Exercises As Effective As Manipulation For Neck Pain

A recent study has found that spinal manipulation therapy is more effective than medication in both the short and long-term. The most interesting part of the study was that home exercises and advice were as effective as manipulation. It just goes to show that the benefits of self-help should not be underestimated. It would have been interesting to compare a combination of spinal manipulation therapy and home exercises…which in my opinion would have yielded the best results.

More Proof That Exercise Improves Health

A team of researchers have identified a new hormone named irisin. It’s produced by exercise and increases the metabolism and the sensitivity to blood sugar levels. This in turn may make us less susceptible to obesity and diabetes.

Yet more proof that exercise is beneficial…if we needed any more!

Can Yoga Wreck Your Body?

Can yoga wreck your body? According to a recent article in The New York Times it definitely can! The article mentions a number of serious injuries that are thought to have resulted from yoga. Although it’s slightly dramatic and perhaps a little biased, it may contain a valid lesson…

Surprisingly, it’s a stark contrast to a previous article I posted about the benefits of yoga for back pain. How can yoga be both good for health and hazardous at the same time? By the way, this doesn’t just apply to yoga but can be extended to almost anything in life…and the answer is summed up in one word…moderation! The overwhelming majority of injuries that were cited resulted from forcing the body past its anatomical limits i.e. extreme postures…

If you practice yoga or are thinking about starting…how can you make sure this doesn’t happen to you? There are two parts to this…your teacher…and…you…

Your instructor should:

• be properly qualified and experienced
• have relatively small class sizes to allow for more personalised tuition (particularly for beginners)
• ask students about any existing injuries
• focus on technique and alignment during instruction
• offer a variety of exercise options to allow for differing skill levels
• correct students that are doing movements incorrectly
• not try to push students past their limitations

You should:

• wear clothing to allow free and easy movement
• ask questions if unsure of any posture or movement
• know your limitations…we’re all built differently and have our own strengths and weaknesses
• be cautious with any existing injuries and perhaps even consult your doctor or therapist before starting yoga
• avoid competition with others and with yourself
• take the time to progress from beginner moves to more advanced moves
• listen to your bodies…particularly when it comes to more vulnerable areas like the neck, low back and knees

Lastly, remember to have fun!

Happy New Year 2012!

The New Year is usually synonymous with resolutions…and the resolutions are often linked to health…eating a more healthy diet, exercising more often, losing weight, etc. This may have something to do with the guilt following the hedonistic excesses of the Christmas period! Ask any gym manager, January and February are probably their busiest months of the year. People abounding with good intentions flock into gyms and ardently throw themselves into strenuous exercise routines…only to run out of steam 4 to 6 weeks later upon which they mysteriously disappear…never to be seen again…until the following year of course!

So if you happen to have set yourself some goals this year make sure they’re SMART.

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Rewarding

Timed

Specific

If you don’t know where you want to go, you’re unlikely to ever get there.

Clearly define what you want to achieve

Eg. “I want to run 30 mins twice a week”.

Measurable

If you can’t measure it, how will you know how close you are to it or even if you’ve reached it?

Use an objective unit of measurement

Eg. “I can time how long I have run”.

Achievable

Setting unattainable goals will decrease your confidence and motivation and setting goals that are too easy will not give any sense of accomplishment.

Set challenging but realistic goals

Eg. “I know I can run 30 mins twice a week if I work hard at it”.

Rewarding

Letting others set your goals or setting yourself uninteresting goals will sap your motivation and enthusiasm.

Set goals that will enhance your life and about which you are passionate

Eg. “Running 30 mins twice a week will help me lose weight and decrease stress”.

Timed

Not setting a deadline is the best way to fall prey to procrastination.

Set a definite starting and ending point

Eg. “I will start today and aim to reach my goal in 3 months time”.

Sometimes, your desires can only be accomplished after a long time. These long-term goals are best broken down into medium and short-term goals. You’ll experience a frequent sense of achievement as you reach your short-term targets and this will be instrumental in elevating your self-confidence and bolstering your motivation. Keep in mind that life is about the journey not just the destination and that health is not a transient goal but a way of life. Good luck!

May 2012 bring you health, vitality and happiness!

Acupuncture Helps Reduce Stress

An article in today’s Mail Online reviews research carried out on the effects of acupuncture on stressed rats. The results show that acupuncture can reduce the levels of a protein linked to stress. Apparently this is the first study to show molecular proof of the benefit of acupuncture on stress.

“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.”

Jim Rohn

Case Study

Something interesting happened last week whilst I was treating a client. He was referred to me a few weeks back because of hip pain. About 18 months ago a car knocked him off his bicycle and he landed on his right side, after which he immediately noticed right hip pain.

He has been gradually improving with treatment…so far nothing remarkable but during our last session he mentioned that the travel anxiety he had experienced (I didn’t know he had anxiety) since the accident had also been getting better. He said that the anxiety was lessening as the pain decreased…wow!

What could explain the connection between the hip pain and the travel anxiety? Well, to answer that we need to go back in time to a famous psychological experiment…Pavlov’s dogs…ring any bells? In his experiment, Pavlov rang a bell before feeding dogs. After a while he noticed that the dogs would salivate at the sound of the bell…without the presence of food! The dogs had associated the sound of the bell with food. This process is called conditioning. It takes a while to establish itself and dissociating the bell from food can extinguish it i.e. if you stop feeding the dogs after ringing the bell, they’ll soon stop salivating when they hear it. A similar phenomenon can take place almost instantly during significant emotional events. Sights, sounds, smells and others sensations can unconsciously become associated with the event. Emotionally traumatic experiences can create phobias…amongst other things. A phobia is an irrational fear of an object or situation.

In this case the fear or anxiety is linked to the client seeing cyclists among circulating vehicles. Presumably, in these circumstances, the hip pain has also become a trigger for the emotional response. Therefore, it’s no longer surprising that as the pain has decreased with treatment, so has the emotional response to cyclists.

Fascinating isn’t it? The complexity and beauty of the mind-body connection never ceases to amaze!

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony”.

Mahatma Gandhi

Half Full Or Half Empty?

Have you ever had a spell where nothing is going the way you want it to…in fact everything seems to be going wrong in the worst possible way? Of course you have, we all get those spells…but did you know that the way we think influences the extent to which we’re affected by those periods of bad fortune. More specifically it’s our thinking in relation to the 3 Ps…personal, pervasive and permanent that make the real difference. Pessimists will tend to view problems as being personal (“It’s my fault”), pervasive (“I can’t do anything correctly”) and permanent (“It will never change”) whereas optimists view problems as situational, specific and transient. Martin Seligman’s work demonstrated that a pessimistic explanatory style can cause learned helplessness (inaction and passivity) and depression. Further research has shown that it can also lead to a weakened immune system and an increased vulnerability to minor ailments and major illnesses.

Probability ensures that life brings us a bit of everything: the good, the bad and the in between. Our challenge during the bad times is to keep our resolve and focus, and perhaps even learn from the experience. Our task during the good times is to take full advantage of the opportunities, celebrate and really relish the moment.

So if you happen to be going through a rough patch…it’s not your fault, it happens to us all…notice how it doesn’t affect every aspect of you life…and rejoice in the knowledge that good times are just around the corner!

“The ingredients of health and long life,

are great temperance,

open air,

easy labour,

and little care”.

Sir Philip Sidney