer period of time. For most cases of Grade 1 and 2 whiplash, these symptoms gradually decrease with a return to activity.
Daily Activity and Whiplash
Continuing normal activities is very important to recovery.
Resting for more than a day of two usually does not help the injury and may instead prolong pain and disability. For whiplash injuries, it appears that “rest makes rusty.”
Injured muscles can get stiff and weak when they’re not used. This can add to pain and can delay recovery.
A return to normal activities may be assisted by active treatment and exercises.
Cervical collars, or “neck braces,” prevent motion and may add to stiffness and pain. These devices are generally not recommended, as they have shown little to no benefit.
Returning to activity maintains the health of soft-tissues and keeps them flexible – speeding recovery. Physical exercise also releases body chemicals that help to reduce pain in a natural way.
To prevent development of chronic pain, it is important to start moving as soon as possible.
Tips for Return to Activity
Avoid sitting in one position for long periods.
Periodically stand and stretch
Sit at your workstation so that the upper part of your arm rests close to your body, and your back and feet are well supported.
Adjust the seat when driving so that your elbows and knees are loosely bent.
When shopping or carrying items, use a cart or hold things close to the body for support.
Avoid contact sports or strenuous exercise for the first few weeks to prevent further injury. Ask your health professional about other sporting or recreational activities.
Make your sleeping bed comfortable. The pillow should be adjusted to support the neck at a comfortable height.
Treating Whiplash
Research indicates that successful whiplash treatment requires patient cooperation and active efforts to resume daily activities.
A treating health care professional will assess your whiplash injuries, and discuss options for treatment and control of pain.
Although prescription medications are usually unnecessary, temporary use of mild over-the-counter medication may be suggested, in addition to heat or ice.
Your treating health care professional may recommend appropriate physical treatment.
All your life you have been told to “stand and sit up straight.”
Fortunately, your mother knew exactly what she was taking about. Unfortunately, because of the era we live in and the modern technology that has become such a huge part of our lives, this statement has become even more meaningful. It’s rare now to walk down the street, visit your local mall or for to the workplace, where someone is not o a cell phone or computer.
If posture is out of balance, then the spine is out of balance, putting unhealthy pressure upon your nervous system. As mentioned, postural stress, trauma(s), emotional stress and recreational activities can cause spinal misalignment and postural imbalance.
Your spine is the most important factor affecting your posture. In order to have optimal posture, you must have optimal spinal health and alignment of the vertebra (the spinal bones).
Our Doctors at Pickering Village Chiropractic and Massage Therapy will take special care to examine and asses you posture and spinal alignment. A comprehensive orthopedic and neurological examination will be conducted to accomplish this goal. Your posture will be examined in a physical exam and documented with a sophisticated posture online program. These results will be discussed with you on a future visit and recommendations will be made to support and correct your current postural status. Many times the damage is extensive and cannot fully be corrected. But early detection and adherence of a special plan of care is often beneficial.
Call us and start the journey to reaching your optimal health today.
Minor Infections picked up in daycare may keep kids from developing the disease. Here’s why
It’s called the “Hygiene Hypothesis,” and researchers invoke it to try to explain why the number of children who develop asthma has grown so dramatically over the past three decades. Bolstered by a handful of studies, the basic idea is that modern urban society is too clean for the kids’ own good. A hundred years ago, children’s immune systems would have aced all kinds of bacterial and viral infections. Today, those immune systems don’t know what to do in our super sanitized environment, so they wind up attacking pollen, dust mites and other usually innocuous substances instead. In the worst cases, a dangerous overreaction occurs that can shut down the lungs, killing the child.
Now comes word of more evidence for the anti-cleanliness argument. In a study involving more than 1,000 children, published in New England’s Journal of Medicine, researchers at the University of Arizona compared youngsters who had attended day care before the age of six month with those who had enrolled at a later date. As you might expect, the younger kids, who were exposed to other children earlier and more often, experiences more infections and wheezing. But after they turned six years old, their risk of asthma was less than half that of the children who had enrolled in day care after they were six months old. The researchers’ cautious conclusion, according to co-author Anne Wright: “More infectious disease early in life might afford a lifetime protection.”
But before you decide to plop your baby next to every runny-nosed kid in sight, there are a few things you should know. Finding an association does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship. Furthermore, some infections can by themselves by quite harmful, even life threatening. The last thing any doctor would suggest is that outbreaks of, say, meningitis or diphtheria are good because in the long run they might protect the survivors against asthma.
Yet even if the association between early infections and a reduced risk of asthma turns out to be real, you can’t use it as a basis for healing kids afflicted with asthma. Their immune systems have already made a fundamental shift into asthmatic overdrive. Uncontrolled exposure would only make them sicker. Similarly, the Arizona findings would not apply to babies who are born prematurely and are thus more vulnerable to infections than full-term babies.
Although researchers are still pondering what’s behind the alarming increase in asthma, there are plenty things that parents can do to help allergy-prone or asthmatic kids. For example, many allergists find that giving children a series of shots containing varying amounts of carefully selected irritants can desensitize the immune system. (The injections don’u generally trigger an overreaction because they are delivered not into the respiratory system but through the skin.) “The shots usually aren’t given before age 4,” says Dr. Ira Finegold of St. Lukes-Roosevelt Medial Center in New York City. “But it can be done earlier.”
There are also medications that can stop asthma attacks as they occur, as well as still other drugs that help prevent future ones from happening. But for all the advances in treatments, asthma is still something of a mystery. Even so, if you take advantage of what is known, you may help save your child’s life.
Gardening is a great way to stay active and have fun in the sun. But many Canadians sustain injuries that can be easily prevented with a little know-how.
The right moves
Use the right moves to lighten the load on your back. Kneel, don’t bend, to plant. Change your body position often. Take frequent breaks. Alternate between light and heavy chores. Drink lots of water. And most importantly, loosen-up before you start out.
Warm up
Before you begin any physical activity, warming up is a key factor in preventing injury. Take a walk, even on the spot. Ten to 15 minutes should do it. Don’t forget to lift your knees and gently swing your arms.
Stretch before you start
To plant and rake without the ache, do each of these stretches five times. Don’t bounce, jerk or strain. Stretches should be gentle and should not cause pain.
Upper Body
YOUR SIDES
Extend your right arm over your head.
Bend to the left from the waist.
Hold for 15 seconds and repeat on the other side.
YOUR ARMS AND SHOULDERS
Hug yourself snugly.
Slowly rotate at the waist as far as is comfortable to the left, then to the right.
YOUR BACK
In a seated position, bend forward from the hips, keeping your head down.
Reach for the ground.
Lower Body
YOUR THIGHS
Face a wall or tree and support yourself against it with one arm.
Bend your right knee and grasp your ankle or pant leg with your left hand.
Hold for 15 seconds and repeat on the other side.
YOUR HAMSTRINGS
Stand.
Reach your hands to the sky.
Then bend at the waist and reach toward your toes.
Hold for 15 seconds.
The Village Chiropractic Clinic consists of a group of knowledgeable, and friendly professionals that have worked as a team to help me obtain and maintain my optimal health goal through chiropractic and massage therapy.
