Why Learning to do it Properly is so Important

It is something we all do thousands of times every day.  Whether we are awake or asleep, resting or active; to breathe is to be alive.  Whilst most of us don’t take much notice of our breathing, there are a few very important reasons why we should.  

• Improves blood flow
• Improves energy
• Supports a strong immune system
• Alleviates stress

Let's just touch on one of the issues most people have in life and how improving your breathing can help.

Stress response

We’ve all been told at one time or another to “take a deep breath” when we have been feeling stressed.  As unhelpful and annoying as this can be at the time, there is some sense behind this.

Our “fight or flight” instinct, also known as our body’s stress response, is how we decide to confront or avoid danger.  When we breathe in deeply our lungs expand and compress the walls of the heart, restricting blood flow. To compensate, our heart rate increases stimulating this fight or flight stress response.

When we breathe out, the pressure in the thoracic cavity drops and the body relaxes!  So, in short, it is the exhale that truly helps us relax, not taking a deep breath in!

This brings us to an issue we see regularly in clinic – people holding their breath in, or not breathing out fully. It's usually the first change when stress is encountered – holding your breath. Over time if we continue this pattern we can keep our body in the ‘fight or flight' response. Stress and anxiety anyone? No thanks.

One Simple Trick to Alleviate Stress

Next time you feel stressed or anxious make a mental note of your breathing. Are you holding your breath? Are your lungs full and chest tight?  Taking a moment to forcefully exhale several times can make a big difference and quickly reduce the fight or flight response. 

Try This Breathing Technique

Inna Kahzan of Harvard medical school recommends that 40% of the breath cycle is for inhaling, and 60% is for exhaling – so for a 4 second breath in, take 6 to exhale.  This ensures not only a full exhale, but also slows the breathing, avoiding risks of hyperventilation which can make that stress response much worse.  

Two Ways to Breathe

• Belly breathing
• Upper chest breathing

While breathing is mostly automatic, every breath is not identical.  Diaphragmatic (AKA belly breathing) is best for keeping that stress response to a minimum, but unfortunately the stresses of day to day life can lead us to quickly fall into a habit of breathing into the upper chest.  This is not ideal, and aside from typically shallower breathing, it can also cause tightening of muscles in the front of the neck and chest over time. If you catch yourself doing this remember the 40/60 rule and EXHALE for longer! 

The stress response/breathing relationship is cyclical, so busy lifestyles often feed into poor breathing patterns.  However habits form young, and breathing is no exception either. Some of our cultural expectations, such as the wish to have a flat tummy, means we learn from an early age to hold our stomach muscles in tight. 

As I’m writing this, I’m trying to breathe deeply into my belly whilst hunched over my desk (like many who work in an office) – try it, it’s practically impossible. This is another great example of the importance of breathing and taking time away from the desk every so often.

If you know poor breathing habits may be contributing to your pain or symptoms come and visit one of our practitioners. If you're unsure we're more than happy to book in a 15 minute complimentary chat to see if we can help you.

Alternatively, if you're not anywhere near Wanaka or Queenstown we also love Emma Ferris the breathing physio from The Breath Effect. She has a great online course and more information on how to retrain your breathing. Click here to find out more information.

The post Breathing Well appeared first on MetaMed.

Cramp develops when you have an involuntary over contraction or sustained muscle contraction. Either way, it's a pain in your life that you don't need.

What Do Normal Muscles Do?

Normally muscles are constantly contracting and relaxing (shortening and lengthening). Signals from nerves into the muscle tell it to contract, and signals feeding back to our spine and brain then send signals back out to the muscle to relax. The constant process keeps the muscle at a nice resting tone, not too tight and not too loose. This is what we call resting muscle tone.

Cramp Is Like A Short Circuit

You could see a cramp as a short circuit in the system where nerves signaling to the muscle are telling it to contract more and more, but the feedback isn't there for messages to be sent back to the spine and brain to send new signals out to tell the muscle to relax.

What Does Cramp Feel Like?

Cramp is different from a tight and sore muscle. It's usually a very strong contraction. It commonly occurs in the calf, but any muscle can be affected, fingers, toes, shoulder, quads, etc…

You may feel your muscles harden, toes curl and then you feel like you’ve been punched in the muscle for the rest of the day. A severe cramp can cause involuntary movement of fingers and toes or make you rigid with the pain.

What Causes Cramp?

• Poor muscle conditioning – lack of strength or appropriate training
• Overworked muscles including overtraining
• Lack of stretching – yes, it really does help
• Magnesium deficiency
• Dehydration

5 Tips To Help Cramp

1. Drink plenty of water. Add electrolytes if sweating a lot. Amounts of fluid consumption will vary on your age, sex and activity levels. If your pee is dark yellow, you need to drink more.
   
2. Hold your stretches for 2 minutes. Set your timer, it's a long time. See the link for our lower limb stretches below.
   
3. Massage yourself: use your hands, spikey balls or foam rollers. Or we think it's much nicer to get someone else to do it for you.
   
4. Magnesium supplementation. A general dose is 300 mg per day (great to take at night to help sleep and ease cramps that get you when you sleep. In pregnancy, the risk of cramp can be higher and dose can be increased to 350-360 mg per day. For active males, a dose of up to 420 mg can be taken. Have a read of our Magnesium blog about the different types to ensure you get an absorbable form right for you.
   
5. Dry needling. If you've tried all of the above and still experiencing cramp you still have options. We love using dry needling to help ‘reset' muscle tone and nerve input. It's highly effective for relieving muscle tension, especially cramping.

If you're suffering from cramp don't keep waiting for it to get better on its own. Seek help with our holistic practitioners. We have osteopaths at MetaMed Wanaka and osteopaths and chiropractors at MetaMed Queenstown experienced with treating cramp.

The post How To Prevent Muscle Cramp appeared first on MetaMed.

What is Diastasis Recti?

Diastasis recti is the fancy pants term for abdominal separation. It affects the ‘six-pack muscles' (they are under there!) of your stomach. The anatomical name for your ‘six-pack' is rectus abdominis muscles.

The abdominal muscle separation occurs in both men and women when there is prolonged horizontal stress on the linea alba (line of connective tissue down the middle of your rectus abdominis muscles.

Who Gets Abdominal Separation?

Both women and men can experience a separation of their abdominal muscles. There are a variety of conditions and risk factors that may predispose someone to develop an abdominal separation.

Pregnant Women

Diastasis recti is most commonly seen in pregnant or postpartum women, this is due to the surge of relaxin hormones that help everything to soften. Relaxin allows your ligaments and connective tissue to soften allowing your pelvis to open and accommodate your growing baby and make childbirth easier. It doesn't happen in every pregnancy but this is when we usually see it. It's the common cause of ‘mummy tummy'.

It can happen early in pregnancy or later. It's a good idea to work with a practitioner who commonly works with pregnant women so that they can keep checking if you're starting to develop an abomdinal muscle separation. There are lots of ways you can look after a diastasis to prevent it from getting worse.

Don’t forget the Lads. 

Abdominal separation is often missed in men but can contribute to lower back pain. This is why when you come in for back pain we'll look at your whole body to try and work out all the factors you need to address to aid recovery.

We see it lots in farmers and builders. Especially the one with the nice round beer bellies.

Weight gain around the belly area can put extra stress on the abdominal muscles. Pair this with lots of heavy lifting and labor with poor technique over time can lead to separation of the abdominal muscles.

For the men, we often see these many years down the track and it is more challenging to work with, but we can still help. We recommend that if you are in a heavy lifting job that you learn how to use your core properly and take your time with proper lifting technique to prevent it happening in the first place. We recommend seeing a practitioner that understands abdominal separation who can prescribe a specific exercise program that includes core exercises.

For the rest of this article, we'll focus on abdominal separation seen in pregnancy. But guys, get in touch if you think you have this as we can still help you!

How to Detect a Separation

To diagnose diastasis recti a practitioner will feel for a gap between muscles of more than 2cm, further imaging via ultrasound may be used to confirm a diagnosis although not that commonly used.

To test yourself, lie on your back with your knees bent. Supporting your neck with one hand, inhale then exhale and gently lift your neck in an ab crunch like movement. With the other hand, use your fingers to feel in the middle of your abdominal muscles. If your fingers sink in and you feel a gap of more than two fingers, you have a separation.

In more severe cases it may look like doming, bulging, sinking, in the middle of your belly. 

What Can Cause It?

It can be hard to tell who exactly is going to get diastasis rectus in pregnancy but there are some things that can make you more likely to develop one.

• Second, third or fourth pregnancy, especially if you had one in a previous pregnancy
• Poor posture of the spine
• Having a weakness of your core control muscles (deep abdominal muscles and pelvic floor)
• Exercising incorrectly during pregnancy
• Lifting excessive loads

What Makes Diastasis Recti Worse?

There is plenty of day to day movements that can make diastasis recti more prominent and prevent healing:

• Sitting up to get out of bed or a chair. 
• Getting groceries or strollers in and out of a car. 
• Picking up a child. 
• Exercises such as plank, sit-ups and squats. 

Going back to exercise too quickly post-pregnancy can prevent diastasis repair and can leave you with a ‘pouch’ or ‘mummy tummy' no matter how many crunches you do.

Having an abdominal separation can contribute toward lower back pain, pelvic pain and pelvic floor issues such as incontinence.

If you suspect you have an abdominal separation it's best for you to speak with an experienced practitioner or trainer to learn to modify certain postures, movements and any core exercises or exercise program you do.

Can You Repair Diastasis Recti?

If it gets detected early enough there are definitely ways you can prevent it from getting worse and help restore tension across the separation. This means the gap may still be present but it isn’t so weak anymore. The first six months post-pregnancy is when you have the best chance of improving this.

For pregnant mums, this is where having the right people around you to pick up the signs of diastasis early is important. It may be your midwife, trainer, pilates or yoga teacher, or therapist (Osteo, chiro, physiotherapist).

What Can Help?

Breathing Properly

The main muscle in-charge of breathing sits underneath the ribcage and is called the diaphragm. Normally, the diaphragm pulls down into the belly, making it rise and fall with each breath. During pregnancy the diaphragm is pushed upwards by the growing uterus and baby, preventing you from getting a full, deep breath. 

It’s important to retrain your diaphragm to its full function post-partum as it is an essential part of your core. Spend time each day focusing on ‘belly breathing’ by placing your hands on your lower ribs and expanding them outward, without moving the chest. In for 2 seconds, out for 4-6 seconds. Struggling with this? For more information on breathing click here.

Emma Ferris from The Breath Effect has online classes that can help you out too.

Posture

Postural habits formed during pregnancy commonly continue on post-partum. There are two common postures that require correcting to help repair diastasis recti.

1. Some women tend to stand with their pelvis pushed forward, forcing stability to come from muscles in your back and glutes.
   
2. Alternatively, do you ‘hang’ from your hips? Pushing your belly forward and over-extending/locking your knees? This increases pressure on the abdominal muscles and can cause increased curvature of the lower spine ‘sway back'.

Bringing awareness to your posture and focusing on ‘postural stacking’ to align your spine. Try not to arch your back or grip any muscle too tight. Imagine a string is pulling you upright from your head, elongating your midline, spine and stretching your ribcage away from your pelvis. 

Avoid Constipation 

The act of ‘baring down’ when constipated can significantly increase abdominal pressure and increase abdominal separation. Remember to keep your fluids up, consume plenty (25 grams) of fibre each day and exercise. If this doesn’t work, talk to us about herbal remedies that gently get your bowels moving. 

Abdominal Supports

Our friends at Pelvic Solutions, women's health physiotherpists recommend wearing abdominal support shorts (similar to spanx) post-partum to help increase awareness of your abdominal muscles and encourage the muscles to come back together. Ideally, you’d wear the shorts for 6 weeks, however, everyone is different and based on your presentation you might need to wear them for longer. While you’re at it, book in with the team at Pelvic Solutions and get your everything checked! 

Non-Aggravating Exercises 

There are a few easy to implement changes you can make to prevent ‘belly doming’ in day to day life.

• Avoid sit-up type movements, so roll over to your side in bed and use your arms to push yourself up. This reduces intra-abdominal pressure that may prevent diastasis recti repair.

• When lifting, exhale as you lift rather than gripping on tight. Make sure that load isn't too heavy either.

Pelvic Floor Exercises

Kegels! We all know about them. Pelvic floor exercises can help to strengthen the core as well. But, did you know that many women have an overactive pelvic floor? This means kegel exercises aren't appropriate for you. We recommend seeing a women's health physiottherapist to be assessed and taught how do these exercises properly.

Other abdominal core exercises such as bird dog, heel slides and pelvic tilts can help activate the core muscles without increasing intra-abdominal pressure. Not sure about these? We can help! 

AVOID: crunches, planks, squats and any other exercise that increases the pressure in your belly.

Once assessed by a practitioner and given the go-ahead you can start reintroducing ab exercises slowly and gradually.

At-home programs

We also love the MUTU at home post-natal exercise programs which are targeted for a new mum with abdominal separation. They're full of great resources around diastasis recti too.

Osteopathy Treatment

Your osteopath can help to diagnose diastasis recti and guide you through the healing stages by advising on the correct breathing habits, postural positions and safe exercises to do. We also love to collaborate with other practitioners and trainers that we know and trust can help you recover and improve your abdominal separation.

As osteopaths we look body wide for compensations in movement patterns and identify any areas that may be contributing to increased pressure on your abdomen. Sometimes you can read all about the issue, but you still need specific and personalised advice to ensure effective healing.

If you are pregnant we also have a great post about what you can do and who you can see at different stages of your pregnancy. Click here to check the post out.

FAQs

Can you fix Diastasis Recti?
Diastasis recti or abdominal muscle separation can be helped.

How do you diagnose Diastasis Recti?
Laying you down, a practitioner will put their fingers over the midline of your stomach (above your belly button). Do a semi sit up. If diastasis recti is present there will be a gap felt greater than one finger wide.

Is Diastasis Recti dangerous?
No. The separation however can get quite large. If a conservative approach doesn’t work (education, postural advice, exercise program and core exercises). This may compromise your ability to stabilise (due to lack of core) and put you at a higher risk of lower back issues. If it is severe you may need a referral to a specialist.

Can Diastasis Recti be painful?
Some people can notice tenderness around the separation particularly around the belly button. More so if there is a hernia present.

What exercises not to do with Diastasis Recti?
You are best to avoid any exercises or movements that cause bulging of the separation or put more stress on the separation. You are best to avoid sit ups or lifting heavy loads.

How do you sleep with Diastasis Recti?
Any position that is comfortable is safe to sleep with an abdominal separation. Just make sure that when you get up from laying to sitting don’t sit straight up. Roll onto your side and use your hands to push yourself up.

The post Diastasis Recti: What Is It And How Do You Repair It? appeared first on MetaMed.

The physiological phenomenon of pain is so complex that even leading researchers cannot claim to comprehend it entirely.  But our body of knowledge is growing and we all have the ability to understand the basic pain biology. Education, knowledge and understanding will reduce the threat associated with pain and will change how we think about it.  This has to be the first step to pain management. First, we may need to reconsider what we already know …

What are your beliefs around pain?

·       Do you think all pain, no matter how big or small, equates to some amount of bodily damage?

·       Do you believe that increased pain equals a worse injury? 

·       Do you think pain always has a physical cause?

If you answered yes to one or more of these, you join the majority of people (including some health professionals) who have misconceptions regarding pain. 

Breaking down pain

Let’s take it back to basics.  We can break down types of pain into Acute and Chronic. 

Acute pain: Just rolled your ankle running down a trail, or caught your arm on a hot pan? That’s acute pain.  It tells us that we’ve just done something potentially harmful, or may have caused some damage to our bodies.  This kind of pain is really useful! It forces a reaction to move away from the hot pan, or to stop running down that trail so we avoid any more damage and give ourselves a chance to heal!  The pain goes away over a few days or weeks because there’s no more threat to the body, and the tissues have a chance to heal. 

Chronic Pain:  Technically we define this as a pain which has persisted for 3-6 months or more, but essentially, we recognize it as pain which persists longer than the necessary tissue healing time.  We know that neurons (nerve cells) in the brain adapt and become much more efficient at carrying danger messages and therefore much more efficient at producing pain. We also know these neurons lose their ability to be specific.  This means the pain is more easily triggered, but less informative. If you have been diagnosed with chronic pain you’re not alone: 20% of people worldwide are estimated to be affected. 

So, what causes the shift from acute to chronic pain in some people? 

There’s no definitive answer to this, but the short version is: almost anything can affect pain.  It’s complex and multi-factorial. Nerves send danger messages to the brain the brain then checks with the sensory centre, emotional centre, motor centre, memory centre and many more before making a split-second decision on whether to give an output of pain – and how much.  The brain then continues to update its assessment of the situation. Ever had an injury where you looked down and realised your bleeding? And then like flicking a switch the pain starts? That’s because the brain relies on context!

What can we do About it? 

Researchers and health professionals are re-shaping the way we manage chronic pain.  We now know that education, knowledge and understanding can physically change what’s going on in our brain, literally re-shaping the connections between these neurons!

Your practitioner can help with this! Our role is not just hands-on therapy, but to educate as well.  Treatments which combine manual therapy with education, and specific movement-based strategies have been shown to be much more effective. 

Essentially, we want to help change the way you think about chronic pain. We can recommend literature and other resources that are designed specifically for people with chronic pain, and develop a plan which includes techniques to decrease neurological sensitization. 

References:

Moseley and Butler: EP supercharged

Monica Noy: www.monicanoy.com

The post Chronic Pain and the Brain appeared first on MetaMed.

Modern Day Medical Imaging.

Modern imaging techniques such as X-ray, ultrasound, MRI and CT Scans have the ability to show us anatomical structures in great detail. Since the inception of medical imaging, vast improvements have been made on clarity and availability; providing medical practitioners and patients with a clear diagnosis. A clear diagnosis can help to guide practitioners to give you a clear prognosis and management plan, whether this is a broken bone, internal bleeding, head trauma, or a tumour.

My Experience

After recently breaking my wrist (again) and going in for an x-ray, I realised that many would not be aware of the risk associated with x-ray and CT scans. Had I not known this already, I would be completely unaware that a single x-ray can increase your risk of cancer (1). CT scans are also problematic, with even higher levels of radiation. Areas such as arms and legs require a much lower radiation strength and therefore the risk is less. However, the spine or chest with its many layers of bone, muscle and organ require a higher strength scan, resulting in increased risk (1). Fortunately, ultrasound and MRI scans are safe. However, ultrasound cannot read bones, and MRI is very costly.

Hunting For A Diagnosis

When in pain, the desire to get a diagnosis is strong. For example, those with an old shoulder injury that just won’t heal will often go to their doctors pleading for an x-ray or ultrasound. Similarly, back pain can be debilitating and those suffering become desperate for an answer. However, you have to weigh up the pros and cons. What benefit will come from getting a diagnosis? Once you have a diagnosis – will your management options change?

Does Getting An Image Change Treatment?

Have you been diagnosed with shoulder impingement or tendinopathy? Have you been scanned, given the injection and in 8 weeks’ time the pain has come back? Here, the treatment you would receive from an Osteopath would be the same pre and post-scan/injection – the management doesn't change. Osteopaths use a variety of diagnostic tools including the same active tests a specialist would use, considering the injury cause and looking at your individualised anatomical makeup. In doing so we can diagnose and treat with great results and no unnecessary scans or injections required.

Here's An Example

The Conservative/Treatment Path

Shoulder pain or back pain are great examples of injuries that should be treated conservatively initially. ‘Conservative treatment’ includes seeing your local Osteopath, Acupuncturist or Physiotherapist for treatment, taking recommended supplements, attacking an exercise regime with focus by regularly doing the stretches provided.

The Specialist Path

The non-conservative pathway is seeing a specialist, getting a scan and putting a name to your disorder. The specialist will likely recommend getting a corticosteroid injection, nerve block injection or having surgery. These treatment options are invasive, have varying results and don’t address the reason why the injury happened in the first place (2–4). Not to mention the side-effects of steroid injections; steroid injections have been found to slow healing in the tendon (5).

What The Studies Show

Over imaging is an endemic in healthcare. Studies have shown that unnecessary imaging and diagnosis hunting can lead to poorer health outcomes and higher levels of disability (6). There is growing evidence that pain has a strong association with stress levels, poor sleep, anxiety/depression and negative beliefs around pain. Indicating that all aspects of your life need to be addressed when treating pain – something we strive to do at MetaMed. We help guide you to de-stress, sleep better and become more trusting of your body and its strength, resulting in a more positive future outlook. We actively refer within the community to find you the right trainer/practitioner to support you back to feeling 100%.

To Sum It All Up

Getting a diagnosis from medical imaging is not the be-all and end all to your issue. Studies have shown that people who are pain-free often have ‘abnormal’ findings when given an MRI. In this study 91% had disc degeneration (loss of height in your spinal discs), 56% had disc bulges, 32% had disc protrusions and 38% had annular tears (the ligament around the spinal disc) (6). Yet these people all reported no back pain. Similarly, people with shoulder impingement, bursitis or tendinopathy often have similar if not worse findings on the unaffected side. When scanned, 95% of asymptomatic patients were found to have ‘abnormal’ findings in their shoulders (7). Which leads us to the conclusion that the pain you feel doesn’t necessarily correspond to the ‘abnormal’ findings that imaging may provide. In these cases, one may get little or short-lasting relief from nerve blocks, steroid injections or surgeries.

The main takeaway message here is before you go searching for a diagnosis, as it can have a negative impact on your health. Instead, give the conservative treatment a try. Focus on what combination of treatment/exercise makes you feel better. Radiological imaging should only be used when there are clear indications to do so and once conservative treatment options have been exhausted.

Written by Anna Burgess, Osteopath @ MetaMed · WANAKA

References

1.        Harvard Medical School. Radiation risk from medical imaging – Harvard Health [Internet]. 2018 [cited 2019 Jan 30]. Available from: https://www.health.harvard.edu/cancer/radiation-risk-from-medical-imaging

2.        Cook T, Minns Lowe C, Maybury M, Lewis JS. Are corticosteroid injections more beneficial than anaesthetic injections alone in the management of rotator cuff-related shoulder pain? A systematic review. Br J Sports Med [Internet]. 2018 Apr 1 [cited 2019 Jan 30];52(8):497–504. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29305377

3.        Carofino B, Chowaniec DM, McCarthy MB, Bradley JP, Delaronde S, Beitzel K, et al. Corticosteroids and local anesthetics decrease positive effects of platelet-rich plasma: an in vitro study on human tendon cells. Arthroscopy [Internet]. 2012 May [cited 2019 Jan 30];28(5):711–9. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22264830

4.        Jordan JL, Konstantinou K, O’Dowd J. Herniated lumbar disc: injection interventions for sciatica. BMJ Clin Evid [Internet]. 2016 [cited 2019 Jan 30];1118. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4747321/

5.        Coombes BK, Bisset L, Vicenzino B. Efficacy and safety of corticosteroid injections and other injections for management of tendinopathy : a systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Lancet [Internet]. 2010;376(9754):1751–67. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61160-9

6.        O’Sullivan P, Lin I. Acute low back pain: Beyond drug therapies. Pain Manag Todayanagement Today. 2014;1(1):8–13.

7.        Girish G, Lobo LG, Jacobson JA, Morag Y, Miller B, Jamadar DA. Ultrasound of the Shoulder: Asymptomatic Findings in Men. Am J Roentgenol [Internet]. 2011 Oct 20 [cited 2019 Jan 31];197(4):W713–9. Available from: http://www.ajronline.org/doi/10.2214/AJR.11.6971

The post Imaging – Help or Hindrance? appeared first on MetaMed.

Join Australia's leading Naturopath and Complete Gut Health Cook book co-author Helen Padarin on the guided gallbladder flush + 9v9. Click here to enroll.

Two Options Available

• 9v9 challenge
• The Gallbladder Flush

9v9 is an online challenge with support from an active group and Helen Padarin to eat 9 cups of veggies for 9 days. You'll get access to beautiful seasonal recipes on how to get 9 cups in a day! This challenge can be done by itself…

or if you're after something a bit more…

You can go for the Gallbladder Flush which is teamed up with 9v9 (9v9 will be included for free with the Gallbladder Flush) to prep you for the flush weekend. Read on to find out more.

Why a Gallbladder Flush?

Your gallbladder is one of your digestive organs, it stores bile from your liver and secretes it into the bowel when fatty foods are eaten. Bile helps to digest fats. Now not everyone has a gallbladder, it may have been removed. The gallbladder flush is intended to keep your gallbladder healthy, functioning and your digestion at its optimum.

Physical Signs Your Gallbladder May Need Help

• Tired
• Skin issues- rashes, acne, sallow skin
• Constipation
• Gut discomfort after eating fatty or greasy foods

Emotions and your gallbladder

In Chinese medicine, the organs can tell you a lot. Not only do they have a function in the body but also your emotions.

Emotions of a free-flowing, healthy gallbladder:

• Clear direction
• Assertive
• Inspired
• Happy
• Passionate

Some signs that your gallbladder may be in need of some help:

• Difficulties making decisions and planning
• Feeling shy
• Unmotivated
• Tired
• Lack of follow through
• Inability to take action

Who's behind this online course?

Some of you may have heard of Helen Padarin- Naturopath, Nutritionist & Herbalist from Sydney, Australia. She's a wealth of knowledge and also co-author of The Complete Gut Health Cookbook with Pete Evans. To help more people than just the ones she sees in her clinic room she developed an online course called 9V9 . This month she's just launched the Gallbladder Flush + 9v9 for FREE!

Starts Monday 13th May 2019. Enrolments open until 12th May 2019. Click here to enroll.

What's included?

Did you know that when you sign up for The Gallbladder Flush with Helen, that as part of preparation month you are going to receive the entire 9V9 Veggie Challenge for FREE?

The course will run for one month starting with the 9v9 challenge. Nine cups of veggies for nine days. The whole course comes with an amazing recipe book with great ideas of how to get your nine cups of veggies in a day. You'll be sure to use them beyond this course. Plus live chats on Facebook with Helen Padarin and support from Alice Nicholls from The Whole Daily Then on June 7-8 you'll be ready to go through the gallbladder flush.

All recipes for 9v9 have been revamped and refined. If you don't want to do the whole flush you can sign up for 9v9 on it's own to get a taster. Click here for 9v9 only.

Alice Nicholls from The Whole Daily will also be part of the challenge to support you along the way. These are some of the super simple and yet, incredibly delicious Winter 9V9 recipe images. Helen Padarin and Alice Nicholls got together and cooked their way through a mountain of veg so that they could deliver you an epic and tummy-warming update to best-selling 9V9 Veggie Challenge Program.

How Does it Work?

We know that your body needs to be in the best shape to do The Gallbladder Flush. And there ain't no better way to start to shift those toxins, detox your cells and start the body regaining vitality than to flush it full of Mother Nature created anti-oxidants, phytonutrients, and fiber.

By the end of this nine-day veggie detox in The Gallbladder Flush Prep month, you’ll be shocked at how easy it can be to feel happy, healthy and confident. You'll have guidance with Helen along the way, Facebook Live chats and Q&A as well guidance during the overnight gallbladder cleanse which takes place on 7-8th June.

Please click on links for more details as this program is not suitable for everyone.

Do I Have to Change My Lifestyle Drastically?

So sign up for the gallbladder flush and you'll get the 9v9 challenge for free. Or if it's not quite for you just sign up to be part of the 9v9 challenge for nine days. You don't need to change anything else in your diet or lifestyle, just eat 9 cups of veggies for 9 days!

If you are taking part in the gallbladder flush and need access to teas and supplements to assist you can order them online from MetaMed.store and have the delivered to you anywhere in NZ.

What You Can Expect

• Your digestive system to function better.
• Your energy and confidence to improve.
• Your immune system to be given a reboot.
• To learn new tasty tricks to cooking vegetables (you’ll be craving them by the end).
• Bucket loads of compliments on your new glow!
• This program is designed to give you the get you started on a new path and on track to heal your health – for good!

Come and join The Gallbladder Flush NOW & get ready to experience a healthier, happier life!

Enrolments end Sunday 12th of May for a Monday 14th May start.

The post Do You Need a Gallbladder Flush? appeared first on MetaMed.

People often think to only seek treatment or therapy when they are in pain.

Most of us feel niggles and strains, and we recover. Other times we feel them and we hope they'll get better on their own… but then they keep getting worse, and interfere with your day, work or life in general. That's a real pain!

You might take the odd pain killer, because that's easier…

It works for a while…

But then they stop working!

By the time you are in pain, your body has already reached crisis point. That's why it's screaming out to you to do something.

Our Body Is Capable, Until It's Not

Our body does an amazing job at compensating, meaning it can hold things together and keep working even when things aren't quite right, but if you stress it too much physically, emotionally, mentally it can only handle so much. Everyone has different thresholds, some greater than others.

So often we don't see people until they're in pain, but the issue may have been brewing for many days, weeks or months just waiting to rear it's head.

Our initial focus is to get you out of pain. This is when you can think clearer, move freer and get back to doing the things you love.

The Vicious Cycle

So many people feel great after two or three treatments then decide they don't need anymore. We love that feeling too, but unfortunately, we see the following pattern reoccur.

• You come in for pain…
• You feel better after a couple of treatments…
• You decide you don't need any more treatments…
• Then a few weeks later your pain starts to slowly creep back in…
• It gets intolerable…
• You feel like you're never going to get better…

When you get into the thought that you're never going to get better, that's not a nice place to be.

Your Body Like an Iceberg

In the above video, Dr. Auria Young our holistic chiropractor discusses how your body is like an iceberg. This is how we can best explain why your pain comes back when you stop treatment.

Your pain is everything you see above the water. Over time you have physical therapy and chip away at the painful areas. You feel great once you can no longer see the iceberg.

But look at how much is brewing under the surface, waiting to build up again.

So when you get to the water level, you're not in pain. The reason we recommend maintenance treatment is to keep chipping away at what is below the surface. To get to the root of the issues so that your problems take longer to arise again.

Maintenance Treatment

You've probably heard this term over and over again. And the analogy of the car. If not, here it is again.

Think about how you look after your car, taking it for regular WOFs and servicing (hopefully) so it keeps running to get you from A to B. If something doesn't sound right, or a light flickers on your dashboard, you go get it checked out. Because you need your car to keep working for you!

If you ignore the sounds and the lights, it may keep going for a little while. However, one issue may have a knock-on effect to another area of your car. It keeps going… until it can't anymore.

If you look after your car. Look after your body as your vehicle, to run efficiently, get you from A to B and make life easier!

If you don't look after your car, you may have to rethink things a little. Do you not look after your car, just like your body?

Do I Have to Keep Coming in Forever?

People come in depending on how long their body can hold a treatment. Various factors are involved and is entirely different for everyone.

Things that can impact:

• Stress – mental and physical
• Lifestyle
• Diet
• Environment

We aim to have you independent of treatment as much as possible. This may mean you need to make changes in lifestyle and stress situations that you are able to change. It may also mean you need to engage in stretches or rehab exercises, start a new activity to support your body.

People can come in from anywhere between every three weeks to 3-4-6 months!

The best part is they come in feeling great, become more aware of their body holding tension and reduce the rate of injury, or recover much faster from injury.

Self-Care

Allowing yourself to get treated is a great self-care tool. It keeps your mind-body balance, keeps you going and doing what you love.

The post Why Do I Need Treatment if I’m Not in Pain? appeared first on MetaMed.

Tight and achey muscles but can't get in to have a massage or treatment?
Massage and hands-on work is a great way to relieve muscle tension, but sometimes it can be hard to find the time.

Thankfully there's an array of self-care tools including massage balls out there to help you. But you may not be so sure how to use them.

Benefits of massage balls

• Quick and easy massage tool
• Treat yourself between massages or treatment
• Improve blood flow
• Improve muscle recovery
• You can control the pressure

Smooth or Spikey?

Generally you'll find different types of massage balls: small, large, soft, hard, smooth and spikey. You can use them for different areas and depending on how much pressure you want to apply.

Laura Randall our Osteopath will take you through the benefits of each type of massage ball.

Benefits of the smooth ball:

These myofascial balls are great to get into more sensitive areas, or if you're just starting out with massage balls.

Benefits of the Spikey Ball:

The spikey ball is a bit harder with little nobbles to get into all the nooks and crannies. If you need some deeper work a spikey ball can be great to get deeper into your muscles.

Quick and easy tips to relieve tension

• Roll your feet for 5 minutes to relieve tired and achey feet
• Lay on your back with the ball under a trigger point, lay there for a couple of minutes until the trigger point releases
• Place the ball under your neck as you lay over it
• Roll the ball over your muscles to improve blood flow

When Not to Use Massage Balls

There are times when it's not appropriate to use massage balls. If you're unsure seek professional advice.

• Fresh injury
• Broken skin
• Too painful or uncomfortable
• Makes your symptoms worse

Dr. Nick’s Spiky Break-Down FAQ

What do Massage/Spiky Balls do?

The key concept behind the use of spiky and other massage balls is that the application of pressure to an area of the body can be useful in order to obtain various health benefits. This parallels the effects of deep tissue massage techniques when you see a manual therapist such as an osteopath, chiropractor or massage therapist. Therefore, any object, being spherical in nature or otherwise, can be used to apply pressure and achieve the desired result. Just as the bear scratches its back using the bark of a tree, so too can we use a golf/tennis/lacrosse ball, or even a foam roller for that matter,  to massage our muscles and improve tissue tensions. 

As I said, the object need not be a ball at all. There have been several occasions when I’ve been crippled by pain while travelling abroad and I’ve resorted to digging into the pantry to pick out two cans of tinned beans just to roll out my lower back – repeatedly falling on your neck when trampolining isn’t recommended! As long as those cans don’t open while you’re on top of them you’re good to go! With that said, it is probably less often when you find yourself in a position where you don’t have access to at least a tennis ball at the bare minimum. 

What to Look for in a Massage/Spiky Ball?

The benefit of using a spherical object like a ball is that you can roll along or across the length of your muscles, simulating the action of having a massage. If we’re talking specifically of massage balls, there are four main differentiating factors: size, density, friction component (how grippy the ball is), and whether or not the ball is spiky. The first three factors are by far the most important. A golf ball is small, extremely firm and generally has a low friction component. A similar-sized ball is a squash ball which is small, less firm but very grippy. Size and density are fairly self-explanatory, a small ball is easier to work into tight spaces like between the ribs or into the small muscles of the foot, and the density determines how much pressure you can exert. Similarly, a large ball covers more surface area and can be better suited to penetrating deeper into the larger muscle groups – much the same as a foam roller is generally better suited to releasing the larger muscle groups. The friction component can be important so that the ball doesn’t slide out from under you if you’re lying on it or leaning against it on a wall which can be quite important too. There are various ‘points’ of view in relation to how important the spikes on spiky balls are. It is theorised that they elicit a greater stimulation of local blood flow in the capillaries, but there appears to be little if any evidence to back this up.

Personally my favourite all-round self release tool is a lacrosse ball. For the enticingly low cost of $5-10 this ball has all of the qualities I like in a massage ball. It’s very firm but not unyielding, is small enough to be useful to get into smaller knots and muscle groups but still large enough to release deep tensions in the quads and glutes, it also has a high friction component, meaning you can use a lacrosse ball on a slippery wooden door or flooring and it’s unlikely to slide out from under you. A tennis ball is a close runner-up because of its ubiquitous nature and having similar size to a lacrosse ball, but rubber cricket balls and baseballs work too. I also really like golf or squash balls for releasing the small muscles of the foot. 

Some Tips for Application

• Putting a massage ball in a sock is a great way to target difficult-to-reach back muscles when leaning against a wall. Hold the end of the sock in your hand and hang the ball down to the desired area of your back or shoulder.  
• Taping two tennis/lacrosse balls together to form a ‘peanut’ is a great way to apply even pressure to the muscles on either side of your spine while still leaving a divot for your spine to notch into. This is a much stronger way to release your spinal muscles than using a foam roller and has the significant benefit of not being deflected by the shoulder blades. Best results are achieved by lying on the peanut and using your body weight to apply pressure. 
• For some people, it can be a daunting process to workout [sic] exactly what and where to apply pressure to. My advice is always to take an open-minded approach. Use the massage ball as a way of exploring and discovering your body in a new way. Really try to feel the tensions in your body and use that new information to guide your self-release exercises. Personally, I’ve always seen it as a form of masochistic meditation like Vipassana – you have the ability to stare down your pain and master it. All the while, the degree of pressure and pain is totally up to you, so try to enjoy!

The post How To Use Massage Balls appeared first on MetaMed.

We find that many people have been told, you’ll need an operation on your knee for it to improve, or ‘you have arthritis’ and there’s nothing we can do, ‘you need to get a knee replacement.'

In some cases yes surgery is the best option especially if your knee is causing you a lot of discomfort, instability and you’re unable to normal daily activities.

However, for those who have been told this before they’ve even tried conservative (non-invasive) treatment – hands-on treatment, manual therapy, exercise and rehab. Please consider this!

Why is Your Body in Pain?

Much of the time if there is pain and discomfort in your body, it is likely that your body has done a good job compensating and now it’s had enough/ Muscles, joints and ligaments have adjusted to try and accommodate changes, and not only just in the problem area. Ie. for the knee you can start to feel issues higher up in the hip or lower back, maybe because you’re limping due to discomfort, causing issues on the other side or through your lower back.

The pain can often be due to muscular tension (typically a dull ache), and yes you may have some changes in the structure of your knee such as a meniscus or an ACL injury that, yes, may require surgery but often we find that much discomfort can be alleviated with the correct hands-on treatment.

Treatment is Not Just Pain Relief

But pain relief is not the only benefit. If you are heading down the road of surgery, this means you’re going to have to rehab to get the most out of it!

Treatment is also an opportunity to help you slowly learn corrective exercises. Often pain can cause muscles to turn off, and it’s difficult to learn how to use them again!

Prehab

By easing discomfort your body is more willing to engage muscles and strengthen them. We call this time prehab. It’s doing the work to get you in the best shape in prep for surgery so that you have optimal outcomes and get the most out of surgery, a better recovery and better chance of getting into your rehab as early and effectively as possible.

Exercises to Get You Started

DOWNLOAD our basic knee exercises. *Please note that you may have some difficulty engaging these muscles if you have a chronic knee injury. This is where we can help with treatment. To help stimulate your muscles to make it easier to exercise them.

Benefits of Treatment Before Surgery

And, sometimes we find that people who so urgently needed surgery, actually don’t! They can reduce their pain killers, return to some level of activity and post-pone surgery for months or years.

So if you’ve been told you have a degenereative knee. Lets help either get you in shape for surgery or even prevent it needing to happen in the first place!

How Does Arthritis of the Knee Develop?

The progression towards arthritis is usually because of a previous trauma or injury causing a change in mechanics and load to your joint. In your knee it could be:

• Sprain knee – injury to the medial or lateral collateral ligaments
• Cartilage issue – meniscus tag or tear
• Internal ligament damage – the anterior cruciate ligament or posterior cruciate ligament

Address the Issue

As always, it’s important to address the underlying reasons that may have led to your condition in the first place: Existing weakness, biomechanical issues which need correcting etc…

Don’t get us wrong, we’re not against surgery at all. It is amazing what it can do. But don’t use it as your only ‘fix’.

The post Prevent Knee Surgery appeared first on MetaMed.

Headaches and migraines aren't just a pain in the head. They're a pain in the butt. Suffering from daily, weekly or even random headaches can significantly interfere with your day and ability to do simple tasks.

Headaches and Migraines Can Affect Your:

• Ability to work
• Focus
• Decision making
• Ability to look after your kids

Although headaches and migraines are slightly different (see our post on Migraines) there are some basic tips to help prevent and manage them.

Top 5 Tips to Prevent Headaches and Migraines:

1. Keep your hydration up. Drinking at least 2 litres of water per day. If you have difficulty drinking water you can try sparkling water, a squeeze of lemon, or drinking non-caffeinated herbal teas. Herbal teas are a great option during the cooler months. Try peppermint, berry teas or relaxing blends. Avoid sweetened drinks, soft drinks or energy drinks.
2. Eat regular and small healthy snacks and meals. This helps to keep your blood sugar levels up and help sustain energy. Keep sugar content down in your snacks and meals to avoid a sugar crash and tiredness later. High-fat snacks such as avocado, salmon, nuts. It is also a good idea to identify if you have any particular foods that trigger headaches or migraines and avoid these.
3. Regulate your sleep and wake times (read our blog post on Benefits of Regulating Your Sleep Cycle). Sleep is an important part of winding down from your day and repairing from any stressors you may have encountered. Try and go to bed by 10pm and avoid screen time for 30- 60 minutes before bed.
4. Stress relief. Finding ways to let go of daily stress helps relieve muscle tension and wind down for a peaceful nights sleep. Meditation is one way. Going to a yoga or exercise class is another. If you have difficulty meditating there are guided meditation apps with some great sleep stories, such as Calm App.
5. Magnesium supplements are great for relaxing muscle tension and calming your nervous system and can aid with reducing frequency and intensity of headaches and migraines. Read more about Magnesium types and doses here.

We are here to help

The post 5 Tips to Prevent Headaches and Migraines appeared first on MetaMed.