Thursday 19 November 2015

Sitting is the new smoking!

Many of you may have recently seen articles with the headline “sitting is the new smoking.” As scary as it sounds it is very much the case for a lot of Australians who work at a desk in an office environment.


Recent studies have suggested that for every hour we spend sitting can cut up to 22 minutes from our lifespan and many of us can spend up to 80% of our working day seated. 


Australians as a population are eating more and moving less and this, in turn is increasing our risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, muscular pain, depression and even stroke. The World Health Organisation recognises physical inactivity as the fourth biggest killer in Australia, that’s ahead of obesity. I bet you’re thinking “but I exercise regularly”, “I stretch”, “I go to the gym”. In fact studies showed that on the days that people exercised they were actually 30% less active than they were on days when they didn’t exercise. The recommended amount of exercise of 30 minutes a day on at least five days a week is enough to benefit from, however if you spend most of your day sitting that 30 minutes will not be enough to counteract the negative effects on your body.


Not only does sitting for such long periods effect you general health and wellbeing if can also have a negative effect on your postural muscles. As we continue to sit at our desks the more fatigued our postural muscles can get, this results in slouching or slumping to try and become more comfortable. The slouched position puts added pressure on our lower back, lessens the activation of our core and can result in a weakening of our postural muscles in our neck and shoulders while the muscles in our chest become tight and our shoulders internally rotated. These changes in our posture can lead to many presentations of lower back pain, shoulder dysfunction, neck pain and even headaches. 


So, how do we counteract all these negative changes in our bodies? We don’t need to spend hours at the gym, or even start running marathons, we just need to move more. Whether that means setting an alert in your calendar to get up and walk around every half an hour or just moving the printer or bin away from your desk so that you have to get up more often, stand up during meetings or even have a walking meeting. Even when you’re at home, stand up and move during the ad breaks when watching TV, stand while talking on the phone, get a takeaway coffee and go for a walk instead of sitting in a coffee shop.


None of these suggestions are outrageous strategies that take huge changes to be made to your life, they are all little things that can be done by anyone. So if you or your co-workers are sitting for a large portion of your day it may be worthwhile implementing some of these into your office.

If you would like any more information or to arrange some Corporate Myotherapy for your workplace please visit our website www.rebalancemyotherapy.com.au or call 0418 709 904.

 

Links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2NHvpM9PWU

http://www.safetyaustraliagroup.com.au/news-resoources/safety-news/116-sitting-is-the-new-smoking

 


Tuesday 22 September 2015

Tendinopathy: What is it? & How is it treated?

                

This time of year we have many patients coming to see us as part of their training for marathons, trail runs and many other events and sportsAs this training is putting an increased load on your muscles and tendons it is inevitable that we see a lot of people presenting to us with tendon pain.


Tendinopathy is an all-encompassing term that is used to describe several conditions affecting tendons and surrounding tissues in response to overuse. You may have heard of tendinitis, tendinosis or even tensosynovitis. These terms all can be grouped under the ‘Tendinopathy’ category. Although sounding quite overwhelming, they are fairly common and treatable if you follow the advice from your health professional. 


There are several ways to approach a tendinopathy. Usually it depends on the onset of the injury, how long you have had it for and how much tissue may be damaged. In most cases though, we will aim to get you pain free at rest within a few weeks. This may include treatment with us here at Rebalance Myotherapy along with some at home prescriptive exercises for you to do. We would also get you to refrain from any aggravating factors during this time


A recent Cochrane systematic review evaluated the effectiveness of different types of treatment applications ranging from Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen, physical therapy, corticosteroid injections, right through to surgery and stem cell treatment. 

The evidence found in these studies showed that topical or oral NSAIDs were affective within the short term (7-14 days)however there was no clear evidence that ongoing use of NSAIDs is effective in the treatment of tendinopathies. As this is usually a go-to for the general public, we recommend that this only be used in the first two weeks after the injury to control pain and swelling.


Physical therapy is used frequently in the treatment of tendinopathies. This is what you would see us for and can include modalities like dry needling, soft tissue mobilisation, prescriptive stretching and strengthening exercises. The main focus of the exercises we will give you is to eccentrically contract the muscle and tendon complex. These programs work particularly well for Achilles tendinopathy. Eccentric loading of a muscle is the process of contracting a muscle as it lengthens ie. Lowering your heel off a step slowly.


Corticosteroid injections are another common treatment for tendinopathy. Most of the findings with this treatment are positive pain relief in the short term, up to 6 weeks. However, long term effectiveness has not been proven. 

Surgery for tendinopathies is rare and can be performed as a last option usually after all non-operative measures have been taken.


Although they may take some time, most tendinopathies will heal with conservative treatment within 6-12 weeks.  


Hopefully this information has been helpful to you all out there who are training for upcoming events! Please feel free to contact the clinic on 0418 709 904 if you would like any more information or advice.





Thursday 2 July 2015

I found a lump in my breast!

What a hectic start to the year most of us have had! Here at Rebalance Myotherapy we love hearing and sharing in many of our client’s achievements and pathways through life. This blog is a little different to our past ones, it’s written still with plenty of health advice and has a hidden message for everyone…

My year to date has been very life changing, I’ve been busy running Rebalance Myotherapy Clinic while also managing to get married, move house and take a short trip to Japan. What all of you would be unaware off is, quite recently I was surprised to discover a lump in my breast!

Now being a Myotherapist we do develop palpation skills that enable us to feel taught bands and trigger points within muscles. It’s what makes us good at our job and getting the desired results you personally require. I guess I have these skills to thank for discovering my lump. Over the years I have had numerous patients present with all sorts of lumps and bumps. Usually they turn out to be lipomas, which is a growth of fatty tissue that slowly develops just under the skin and are usually quite harmless. Whenever we find these abnormalities we always advise patients to seek their GP‘s opinion. When we treat you at Rebalance Myotherapy Clinic not only will we inform you of any lumps we find but also any changes we notice on moles, especially on your back and other hard to self-monitor areas.

On discovering my lump I was filled with a mixture of emotions. My head raced to every amazing woman I’ve known that has battled breast cancer or currently still is. Pulling myself together, I quickly reassured myself with these simple facts; I fall in the wrong age category and I also have no family history. I thought it would be highly unlikely for this lump to amount to much but with my newly wedded husband’s insistence I made a doctor’s appointment to be examined.

On examination there was a definite thickening and lump on my breast, the next step was a referral out for a mammogram and ultrasound. Easy I thought, go and have these scans done and then we can put all this worry behind us and enjoy our newly wedded bliss.

Arriving at the hospital I started to fret what are these scans going to show? For those that have never had a mammogram done before, let me paint a picture of my experience. I was escorted to a dark room which contained a machine that looks like something out of star wars. All sorts of buzzing and flashing lights greeted me as I walked out of the change room. The robe they gave me was quickly removed and I was instructed to place my breast on the machine’s bench.  You are then instructed to relax as they move the machine and you into the correct position to be scanned.  For me, I felt like I was in a very bad tango dance move with this machine! Once they are happy with your position, a piece of plastic slowly squashes your breast down until it reaches a size that feels smaller than a pancake! Now let me tell you relaxing in this position is very hard, as I thought my breast was going to explode at any moment.

The ultrasound is a walk in the park compared to the mammogram. The only thing I will say about this experience is that it is a long process and also be aware that you will have a front row to every measurement taken. You see where you get your breast ultra-sounded is the same examination room that pregnant women receive their scans too. So promptly right in front of you is a monitor that shows you everything! I’m sure these screens bring lots of women joy but in my case it was quite the opposite.

Now because I had a front row seat to the ultrasound I knew my results would indicate something. When you physically see the radiologist measuring and pausing on masses within your breast tissue, it would have been a little naïve of me to think my scans would come back ‘all clear’. I think a wise decision for the hospitals to make would be to turn these monitors off when scanning breasts. My results indicated two lesions that most likely represent fibroadenomas with a suggested guided biopsy to confirm these findings. It’s quite common for these tests to discover other lumps you weren’t aware of, that is the beauty about getting them done you get the full picture. So now I had two lumps but this soon would change to three as the doctor discovered a third during the biopsy.

Fibroadenomas are not cancerous but can sometimes be hard to distinguish from cancer, hence requiring a biopsy. Researches are unsure what causes them and they are quite common especially in women aged 15 to 25. Up to 1 in 6 (15%) of women have a fibroadenoma at some time in their life. They can be also known as a ‘breast mouse’ as they are quite firm and rubbery, and when pushed on they can appear to move away under your fingers. A specialist doctor decides if it’s safe to leave them alone or if surgical removal is the better option but most fibroadenomas are left alone and do not require treatment.

Once again, compared to a mammogram, a breast biopsy is relatively easy to get through. Don’t get me wrong, it’s more than a tickle and you do take a while to recover but the pain and tenderness is manageable. I found out this week my biopsy results confirmed the initial indications that my lumps are fibroadenomas. All the worry and uncertainty I had surrounding these lumps was definitely worth going through to hear those results. I am lucky! I am lucky I found the lumps and lucky to have these results. The reason I have chosen to write a clinic blog about this experience is to raise awareness that if you find something abnormal or something is starting to show signs of change get it checked out. We live in a world where there are some pretty amazing medical tests and treatments available and early intervention can sometimes be the key.

We are very health conscious here at Rebalance Myotherapy Clinic and we want our patients to be proactive about their health. So after reading this blog I hope a few of you are sitting there groping your boobs or even booking that doctors appointment to get that mole checked out that you’ve been meaning to. 

Warmest Regards
Monica Canny
Myotherapist
Rebalance Myotherapy Clinic

Monday 8 June 2015

Your Questions Answered About Trigger Points

When you are at Rebalance Myotherapy clinic you may hear Monica and myself constantly talking about Myofascial Trigger Points or Trigger Point Therapy and you are lying there thinking, "What on earth are they talking about!" Here I am going to give you quick overview of what we mean.
 
What is a myofascial trigger point?
A myofascial trigger point is a spot found in skeletal muscle where a palpable nodule can be felt that has an increased irritability and is also known as a “knot”. They are usually found within a taut band of muscle fibres and can elicit pain both locally and referred if compressed or stimulated.
There are two main types of trigger points categorised as either active or latent. An active trigger point typically will be symptomatic at rest as well as when it is stimulated. Trigger points can prevent full lengthening of the muscle, they can also produce referred pain and even a local twitch response when stimulated.
A latent trigger point is asymptomatic and will not cause pain when the muscle is at ease. However, when a latent trigger point is stimulated it can cause all the symptoms of an active trigger point.

What causes myofascial trigger points?
The causes of myofascial trigger point can be very widespread, from general overuse to poor nutrition or even stress. These factors are very hard to isolate and often go hand in hand. Frequently we see people with muscle imbalances and poor posture which can lead to chronic myofascial trigger points developing. Our goal is to treat the immediate pain of the trigger point while also addressing the underlying factor/s causing them to occur.

How does trigger point therapy work?
The aim of trigger point therapy is to remove and alleviate the pain associated with trigger points. We do this by using a range of techniques both hands on and with the use of dry needling. All the techniques we use are designed to increase blood flow to the area of the trigger point and in turn allow the muscle fibers to receive the nutrition they require to release and relax.

How can you (the patient) assist the trigger point therapy you receive from Rebalance Myotherapy?
After having a treatment with us, you will be asked to do some extra work on the area at home. This may include using a heat pack, self-massage, foam roller, spikey ball or even some good old fashioned stretching.  These are all things you can do to assist your recovery after your treatment and may help in the prevention of new trigger points forming.
 
If you have any questions or would like any more information on any musculoskeletal conditions please don’t hesitate to contact us at the clinic, 0418709904

 Rebalance Myotherapy Clinic