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In this video I show 3 simple exercises to help improve your posture. If you have 'poor posture' chances are you have weakness in your mid back. This is why you get tired quickly when someone gets you to 'sit up straight'. The muscles in your mid back and shoulders have weakened since they have not been used properly. These exercises are designed to help strengthen those muscles so that you can maintain a better posture for longer and ultimately get less back and neck pain. This video is a follow on from my previous video on the 'Bruggers Relief Position'. If you haven't seen it, you can watch it here. NOTE: If you have any pain with these exercises, please stop and consult your medical/exercise professional.
One of my favorite quotes from Einstein is “Nothing happens until something moves”. This quote is great from a body and health perspective, as movement is life. If you are not moving, you are not functioning well. I recently came across an interesting article that described a new understanding of how movement controls our stress response. This peaked my interest as, in general, most people have a fair amount of stress in their lives these days. We all know that prolonged stress is not good for our health, so if movement can help control our stress response, it makes moving even more important. Continue reading to see how movement is linked to stress.
With the nice weather approaching (hopefully), a lot of people will be heading out into the garden. Apart from making the backyard look nice, gardening can also have a positive benefit on your body in lots of ways. In fact an article from the BBC said that in the UK there are some pilot schemes for GPs to prescribe gardening to patients and some schools are setting up gardening projects to give children a nice place to relax in. So what are the known benefits of gardening? You will be surprised. Continue reading to find out.
The knee is one of the most common joints we injure, especially in athletes. Common injuries are sprains and strains, then there are meniscus injuries and ACL tears etc. In severe cases, surgery is going to be required, but is it always the best option? According to an article on www.mercola.com exercise may work just as well as surgery with some injuries. In the article Dr Mercola discusses several pieces of research which shows that exercise can be just as effective as surgery for certain injuries. I will go over a few of the key findings here, but if you are interested follow this link to read the full article. Continue reading to see what the studies show and what to make of it.
In the last few posts I have discussed foot positioning and some simple techniques to help reduce the tension and muscle imbalances that often develop as a result of foot dysfunction. Hopefully you have tried a few of them and your feet are feeling better. The next step in the process is to help strengthen the feet and regain control of the muscles. There are lots of different exercises to do, but these are some good ones to start with. Continue reading to learn about the exercises.
We all know that exercise is important for keeping our bodies in good shape, but have you thought about exercising our brains? Our brains have an amazing capacity to change. We can improve its ability to function and actually reshape the physical structure of our brains. How do we do this you may ask? Well, you can do it through neuroplasticity training exercises. Continue reading to find out what neuroplasticity is and what the exercises involve.
If you read my previous post on the Bruggers relief position, I hope you have tried it and put it to good use. If you haven’t seen it, you can read it here. In this post, I want to expand on the Bruggers relief position and show you 3 simple exercises to do to help improve your posture and counteract the negative effects of the sitting most of us do on a daily basis. Continue reading to see the exercises.
I recently came across this interesting article from www.mercola.com discussing whether you should exercise or rest when you are sick. I found it interesting as my body has recently succumbed to a cold and I was wondering whether I felt like exercising of not. You can read the full article on their website. Here is a brief summary, and some key take home points I picked up from the article.
According to a new literature review in the January issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, it is becoming more common for children and adolescents to seek medical care for back pain. In fact, it has been said that nearly one in three adolescents report back pain. I have also seen an increase in the number of children presenting with back pain and discomfort in practice over the last few years. There can be a number of causes for back pain in children and sometimes, all of the expensive tests and scans may not be able to find the exact cause of the problem. So what are the common causes for back pain in children and how can we help? Continue reading to find out.
Everyone knows that we need to exercise, especially with our increasingly sedentary lifestyles. Walking is a simple activity that most people can do. However, there are ways that you can get more 'bang for buck' with your walks. Walking technique is important and can make a big difference. I don't want to go into that in this post, but if you are interested, check out the gait guys. They have fantastic information on walking and your gait cycle. For this post I have compiled a list of 8 simple tips to use to help you get the most out of your walking. Continue reading to see if the tips could help you.
Most of us watch TV. A new study, which will appear in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, shows that too many hours spent sitting in front of the TV can increase your risks for eight of the major causes of death. I am an avid TV watcher and after reading this research, I may have to change a few things when it comes to watching TV. Continue reading to see what the study showed.
Teens are playing more and more sports these days. I have noticed it recently at my chiropractic practice when trying to book them in for follow up visits. It is getting harder to find free time that is not taken up with all of the sports they are playing. We all know that sport and exercise is good for you and is a very important thing to include in your daily schedule, but can too much sport be a bad thing? Well, according to some research out of Switzerland and Canada, too much sport CAN be a bad thing. How much is too much? Continue reading to find out.
School and University exams are fast approaching. This also means students will be spending long hours in front of computers and text books. This prolonged sedentary activity can have detrimental effects on your body and health. Of course, study is important, but you will want to minimize the negative effects it has on your body. I don’t want to discuss "how" to study as everyone is different and what works for one person may not work for another. This is more about your body and the environment you study in and trying not to damage yourself during the exam period. Continue reading to see my 8 tips on how to function well during your upcoming exams.
The world federation of chiropractic has created an initiative called “just start walking”. The New Zealand Chiropractors Association is also getting behind it. Chiropractor and New Zealand Chiropractors Association (NZCA) spokesperson Dr Hayden Thomas explains: ‘Walking benefits all aspects of your health from increasing your levels of vitamin D, improving the efficiency of heart and lung function, reducing circulating stress hormones, assisting spinal function, and helping with weight loss. And it’s something nearly everyone can do to increase their fitness and well being’.
It is well known that exercise can help boost your brain function. It has been thought that this occurs mainly in the older populations as young brains are at their prime and peak cognitive ability, hence do not benefit from exercise. A study from the University of Otago has shown that this is not the case. Exercise can help the brains of young adults as well. Continue reading to see what they found.
Hopefully you have read my previous post on two simple tests you can do to see if your poor posture has caused upper crossed syndrome (UCS). If you read it, I bet you were interested in trying the test to see how well you fared. If you did the test and there were signs of UCS, I bet you are wondering what you can do to help it. Well, here is the answer, my 4 steps to help Upper Cross Syndrome. If you haven't read the previous post, click here to do so and try the simple test. Continue reading to find out what you can do to help.
Good bone growth is dependent on weight bearing activity. You may have heard that as you get older your bones can get weaker if you do not use them. You have probably heard of the term osteoporosis. One way of minimizing this is to do weight bearing activities. What do you think happens to our bones when we spend more and more time in sedentary activities, like watching TV, playing on computers and our mobile phones? This sedentary type behavior is especially prevalent in children these days. A study from Norway suggests that teenage boys who spend too much time in front of a TV or computer could develop weakened bones as they age. Continue reading to see what the study found. There was also an interesting twist to the results of the study.
We are always told exercise is good and we need to do it regularly, and I agree with this. However, an important consideration is that the exercises need to be done with the correct technique in order to avoid injury and get the best results. CNN published an article where they interviewed several top physical therapists in America and got them to talk about what exercises are most likely to cause injury. They then discussed the top 10 (you can read the original article here). I have summarized the results and added a few things. It is important to note that some of these exercises can actually be very beneficial if they are done properly. It is also important to realise that just about any exercise done poorly could cause injury. Technique is key. Continue reading to find out what exercises may hurt you.
Being the proud dad of our beautiful new baby, I am well aware of the effect reduced sleep can have on your mind and body. Good quality sleep is one of those important things we all need to function well. According to the National Sleep Foundation (in America), adults aged 18-64 should get around 7-9 hours sleep each night, while those aged 65 and older should aim for 7-8 hours sleep each night. Having reduced sleep can have negative effects on the body. What effect can reduced sleep have you may ask? Well I have found some recent research that shows what can happen. Continue reading to find out what the research showed, as well as 7 tips for getting a great nights sleep.
In the previous post we discussed what an intervertebral disc is and how injuries occur. We also discussed what symptoms you can get if you do have a disc injury. In part 2 of this series, I will look at the diagnosis and treatment options for a disc injury and will also give some ways to help at home. So how is a disc injury diagnosed? Continue reading to find out.
A disc injury is often called lots of things; a slipped disc, a herniated disc, a disc prolapse, a disc protrusion, a disc bulge, degenerative disc etc. Whatever you call it, a disc injury is very common these days. In fact, a large portion of the population actually have disc bulges, but they go unnoticed, as not all disc injuries cause pain. My aim with this 2 part blog series is to firstly describe what a disc injury is and how it occurs. The second post will be how disc injuries can be treated and what you can do at home to help. I have found that the more you know about a problem, the more informed your decision making process can be. This is extremely important with disc injuries as there are a few different treatment options with some of them being quite invasive. Whether you have an injury or not, I hope it makes things a lot clearer for you and gives you some ways to improve your function and hopefully prevent an injury in the future. So what is a disc injury and why do they occur? Continue reading to find out.
Simply walking for half an hour a day, 6 days a week could reduce the risk of death in elderly men by a massive 40%, according to a study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Men who did regular exercise also lived for 5 years longer on average than sedentary men. The study was done in Oslo, Norway, and I think the results are fascinating. Who wouldn’t want to live an extra 5 years? Continue reading to see what they did.
We all know that exercise is good for your body and I have written several posts in the past on this topic. Some new research, published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise in March this year, involving identical twins suggests that it can have a big impact on your brain. The study showed that a twin who worked out regularly had significantly more gray matter in their brains than the twin that did not exercise as much. This increase was prevalent in the area of the brain involved in motor control. The exciting part about using identical twins in this type of research is that they have the same genetic makeup and usually have grown up in a similar environment. This means that the differences in the brains were more likely due to the exercise habits than other genetic factors. Continue reading to find out what they did.
There are 4 main causes of preventable ill-health: Smoking, poor nutrition, lack of physical activity, and excess alcohol. These could be easy to remedy, but what effect do they, and in particular exercise, really have? A new report from the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has revealed the full extent exercise could have on preventing disease and treating many conditions. The report was based on analyzing over 200 separate pieces of research and took 2 years to complete. The report shows some pretty amazing findings. Although based in the UK, the results would be similar the world over. It is amazing what a bit of exercise can do to help prevent numerous health problems. I think you will be surprised by what they found. Continue reading to find out.
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Dr Craig BuscombBringing you news, research and advice on health, wellness, exercise and chiropractic care to help take your health to the next level 
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