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Back to School / End of Summer Stress Relief

Back to School / End of Summer Stress Relief

Whether or not September marks a return to the classroom for you or your kids, autumn typically brings about abrupt changes in routines and workloads, resulting in more stress and less of the natural mood-boosting vitamin D we all enjoyed from being outdoors during summer. While stress itself can’t always be avoided, here is how establishing a solid stress relief strategy can go a long way in helping you cope and recover from the toll that stress takes on your body, mind, and spirit.

How Stress Wreaks Havoc

Have you ever noticed that during times of stress, your posture changes, your skin looks duller, your muscles feel tight, and your body feels heavier and more sluggish?

Long periods of stress can lead to chronic muscle tension that in turn can trigger headache and migraine pain, joint pain, nerve pain, bruxism (nocturnal teeth grinding), and aggravate pre-existing conditions and past injuries.

The hormonal cascade that stress triggers affects blood pressure, circulation, breathing rate, muscle tension and creates emotional anxiousness and agitation. Worse yet, chronic stress can cause potentially serious disruptions throughout the body, including a lowered immunity and a heightened risk of heart attack, stroke, autoimmune flare-ups, cognitive, reproductive, weight, and digestive issues. For these reasons, it’s wise to take stress seriously and establish a healthy stress relief strategy to help mitigate its adverse effects.

Mitigating the Harmful Effects of Stress

While periods of stress are nearly impossible to avoid, there are things you can do to help mitigate its adverse effects on our mind and body, including: 

  • Exercise: physical movement, done in moderation, can uplift mood and mitigate the detrimental effects of chronic stress. You can double up on the positive effects of exercise by getting outdoors and asking a friend to join you. 
  • Meditation, breathing exercise, or prayer: stillness, breathwork, prayer, and self-reflection can restore calmness and help you focus on the things you can do that are within your control. 
  • Time with pets and friends: even though stress can make you want to withdrawal from social obligations, making time to talk or visit with a trusted friend can go a long way in making you feel optimistic and supported. 
  • Addressing root causes of stress: sometimes, what triggers stress is evident and temporary. Other times, stress is the result of lifestyle choices requiring change. Toxic workplaces, being burdened with other people’s conflicts, and being overtaxed with too many obligations can all lead to physical and emotional burnout. Stress will become chronic unless and until the root causes are adequately addressed. 
  • Simplifying your schedule: It’s tempting to take things on while feeling overly optimistic about our time and energy reserves, but having too many obligations and–even enjoyable activities–scheduled can leave you feeling stretched and strained. When in doubt, schedule less and leave more time for spontaneity and quiet time as needed.
  • Self-care: often the first thing to be pushed aside when stressed, self-care is vital, even if it’s just making time for an afternoon nap or a relaxing bath with your favourite essential oils and soft lighting. The key is to pay attention to the signs your body sends you that rest is needed. 
  • Stress relief treatments: lingering pain and tension induced by stress often require therapeutic treatments to resolve, such as massage therapy, acupuncture, physiotherapy, and chiropractic treatments.

When Stress Relief Treatments Are Needed

Sometimes, therapeutic intervention is warranted after repeated bouts or long periods of stress, especially when considering how stress-induced tension and inflammation can aggravate pre-existing conditions and old injuries or cause new ones. Postural imbalances, nerve pain, tension headaches, neck and shoulder pain, TMJ disorders, sleep disturbances, chronic muscle tension, and circulation issues are some of the most common physical manifestations of stress that professionally administered stress relief treatments can remedy. 

Therapeutic stress relief treatments can address the compounding effects of stress via several unique approaches. For example:

Acupuncture is a natural and effective way of bringing stress-induced hormones back into balance, restoring a much-needed sense of calm. 

When stress contributes to misalignment and aggravation of pre-existing conditions or past injuries, tailored chiropractic care and physiotherapy treatments can work wonders restoring strength, mobility, muscular balance, and optimal alignment while helping alleviate nerve and joint pain.

For stress-induced muscle tightness and circulation concerns, scheduling a registered massage therapy treatment will effectively release tension and immediately increase oxygen and nutrient-rich blood flow to the areas treated. 

The positive effects that physiotherapy, chiropractic care, acupuncture, and therapeutic massage have on improving oxygen-rich circulation also helps aid the body’s natural healing and detoxification process by increasing the movement of lymphatic fluid via massage and myofascial release. The combined benefits of releasing muscle and fascia tension and improving circulation and lymphatic flow explain why people typically feel lighter and even notice a nice glow to their skin following stress relief treatments such as massage therapy and acupuncture. 

Regardless of which stress relief treatments you receive, the healing benefits of addressing stress-related tension are both an act of self-care and an investment in your health and wellbeing. 

Book a Therapeutic Stress Relief Treatment Today

Experience the healing, calming, and restorative benefits of a therapeutic stress relief treatment. Give our team of practitioners at Diversified Health Clinic a call today at (250) 382-0018 or book an appointment online. 

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NERVE PAIN WITH SCIATICA: WHAT IT IS AND HOW WE APPROACH SCIATIC TREATMENT IN VICTORIA BC

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Don’t Let Runner’s Knee Interfere With Fall Running Season 

Don’t Let Runner’s Knee Interfere With Fall Running Season 

The cool, crisp climate of autumn in Victoria marks the start of another running season, including local running events and marathons. If you’re just getting back into running, as you increase your training frequency, it’s essential to prevent injury by paying attention to aches and pains and addressing them before they become more troublesome. For example, here are the typical signs and symptoms of Runner’s Knee, which is especially common amongst new and experienced runners. 

What Is Runner’s Knee? and What Causes It?

What Runner’s Knee Is and What Causes It

Runner’s Knee is an umbrella term used to describe patellofemoral pain syndrome: a variety of conditions that contribute to pain surrounding the knee cap (technically referred to as your patella). The patella is prone to overuse injuries caused by activities that place repetitive pressure and strain on the knee joint and surrounding muscles and tendons.

Examples of activities that put stress on the knee are sports that involve lots of running and directional changes (such as soccer, lacrosse, skiing, and rugby), and activities that result in repeated knee flexion and extension (such as cycling, swimming, and weightlifting).

Runner’s knee can also be caused by direct injury, obesity, misalignment of the knee joint, arthritis and inflammation, muscle and tendon strain, high-arches, fallen-arches (flat feet), or over-pronation of the feet. Regardless of the cause of Runner’s Knee, prompt treatment can help relieve pain and prevent further damage to the complex biomechanics of your knee joint. 

Signs & Symptoms

The most common symptom of Runner’s Knee is a dull, aching, or throbbing pain that radiates around the knee cap. The pain can also be felt in the back of the knee where the thigh connects to the patella. Pain can come on suddenly or worsen during repetitive movements that flex the knees such as running, cycling, climbing stairs, squatting, or kneeling. 

Summary of Contributing Factors

  • Obesity
  • Incorrect form during exercise
  • Repetitive strain on knee cap/patella
  • Direct trauma or injury to the knee
  • Fallen-arches, high-arches, over-pronation, and other gait issues
  • Occupational injury and overuse of the knee joint
  • Arthritis and inflammation of the joints
  • Overstretching of the tendons and muscles surrounding the knee
  • Knee joint alignment issues

Things You Can Do to Help Prevent Runner’s Knee

How to Prevent Runner’s Knee

  • Weight management and regular exercise
  • Adequate stretching before and after sports and exercise
  • Icing knees and elevating legs after repetitive strain from cycling or squatting sessions to help reduce inflammation
  • Wrapping knees with compression bandages or knee sleeves for added support during sports, leg-pressing, and heavy squatting
  • Gait assessment and correction if needed for flat feet or fallen arches
  • Adequate rest and recovery following training
  • Focus on proper form and hip, knee, and ankle alignment during sports and squatting
  • Nutrition that incorporates anti-inflammatory foods including healthy proteins and fats
  • Proper footwear to prevent excess shortening and tightening of thigh muscles
  • Core conditioning to support proper body dynamics
  • Investing in proper footwear for each activity—replace worn out training shoes and address gait issues with orthotics
  • Running on low-impact surfaces such as turf and soft chip trails

And finally, two other important things you can do to prevent Runner’s Knee and other injuries:

  • Ease into new activities and training frequencies. Avoid pushing your body too far too soon. Instead, give your body a chance to adapt to the new stimulus. Previously underactive muscles such as glutes and stabilizer muscles need time and deliberate focus to properly fire according to the new movement patterns and stressors.
  • Book a professional assessment with your kinesiologist, chiropractor, or physiotherapist to identify and correct any joint alignment issues and chronic muscle tension. 

Here Are a Few Local Running Groups and Clinics to Consider Joining

While many running and racing events are subject to last minute cancellations, some are being substituted with virtual runs. The RunGuides website offers regular updates on local running events, and the AllTrails website displays reviews, photos, directions, and maps of Victoria’s best outdoor walking, hiking running trails.

Island Road Racers: The Facebook Group of a Victoria running club that welcomes running enthusiasts of all ages and abilities. 

BDHQ Run Clinic: Ironman Triathlete, Jason Ball, offers seasonal running clinics and workouts for beginner to advanced runners.

Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club: Official website for Victoria’s longest-standing running club. Established in 1978, PIH is a running community that welcomes runners of all ages and abilities to partake in their running clinics, workouts, weekend, morning, and evening runs and youth programs. 

Greater Victoria Trail Running: The Facebook Group of a local running club that welcomes participants to their outdoor trail runs within the Greater Victoria area. 

Effective Treatments for Relieving Runner’s Knee in Victoria, B.C.

Runner’s Knee Treatment in Victoria BC

As we’ve mentioned before in other articles: pain indicates that it’s time to seek treatment. When it comes to knee pain, the sooner you have things checked out, the better. A damaged knee joint is difficult to repair, and so prompt treatment when pain arises is crucial. 

Because Runner’s Knee can be caused by a variety of contributing factors, at Diversified Health Clinic, we take a comprehensive approach to treating Runner’s Knee. Effective treatment often requires a combination of kinesiology, physiotherapy and chiropractic care, which may involve targeted treatments, including:

The first step in proper treatment is to book an appointment with our kinesiologist. When we meet with you, we’ll start with a thorough initial consultation before tailoring a treatment plan for you that relieves pain while specifically addressing your condition. Our goal is to help you return the activities you love and enjoy without the interference of pain or risk of injury. 

If You Suffer From the Symptoms of Runner’s Knee:

Give our team of practitioners a call at Diversified Health Clinic today at (250) 382-0018 or book an appointment online. We’re happy to help answer your questions, address the cause of your pain and discomfort, and get you on the road to recovery.

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Nerve Pain With Sciatica: What It Is and How We Approach Sciatic Treatment in Victoria BC

Nerve Pain With Sciatica and Sciatic Treatment Victoria BC

Ouch! Have you ever experienced a sharp, shooting, burning or pinching pain down your lower back, glutes, hamstrings or calves? Or how about a sudden and severe “electric jolt” like feeling following activity? While nerve pain with sciatica can be severe, it can also manifest as a mild, aching pain that seems to come and go. Some people experience sciatica as a weakness and numbness in the affected area. When nerve pain with sciatica becomes severe, it’s nearly impossible to ignore. When patients arrive at our clinic, it’s often because their sciatica pain is interfering with their ability to enjoy their usual activities, including work, rest, and recovery.

 First, What is Nerve Pain With Sciatica?

Nerve Pain With SciaticaSciatica is the term used to describe sciatic nerve pain. Nerve pain can occur anywhere in the body while sciatic nerve pain affects the lower back and lower, posterior extremities. This is because of how the sciatic nerve branches off your lower spine (just above your buttocks) before threading down through your glutes, hamstrings and calves. Sciatic nerve pain often occurs on one side of the body, or is markedly worse on one side of the body, and can arise from various physical triggers as outlined below.

Nerve pain with sciatica occurs when a nerve is pinched, which can be caused by a myriad of contributing factors, including:

  • Obesity
  • Inflammation
  • Poor posture
  • Chronically tight or strained muscles
  • Short and tight hip flexor and hamstring muscles
  • Spinal bone spurs and overgrowths
  • Herniated disc
  • Incorrect form during exercise
  • Occupational strain 
  • Following an accident or injury
  • Tumor growth
  • Complications of underlying diseases such as diabetes. 

Things You Can Do to Help Prevent Nerve Pain with Sciatica

You can help reduce your chances of developing pinched nerves by establishing good physical habits, including:

Regular Exercise & Stretching

Making time in your week for adequate fitness and activity with a focus on consistency, proper form, stretching, and sufficient recovery. If you’re new to a workout or activity, consider getting help from one of our physiotherapists to ensure you are performing each move with proper form to avoid pinching nerves or overstraining your spine. This is especially important if you have any pre-existing injuries. Everybody is different: An exercise that works fine for your friend, may not work as well for you, and gym and sports equipment should be adjusted to fit your specific body dynamics–this includes proper footwear!

Maintaining Good Posture

Be mindful of your posture while sitting, standing, lifting and otherwise exerting your body. This includes assessing the ergonomics of your seating and workstation arrangement. Subtle adjustments can make the difference between a happy body versus one riddled with muscle tightness, inflammation, nerve pain, and injury.

Adequate Rest and Recovery

Athletes know that adequate recovery is just as critical as being active, but rest is often the first thing people take for granted. Good recovery starts with knowing when your body needs rest and giving it the support it requires to repair itself and grow stronger. This includes steps such as good nutrition, icing, rolling, and massage to help reduce inflammation. It also includes how you sleep. 

Support While You Sleep

There’s a science to choosing the right pillow. Make sure your pillow has the right density and height, according to your preferred sleeping position. You want to maintain the natural curvature in your neck. It also helps to take the pressure off your lower back and hips by placing a rolled-up towel or pillow behind the crook of your knees (when laying on your back) or between your bent knees (when laying on your side). The idea is to keep your knees slightly bent in order to maintain a very slight natural curve in your lower back. This also helps to relax tight hip flexors, glutes, and hamstrings.

Supporting your spinal health during work, rest and sleep can be a pretty significant game-changer. A physiotherapist can demonstrate specific stretches and techniques you can use at work and at home to relieve nerve pain with sciatic and support your recovery. 

Pain Indicates It’s Time to Seek Treatment

Ignoring nerve pain is never a good idea. Consider that pain is your body’s way of communicating that something isn’t as it should be. Neglecting to address the pain and the cause of it can result in compounding complications or even permanent nerve damage. Being proactive is key. The good news is that sciatica pain can often be resolved with non-invasive treatments that target the root causes of pinched nerves and prevent the pain from coming back.

Relieving Nerve Pain with Sciatica: Sciatic Treatment  in Victoria, BC:

Because pain can be caused by a variety of factors that are unique to your situation, at Diversified Health Clinic, we take a comprehensive approach to treating nerve pain with sciatica. We start with a thorough initial consultation before tailoring a treatment plan for you that’s based on the specific causes of your pain. Your treatment plan may include one or more of the following treatments and will include tips on how you can maintain your results at home between appointments.

Depending on the cause and severity of sciatica and nerve pain, patients often start feeling relief after the first visit, which only gets better as the treatments progress. It brings us tremendous satisfaction to see our patients return to their favourite activities and lifestyles without the hindrance of pain and fatigue. Life is too precious to spend it in unnecessary pain, especially when effective treatments are within reach.

 If you suffer from the symptoms of nerve pain with sciatica, give our team of practitioners a call at Diversified Health Clinic today at (250) 382-0018 or book an appointment online. We’re happy to help answer your questions, address the cause of your pain and discomfort, and get you on the road to recovery.

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Long Term Benefits of Chiropractic Maintenance Care

chiropractic maintenance care

Have you ever experienced persistent and recurrent back pain? Treatment helps to keep the pain at bay, but, whether it be a job or daily life, the pain returns. Sometimes persistent aches and pains due to work and daily life cannot be avoided and will continue to return despite using exercise and movement to help relieve symptoms. If this is the case, chiropractic maintenance care may be an option to help. 

Chiropractic maintenance care is used as a preventative measure to help ensure that recurrent or persistent pain is not occurring frequently in a patient’s day-to-day life. Although many chiropractic patients benefit from maintenance care, often individuals inquire as to why they need it if the pain has not returned. Similar to going to the dentist to get your teeth cleaned and checked, chiropractic maintenance care helps to ensure the patient is preventing persistent and recurrent pain.

Is Chiropractic Maintenance Care Right For You?

There are many factors to consider when choosing whether or not to use chiropractic maintenance care. Firstly, maintenance care can be used by a wide variety of people with many different conditions. If you consistently have soreness and stiffness in the back once a month, once every two months, or even only twice a year, maintenance care once every 1-3 months can help to prevent re-occurrence of pain and maintain the clinical improvements from previous treatments. 

Secondly, if you are not experiencing pain and stiffness, it is still beneficial to be coming into the clinic for maintenance care treatments. When maintenance care was studied (Nordic Maintenance Care Studies), they found patients who came in for regularly scheduled visits despite pain and stiffness, experienced less bothersome pain with only 2 additional treatments. 

Thirdly, chiropractic maintenance care can be more cost-effective when compared to waiting until pain becomes problematic and debilitating. Patients who come in for regularly scheduled visits have less likelihood of developing bothersome pain and dysfunction that can take several visits to help relieve and return to baseline. This means less time spent coming into the clinic in a month and continued prevention and maintenance of the current improvements. 

Chiropractic Treatments in Victoria, BC

I enjoy working with patients who have had persistent and chronic pain that can be helped with chiropractic care. Providing patients with regular maintenance helps me to encourage regular exercise, ensure patients are not developing bad habits or movement patterns, and maintain the proper functioning of the entire skeletal system. If you have chronic and persistent pain, don’t hesitate to call and make an appointment at Diversified Health Clinic in beautiful downtown, Victoria, BC.

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World Spine Day

Monday, October 16th is World Spine Day

A healthy spine is something that most of us don’t even think about. Until it becomes unhealthy or injured – and then it’s all you can think about. Getting out of bed or bending over to put on your shoes can go from simple tasks that you do without a second thought to insurmountable challenges if your spine doesn’t work the way it needs to. Our spine is an integral part of daily life and the health of your spine can be impacted by many factors, many of which you have some control over.

Whether you have an active and physically strenuous life and job or you spend most of your day seated and “at rest” physically, there are ways to help your spine support the way your body needs to move. From chiropractic care to exercises and stretches that you can do yourself, there are many options to help you regain or maintain pain-free movement and action.

Knowing where to turn to is the first step. In the case of an injury or acute recurrence of a spinal concern, a Chiropractor is a good place to start. Doctors of Chiropractic are uniquely trained in the spine and its supporting musculature and structure. An assessment by a specialist, such as a Chiropractor, will provide an understanding of what the issue is and how best to move forward with treatment and care to get you back to normal movement and activity.

For ongoing maintenance of a healthy spine, there are numerous ways to keep you moving. The following are ways that you can be an active part of your spinal health for the long term:

    Move, don’t sit!

The term “sitting is the new smoking” reflects the importance of getting this message across. Recent research has shown that the average North American sits up to 13 to 15 hours per day! Sitting loads extreme pressure on the spine as well as contributing to the shortening of connective tissue surrounding the spine and hips. Combined, long hours of sitting and inactivity contribute to a serious health risk. Get up and move as often as you can during your day.

    Practice Proper Posture.

Educate yourself on the proper way to stand and move your body so that you reduce the risk of strain or injury. Check out the resource here for tips and information on how to be posture perfect.

    Get To Know Your Spine

The health of your spine can affect much more than just your back. Headaches, shoulder or hip pain can all be related to spinal concerns. Know the ways that your spine can impact your health and how to correct imbalances. Check out this interactive tool for more information: Know Your Back

    Where To Find Help When You Need It

Find resources and referrals from reputable sources. The information provided by The Canadian Chiropractic Association is a great place to start. There’s even a handy tool to assist you in locating a Chiropractor near you.

At Diversified Health Clinic, Dr. Krisjan Gustavson provides chiropractic care and education. Practicing for 30 years, he has extensive knowledge and experience to help assess and treat our patients with their spinal health concerns. Did you know that you most likely don’t need a referral from a GP to see a Chiropractor? Most extended health benefit companies cover Chiropractic care without a referral. At Diversified Health, we direct bill most companies which means you only pay the patient portion (if applicable).

Not sure if Chiropractic care is what you need? Give us a call and book a free 15 minute consult to find out. Check out our hours and contact information here.

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Golf Stretching Exercises

A golf stretching program will help to increase your range of motion and reduce the risk of an injury.

Before beginning any exercises program, make sure that you spend 5 to 10 minutes warming up, and keep in mind that stretching involves slow steady movements; holding each stretch for 15 to 20 seconds: remembering to breathe throughout the stretch.

Here are 7 stretches to improve your range of motion:

Shoulder & Chest Stretch

Standing with your feet hip-width apart, clasp your hands behind your back with straight arms, and raise your arms up as high as possible, bending forward from the waist and hold.

Shoulder Stretch

Place one arm straight across the chest, and place the opposite hand on the elbow and pull the arm towards your chest and hold. Repeat on the other side.

Triceps Stretch

Standing in a relaxed position with your back straight, raise your left arm straight overhead, bending your elbow so that your left hand is on the middle of your upper back with your elbow pointing up to the sky. Place your other hand on elbow and gently pull towards your head until you feel a stretch in your left triceps Hold and repeat with your other arm.

Low Back Stretch

Lie on your back with your one knee drawn up towards your chest. Then slowly bring that bent leg across the body until a stretch is felt in the lower back and hip area; keeping your shoulders squarely on the floor at all times. Your other leg should be bent so that your knees are aligned.

Hamstring Stretch

Sitting in an upright position, tuck your foot near your groin with the opposite leg out straight. Then bending from the hips and keeping your low back straight, reach down until a stretch is felt in the back of the thigh.

Standing Quad Stretch

Standing with your feet hip-width apart, pull your abdominal muscles in, relax your shoulders, and hold onto a chair or to the wall for balance. Then bend your left leg, bringing your heel behind you (toward your butt), and grasp your left foot with your right hand. Pull your foot up until you feel a stretch on the front of your thigh. Switch legs and repeat the stretch.

Wrist Stretch

Standing with your right arm extended straight out, pull back your fingers with the opposite hand until you feel a stretch in your forearm.  Hold and repeat with your other arm.

Remember to stop the stretch immediately if you feel any pain or if tightness increases as you stretch, and talk to your healthcare practitioner.

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Running Gait Analysis Can Help Get The Best Fit From Your Shoes

Running shoes are designed for different foot shapes; designed for different running patterns; and running on different terrain; so a running gait analysis can help get the best fit from your running shoes.

How you run and how often you run can make a big difference in the type of footwear that you buy.  There are eight basic types of runs.

  • A recovery run is a relatively short run performed at an easy pace.
  • A base run is a relatively short to moderate-length run undertaken at a runner’s natural pace.
  • A long run is a base run that lasts long enough to leave a runner fatigued. The function of a long run is to increase raw endurance.
  • A progression run is a run that begins at a runner’s natural pace and ends with a faster segment at the end of the run.
  • A fartlek workout is a base run that mixes in intervals of varying duration or distance.
  • Hill repeats are repeated short segments of fast uphill running.
  • A tempo run is a sustained effort at a threshold intensity, which is the fastest pace that can be sustained for a period of time.
  • Interval runs consist of repeated shorter segments of fast running separated by slow jogging or standing recoveries.

When buying running shoes: keep these tips in mind:

The time of day you shop is a factor.  Feet swell as you use them and that’s especially important to remember when buying running shoes.  Try them on at the end of the day so you have a better idea of how they’ll feel after a run.  Even then remember to leave about a finger width of space between the end of your longest toe and the end of the shoe – your feet can swell even more on a run , and you don’t want bruised toes and black toenails.

Remember to take your orthotics with you and make sure you try them out in the shoes before you purchase them. ( Remember, orthotics need to be replaced every two years)

At Diversified Health our practitioners use a gait scan to help assess your foot concerns.  As you move across a pressure plate, thousands of tiny sensors capture the distribution of pressure of your foot and the computer displays 2D and 3D visual representations of the pressure under your foot.  These findings help the practitioners to evaluate your foot function.

Please contact the clinic if you have questions about what type of running shoes would be beneficial for your fitness level and remember that a running gait analysis can help get the best fit from your running shoes.

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