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We're back to FULL TIME!

6/29/2020

We're very excited to announce that starting MONDAY JULY 6, 2020 we are BACK TO FULL OPERATING HOURS! Yay! Our FULL TIME hours are as followed:
Monday 12-8pm
Tuesday 12-8pm
Wednesday 8-6pm
Thursday 8-6pm
Friday 8-6pm
Saturday 8-12pm
Sunday Closed
Thank you to all the patients we've seen thus far and who have so willingly cooperated with our efforts to ensure that the clinic remains a safe and healthy place for everyone. We appreciate seeing all of your happy faces again (underneath the mask of course) and we look forward to privilege of continuing to be a part of your health care team. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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Get Rid of Your Low Back Pain - McGill's Big Three Exercises

6/22/2020

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Your low back pain can be a result of, or exacerbated by, a dysfunctional core. Your "core" is composed of a number of muscles that work in coordination with one another to stabilize your spine. Your core muscles include: rectus abdominus (the 6-pack muscle), interal and external oblique, transverse abdominus, quadratus lumborum and the the gluteal muscles. When your core is weak or lacks endurance, that places extra unnecessary pressure and stress on your spine causing irritation in your low back. Dr. Steward McGill is a retired biomechanist at the University of Waterloo who has dedicated his studies to focus on low back pain and the best exercises to get rid of low back pain. Here are the results of endless years of research:

1. Bird-Dog

Start on your hands and knees with your hands shoulder-width apart directly under your shoulders, and knees hip-width apart directly under your hips.
Maintain a neutral spine.
Brace through your abdomen and squeeze your gluteals.
Make sure you can maintain this while you take a breath in and out.
Lift your right arm in front until it’s level with your shoulder, squeezing the muscles between your shoulder blades as you do so.
At the same time, extend your left leg straight back until it is level with your hips, squeezing your gluteals, and keeping your hips parallel to the floor.
Return to the starting position in a slow and controlled manner, and perform the same action with the opposite arm and leg.
That is one repetition.
Perform 3 sets of 8-10 repetitions.

2. Side Bridge

Lie on your side and prop yourself up on your elbow.
Make sure that your elbow is directly under your shoulder to avoid any unnecessary strain through your shoulder joint.
With your legs straight, place your top foot on the ground in front of your bottom foot.
Place your top hand on your bottom shoulder.
While maintaining the natural curve of your spine (your upper body isn’t twisted or leaning forward), brace your abdomen, squeeze through your gluteals (clench your bum), and lift your hips up off the ground.
Don’t forget to breathe!
Hold for 8-10 seconds, repeat 3 times.

3. Modified Curl-Up

Lie your back with one knee bent and one knee straight, this puts your pelvis in a neutral position and the muscles of your core in an optimal alignment of pull to avoid strain on the low back.
Place your hands under the arch of your low back and ensure that this arch is maintained throughout the curl-up.
Start by bracing your abdomen; this is different from flexing your abs, bear down through your belly.
Now make sure you can take a breath in and a breath out while maintaining this brace.
If you cannot, stop there and practice doing just that until you’ve got it mastered!
Now, pretend that your spine in your neck and your upper back are cemented together and do not move independently.
Pick a spot on the ceiling and focus your gaze there, lift your shoulder blades about 30° off the floor and slowly return to the start position.
Take note of your neck, and ensure that your chin isn’t poking forward when you do a curl up.
If you’re struggling with that, focus on making a double chin.
Perform 3 sets of 10-12.

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Fun Facts About FASCIA

6/11/2020

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Once thought to just simply exist in the body, fascia was a structural (and functional) part of the body that was overlooked for many, many years. Only within the last decade or so was fascia realized to have an enormous amount of purpose and function within the body. Here are some fun facts about fascia!

1) It acts like storage compartments in our body. Fascia is flat banks of dense, irregular connective tissue that sits below the skin and both covers and separates layers of tissue in the body. It also holds all of your organs in place so they don't shift around too much.

2) It transmits forces all throughout the body (aka fascial chains). So when a muscle in your foot contracts, that force generated can travel all the way up to your low back (and even further!). This is one reason why people can experience pain elsewhere in the body away from the source of injury.

3) Creates frictionless areas in the body (aka bursaes) so muscles and tendons can glide and slide properly. Inflammation of the fascia due to injury or excessive repetitive stress is called fascitis or bursitis (if it's a bursa that is affected)

4) Fascia can feel pain. It contains many nerve endings and is therefore quite sensitive to stimulus.

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We're back to FULL TIME!

Get Rid of Your Low Back Pain - McGill's Big Three Exercises

Fun Facts About FASCIA

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