When you consider the spinal rotation that goes into a golf swing and the fact that the speed of the club can reach 160 km/hour, it’s easy to understand that golf puts significant bio-mechanical stress on the body. Back pain and golfer’s elbow are two very common injuries suffered by golfers.

Most soft-tissue injuries involve some degree of inflammation. It is important to slow the inflammatory response to prevent further tissue damage and scar tissue development. An easy way to assist your body with the healing process is to apply ice to the area. But how much is enough? How must is too much? A fun acronym – Cold Beer And Nachos – helps clients remember the stages the skin goes through to find the right length of time.

Shoveling snow improperly can cause back and neck pain. Improper technique, such as twisting, combined with lifting the three to five kilograms of one shovel of snow can result in serious aches and pain. Here are some tips on how to shovel properly.

When you have good core stability, the muscles in your pelvis, lower back, hips, and abdomen work in harmony and help to protect your spine. Core exercises are those that strengthen your core muscles, including your abdominal muscles, back, and pelvis.

It’s not surprising that professional golfers are turning to chiropractic to help keep their backs in top shape. Whether you’re a pro, or just wish you were, taking good care of your back can help improve your score and ensure a long enjoyable season on the links. Here are some tips to prevent back, shoulder, and neck pain from interfering with your game.

During pregnancy, there is an increased strain on a woman’s body due to the excess weight gain and the physical stresses of the baby’s position within the womb. Over 60% of women will experience low back pain during their pregnancy, especially during the third trimester when the baby’s head is pressing against a woman’s back. Chiropractic treatment for low back pain related to pregnancy is a safe and effective alternative to over-the-counter and prescription drugs. Chiropractic care has been shown not only help relieve back pain occurring in pregnancy, but may also decrease delivery time and labour pain.

With back-to-school on the minds of kids and teens everywhere, little thought is given to the backpack – beyond maybe what it looks like! Read on for a little lesson on proper backpack wearing that might save you and your kids a real pain in the neck … and back!

Cold weather and artificial indoor heat can leave your skin feeling dry and chapped, so be especially kind to your skin during the winter months.

We all wish there was a magical secret to make our skin look younger. What if I told there is a secret to younger looking skin that isn’t so magical? In fact, it’s actually quite simple. It’s super foods and by eating these super foods on a regular basis, you can slow the aging process in your skin.

Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that promote good digestive and immune health. Having a vital and well-balanced population of these micro-organisms in our digestive tract is essential for optimal health. Probiotics have several important functions, including synthesizing nutrients such as vitamin K, which is essential for blood clotting, aiding in digestion and proper elimination, enhancing immune function, supporting detoxification, and optimizing hormone metabolism.

Stretches should be performed both before and after activity. Stretches before activity (either occupational or sport) can be specific to the muscles to be used in the activity. Stretching for general permanent elongation of tissue can be performed after activity when the core body temperature is higher. Here are a few tips to help you the next time that you have to stretch.

We often think of a massage therapy as an unnecessary indulgence; however, in the athletic world, it can be quite the opposite. Many sports massage techniques enhance the body’s own recovery process, improving the athlete’s return to training and competition, and reducing the risk of injury.

Temporal Mandiblar Joint (TMJ) Syndrome is a common source of headaches and jaw pain. TMJ refers to the Temporo-Mandibular Joint. This is the area where the lower jaw or mandible attaches to the skull at the temporal bone, just in front of and below the ears. TMJ syndrome can be caused by trauma, grinding or clenching of the teeth, disease, wear due to aging, or other habits, such as chewing gum or objects like pens or pencils.

According to the Pediatric Society, babies should always sleep on their backs to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). But, a constant position on their back can lead to cranial disfiguration (flattening of the back of the head). This is why it is so important for babies to receive supervised tummy time to encourage their proper development and growth.

Strapping and taping techniques give support and stability to your joints and muscles without affecting circulation and range of motion, and can also help prevent injury and protect the athlete from re-injury whilst returning to sport. The tape limits the movement in an injured joint to prevent excess or abnormal movement and provides support to muscles surrounding the joint that might be under additional strain due to the ligament injury. Our chiropractors have experience with a variety of different taping techniques for both chronic and acute types of injuries.

What causes stress is unique and different for each person, but comes from the same place: our thoughts and feelings around the stressor. If you can review your thoughts around stressors, you can start to change what stresses you.

Chakras (energy centers) are part of your energy body. They receive, generate, store, and transmute energy throughout your body. There are seven major and several minor chakras. Each chakra influences the functions of various organs and body systems and contribute to your feelings of physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Often, healing needs to take place on the mental, emotional, and spiritual level before a physical healing is possible. Reiki helps in this process by dislodging the lower and slower energies allowing them to be released; thus restoring the natural flow allowing the body to do what it does so well: heal itself.

Cleaning up your diet and incorporating certain foods to aid in the detoxification process are essential to any detox program. Here are some of the top foods to help you detox.

Detoxification is about cleaning your body of all the “junk” that has accumulated over the years. Just as we do spring cleaning for the house, it’s important to do the same for the body. Everybody’s body is unique and so are the clearing rates at which the detoxification organs (skin, lungs, kidneys, liver, intestines, and lymphatic system) remove various toxins that have built up in the body.

Making a baby seems quite simple. Sperm meets egg, cells divide creating a mini human, wait nine months and voila! Baby is born! For many couples, this is a natural process that takes place without any roadblocks. However, sometimes it doesn’t work out that easily and I’ve seen firsthand how frustrating that can be. There are a number of factors that can contribute to difficulties in conceiving.

Tissues injured by acute trauma or chronic strain from overuse become tight and stiff. Scar tissue also builds up around these tissues and binds them together, creating pain, inflammation, and reduced mobility. YOUR HEALTH offers several soft tissue therapies to break up scar tissue and improve movement.

Exercise can help prevent many common illnesses, strengthens and protects bones and joints, and can keep you independent throughout life. It’s never too late to start exercising, and incorporating aerobic, resistance training, and flexibility exercises can have many advantages. Even if you are able to do small amounts at a time, a little extra activity is better than no activity.

As health care providers who specialize in muscle and joint pain, chiropractors often have patients ask about receiving musculoskeletal injections to help with their pain. Injections are outside of the scope of practice for chiropractors; however, we encourage patients to get all the information before deciding on their course of care. As injections are offered as a front-line treatment in most medical offices, often before conservative therapies are recommended and despite consideration of the research in this area, we wanted to offer some information for our patients who might have questions.

Postnatal pregnancy massage is a wonderful way to take care of yourself, at a crucial time when all your energy and efforts are centered on caring for your newborn. Postnatal massage re-energizes you as a new mother, supporting the body in regaining its pre-pregnancy condition.

There are many joys in pregnancy, but with them come aches and pains. The aches and pains are due to the physiological changes affecting the musculoskeletal system and most of the organ systems. These changes start in the first week and continue throughout the pregnancy and some months after birth.

A research study revealed that a ten minute massage can trigger anti-inflammation signals in muscle tissue to help decrease pain in damaged muscles, and also produces an increase in the production of mitochondria cells, which contribute to muscle endurance and play an important role in the healing process.

During my work as a chiropractor and a Doula, I am often called upon to help new moms with breastfeeding concerns. If the baby has a latching issue, we can work together to figure out the best way to fix the problem. It is often a simple issue of fixing the baby’s or mother’s position. Other times, chiropractic adjustments are the answer. Often, a gentle chiropractic adjustment of the baby can take the pressure off a joint in the baby’s neck and allow her to extend her head back into the position to breastfeed easily.

As your workload increases, so do repetitive actions such as keyboarding and answering the phone. These routine tasks can add a level of physical stress to the emotional and mental stress of getting the job done. In fact, repetitive strain injuries have skyrocketed in the last two decades due to the increasing reliance on workplace technology. The good news is that a few simple changes to your office set-up can help make your job easier, safer and more efficient.

Infertility in Canada affects between 11-15% of couples. When it comes to male infertility, there are numerous possibilities to rule out. Problems can usually be addressed through lifestyle change and supplementation of nutrients and should be the first line therapy for men as they are both the least costly and invasive of treatment interventions.