NERANG PHYSIOTHERAPY

I have decided to re-visit thissubject as it is definitely the mostcommon ailment treated by Phys-iotherapists world-wide.

It has been said that 80% of thewestern public have experiencedback pain and 80% of the other20% will at some stage have backpain. These are staggering figuresand begs the question, “Why is itin the west and not in Africa orthe East?”.

Well the main difference is theway of life. Both in Africa and Asiathe natural inhabitants make useof the chair a lot less than we do.They either squat or sit on thefloor, enabling them to use muchmore range of motion in the backthan we do.

Also by squatting or sitting therewill be the tendency not to do it

for so long as it can becomeuncomfortable. In the west thecomfort of the chair allows us tostay in a fixed sitting position forlong periods without moving.

This leads to our soft tissuesadapting to the sitting positionand causing tightness to set in inthe hips and legs. This lack offlexibility starts to affect thelower back eventually and thisleads to lower back issues.

This is a major problem in oursociety and it starts from an earlyage where we are in school withno-one to teach us how to sitoptimally in a chair.

Lower back issues can mostly beavoided by good early education,quality mobility exercises and lesssitting. Regular assessments canalso prevent pain if weakness isfound early enough.

When was your last check-up withyour Physiotherapist?

GENERAL NEWS

8/5-7 Lavelle Street, Nerang, Queensland, 4211 Tel: (07) 5596 4711Web: www.nerangphysio.com Email: nerangphysiotherapy@onthenet.com.au

The difference is obvious

August2017

Peter Mitchell

Wow, what a winter weare having, 30 degreesin the day and 16 atnight? Unheard of. Besure to wrap up when itgets cooler at night toprevent colds and fluand gastro which oftencome about fromexposure to suddendrops in temperature.

Lower back pain

FROZEN HOT

A lady I was treatingmany years ago came infor her next treatmentand said she lay on herheating blanket thewhole night in theprevious week and couldnot move the next day,she was literally ‘frozenhot’.

Why did this happen?

The reason for this wasthe amount of time shespent on the heatingblanket. All the time shewas on it the body waswarming up, and theblood vessels weredilating. This generalisedeffect had slowed therate of blood flow somuch her muscles couldnot function at all.

Her soft tissues hadtightened up so much shewas rendered immobile.It took her a long time tobe able to move as thebody temperaturereturned to normal.

The lesson here? Becareful of using too muchheat when you are inpain. Smaller dosesalways work best and canavoid this happening toyou. Try 1 minute of heatevery 5 minutes for betterand safer results.

BRAIN TEASER OF THEMONTH

Answer:Ask one robot what the other robot would say, if it was asked which door was safe. Then go throughthe other door.

Peter Mitchell Nerang Physiotherapy 5596 4711

One of the biggest causes ofshoulder issues is a lack offlexibility in the neck, andthe most common area ofstiffness is the side of theneck.

Unfortunately it is the areathat we use least as far asmovement is concerned. Wenod and shake our heads butvery seldom bend itsideways, ear to shoulder.

Problem is it is this area oftightness that has a directlink to the shoulder and ifthe side of the neck getstight, it tends to drag theshoulder up towards theneck.

This results in deactivatingsome shoulder musclesleading to muscularimbalance. Because of thisother shoulder muscles haveto compensate and thiseventually leads to stiffnessand pain in the shoulder andin more chronic cases,rotator cuff issues.

So to try and prevent thishappening we need tostretch the sides of the neckregularly to ensure they donot tighten.

This can be done by lettingthe head drop to one side atthe same time as you gentlypush the hand of theopposite side towards theground to produce a stretchof the neck. Gently use theother hand to pull your headover further but ONLY to the1st sign of stretch. Hold till thestretch feeling eases andrepeat on the other side.

Do this at least once a day.

Have a laugh

“Do the sing-elet!” One of the biggest mistakes made in climates like wehave here is not having enough layers of clothes on to protect againstsudden cold temperatures, whether these be natural or man-made(air-conditioning). One easy way to ensure we don’t get caught out is towear a singlet (vest). This gives a second layer of insulation beneath theshirt and can prevent over-cooling of the skin which can result ingastro-enteritis, colds and flu. So get you and especially your kids “Doin’the sing-elet” and stay healthy.

You are trapped in a room with twodoors. One leads to certain death and theother leads to freedom. You don't knowwhich is which.There are two robots guarding the doors.They will let you choose one door butupon doing so you must go through it.You can, however, ask one robot onequestion. The problem is one robot alwaystells the truth ,the other always lies andyou don't know which is which.

Myo-GolfAre you pulling your hair out tryingto get your golf swing correct. Oris your golf professional pullinghis hair out?

Did you know many golf swingfaults are nothing to do with themechanics of the swing but yourbody’s inability to perform theswing?

The golf swing is all about thehips, as this is where themovement and the poweroriginates. Any fault in the hips,be it weakness or stiffness canresult in poor swing mechanics.

If you want to put yards on yourdrive or improve your consistency,the first place to look is Myo-golf.This unique way of looking at thebody and how it can perform thegolf swing is the first of its kind inAustralia.

Assessment includes flexibilitytests, strength tests and tests ofthe nervous system that controlsblood flow to your muscles givingthem both strength and flexibility.

Many professional golfers suffersimilar problems but mostemphasis gets put on thetechnique and not the body.Spending every day in the gym isnot the answer to strengtheningmuscles that are not beingallowed to work.

Correct analysis of the causes ofweakness and stiffness areavailable at Nerang Physiotherapynow.

NECK STRETCHES