Bedside Exercise
No time for the gym? Try these!
No time for the gym? Try these!
Our recent article published in SuperPARENTS in Chinese with our Osteopath, Elaine Ward.
What is Scoliosis?
Scoliosis is a side-to-side curvature of the spine. It can develop during childhood, teenage years, or adulthood, but is most common noticed during the years of rapid growth in girls nine to fourteen years of age and boys eleven to sixteen years of age. This is most common type of scoliosis, known as Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis. “Idiopathic” means “of unknown cause” however there can be genetic factors as scoliosis tends to run in families, therefore anyone who has scoliosis should send their children for screening and any adolescent who is found to have scoliosis should send their siblings for screening. Diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring are important as spinal deformity can cause pain and dysfunction in the musculoskeletal system as well as dysfunction of the heart and lungs.
Yes it’s another post on gut health!
More and more research has been conducted on the importance of the human microbiome, essentially the study of the complex relationship between the bacteria in our gut and our health. The bacteria in our gut can affect the amount and type of vitamins being produced. They have the potential to influence conditions from autoimmune diseases, immune function, anxiety, mood disorders, obesity to allergies.
Watch the great video at the bottom of this post to get a quick reminder on the important relationship between our gut and health.
Creative Commons: Miroslav Vajdic
The human body is a complex organism yet its needs are simple.
It is an efficient well designed engine of life which requires very little tinkering on our part majority of the time.
It has the ability to self regulate, maintain and repair itself. As long as we provide it with a variety of nourishment, a reasonable amount of rest and amusement. Our modern lifestyle takes our body into extremes: long stressful work hours, nutrition-less or over rich foods, too little or too much exercise, sleep deprivation and emotional turmoil.
All these factors have a deleterious effect on the overall body function and its ability to self regulate. After all, this is the key question:
“Does our body have the ability to adapt to ‘stresses’ in our environment?”
Stresses refer to any external or internal stimuli which your body may be exposed to, from temperature changes, noise, perceived threats, work deadlines, traumatic experiences, emotions to an overcommitted schedule.
Running is addictive, there’s nothing like the buzz that you get from putting one foot in front of the other for miles and miles, it feels great. But is pounding the streets the best way to improve your running?
1) Pain, stiffness, or aching in the achilles when first starting exercise that eases off after you’ve warmed up.
2) Pain, stiffness, or aching in the achilles after exercise when you’ve cooled down.
3) Pain, stiffness, or aching in the achilles for the first few steps in the morning.
It’s important to be physically active and avoid injuries at the same time. This is especially important for a “weekend warrior”. If you are sedentary or your job forces you to sit at a desk for most of the day, it’s extremely important to plan ahead in order to avoid exercise-related injuries. After all, the human body can’t go from “zero to hero” unless it’s been trained to do that. In other words it’s hard to go from being inactive to being a weekend warrior in an instant.
Pelvic floor dysfunction is prevalent among women and it is not just an issue related to the older population. It is common in young women too. This is partly because some women don’t even know they’re experiencing pelvic floor dysfunction, like my friend who gets up to go to the bathroom five times a night. Drinking a lot of water doesn’t mean you should expect to go to the bathroom more than once a night. Of course we’ve all heard of the leakage that occurs on coughing, sneezing, or laughing too hard after childbirth but this shouldn’t be something that is accepted as part of life from that point on.
If you think that breast feeding your baby is good for you and your baby, you are not wrong. You bond with your baby; feeding helps you lose weight and gives protection to the baby from many diseases like allergies, gastrointestinal complaints; it also contributes to better neurological development. Feeding your baby is helpful to you, too. Mothers who breast feed are at lowered risk of suffering from various cancers, osteoporosis, hip fractures, arthritis, diabetes and post-natal depression.
For the newborn, the mother’s milk or colostrum is thinner but packed with leukocytes that confer immunity to the newborn against many illnesses. This has been proven by research. What is startling is that mother’s milk may actually change in response to the physical needs of the baby.
