by Osteopathic Pain Relief Centre | Jul 8, 2014
I saw a patient yesterday who complained of neck and low back pain, after examining him I realized he had “lax ligaments”, though he had known before he did not know how to manage the situation. Lax ligaments refer to most of your ligaments being looser than normal, gymnasts are classic example of having very lax ligaments.
Having lax ligaments allows you to be more flexible and practicing yoga becomes very easy. However you become prone to joint degeneration and compression. Your worst enemy is being too tired and fatigued either by stress, emotion, physical or low sugar.
Having lax ligaments means your muscles have to work harder to support your joints but once you are tired then your muscles give way and your joints are vulnerable- for some early arthritis may develop.
Things to avoid– sitting or lying on very soft furniture or unsupported chairs, sitting still for long tires your muscles.
Things you should do: exercise to increase stamina rather bursts of heavy activity, long walks or light jogging rather than fast or heavy running, don’t let your energy drain or miss meals, keep emotions on an even keel.
When problems arise the osteopath can reduce your muscle and joint strain, rebalance your compressions and stiffness and come earlier for treatment to reduce further damage.
Clinical massage can help loosen tight muscles but you have to combine it with stamina exercises to regain muscle control.
Let the osteopath examine you and find out if you too have lax ligaments, Call OPRC 6327 8545 for your examination. Jose@oprc director and senior osteopath.
by Osteopathic Pain Relief Centre | Oct 22, 2013
We would like each patient to respond well to our treatments. However, patients also need to be aware that their state of health can slow the treatment process.
Treatment is a partnership process we can only help you if you help yourself. Maximize your treatment potential by doing the following suggestions:
Hydrate yourself through the day
Not drinking enough fluids causes internal stress in your system, being parched or thirsty is a sign of dehydration. It’s more difficult to treat you when your body is already under strain from dehydration: your body is slower to respond and the changes are incomplete.
- Aim to drink 1.5 – 2 litres per day of fluids, though minus 1.5 cups for every cup of coffee you drink. For those who exercise additional fluids and salts are important to take regularly. Don’t forget to continue over the weekend which is easily forgotten- make a conscious effort.
5 min mind exercise 3 times a day sounds easy but is the hardest thing to do.
We live in a very busy modern life with lots of distractions and over stimulation.
- To help rebalance your nervous system, sit back, close your eyes and just feel what it is like to feel happy/or feel calm for 5minutes- you have to use a timer/count down. The point of this exercise is to give your mind a break and the emotion produced helps reduce the over production of stress hormone called “cortisol”. Over time you will get good at evoking sense of ease in your self – but only if you persevere.
This sense of ease in yourself is the normal state and being on “edge” or “stress” is a sign your body needs to re-set a few times a day. We have the ability to produce our own stress relieving medication – it’s free and has no side effects. With this ability to sense ease in yourself, your response to treatment will be much better and long lasting.
Importance of winding down your mind
“Adrenaline junky” is an apt name for those unable to do relax and inconstant need for stimulation. Could this be you?
- A 45min daily routine before going to bed is important to wind down our brain activity, like most machines our brain over works during the day, doing something “mindless” e.g. flicking thru magazine, clearing stuff, listening to music, any activity that reduces stimulation helps to wind down your mind.
This 45min wind down daily routine will help your mind rebalance giving you better sleep, your body systems including hormones are more balanced making you less susceptible to diseases and immune problems. This routine will definitely make your treatment last longer.
Does it work?
We’ve had patients come off the most potent and potentially addictive sleeping tablets combined with muscle relaxants. Over time together with osteopathic treatment and following the suggestions above they managed to regain back control of their lives.
Life is a balancing act- let oprc help your body to heal itself.
Call 6327 8545 www.oprc.com.sg
by Osteopathic Pain Relief Centre | Aug 20, 2013
Congratulations to a friend and patient of OPRC Poet Eileen Chong, author of “Burning Rice” Prime Minister’s Literary Award (Australia) 2013 Shortlist Poetry
by Osteopathic Pain Relief Centre | Jul 30, 2013
As an osteopath I help my patients by relieving their pain and discomfort, but part of this process is to help patients to be in better health. Having at least 80% energy in the mornings will help them cope with what life throws at them, they also have energy to continually resolve injuries and stress.
A memory of feeling refreshed and full of energy
Treatment can help your body remember what it had before – feeling that you can do more in a day and have spare energy to go for a walk, run or do sports, to be able to sleep easily, and be able to quieten your mind before sleep. You may not remember the last time you felt great but your body does and with treatment your system can reset to a natural state of ease. Your body has the memory to function towards a better health it just needs help getting there. Sometimes I call this “re-booting” its what you do when your computer hangs from too many applications working at the same time. During re-booting your body resets itself, re-organizes and works in a better way. For the patient your vision becomes clearer and you can “see” more and feel lighter in yourself.
More energy means coping better with life
Like most people you are coping with life as best as you can, you may not catch flu or suffer joints pain often but could you cope even better?
Most injuries from ankle sprain, low back pain and neck pain can heal faster if the body has enough energy to de-stress or unwind itself. Remember in your younger days- you just recovered with little effort. This is still possible with treatment given that your body is designed to repair and normalise itself. Without noticing it, your body will heal a simple cut; ongoing repairs persists daily doing its job as best as it can. Getting treatment guides your body towards health helping to increase your energy which in turn helps your healing process.
You might say you are coping well and relatively healthy but are you really healthy?
Answer Yes, only:
- if you can wake up every morning with at least 80% re-charged energy, feeling refreshed, get through the day and still have energy to participate in sports.
- if you don’t rely on 3 cups of coffee or stimulants to kick start or maintain your energy levels.
- if your body can recover from stress patterns or injuries, easily
- if you can get to unwind at night and have a quietened mind before sleep.
- if you sleep soundly and relaxed during the night without clenching, grinding your teeth or snoring.
If not, then consider having osteopathic treatment to “help your body to heal itself”.
Call 6327 8545 www.oprc.com.sg
by Osteopathic Pain Relief Centre | Jun 30, 2013
Adeline Tien is a yoga teacher who came to OPRC looking for advice on how to avoid possible neck strain if she continues to carry her 1.5 litre of water.
A freelance yoga teacher, Adeline travels to different yoga studios carrying her water at all times. She is quite right to be concerned for her posture and the possibility of spinal compression leading to a hunched back, neck strain, trapped nerves and pain. Practising and teaching yoga everyday makes her very aware of her posture. She applies her knowledge of using certain muscle groups for every given situation, however like everyone else, she is prone to occupational hazards.
Seek professional advice from an osteopath who specializes in helping you overcome potential injuries.
At OPRC we often encounter scenarios similar to Adeline’s case, like many other professions e.g. accountants, auditors, insurance agents and consultants they too share the same difficulty of carrying heavy bags to different offices for meetings or presentations as well as travelling to different cities for regional meetings and pitching for new jobs.
Follow the advice given to Adeline and apply them to your specific situation to reduce potential problems.
As you can see from this photo Adeline was advised to use a backpack that has a waist belt and a chest belt. The waist belt fits around her pelvis and chest belt across the ribs, both are easily removed with a simple lock system and adjusted with the straps.
One important factor to keep in mind is to limit the maximum weight of your backpack to no more than 10% of your body weight. If your weight is 70Kg the maximum weight you should carry is 7kg, having a waist and chest strap may give you an impression that you can carry more, this maybe be true- but the risk of compression to your spine is greater, so keep to the 10% limit.
In general you can place the heaviest items like your laptop or battery charger at the bottom of the backpack as this lowers the centre of gravity of your pack as well as transferring the weight to your pelvis rather than compressing your spine.
From this view you can see that the back pack fits snugly around her spine, the key aspect is to place the heaviest items at the bottom of the bag, for Adeline’s case she placed her water bottle horizontally lowering the centre of gravity of the backpack. Having the chest and waist belt transfers the weight of her bag to her pelvis and down her legs.
This picture shows you various types of postures. For those who carry heavy bags incorrectly Posture B – “Kyphosis-Lordotic Posture can potentially happen to you.
With Posture B you will loose height and your curvatures will increase and therefore more prone to disc compression leading to trapped nerves.
Consult with the osteopath if you have the following:
- Neck and shoulder ache during or after carrying your bag.
- Experiencing some numbness or tingling in your arms or fingers.
- Mid back or low back ache after carrying your bag the whole day.
- Tiredness in keeping your posture upright when carrying a bag.
What can OPRC offer you?
- Osteopathic examination of your posture to find out which muscle, joint, ligaments or tissues are causing your pain.
- Osteopathic analysis of where there is fault in your biomechanics- finding out which parts of your body not synchronized with the rest. Osteopathic treatment makes your body parts more efficient and less like to cause pain.
- Clinical massage by qualified physical therapists to release deep tissue tension as well as stretching tight shortened muscles for more long lasting relief.
Take Adeline’s example and consult with the Osteopath for minor problems and prevent them from causing future injuries. Call 6327854
