It’s not something you ever plan for, but if you ever strain your muscle, it’s important to know what steps to take. Muscle strains come on suddenly and are often quite painful. To help manage your symptoms, remember this word—RICE.
Walking for pain reduction
Leg Cramps
If you’ve ever woken up in the middle of the night with leg pain, you may familiar with leg cramps. Leg cramps can last from a few seconds to up to 10 minutes and are characterized by a sudden pain due to shortening of a muscle. It occurs most often in the calf, but can also occur in the other parts of the body (though it is less common).
Back pain in Kids
It’s likely that you associate back pain with getting older, but you may be surprised to learn that it can be common in children and adolescents. The one year prevalence rate of low back pain (LBP) has been shown to be anywhere from 7% to 58%. In fact, the lifetime prevalence of LBP by age 20 has skyrocketed by a staggering 80% increase! As a result, we should pay careful attention to the habits and behaviours of the youth in our lives and find ways to provide them with relief if they are experiencing symptoms, as well as help them to prevent pain in the future.
What to expect during your first massage
Piriformis
Chair Yoga Poses
Fascia, Fascia, Fascia
Fascia, you may have never heard of it, but it is an absolutely integral network of thin connective tissue that holds your organs, blood vessels, bones, nerve fibres and muscles in place. Although it may appear as no more than a tightly woven cobweb, fascia plays an incredibly important role in the way you move and feel.spider
Hydrotherapy
CHAIR YOGA
What is foam rolling
Surviving Pre-Holiday Stress
The holidays are typically a time where family and friends can get together and celebrate. For some, the weeks leading up to the holidays can cause headaches, havoc and unrest. Here are some tips to help you survive the weeks leading up to the holiday season.
Plan Ahead
Now is the time to look at the calendar and lay it all out. Identify which day will be a shopping day, which day is a baking day, which day will be occupied with get togethers. By labeling it ahead of time you will be able to avoid feeling like you are running out of time. Don't forget to schedule time for self-care, it’s easy to forget about the most important person during this time of year, you!
Just Say No
Don’t be afraid to say “No”. Recognize that you can’t do everything and be everything all the time. Saying yes all the time can leave you feeling overwhelmed and exhausted.
Be realistic
Does it have to be perfect? Is good enough? Thanks to social media, now more than ever we have these imaginary standards of how something is supposed to look. Trying to keep up with pinterest can be exhausting and impossible.
Stick to a budget
Get an idea of how much you can realistically spend over the holidays without going into too much debt. Spending too much over the holidays leads to stress, anxiety and depression in the New Year when the credit card bills start to roll in. Strategies to avoid spending too much over the holidays include:
Donate to a charity in somebody' else’s name
Give homemade gifts
Start a family gift exchange
Avoid eating out, have pot luck get togethers instead
Don’t abandon healthy habits
Even though you may be busy, still make time for exercise, stick to a healthy diet and sleep routine.
Feel It
Recognize how your are feeling and talk about it. It’s not always possible to be with your loved ones and that can be difficult. Whether it is due to distance or the passing of a loved one, sometimes it is difficult to process these feelings during this time of year. It’s okay to cry and express yourself, just because it’s the holidays doesn’t mean you have to be happy. Take some time to look at old pictures, tell stories about them, sing their favourite song, cook their favourite meal to feel close to them.
Remembering a feeling is much easier than what gift was given in any particular year. Take the time to reflect and recharge with your loved ones over the holiday season!
Happy Holidays!
Reduce the risk of developing Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic syndrome, is the development of at least three of the five following medical conditions:
central obesity / high waist circumference (over 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men)
high blood pressure
high blood sugar
high serum triglycerides
low serum HDL
In combination, these conditions contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. A recent study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that using vacation time could lessen the chances of developing metabolic syndrome. Interesting findings include:
Each additional vacation reduced the risk of metabolic syndrome by 24%
Those who took no yearly vacations had a 47% higher chance of developing one or more of the conditions of metabolic syndrome
Those who took 5 vacations a year had a 16% chance of developing one or more of the conditions of metabolic syndrome
Those who took 15 vacations a year had a 1% chance of developing one or more of the conditions of metabolic syndrome
The number of vacations days doesn’t matter, it was the number of vacations that reduces the metabolic syndrome symptoms.
Other interesting findings include
“Staycations” are just as good as going somewhere
The number of vacation days taken isn’t as important as the number of vacations
On average, participants used 14 paid vacation days a year
Alcohol consumption was low
Participants slept well during their vacations
So the next time you get the urge to book that flight or do an overnight trip to Chéticamp, do it! Where is your favourite play to escape to?
Citation
Hot baths to live longer?
Pockets of time.....
Getting active after winter hibernation
As the days start to get longer and warmer many people start to experience the drive to “get healthy” and get moving again. I hate to break it to you, but you are a year older than you were last year, so it might not be as easy just to jump back into your old routine. Here are some tips to help you get back into an exercise routine and avoid injury.
Surviving Time Change
Originally daylight savings was implemented to make better use of daylight and conserve energy. The first recorded time change in Canada occurred in Thunder Bay in 1908. Many people report a transient disruption in sleep quality during the adjustment of the time change, a study published in 2020 actually demonstrated a number of adverse health side effects observed from the time change.
Pockets of time.....
Osteoporosis
A long, long time ago, walking on two legs gave humans and primates an advantage as it consumed less energy and thus allowed for the crossing of larger distances. Bipedalism decreased the amount of neck strain and gave an improved view of the surroundings. However, the cost of being upright increased pressure on the spine and increased the risk of…
