Archives for 2012
Four Ways to Keep Your Bones Strong
Four Ways to Keep Your Bones Strong
This is a Guest Post by Kimi James. – Bones
There’s a saying that goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones” and isn’t that true? When an object that’s ten times greater than your body mass is thrown at you, your body probably would get bruised or worse broken. I think we take the bones that make up our body for granted not realizing that the very thing that makes us up is the same thing we need to take care of to keep us in shape, in form, and in health.
When you wake in the mornings and rise from the bed, it took your meta-tarsals, your phalanges, your tibia, your femur, your fibula, your gluteus maximus (muscle), and many other bones to work in order for you to do just that one action.
Before I get ahead of myself and recite an in-depth physiological motion involved with just getting up, I want to emphasize four points to help you stay on track when dealing with your bones.
- Stretch. After getting up in the morning, do stretching exercises for three minutes. It doesn’t take much of your time but stretching can increase your blood flow and gets your muscles in motion. Stretching will make you feel alive and ready to start the day. Your posture when you stand up might also improve.
- Calcium Intake. Thank your body by giving it the nutrients it needs. Drink milk or eat green and leafy vegetables (the greener, the better). These also help to prevent osteoporosis. Also this must be done with #4 -Lift Weights in order for Bones to absorb the Calcium.
- Be Active. Walk, jog, swim, play tennis, play basketball, climb the stairs…get the picture? The point is to move around. Your bones need to be strengthened, not weakened. Of course, when doing these activities, be consistent; don’t over-do them to a point where you hurt yourself. The key is to stay active in moderation.
- Lift Weights. Whether you do it at a gym or purchase your own equipment, weight lifting in moderation contributes to your body’s strength performance, improves your musculoskeletal system, and can decrease the chances of lower back pain.
Bones are necessary to get around in life and a part of daily living. How would you manage to do the tasks like picking up a fork or tie a shoe lace if your femur or your phalanges no longer worked? Sadly, some people face that situation yet amazingly and with resilience still go on. But you have your limbs, your bones in tact, so use them and use them well. Your bones deserve the loving care it does so it works to keep you around. Drive less, walk more.
Swimming Exercise and Pain Management of a Human Body
Swimming Exercise and Pain Management of a Human Body
This is a guest post by Felicia Baratz-Savage from Eat Breath Blog.
At first, it may seem counter-productive to hit the gym or pool when you experience pain, but science and anecdotal research have shown that exercise may actually help to alleviate pain. While some people are more likely to reach for a painkiller to deal with back pain and others may even go so far as to opt for surgery. Low impact exercise such as swimming is a healthy and enjoyable way to reduce musculoskeletal pain.
The idea that exercise can help to eliminate pain isn’t entirely uncommon. Many people are accustomed to “walking it off” and exercise is one of the main recommendations for a woman who is experiencing pain due to menstrual cramps. It should come as no surprise, then, that exercise can also help to relieve back pain. Because it’s exercise, it can also help strengthen a weak back and, potentially, reduce future pain.
Why is swimming the ideal type of exercise when it comes to pain management? Unlike jogging, weight lifting or other high-impact sports, swimming does not require any twisting or direct stress on your back. There are no hard concrete sidewalks or difficult equipment that can actually increase pain. Swimming relies on fluid motions with less resistance than other sports. Swimming can also help to strengthen muscles to make them less impervious to pain in the future.
Finding a place to swim isn’t difficult either. You can swim in a lake or pond, go to the beach or find a local gym. Some people have above ground pools in their backyards that they can swim in.
Experts especially recommend the front stroke or breaststroke methods for patients who are using swimming as a method of exercise to eliminate back pain and other aches. The common front crawl also offers a pain-free way to strengthen back muscles that can commonly cause pain. However, you can actually do more harm than good by swimming for too long or by using improper form. Consider the following suggestions to maximize pain relief from swimming:
- Keep your head straight to minimize strain on the neck and twisting the back. Many swimmers over-rotate when taking breaths. The head should remain along the axis of the body.
- Using wider strokes when performing the breaststroke ensues that the water serves as a cushion while strengthening back muscles in a therapeutic form.
- The body should remain flat when doing the front crawl. The best form involves strong leg kicks so that the lower body does not drag in the water.
- Strokes should always remain fluid. Jerky movements can further increase pain and lead to damage to the back or other parts of the body.
- The sidestroke is ideal for alleviating back pain because it doesn’t require excess amounts of pressure on any part of the body. However, you should always alternate sides to prevent exhausting of and muscle strain. Switching it up also helps swimmers to maintain the sidestroke for longer periods of time.
- The backstroke can quickly exhaust neck muscles if you don’t consistently practice it. You should take it easy when picking it up once more, or for the first time.
Physical therapists and chiropractors agree that swimming is one way to reduce both current and future pain, and can complement any current pain management program.
Stress and 4 Tips On How To Avoid It
This is a guest post by Ayrsley Solutions.
In life, we experience a multitude of emotions ranging from positive to negative. What a lot of us don’t realize is that each emotion that we experience makes a profound impact on our health as well as our psyche.
Stress is one of the factors that affects us emotionally and physically. Stress will cause the chain of the biochemical reactions in a our body. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA or HTPA axis), also known as the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (LHPA axis) and, occasionally, as thehypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-gonadotropic axis, is a complex set of direct influences and feedback interactions among the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland (a pea-shaped structure located below the hypothalamus), and the adrenal (also called “suprarenal”) glands (small, conical organs on top of the kidneys).
The interactions among these organs constitute the HPA axis, a major part of the neuroendocrine system that controls reactions to stress and regulates many body processes, includingdigestion, the immune system, mood and emotions, sexuality, and energy storage and expenditure. A wide variety of species, from the most ancient organisms to humans, share components of the HPA axis. It is the common mechanism for interactions among glands, hormones, and parts of the midbrain that mediate the general adaptation syndrome.
The steroids that are released from the adrenal glands during stress ends up growing the body fat; this fat is also referred to as: “belly fat”, “muffin top”, and “pooch”. The medical term would be an “adipose tissue”.
As part of the life cycle, we are continually burning energy and aging; however, being under stress expedites these changes in our bodies. Stress becomes an environmental toxin that causes damage and increase oxidant levels which results in slowing down our bodies’ cells and repair mechanisms. This ultimately leads to a prolonged aging process that appears on our face and body.
So what should a person do to help decrease the long term effects of stress on our body in a non-evasive manner?
1. Keep hydrated.
As we get older, we tend to lean away from drinking lots of water. But did you know that it only takes 10% of dehydration for your metabolism to slow down. When your metabolism slows down, unnecessary weight gain occurs.
2. Take lukewarm showers.
A lot of people don’t enjoy hearing this one, especially if they are addicted to taking nice hot showers. But, taking hot showers strips away the fat barrier from your skin; therefore leading to dry and crackling skin. Also, another thing that we recommend is that if your muscles are inflamed, taking a hot shower is the last thing that you want to do. Why? Because think of it this way, when your muscles are inflamed, you don’t have to touch your skin to feel the heat dissipating. You can’t put out a fire with fire, correct? With that being said, when you take a hot shower with inflamed muscles, you will feel good for about an hour or so; but we all know that feeling is only temporary. Therefore, when taking a lukewarm to cold showers, not only you are preserving your skin but you are also reducing the muscle inflammation.
3. Vitamin A versus Vitamin E
Vitamin A, also known as Retinol, is a vitamin combined with Retinal and 4 Carotenes including Beta Carotene. Vitamin A has been scientifically proven to increase chemicals that reverse wrinkles!
Vitamin E, also known as Tocopherol, is a vitamin combined with 8 Fat Soluble Compounds including Tocotrienol. Scientific studies have shown that people that take Vitamin E supplements do add longevity to their lives. Although, Vitamin E is good for you, however, the best form to consume Vitamin E is through food such as almonds, wheat germ, and avocado instead of the pill form.
The extension cord of your brain is your spinal cord. Your spinal cord is encased inside of your spine that is made of up 24 articulating bones known as your vertebra (vertebrae). The extension of your spinal cord are your spinal nerves that protrude from in-between each vertebra. The spinal nerves encompass your entire body, attaching itself to muscles, tissues, and organs. This is referred to as the body’s “information highway.”
When your vertebra is misaligned, it causes a misalignment which applies pressure and results in nerve interference.
Remember, the brain expresses stress to your adrenal glands and your adrenals glands delivers the expression throughout your entire body. The 9th nerve in your thoracic is the nerve that supplies your adrenal glands. If there is an interruption of communication between the brain and your adrenal glands during stress, it could lead to other more serious health related problems
By seeing a Doctor of Chiropractic, this nerve interference can be resolved and maintained to ensure that your body is working at its maximum.
As people, we identify stress to be a normal part of life while ignoring the serious effects that it can cause to our body. The term stress should not be limited to the definition as outside or environmental factors; for our body also experience stress when we are not feeling well due to a cold. Always bear in mind, that how you handle and overcome stress will become apparent on your body.
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