Dive into the Chilly World of Cold Exposure: Unlocking the Benefits of Cold Water Immersion

The photo above is of Martin taking his very first ice bath. It was in September last year and he has been embracing the cold ever since. Martin started because he had heard that regular cold exposure was good for your health (more on that below) but have kept going because I feel great after every ice bath and cold shower.

Have you ever considered taking the plunge into cold water or braving a refreshing cold shower? You might think it sounds crazy, but let me tell you, the rewards are worth it! Cold exposure has some incredible benefits for your body and mind. So, let's chat about why embracing the cold can be a game-changer in your quest for overall well-being.

First off, when you expose yourself to the cold, something magical happens. Your brain and body release adrenaline and noradrenaline, which amp up your alertness and energy levels. It's like a natural boost that makes you feel alive and focused. As well, those effects last even after you've dried off!

So, if you've been feeling a little sluggish or struggling to concentrate, a cold shower or a dip in icy water might just be the jolt you need to kickstart your day.

Cold exposure isn't just about waking you up—it's also about building resilience and grit.

When you willingly subject yourself to the discomfort of the cold, you're training your mind to handle stress better. It's like a mental boot camp. By challenging yourself and pushing through the initial shock, you strengthen your ability to stay calm and composed when faced with real-life challenges. It's a skill that extends far beyond the cold showers. It's a superpower that helps you tackle whatever life throws your way.

Now, let's talk about mood enhancement. Who doesn't want a little extra happiness in their life? Cold exposure has got your back. When you expose yourself to the cold, your body releases dopamine—a neurotransmitter responsible for pleasure and motivation. And let me tell you, dopamine is a game-changer. It lifts your mood, boosts your energy, and enhances your focus and productivity. So, the next time you're feeling a bit down or lacking motivation, why not take a dip in cold water and let the dopamine work its magic?

Oh, and here's an interesting tidbit: cold exposure can actually rev up your metabolism. When your body is exposed to cold temperatures, it has to work harder to keep you warm. That extra effort translates into burning more calories. But the real kicker is the transformation of white fat into beige or brown fat. Unlike white fat, these metabolically active fats keep your body humming, giving you that extra edge in your weight management journey.

So, it's time to embrace the cold and reap the rewards. Start with shorter cold showers and work your way up to longer durations or even try an invigorating ice bath. Listen to your body, take it one step at a time, and enjoy the benefits of increased energy, resilience, enhanced mood, and a revved-up metabolism. Trust me, your body and mind will thank you for taking the plunge into the chilly world of cold exposure. It's time to make waves and dive into a whole new level of well-being.

If you’re keen to take the plunge we have arranged an ice bath event for Align Clients at The Recovery Lab, Windsor. It’s on Saturday June 17th from 7am- 8am. The ice baths will be at around 8 degrees and we suggest that you aim to do around 3 minutes. Martin will do a brief talk about strategies you can use to do the ice bath (and enjoy the experience) and then you will get a chance to take the plunge! Tickets are available here.

Sleep Better

If you or some one you love isn’t getting enough sleep, is struggling to get to sleep or you’re waking up feeling tired and worn out, this post is for you.

As stated in previous post on this blog: Sleep is super important.

So important that we really need to think of it as a pillar of health the same way we do diet, exercise and stress management.

What happens when we don’t get enough sleep?

One of the major areas impacted by sleep issues is our cardiovascular health.

Impacts of sleep on cardiovascular health include:

• Increases chance of both developing and dying of CV disease by 45%

• Heart attack - leading cause of death in Australia and stroke is a leading cause of disability.

• Main mechanism - increases BP

Often people can think of sleep as wasting time, but the reality is that your brain doesn’t work as well without it.

• in an Australian study, no sleep for 19 hours was shown to have equivalent impact on concentration as being over .05 blood alcohol

• As well, less than 5 hours sleep can lead to a 500% increase in risk of car accident

Once again, Martin has come through with the goods with a video that will have you catching some of the best quality Z’s of your life in no time!

As always, the video is transcribed below. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to get you back on track!

Intro: 0.00

Hi, Martin Harvey here from Align Chiropractic, and today’s video is all about sleep, why you need to get more of it, why it’s important for both your health, and also how easy it is to get the things you need to do done. So, timing this video, I’ve decided to do this video partly because I think sleep is super important, but also because this Saturday is when we go to daylight savings. Daylight savings is kind of like this mini experiment that we have each year where we all get like a tiny little bit of sleep deprivation and all feel mildly excited that it’s a step closer to summer. It’s interesting how many people are coming into the practice each year in this sort of period of time afterwards just not feeling as well as they normally will because they’ve missed out on one hour of sleep. 

Impact of not enough sleep: 0.51

So, what I want to do is share with you a little bit of information about why health is super important, and then I want you share with you a couple if really simple things you can do to help yourself sleep better, and in the context of transitioning to daylight savings, what you can do to kind of get past that little hiccup as quickly as possible. 

So, when we’re talking about sleep and impacts on health, there’s lots of things that it affects. It affects your risk of obesity, your risk of diabetes etc. One of the key things that I wanted to highlight was the impact of not enough sleep on cardiovascular health- your heart health, because the leading cause of death in Australia is cardiovascular issues, and also one of the leading causes of disability in Australia, Stroke, is also at an increased risk if you have sleep deprivation. So, interesting research in this area shows that you increase your risk of having cardiovascular disease by about 45% if you’re not getting enough sleep, and if you already have cardiovascular disease, increase the chance of dying from it by about 45% if you’re not getting enough sleep. So, it’s kind of important. 

Now, how does it work? What’s the link between not enough sleep and this impact of cardiovascular health? It’s probably a bunch of mechanisms, but what the research suggests is a lot of it is because it increases your blood pressure. Even one night of not enough sleep can have a measurable impact in terms of increasing your blood pressure. So, it’s not a tiny thing- it’s a really important thing. 

So, the information that I’m sharing with you is mainly from a really cool book by a neuroscientist called Matthew Walker. It’s kind of a world leader in the area of sleep and health. Another thing- and this is often one of the things that people notice, is that they just kind of feel a bit foggy and a bit out of it when they haven’t slept as much as they should, and the science in this area is really, really interesting.  You see, if you haven’t slept enough, it impacts your concentration. That not only mean that it’s harder to get the work that you want done, it’s harder for you to be as present for your family and friends, it’s harder for you to do everything. It’ll measurably increase the chance of you having a car accident. 

Experiment: 3:15

So, there was some research done in Australia where what they tried to quantify this. What they did was look at how well subjects in these studies did on a standardized concentration test, and the findings were really amazing where having the subjects be up for 19 hours- which isn’t a huge amount, like it’s not missing a complete night’s sleep, but just staying up a little bit later than you normally would. It meant that those subjects performed as badly on concentration tests as people who were over 0.05 blood alcohol level. So, not having enough sleep dulls down your brain to the level that you’re functioning almost as if you’re a little bit drunk.

Sleep better: 4:00

Now, what you can do to sleep better? If you’re one of those people who have trouble sleeping, or you just want to optimise your health and sleep better, there is a couple of really simple things to help yourself sleep better. 

It feels bad to say this because I’m such a coffee fan, but avoiding caffeine late in the day is an obvious, but really important one.  When Matthew Walker’s talking about this in his book, he talks about the half-life of caffeine. This means how long does it take for the amount of caffeine in your bloodstream to reduce by half- which is about 12 hours. So, what that means then is if you’re wanting to go to bed at 10 and you had a coffee at 10, you still have a significant portion of the caffeine in your blood. So making sure that if you are a coffee lover like I am, biasing that toward earlier in the day is going to help you sleep better later at night. 

Interestingly, a lot of people will say that they sleep better if they have a glass or two of alcohol, but the science says there’s a pretty fine balance there. Yes, a glass or maybe two glasses can help people relax and be in a better state to sleep, but it often reduces your ability to go into the deeper levels of sleep which are the ones that we need to really rest, repair, and wake up rejuvenated. It also puts you into a shallower state of sleep. Often if we’re having more than a couple of drinks, there’s a mechanism which will often wake up once your liver has finished dealing with the alcohol- so, you’ll often find that after having had a few drinks that you’re then waking up at 3 in the morning finding it very, very difficult to sleep. So, minimising alcohol is a really important thing. So, looking forward to this Saturday when we lose an hour of sleep, it’s probably a good night to go easy in terms of how many drinks you have. 

Exercise: 5:52

Exercise is a really powerful lever in terms of impacting our sleep. Exercising earlier in the day tends to create a biorhythm where we’re much more relaxed and drowsy for sleep later in the day. For a lot of people – particularly people who are in that night owl sort of group, exercising late in the day can often act as a stimulant, making it much harder to get to sleep. 

Sleeping Strategies: 6:15

There are a couple of things that you can do in your environment to help you sleep better. One is having a hot bath later in the day because the heat and then the drop in temperature when you get out of the bath, that drop in temperature will make it easier, and sort of allow you to become dozy. We’re very strongly triggered by cool temperatures that will tend to stimulate an appropriate melatonin response, which is the sleep hormone 

Related to that is having a cool room. They talk about wanting a room that’s under 20 degrees- ideally about 17/18 degrees Celsius, is sort of the sweet spot for most people to sleep better.

The last thing I want to share with you is the importance in terms of melatonin and getting sunlight into your eyes earlier in the day. So, getting outside and getting natural sunlight. Our melatonin production is stimulated by sunlight coming into our eyes, and then stimulating our pituitary to make melatonin.  That production earlier in the day is what helps us feel sleepy later in the day. It sort of sets that biorhythm, but it’s strongly stimulated by light that’s coming in at that low angle that is present earlier in the day. So, getting outside without sunglasses early in the day, particularly going for a walk can be really powerful way of setting your biorhythm so you’re better able to sleep later on in the day. 

Conclusion: 7:50

So, this is Martin Harvey from Align Chiropractic with a few tips to help you sleep better and get over the hump of the daylight savings.

Reduce your stress with a Foam Roller

Feeling like you’re sitting too much at the moment? Feel like the top of your back is more concrete than muscle? Worried you’re starting to develop a hunch back? Then this post is for you!

If you have been following this blog, you’ll know that we have been posting a lot about what you can be doing to keep your body moving well to stay healthy and more comfortable while you’re having this time at home.

In the video below, Martin talks us through how to use a foam roller to take hunch out of your back and help your nervous system calm down as well, because forward head posture has been linked with increased stress and tension as well as many other conditions.

Martin will show you some easy to follow exercises and stretches you can do easily and safely from your home to keep moving and give your body some breathing space.

As always, the video is transcribed below. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to get you back on track!

Hi, Martin here from Align Chiropractic, and what I want to talk about in today’s video is a really simple, quick strategy that you can use to help de-stress, to unwind, to help loosen muscle tension that we often build up from stress in our neck and shoulder, and to also help reduce that sort of posture where your head and shoulders comes forward that we often get when we’re stressed. 

So, what am I talking about with that posture? There’s a posture that we look for clinically which can come about from postural stress of long periods of time with our head forward and arms foward. It can also be part of our body’s response to stress. The normal stress response activates certain neural pathways that increases the tension in the muscles in our should and neck, which makes sense if we look at stress as a survival response that we need to fight or run away (flight) in response to a stressor that’s kind of the way we’re wired. The challenge is that in our modern lives, we tend to have stresses, rather than being something rustling in the bushes that we need to run away from which might have been a stress when we were hunter-gatherers. It’s more likely that deadlines, or family stresses or money stresses, or all the other reasons that we have to be stressed. So, what tends to happen rather than being a short period of stress and then physical activity to resolve the stress- which has a natural balancing, we have these periods of long-term, ongoing stress and we end up with these shoulders that are like concrete, head that pokes forward, and shoulders that round forward. It’s also then having that posture, we think also signals to your brain that look, there’s something that you should be stressed about, which then winds thing up. So often we’ll see people with neck pain, headaches, or even low back pain where a big part of what’s contributed to it is that ongoing stresses has just kind of wound everything up, altered their posture. 

Foam Rollers: 2:12

So, what I want to show you today is a special use of a foam roller that you can use to help unwind and de-stress, as well as release the tension that you’ve got that tends to build up in your neck and shoulders when you are under ongoing stress. 

So, the type of roller that we’re going to need to be able to do this exercise. You can’t have one of these shorter rollers because I’m going to show you a way where you’re lying on top of the roller this way. So, two types of rollers than can work are the sort of traditional, full, round, long roller, or a specific posture correction type roller which is a half roller, and then the diamond where you’re going to lie on this side. So, either of these two types will work. This one- the full roller tends to be a bit more of an advanced one- some people will find it a bit trickier to balance on, whereas this one tends to be a little bit more specialised for the job. If you want this sort of type, these are a bit harder to get. These ones you can kind of get from online or lots of different sporting goods place. These ones probably best to just come in and get one from our practice, we sell them. 

Exercise 3:26

So, using the roller is as simple as this. I’m just sitting down one end and then my head is resting at the top. My hands are palm up so that I can get some external shoulder rotation, and the starting position is hands down by your side. The first time you do you do this. It’s natural to feel a little bit of stress or tension in the middle part of the back, but it should never cause any pinching or sharp pain. You just want to relax your shoulder back. 

First day you do this, I’m going to suggest you do it for 2 minutes. I’ll show you how you go about getting up in a minute. As you progress, the way that you can increase the amount of stretch and the amount of release here is by bringing your arms up closer  to this sort of 90 degrees to the body mark here- it tends to be easier with the hands down like this. So, increase the time until you’re doing it for about 10 minutes, and then you can start moving your arms out to the side. Most people find somewhere between 10-15 minutes gives them a really really good release, and they feel much less stressed afterwards. You can also increase the impact by doing meditation or the physiological sigh type exercises at the same time.

Getting up 4:52

Now, getting off. When getting off it’s really important that you don’t come up like this- that can feel really uncomfortable. What I’d suggest is you roll to the side and then slowly sit, come up. Just take your time because you can feel a little bit dizzy.

Conclusion: 5:12

So, there we have it- the way to use the posture correction roller, or the sympathetic dominance rock roller as a way of reducing stress, and unwinding tension. 

Simple strategies to reduce stress and sleep better

Feeling fatigued, a little bit over it all or just in need of a few strategies to wake up feeling a bit more energised? Then this post is for you.

For those of you who have been following this blog, you’ll know that we have been posting a lot about what you can be doing to keep your body moving well to stay healthy and more comfortable while you’re having this time at home, but what about the other things our body has to do well to keep us going?

One of the first casualties during periods of stress, especially prolonged stress is the quality of our sleep. We find it harder to nod off, we wake more easily through the night or sometimes we just notice the quality of our sleep has dropped off and we are waking feeling tired despite having gotten our normal amount of sleep.

It makes sense, when under “threat” your body doesn’t want to let it’s guard down completely so that you can remain alert to danger. Its the reason you never sleep as well in a hotel as you do at home no matter how many stars it has because its a new environment so your mind never fully shuts off.

Now think about how we find ourselves living in a new environment, a new routine, changes in the amount of exercise we can do in a day and dealing with stressed people all day every day.

Is it any wonder that our clients are contacting us complaining of fatigue more than ever before? Of course not.

Please enjoy this little video Martin has filmed to help you get your sleep back on track, as always the transcript is below.

Hi, Martin Harvey from Align Chiropractic. So, today’s video is a really simple routine that I think will help you in terms of managing stress and improving your sleep. I’m recording this during the whole COVID-19 lockdown here in Melbourne, and one of the things that I’ve become super aware of when talking to people is that stress is having a bigger impact than ever because of the current circumstance. There’s not always a lot we can do about the circumstances- that applies right now, but it also applies to life generally. Often the things that are stressing us are not the things that we can immediately resolve. So, it’s really useful to have tools that you can use to reduce the physiological impact, reduce the health impact of stress and or issues with sleep so that they’re less likely to cause your immune system to work more poorly, less likely to cause a buildup of tension that is often a driver of spinal problems, and all the other things like headaches and so on that we know are very strongly stress related. 

So, when we talk about stress from a physiological perspective, there’s a whole lot of hormones that are involved. The number one hormone is a hormone called cortisol, but all of our hormones are sort of interlinked. When we talk about sleep and stress, the hormone that also becomes really important for us to consider is melatonin. This is the hormone that really triggers us to feel sleepy at the time we want to go to sleep, and so there’s often a very strong-tie between higher than normal levels of stress and having more difficulty sleeping. So, I sort of wanted to combine a routine that allows you to essentially use really easy triggers to try and normalize your melatonin levels and your cortisol levels.

Melatonin 2:00

So, the first thing that I’m going to suggest that you do is to wherever possible get outside early in the morning- whatever is early for you, but get outside because we get unfiltered light- even if it’s cloudy, and that goes through our eyes and stimulates in our brain the production of melatonin. So, if we do that early in the morning, it’s much more likely that it sets our circadian rhythm in a way that we’re going to feel nice and sleepy when it’s time to go to bed later that night. The advantage of doing a walk is, one- it’s one of the things we are able to do with our current stage 4 code lockdown, but it also triggers a thing called optic flow. 

Optic flow: 2:49

An optic flow is essentially a stimulation of certain brain circuits by having things going past us, by having things going through our visual field. So, it triggers a series of changes in our brain that also helps to kind of relax us and reset cortisol levels in a way that’s really healthy. If it’s raining outside and you can’t get that, the next best way of doing it is to move around the house a bit. If we’re restricted to our homes, we’re not moving as much as we might normally, so make a conscious effort to sort of almost do laps of the house. 

You also want to get near a window. Now, the window will have light slightly filtered- some of the UV radiation doesn’t come through the window, so it’s not quite as good as the melatonin effect that you get being out in direct sunlight (but almost as good).  One little thing to add to the getting out for your morning walk, is that it’s important that you don’t wear sunglasses unless it’s so bright that you almost have to squint, because the light coming in gets filtered and altered by the sunglasses. So, particularly in the morning, you’re generally not going to need it unless you’re walking directly into the sun. 

Physiological sigh- 4:07

The other thing that I’ve mentioned on other videos but I just want to go into a little bit more detail is the power of the physiological sigh. So, when we talk about cortisol and stress, often the strategy that comes up is learning and developing a meditation practice, and it’s very well established, evidence-based way of improving our health, improving our cognitive function, and reducing stress levels. It is a bit time consuming, and for a lot of people it’s a tough habit to get into.

The beauty of the physiological sigh is that it’s very neurologically triggered. You don’t have to develop a skill, it’s just using your breathing in a very specific way. You get the effect immediately, whereas meditation is a skill and a practice that you have to develop over a period of time. So, physiological sigh essentially is a way of breathing where you take one deep breath, which expands the little alveoli in your lungs and triggers certain neural pathways, then you take a second breath over the top of that, and then you relax as you let your breath out. So, it’s a really powerful way of triggering a direct neural pathway that changes you from being into what you might think of as a nervous system that’s all wound up and ready to go- which is called a sympathetic state, to a parasympathetic state- which is the neurological way that our bodies get us into the right state to rest, relax and repair any damage that’s happened to our body. 

So, physiological sigh in terms of routine, I’d be suggesting go for your walk to get the optic flow and get the melatonin. After that, sit down and do 5 of these physiological sigh breaths. Really really simple, you just breathe in through the nose. Just relax your shoulders as you’re doing it. 

Conclusion: 6:59

So, there we have it. A really simple routine to help manage sleep and to help improve stress or lower stress levels. It’s based on research that’s done by Dr. Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist at Stanford in the US. He’s doing some really exciting work that I think can really help us live a healthier, happier, more active life. 

A quick way to move and soothe your neck

This post is for anyone missing their normal routine and would like some tips on getting rid of the tension and restriction they are starting to feel in their neck, upper back and shoulders, but don’t have the time to watch or go through the whole sequence as described by Martin in an earlier video.

As most of you are aware, during the stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne allied health are only allowed to practice on a more urgent basis, meaning that a lot of our regular clients are missing out on getting their regular adjustments as well as maintaining themselves while living in lock down.

Never fear however as Martin and I are still in practice!

If you have a specific issue please do not hesitate to contact the practice so we can see how we can keep you going.

Below is the next instalment of our “Move and Soothe” series of posts.

Many of you expressed that although the original video was very helpful, it was a fairly long run time, so…you asked for it and we have delivered!

Martin has whipped together a quick video about how to keep yourself moving at home, helping your neck keep moving, free up a lot of the tension you have felt building, especially over the last few weeks of stage 4 lock downs.

As usual with our videos, the transcript is available below.

Enjoy!

0:00- intro

Hi, Martin here from Align Chiropractic. This is another follow along, move and soothe video. This one is designed to be a quick routine that you can do maybe in the middle of the day, or when you don’t have as much time. It’s really oriented at releasing tension, improving movement through your neck, and then extending out into the shoulder area.

So the idea here is that we use a sequence that we would use when we’re providing chiropractic care to deal with problems, which is we’ve got to create movement in the system first before we can then change alignment. Improving movement and alignment are the key to then creating changes in the way all the soft tissues work, so releasing tension, allowing nerves to function better. The nerves functioning better is what then translates into muscles functioning better because nerves control muscles, then that’s what creates an environment where you can create a spine that’s both more balances and more stable. So we look at is as movement, alignment, and then balance and stability come as a result of that. If we try and create stability without having movement and alignment- much less effective.

1:17- description

So let’s get into it. With this one you can do it either sitting at your desk, so if you’ve been spending hours doing this and you’re starting to notice that tension building up, or you can do it standing. 

The first thing we are going to do is we’re going to double up and do our move and soothe together. So, we’re going to be moving our spine through ranges of motion, getting it to that end range of motion to encourage full range of motion in our neck, And we’re going to be applying a little bit of a release to the muscles that most commonly tighten up as a result of stress, or as a result of postural stress. With this one, you don’t need any equipment- in some of the other move and soothes will use a spiky ball, a tennis ball, or a lacrosse ball, but for today we are just going to be using our hands so that it’s super easy to do wherever you are

2:11- breathing 

I’m going to be incorporating the physiological ‘sigh’ breathing that you might have seen on other videos. It’s an approach that I came across through the research of a neuroscientist called Dr Andrew Hubermann. I won’t go into a whole lot of detail, but basically it is where you take a deep breath in through your nose, and then when you get to that point where it’s tight, you just take a little breath over the top- so it’s a double breath. And then relax.

2:47- Lateral Flexion

So, to start off we’re going to be doing lateral flexion- probably the most important movement for us to have. To incorporate a soothe, what I’m going to get you to do is just reach across with the opposite hand and apply some pressure to this muscle up here and apply some pressure to this muscle up here in your upper trapezius or levator scap muscle. So just feel in there and find a point that’s feeling a bit tight- it’s right there for me, and then we are going to incorporate breathing in through our nose. Then we’re going to the other side, and then we’re going to breathe back over this side. Just letting that relax. I’m going to go one more time- breathing over to this side. Now just swap hands, and one more. That’s it, now we go to rotation

Rotation 4:20

So, hand across and this time, we’re going to be focusing on rotation away from the side that our hand is. So, breathing in. Swapping over. Breathing in, breathing in. Last one. Shrug your shoulders up and let them relax.

Conclusion: 5:38

There we have it. Just a quick follow along to help you release some tension, improve the movement, and have a much healthier, happier spine.

Home care during stage 4: Move and Soothe your back and hips

This post is for anyone missing their normal routine and would like some tips on getting rid of the tension and restriction you may be starting to feel in your back and hips.

As most of you are aware, during the stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne, allied health are only allowed to practice on an urgent care basis, meaning that a lot of our regular clients are missing out on getting their regular adjustments as well as maintaining themselves while living in lock down!

Never fear however as Martin and Kieran have got your back and are still in practice!

If you have a specific issue please do not hesitate to contact the practice so we can see how we can keep you going.

Due to popular demand, here are some more stretches and mobilisation exercises to use at home!

Below is a video Martin made at home about how to keep yourself moving at home, helping your back and hips feel human again after the change in routine from the last few weeks of stage 4 lock downs.

As usual with our videos, the transcript is available below, but I strongly recommend you have a watch as Martin runs through some excellent tips, stretches, exercises and muscle releases that will have you feeling a lot more yourself during this period.

Enjoy!

Welcome: 

Hi, it’s Martin here from Align Chiropractic. This is a follow-along video, so you can follow along as I run you through a series of exercises. Today’s video is really about moving and soothing the lower back, hips and sacroiliac joints.

When we are taking care of people in the practice in this area, there’s kind of a hierarchy that we work through to help people’s bodies work at their best. We want to restore movements to the joints first, because if the joints aren’t moving then it tends to create increased stress and strain on everything else. Lack of movement also affects the alignment, and if the movement and alignment of the joints is not the way it should be, then it causes changes to the firing patterns of the nerves. This affects the muscles, which affects the ability of your spine to balance overall, and affects the stability of how that whole system and the body works.

Begin: 1:01

We’re going to work through a sequence. Whilst it’s not as good as getting an adjustment- which is often the only way to get each of the segments working, we can use movements of our body to maximise the amount of movement we’ve got with our spine. We want to make sure that we’ve got everything moving nicely first, and then we’re going to move into increasing and improving the alignment so that we can translate that into having things working as stably as possible. 

Often your body will hold onto muscle tension when things not working properly. We’re going to run through a few releases that you can do to help things feel as comfortable as possible.

Lateral Flexion: 1:40

We’re going to start off with some lateral flexion movements. Lateral flexion is a really important movement in the way that our spine works because the coupled motion of the spine means that if you’ve got lateral flexion, every other movement will perform better.

We are going to slide our right hand all the way down your right leg. We don’t want to force this movement- just get to a point where we feel a point of tension. We are going to go through a count of 3 here, then come all of the way up to go to the other side. We are going to go through this sequence 5 times each way. This should be nice and gentle. We really want to get each of the vertebrae moving as much as they can. 

Flexion and Extension Introduction: 3:45

So, next we’re going to move into flexion and extension. It’s a bit of bias towards really wanting extension as much as possible because so many of our activities, whether we are sitting or bending forward, encourage flexion. For this reason, there is a bit of bias towards encouraging extension.

Flexion/Extension Exercise: 4:03

We are going to start off with extension. Hands on the lower parts of your hips here, and then we’re bending back this way. You just want to be careful that you’re not jamming things, so we’re not going super far into this one. Just get to a point where you feel a degree of tension, then holding for 3. 

From here, we’re going into flexion. I’m going to be nice and gentle here. If your back is feeling a little bit tight then just stop at the first point of tension. It’s fine to have your hands on your legs there, or if you’re feeling free then we’re just going to go as far forward as we can. In this case, the fingers are touching the ground for 3, and then we are going to come all the way up. 

Nice and slowly, coming back into extension. Hand is on the lower back for 3. Same thing coming forward. Nice and easy, just dropping from the hips. That’s our second time through. I’m going to come back here. All the way forward for our third sequence of five. Onto four. Nice and easy coming forward, then last one. All the way back for 3, and then last one forward. 

Rotation: 6:22

For the next part, what we want to do is increase the amount of rotation that we have with our lower back. There are a couple of different ways that we can do this, but I’m going to pick an easy way.

So, what I’m going to have you do if you’re able to, is get your foot over so that it’s at the level of the other knee- that’s ideal. If that’s not comfortable, you can end up just with the leg down like that- but ideally, we want it up like this, so we’re then using leg as a bit of a lever. 

So, with this one, we’re going to incorporate a little bit more breathing. So, this time I’m going to get you to breathe in through your nose, and then out through your mouth. Rather than rotating back and forth, we are just going to hold in a rotated position for three breaths.

So, we’re going to come all the way around, I’m just hooking my elbow onto my knee. The other hand goes around like this way so I’m getting a nice rotational stretch, then just increase it a little bit if I’m able to. That’s two, so we can get a little bit more.  

So just little point of performance there, we’re not wanting this sort of position, we’re wanting a more upright stretch, so stretch comes through our back. So nice 3 breaths there, and then we’re going to swap legs there and stretch to the opposite way. 

So, leg over and then this way. Get that rotational twist in there- in through the nose and out. 

Sacroiliac Joint Movement: 8:33

Okay. So from there, we have some rotational movement. Now we want to get some movement through the sacroiliac joints. They’re the pelvic joints, the joints right at the very bottom. Their plane of movement is rather than this sort of plane, they twist forward and backward a little bit this way. The best way of working them is we want to pop one foot right out in front, and with the other we’re basically going into a long lunge here, and so the back leg is there. It’s really important that this front knee is behind our front foot, and we’re wanting to get this knee back nice and long.  Then what I’m going to have here is I’m going to reach my hands in on the inside of my hips there. So, it’s a bit of a hip flexor stretch as well as mobilising the sacroiliac joints. So, from this position I’m going to hold here. I breathe in through my nose, and out through my mouth, just dropping a bit further in with each breath.

Okay so that’s 3 for that side, just going to swap positions here. I pop that leg forward and this leg back and keep my hands on the inside. If that’s too much then you can do more or less the same thing from this position, but ideally we want to really encourage a lot of movement into those sacroiliac joints because when we’re sitting, they’re not getting much movement at all. Some breathe in through the nose, and out. Just gently come out of that. 

Exercise for Postural Alignment Introduction- 11:03

Okay, so we’ve now got some movement through both the spinal joints- the lumbar spinal joints, and the sacroiliac joints. So, what I want to move onto now is an exercise to just help in terms of our postural alignment. We’ve got everything moving, so let’s do an exercise that will kind of offset that tendency toward flexion and slumping forward that many of us have just from hours spent sitting. What I’m about to show you now is an exercise called a superman exercise

Superman Exercise: 11:30

It’s a really great exercise both in terms of encouraging better posture in your spine, and also it can translate to some improvements in stability.

So really simple exercise. You can lie face down, arms extended in that classic sort of superman position, and what we’re wanting to do here is just quite simply start of quite low. Lift up and hold for 3- that’s one repetition. Making sure you just sort of pinch your shoulders back as well, and having better posture through the middle back as well. That’s 10. Okay, so movement and alignment taken care of. Now we want to see if we can get rid of and release some of the tension that builds up. 

Glute Tension: 13.22

The biggest driver of tension tends to be that tension in the gluteal muscles, so we want to focus on that for this sequence. You can use a lacrosse ball, a tennis ball, a cricket ball, a spikey ball, or a foam roller- this is a little short one, but the same thing works with the bigger roller. For today I’m going to use the spikey ball, but any of these will work.

So, to start with we’re going to go on our side. We’re going to work this big fleshy part on the side here called your gluteus medius. What you’re aiming for here is if you reach down you’ve got the side you’ve hit that top of your hip bone, which is called your iliac crest. There’s a fleshy bit between that and the next part of your hip called your greater trochanter. So, what we’re going to do here is we’re going to lie on our side with that there. Just find a tender spot, and then we’re going to hold that tender spot while we breathe. You’ll notice I’m slightly backward of exactly on my side- your tender spot could be slightly forward or back of there. 

Breathing Introduction: 14:35

From there, I’m just going to breathe in through my nose, then one more deep breath until we’re at that full point, and then out. We’re going to repeat 3 times. 

Okay, so that’s the gluteus medius released. That type of breathing also helps to get us relaxed, or what’s technically called a parasympathetic, or rest and repair state. 

Piriformis Release: 15:24

Now we’re aiming for is a muscle called the piriformis muscle, which is kind of in this fleshy part right where the pocket of a pair of pants might be. We can either just put the thing on the floor and go straight on there. If you want to increase it a little bit more, you can pop that ankle of the right leg onto the knee of the left. Find that tender spot, and then we’re just holding pressure there. We’re going to do double breathes again. Let’s just relax into it. Last one. 

Gluteus Medius: 16:30

That’s it, so now I’m going to flip over to the other side there. Again, we’re going to start with the gluteus medius, so come onto that side and find that tender spot- that’s the one right there. Breathe in through the nose (double breath). Alright, so let’s just released that gluteus medius.

Piriformis: 17:20

So now we are going for the piriformis. Now I don’t have a pocket on this side, but imagine where a pocket would be. I’ll pop my ball there and just have that leg straight like this, with the other one like that, or if that’s too much, just like that works fine as well. We’re going to find that tender spot- yeah that’s the one, it’s a bit more on this side than on the other side. So, I’m going to breathe in, and again. 

Conclusion:

Perfect! So, there we have it. Sequence to move and improve the alignment, and then soothe and release the muscle tension there. Thanks for watching

Home care during Stage 4: Move and Soothe your Neck and Shoulders

This post is for anyone missing their normal routine and would like some tips on getting rid of the tension and restriction they are starting to feel in their neck, upper back and shoulders.

As most of you are aware, during the stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne allied health are only allowed to practice on a more urgent basis, meaning that a lot of our regular clients are missing out on getting their regular adjustments as well as maintaining themselves while living in lock down.

Never fear however as Martin and I are still in practice!

If you have a specific issue please do not hesitate to contact the practice so we can see how we can keep you going.

Below is a video Martin made at home about how to keep yourself moving at home, helping your neck keep moving, free up a lot of the tension you have felt building, especially over the last few weeks of stage 4 lock downs.

As usual with our videos, the transcript is available below, but I strongly recommend you have a watch as Martin runs through some excellent tips, stretches, exercises and muscle releases that will have you feeling a lot more yourself during this period.

The video has a few sections so if you REALLY felt like it you can skip to a section you find most relevant, however the way that Martin has filmed it the segments build on each other to get the most out of each one.

Enjoy!

2:00 Todays video is about...

3:52- Where to begin?

4:15 Rotational Movements of the Neck

5:32 Lateral Flexion of the Neck

7:12 Flexion/ Extension of the Neck

8:07 Shoulder Exercise

9:28- 3 exercises to open shoulders

13:48- Overhead position for shoulders

14:54- Focus on Alignment

17:23- Intro Spikey Ball Exercise

18:27 Beginning of Spikey Ball Exercise

23:27 Conclusion

Hi, Martin here from Align Chiropractic. Today's video is a follow along video, meaning I'm going to be taking you through some things that you can do, and you can more or less just watch the video and follow on. 

So, the purpose of this video, it's really about moving your upper spine, your neck, your shoulders, your middle back to get mobility in those areas but also to soothe those areas.

It's really based on the clinical model that we use in our practice where we see that there's a real benefit in looking at the spine in kind of a sequential way, that spinal problems generally what's happening is that segments of the spine rather than having the ability to move through their full range of motion and kind of jammed up from either trauma, or long periods of time in particular postures, or stress tightening up the muscles around it. 

And then as the joints jam up that changes the way the nerves and muscles and all the other soft tissues work, which then changes the alignment of your spine, and this change in movement and alignment of the vertebra causes misfiring of nerves which has a whole range of effects on your body, but specifically it can affect your ability to kind of balance the whole system. 

If you're not balancing the whole system then your spine's going to be less stable. It's much more common for you to have problems with your back, your neck and the rest of your body if things aren't stable. So, if we look at that it goes movement, then alignment, then balance, then stability and so a common thing that I’ll see is people talking about ‘I need to do stability work or core stability work’. 

I actually think it's really important that we do the basics first we've got to get movement happening first, and then once we've got movement, then we want to have a proper alignment so that when we're stabilizing first of all it's more effective, but we're also locking in a good movement pattern and a good alignment pattern rather than locking in poor ones.

2:00 Todays video is about...

So this one specifically, today's video is really about dealing with this upper part of the spine because many of us are locked into these postures working at a desk or the effect of stress tightens up our neck and shoulder muscles and pushes our head posture forward and so this is really about restoring movement to those areas and then getting our alignment back into that nice upright posture. 

I'm also going to be combining some approaches that come from new research into the interplay between how we breathe and our stress response and in particular if you want to dive deeper into this, there's a neuroscientist called Andrew Hubermann who's based at University of California, sorry based at Stanford and we're going to be using a couple of different approaches to breathing that we're combining with the movement approach and using a ball-  spikey ball, or a tennis ball, or a lacrosse ball that we'll be using to just release muscle tension and some of that will be just I'll be cueing you to breathe in through your nose, and then we'll also be using an approach called a physiological sigh, which is really where you just take in a deep breath through your nose and then another deep breath through your nose before

letting it out and the emerging evidence is that this is a really quick and easy way of us helping to unwind some of the neurological effects of stress which we know can have really significant impacts on how we feel and how healthy we are. So, let's dive straight into this follow along routine to help release tension in neck, shoulders, upper back, and get movement into those areas so that you can have a healthier, happier, more active body

3:52- Where to begin?

Well the first thing that we want to do is we want to encourage movement back into the neck, so with the postures that we've been in and the lack of movement and there's a tendency for our neck to kind of stiffen up, and there's a segmental part of that which is what wewould address in office with an adjustment, then there's kind of an overall regional movement that we can address with exercise.

4:15 Rotational Movements of the Neck

So first movement we're going to do is we're going to be doing rotational movements. With this I just want you to be taking nice slow breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth. 

So first of all just turn your head all the way to the left, and then go all the way to the right. I'm going to go through this five times each way, and we're not pushing we're just holding at that end range- nice and gently. 

Let's see it just easing into it letting your shoulders drop, just letting that tension, that sort of habitual tension ease away. That's it. I think that's four, probably need a better way to count to be able to do this. Okay, I'm going to say that's five.

5:32 Lateral Flexion of the Neck

So next we're going be moving into lateral flexion so we just need to be cautious with this, if you get any pinching, any sort of sharp sensation that says you don't want to go that far, you want to stop before that point. 

All of these mobility things are done within what feels just you're touching that point of tension or restriction. So sideways it's going all the way over there. 

I'm just pausing at that end range, maybe a count of three. Just working our way into that range, just getting every vertebrae in our neck and even into our upper back starting to move. 

This is our third one. Maybe just pause a little bit longer there, any sort of knotty points you can just almost sort of focus on it, just get that movement happening, just nodding a little bit back and forward. Okay that's four. So one more to go. 

Last round for lateral flexion. Lateral flexion's actually a really important movement there's not many day-to-day activities that we do to encourage this range of motion, so it's often an exercise that we'll have people do because getting lateral flexion actually encourages movement in the other range.

7:12 Flexion/ Extension of the Neck

So now we're going to go flexion/ Extension. Flexion I'm going to get you to go nice and gently on, because we all tend to spend a lot more time in flexion than we do an extension. With extension which is the one going back, again just be really mindful that you don'twant to be getting any pinching sensation with that. With this one I'm doing it up against the wall. If you feel any dizziness with this then back off, maybe skip this part of it. This is our last one, our fifth repetition. Okay. 

8:07 Shoulder Exercise

Now functionally interlinked with your neck is your shoulders, and so again all this time spent like this, there's an alignment component of that, but before we can really address the alignment we've got to get the ability for these joints to move, so first up I’m going to do a stretch across the body, trying not to mess up my mic here. 

So come all the way across, and we're just going to breathe in through the nose, and out. I'm going to do this one for three breaths. Just going to go a little bit further on this third one. Okay and then we're going to swap our arms. Bringing the arm across, the other arm just hooks in next to the elbow there. Breathe in, out. Breathe in, and out.

9:28- 3 exercises to open shoulders

So, it started to get some mobility, but really if we want to be able to bring our shoulders back which is what most of us need because so much of our activity is in front of us, we want to be opening up and restoring that movement that way. 

So what we're going to do here is spend sort of three exercises bringing and opening up this in the front of our shoulder. 

The first one what we're going to do here is we're going to put our hand up on the wall above horizontal, so if that's horizontal first one we want is up here, and then i've got my body sort of facing away there my elbow is straight, and then i'm turning out this way, and then i'm going to do three breaths there. So in through the nose, and out. That’s two. I can just rotate a little bit more, and three. 

I'm just going to take that tension off, and now i'm going to that horizontal level, and it'll feel a little bit different, it's going to hit a slightly different part of the shoulder. 

So again in through the nose, and out through the mouth. And three. Now we're just going to do just below horizontal to again getslightly different part of the shoulder. 

We're going to come across. One, Two, that’s three. Okay, so now we're going to repeat exactly the same thing but on the opposite side. So first one, if that's horizontal we're going up maybe 30 degrees above horizontal, rotating away feeling the stretch at the front of the shoulder maybe a little bit into the arm. One, Two, That's three. 

Then we're going to a horizontal point now, taking that stretch back up, and then in through the nose, out through the mouth. That's three. So, I'm going to get out just below horizontal one there, take that stretch up. And then in through the nose, and out. Then that's it, just move your shoulders around enjoy that extra mobility there.

13:48- Overhead position for shoulders

So next what we're going to be working on is bringing up into flexion or sort of like an overhead position for our shoulders. So, with this I'm standing sort of basically like arm length away from a wall, and I reach out, I put my hands down keeping my elbows straight and then what i'm doing from here is keeping my arms straight and dropping my body all the way down. 

I'm not rounding my back, I'm keeping my back quite straight, and then getting that movement back into the shoulders giving them that full range. We're just going to do three breaths here, so in through the nose and then out. 

14:54- Focus on Alignment

So next what we're going to do is move on from looking at movement and we're going to focus instead on alignment. What we're really wanting to do is to reverse that tendency that we all have to have this sort of position, and so what we're going to do is do an exercise called a W exercise, which is where you make your arms into a W shape with the thumbs facing backward. 

I always like to sort of correct the head posture so pull your head back, and I also like to look up slightly because that helps just release the activation here. What we're really wanting to do is use these muscles down here in between our shoulder blades. So, make the W shape look up slightly and then what we're doing is trying to not use these muscles but use those ones in between your shoulder blades. 

We're squeezing back one two three. Relaxing one, two, three. One, two, three. One two, three. We're going to go for ten so that's four, three. One, two, three, so I'm going to say that one's four, and five

Six. If it's getting uncomfortable, if things are starting to burn just take a little break, six and seven. 

So it's kind of this back and down movement that we're after- just caught myself looking down too much. Nine and last one. Good. 

What we've done there is really kind of reset our alignment, and that'll mean that rather than when your heads forward everything through has to be working overtime just to stop your head from going forward with gravity. So we're going to use that we've gotmovement, we've got alignment.

Spikey Ball: 17:23

Now what I want to do is just kind of soothe this area. We're all doing a lot of this, let's just work through with some pressure on those areas, and for this i'm going to suggest that you use a ball, a spiky ball. In this case this is a lacrosse ball, and what we're going to start with is we're going to be doing three individual spots. We're going to be doing one right in between the spine and the shoulder blade here, then we're going to be doing one that's up, almost on the meaty bit above your shoulder blade, and then we're going to be doing this little corner in here where your arm joins onto your shoulder blade there. 

We're going to do that on each side. We're going to use that slightly different breathing where rather than just breathing in through your nose and then out through your mouth, if you want to experiment with it, this is a really good place to use that physiological sigh, which just helps reset our nervous system from a stress sort of state, into what they call a parasympathetic state, which is putting your nervous system in a state to promote rest and relaxation and kind of de-stressing.

18:27 beginning of spikey ball exercise

So let's start off. You put the ball against the wall, and then just drop it down a little bit so you can get into that spot and rather than rolling around, what I like to do for this is just find a tender spot, hold pressure there. And then we're going to go breathe in through the nose, and then second breath, and then out. So just moving into a slightly different spot there. 

Breathe in, second breath, and out. Breathe in. 

Now we're going to move to the top of the shoulder. So, for this one you almost need to angle back a little bit. I'm just going to find that fleshy bit there. All right so I’m going to breathe in. Okay, so that's our three breaths there. Now for this one, I've got a really a choice of going on the actual arm here, or for most people this area in the side of the shoulder blades the spot that you want to hit, so I'm going to hit that one. 

If you're doing this by yourself you could maybe do an extra round where you go to the other one if you're feeling tender in both, but I'm on the side of the shoulder blade. 

The easiest way of getting there is having your body sort of on a 45-degree angle there, just finding that tender spot- okay that's definitely it. And so I'm going to breathe in through my nose, that's number two, let's go for number three- that's a really tender one. 

Okay, so now what we're going to do- oops dropped my ball. And i'm back. All right so same sequence, we're just going to do the opposite side. So again, ball against the wall, I'm just going to roll into that spot just next to my shoulder blade there. All right that's it, I've got the right spot, so I'm going to breathe in through my nose. Second breath. 

So now I'm just going to reposition that ball. I'm getting ready from the top of that shoulder blade there. First breath, double breath. Second breath, that's our third breath there. 

Now we're just going to move to the outside of the shoulder there. So again, looking for either on the shoulder blade or the back of the arm. So I'm going to keep it consistent that 45 degree angle here. I’m going for that spot on the shoulder blade just breathing in I'm just moving up a little bit, finding that real epicenter of tension there. All right that's it, so breathe in at that spot...really relax into it. One more, breathe in through the nose.

Conclusion: 23:27

So there we have it, we've got movement through shoulders, neck, sort of upper back as well, then we've reset our alignment so thatwe're in a nice upright position and then we've kind of reset the tension, reset the nervous system giving you the best chance of having ahealthier, happier more active body. Thanks for following along.

Refresher course on our 7 tips for surviving the lock down

Yep. We are as over it as you are. A few weeks ago, Martin and I were excited as we thought it looked like we could ease some of the social distancing restrictions in the practice. We were both looking forward to working together on the same shift again and being able to see the other staff members we have had to keep separate to protect the practice.

Sadly, this has not turned out to be the case.

It goes without saying that I hoped never to refer to this blog post again. I never wanted members of our community to need a survival guide to another lock down, even less than I wanted to update it.

The good news though is that we know how to get through this, and even though it seems like this one is a little more stubborn, and we are all a bit more frustrated than last time and lets face it, wearing face masks all the time is uncomfortable and boring, it is important to remember that we are in fact all in this together and we WILL pull through sooner or later.

So without further ado , please feel free to refresh your memory of Align’s top 7 tips for surviving the lock down.

7 LOCK DOWN SURVIVAL TIPS

1. Recognise that it is OK to be sad/angry/frustrated at the current situation. 

   Even if you don’t think your concerns or issues rate highly on the scale of how disastrous your issues can be, they still can have a large effect on your life and are therefore valid reasons for you to feel bad. 

   To recognise that how you feel about it all is important and you need to deal with that, not just say “it could be worse”. It could be, almost always, but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t being affected now. 

   If you feel hard done by that the things you would normally be doing to feel like you aren’t happening at the moment, then you are allowed to be annoyed by that. Don’t carry stress around thinking that you help people by not complaining. You don’t, you just get more irritated. Recognise it’s OK to be mad and express it healthily, exercise vigorously or speak up if need be.

2. Exercise. 

   I know right? obvious and boring, but it’s more powerful than you realise and usually overlooked. 

   One of our clients recently told me that they have discovered that without commuting and the incidental exercise they used to do purely from working in the city in an office, they have gone from averaging 8000 steps a day to fewer than 800. 

   In times of stress, volume of exercise is frequently one of the first casualties. Ironically, It’s also one of our best natural stress managers and anti depressants. 

   Ever regretted exercise? Ever felt MORE stressed after exercise even when it was only a small amount of it? No. No one has. Our nervous system registers stress by putting us in fight or flight, or survival mode. Still living on the other side of exercise tells our brain that we have successfully overcome a stressful situation and therefore we don’t need to be in survival mode.

3. Take some time out.

   I know what you’re thinking, easier said than done right? Where are you going to find time or space when locked in your house with your family to have some time off? 

   I get it, sounds like a classic “this guy doesn’t have any kids” thing to say, but I don’t mean try find 45 minutes to fully relax. We all have lives to live, work to do and/or people to look after.

   What we are talking about here is finding even quick “mini breaks” throughout the day that allow you to reset for a second.

   Meditation is a great way to help relieve stress (as well as lots of other benefits). If you're looking to use your self isolation time to up your meditation game we highly recommend the Oak and Smiling Mind apps. Both are free and excellent!

   The Resilience Project has an app that is a daily well-being journal. This app is suitable for and has programs designed specifically for primary & secondary school students, as well as adults of all ages wanting to improve their mental well-being.

   Alternatively if meditation isn’t your thing, you can replicate some of the same effects by listening to songs you find especially soothing. The research into this phenomenon used the songs ‘Strawberry swing’ by Cold play, and “Someone like you” by Adel. Feel free to mix it up and don’t be afraid to admit to yourself that ‘Only time’ by Enya is your relaxation jam.

4. Watch your posture.

   Never underestimate the importance of posture. Just like how research has shown that trying to have confident posture has been shown to release testosterone in our body that increases our feelings of strength and confidence, the opposite is true. 

   There is a reason that if I ask you to do an impersonation of a stressed or anxious person you slump forward and hold your shoulders tight and up near your ears. It’s because universally, that’s what our body does under extreme or chronic stress. 

   This posture increases stress chemicals in our body and just happens to be replicated by sitting for long periods, especially if using a computer, a laptop, a tablet or our phones. Sound familiar during iso anyone? 

   Lie on a foam roller along your spine from your head to your backside with your arms at 4 and 7 o’clock. Then just LIE THERE. If you can only manage 2 minutes, that is better than none. If you’re comfortable or have time to, then 15 minutes is better again. 

   If you can’t get access to a longer foam roller or posture pole, then in a pinch you can roll up a few beach towels, but a roller is best. 

   This position has the added bonus of improving your body and spinal health by decreasing stress and strain on your body, especially you neck, head and upper back. 

   Improved posture can decrease headaches and risk of injury. 

   If you have more questions about this position, want a photo of your posture that we measure to know exactly where you are at or want more information about what improved posture can do for you, please do not hesitate to get in touch as Martin and I would both love to be there to help. 

5. Get Adjusted.

   This can also work towards your taking some time out, but do not neglect your health during this period. 

   Do not put up with ailments that make it even harder to get through the day. Or if there is some annoying issue that you have had for ages that you haven’t felt like you have had time to manage or keep injuring because of your daily routine, now that you’re out of your normal routine is the PERFECT time to get on top of it. 

   Don’t lose any momentum you had heading into this situation!

6. Tune out the news every now and then.

   I know the temptation is to try stay up to date on every little bit of coronavirus news, but eventually it can become fatiguing. Every now and then avoid hearing about it or reading the new story on your newsfeed. 

   This goes hand in hand with having a time out, but I wanted to keep it separate as it is it’s own addiction to break. It doesn’t always help us to know the latest doom and gloom. It will still be there tomorrow. 

   Take the time you would spend on the news to have the time out I mentioned earlier. 

7. Ask for help.

   Speak up. Let people know how you are feeling. It is OK not to find this situation easy, I know I haven’t. Find someone you can have a vent to or speak to someone professional who can help you if you’re feeling like you need specific help. 

   It goes without saying this but obviously, check in on your friends and family. We don’t want people coming out of this in worse shape if it can be helped. 

   Remember that you are not alone in this. Although the lockdown and it’s effects are felt individually as all our circumstances are our own, we are all in this situation together. We will all understand where you are coming from and everyone wants to help everyone else get through it. 

The 5 Do’s and Don’t of Mid back, rib or chest pain

If you have pain in your mid back or chest and you aren’t sure what your next steps should be, then read on. 

If you have been following this blog recently you will know that previously I have written about what causes rib pain as well as some ways to know if your mid back or rib pain might be something more worrisome that you shouldn’t miss. If you have missed it, read that post here.

However, during the last week I had a client who hadn’t been able to get into the practice for an extended period after their mid back pain had started and to make matters worse, not only did they not know what to do to try manage their issue, they had spent the best part of a week getting anxious about what was causing their issues. 

This situation got me thinking;

“How do people what sort of chest/mid back pain they have and how do they know what to do for it?”

This thought inspired me to write these blog posts, the top 5 ‘Do’s’ and ‘Don’ts’ of how to manage chest/mid back pain. 

The top 5 Do’s of mid back pain:

1. Get informed! 

   It is important to know your enemy. By far the most likely cause of your mid back/chest pain is something mundane and mechanical, but it is important to be aware of problems not to be missed that can cause your chest pain. 

   To read about some of the ways to screen to know if your mid back or chest pain is of more…immediate concern, read the “So how do I know if I need…to go the emergency room?” section of my previous post about rib pain. 

2. Use ice and/or heat to calm down your inflammation and pain. 

   Yes, you CAN take an immediate active role in helping to calm down the discomfort you feel, even if you don’t wish to take pain killers or anti-inflammatories.

   The correct use of heat or ice on your area of injury can help to decrease the level of pain you feel while still allowing you to take it easy while you have the injury. 

   There is a lot more to this topic but to make it as simple as possible; the general consensus is to try ice (frozen water…not the other type…that has too many side effects) if the injury is “acute”, that is, under 48 hours old. 

   Put the ice/icepack/peas on the effected area wrapped in a damp tea towel, 20 minutes on, then taking the cold off the area for 20 minutes. Repeat this for 1 hour and 40 minutes. 

   Beyond the first 48 hours the research suggests trying heat and Ice alternatively, or just heat. 

   To be completely honest with you, in my opinion, the research is not as conclusive as it was once thought to have been. As a result, although I recommend you try the guidelines, your only goal is to help ease inflammation and make the area feel better, if you find that one works better than the other, the goal is to make you feel better so that you can heal, so I would recommend that you use the modality that works best for you.

   For a full run down of when you use, check out my previous post “Ice Ice Maybe”.

3. Keep moving. 

   If you have mechanical mid back or chest pain you’re likely to find that sitting is your worst enemy. Keep moving but don’t over do it. 

   When I say move I do NOT mean “take up squash”, “weed your garden” or “help your friend move house”, rather I mean that movement within your pain tolerance, at a relaxed and easy pace like walking, will help your body dissipate inflammation as well as start injured soft tissues to heal. 

   Listen to your body however, do not over do it! If you have decided not to take pain killers your body will be able to tell you if you’re doing too much. If you have taken pain killers, the absence of pain is NOT a signal that you have had the opportunity to heal and fix the underlying issue, the last thing that you want is for the pain killers to wear off only for you to discover that you are now in worse shape than you were before you took them. 

   Frequently in practice I will tell my clients to avoid sitting but don’t over do it, and if you ARE settling down to watch TV or a movie later in the day, commandeer the couch to lie down, preferably with ice or heat on the area, lying down doesn’t place as much strain on the affected tissues and so should give your body a chance to heal.

4. Watch your posture. 

   Specifically for mid back and chest pain, I am referring to Forward Head Posture (FHP). This one goes hand in hand with number 3, if your head is sitting forward compared to your shoulders it places an immense amount of extra pressure on your neck, upper and mid back, as well as promoting closing in and seizing up of your anterior chest structures. 

   In fact, I believe that FHP is a major contributor to mid back and rib pain, especially when its the “this came out of no where” type. 

   For  discussion on posture, click here.

5. Get Help! 

   There is not prize for having the most pain in your mid back and chest. No one is helped by you waiting to see if it calms down only to arise again out of the blue down the track. 

   The faster you deal with issues like this the easier it generally is to get positive change. Not to mention, given how important it is to make sure you aren’t missing any of the more pressing reasons you might have mid back and chest pain, it is important that a health professional check you over and make sure you’re OK. 

   For more info about what you can do for your mid back, rib pain or chest pain, do not hesitate to get in contact with us. 

The top 5 Don’ts of mid back pain.

1. DON’T have your partner or friend “crack” your back or stand on your back for you. 

   I know this might sound like I am being funny but it’s real. Believe me, I understand the temptation, especially when you feel like “getting it to crack” is all you need for it to feel like it will let go, but trust me when I say, that sort of thing is best left to the experts. 

   Chiropractors go to university for 5 years to learn how to adjust people be as specific as possible and minimise risk as well. Most importantly, we know when NOT to manually adjust someones mid back pain. 

   Your partner or friend might have good intentions but it is not worth putting that responsibility on them. 

   At the very least, you wouldn’t want someone to accidentally re-enforce the negative behaviour your mid back, rib or chest is exhibiting. 

2. DON’T Panic!

   Even if you are concerned that your chest pain IS something you will need to visit an emergency room for, panicking about a possible diagnosis will make things worse. 

   As I said before, the most likely cause of your mid back, rob or chest pain is mechanical and non life threatening, so be alert but not alarmed. 

   If you feel OK but are in pain and you want to do something about it, get in contact with us quickly so we can help you get on track ASAP. 

   However, if you are genuinely concerned about your chest pain, rib pain or mid back pain, and think it might possibly be a heart attack or stroke, DO NOT HESITATE to call 000. 

   There is no point worrying about what would happen if it turns out you didn’t need to go to hospital. I have spoken to several medical doctors and ambulance officers about this and all of them say the same thing, they would much prefer to see someone who didn’t have a heart attack than not at all when they did. 

   Again, if you think you’re having a stroke or a heart attack, do not wait for confirmation, call an ambulance immediately. 

3. DON’T put off managing the problem or hope it will go away. 

   This sort of magical thinking does NOT lead to good health outcomes. 

   Imagine applying this type of approach to a car, if it’s not running properly and you haven’t gotten it serviced, you probably shouldn’t drive it to Queensland (assuming one day we can again). 

   Waiting to see if an issue like this calms down and “fixes itself” is in my opinion one of the best ways to create a chronic recurrent injury. 

   Commonly in practice we will see client’s who are on their 4th or 5th relapse of the same problem “only this time it’s just not calming down like it normally would.”

   Typically injuries, even ones that come out of no where and can come and go will get worse over time. They get more frequent, take longer to calm down, get more painful and eventually, they become all 3. 

   The sooner you get onto your injury is generally the fastest way to recover and in my experience involves the least risk of recurrence. 

4. DON’T work through it. 

   This one obviously goes with our last point as well as the “keep moving” point from before. Do not overdo it. 

   Your body is in pain for a reason, even if that reason isn’t always immediately evident. 

   If you have chest pain, rib pain or mid back pain, there is an underlying cause to it, and if that cause is mechanical, pushing through the pain and acting as you would normally runs the risk of injuring you further or exacerbating your pain. 

5. DON’T go it alone.

   This is potentially the most important point and yes, I am aware that this is literally the same as the “Get Help” section above.

   Again, there is not prize for having the most pain in your mid back, ribs or chest.

   Health care professionals are here for you to use when you need us. Living your life at half speed because you are in pain isn’t noble, it just limits your quality of life and no matter how good your intentions of not looking after yourself first and focusing on those around you, none of them want to see you suffer and all of them appreciate you the most when you are at full strength and not in pain. 

   For more info about what you can do for your mid back, rib pain or chest pain, do not hesitate to get in contact with us.

RIB PAIN AND CHIROPRACTIC PART 2: WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU VISIT US WITH RIB PAIN

If you have rib pain, pain in the rib area or you have pain in your mid back region and don’t know why, this post is about what you can expect if you came to see us as a chiropractor in South Melbourne. 

This is the second part of a 2 part post about rib pain, for the first post click here so that there aren’t any spoilers. 

Ok, so you’re up to date on part one? Excellent. 

Let’s face it...as chiropractors, back pain really is our thing. You might have already guessed but along with neck pain and headaches, back pain including the mid back and rib regions makes up a large number of the people who come to visit us initially.

Unsurprisingly therefore, it is important for us to be able to efficiently find out what is happening in these cases and be able to determine their best course of action to move forward. 

Ordinarily we would make a video of our assessment procedures of a specific region, however as Martin and Kieran are remaining separate from each other due to social distancing measures within the practice to combat the coronavirus, we haven’t been able to film one like we have for back pain and neck pain.

Instead I am afraid you’ll have to come on this journey ‘old school’ and use your imagination while I explain our process. 

Please be aware, this description is for general purposes only and is not an exhaustive description of what you may personally experience. 

Each person is different and so are their injuries, so we treat every client individually depending on their presentation. 

For example, rib pain sufferers might require a neurological examination, for others we might require X-rays and for some, we may not be the ideal first place for their care at all! 

We take pride in our initial examination's ability to individually assess rib pain sufferers quickly and effectively to determine their needs and best course of action.

Please see this explanation of a potential first visit with us as a guide to understand our thinking. 

STEP ONE: HISTORY

To be begin, we need to make sure that you get to tell us all that you need to tell me about your rib pain, things like; 

• When did it start?

• How did it start?

• What makes it better? 

• When did it start? 

• What makes it worse? 

• What does it feel like? 

• Does it change when you move/sit/stand/lie down?

However mostly we want to understand is; what does the pain mean to you? 

For a lot of people, the pain is only a part of the problem. 

A big part of it is the impact that it's having on your life. 

What are the things that the pain is stopping you from doing that you love to do or need to do in your life? 

It’s really important that you get to tell us all about your rib pain so that we know what's going on. 

STEP TWO: PALPATION

Next when you come to see us complaining of rib pain, is a palpatory assessment. 

What we’re looking for with that assessment are areas where the joints are restricted in the motion.

When they are out of balance, they are not able to move the same left and right. 

We also want to see if there are areas where there's increased muscle tension and/or the presence of tenderness.

We are looking for the areas where things are just not working how they should. 

Once we've done that palpatory assessment of the area that is giving you problems, we will often also extend the examination beyond that area of pain because your spine is linked with the way the whole body works and so we will often then extend up into assessing how your neck is working or in other related areas.

STEP THREE: SHOW US YOUR MOVES

When we are assessing somebody who's come to see us with rib pain is to assess how they bend, move and twist. 

Often when you have rib issues that will affect how far you can go one way compared to the other. The way we measure that is we use inclinometry, which is where we use an accurate measuring tool to see how far you can bend to the left comfortably and then compare the left side to how far you can move to the right. Simple as that.

STEP FOUR: ASSESS ALIGNMENT

The next step when we are assessing somebody who has come to see us with rib pain is we assess the alignment of their spine.

Posture is the window for us to be able to assess alignment.

To do this, we use specialised software where we can take a photo from the side and from the front. 

We then digitise those photos and then analyse them to see if there are indications of misalignment in the spine.

The way the software works is that we first take a photo and it uses the iPad to make sure that we have a photo that is absolutely vertical. 

The software then places a grid around exactly where straight up and down is and then we can compare landmarks on you that should also be aligned to see exactly how straight up and down or symmetrical your posture is.

So, you have looked at all that, what now? 

After going through the above and/or any other investigations that your issue demands, and determining that we ARE the right people to help you with your rib pain, we would get you underway as soon as possible. 

If you have any further questions or concerns about rib pain, please do not hesitate to get in contact with us. 

Rib Pain and Chiropractic Part 1

This post is for anyone suffering from rib pain and wants to know how to get on top of it as quickly as possible.  

Part one of our 2 part rib pain series explores the common causes of rib pain as well as some issues not to be missed in case you have rib pain. 

Part 2 will follow shortly and discusses the Align chiropractic approach to assessing people with rib pain.

Rib pain is a common condition that most of us will suffer from at some point in our lives. As a Chiropractor for South Melbourne and Albert Park I can say that our practice sees a lot of clients suffering from rib pain on a weekly basis. 

It can arise for a whole host of reasons and if you have ever suffered from rib pain, you know that it can feel like the end of the world! 

Rib pain can make it harder for you to sleep, work, exercise, enjoy time with your friends and family or even just breathe.

Pain through the ribs can be a symptom of more serious conditions as well, so it is important that you take care of it right away. 

More serious problems that can cause rib pain will be outlined below.

Rib pain can often refer to areas such as your shoulders, arms, upper back and middle back as well as your lower back and the front of your chest. 

COMMON CAUSES OF RIB PAIN INCLUDE:

• Poor posture (the way your body is positioned when standing or sitting.

• Sleeping in an awkward position.

• Upper back and neck muscle tension.

• Injury such as a muscle strain.

• Whiplash. 

• Prolonged sitting, especially when using a desktop or laptop computer.

• Previous injury to your ribs.

• Stress.

• Sneezing and coughing.

You will notice a common theme to the list above and that is; all of them appear relatively trivial when compared to the impact that rib pain has on our lives.

In fact, for a lot of our clients suffering from rib pain, that adds to the frustration. It doesn't matter if the pain is mild or severe, recent or decades old, most frequently, our clients will say that it just doesn't add up. “Why they are in so much discomfort? Why won’t the pain just go away by itself? Why does it keep coming back?”

HOW CAN SOMETHING SO MUNDANE CAUSE SO MUCH PAIN?

In these situations it is highly likely that there is an underlying imbalance of function that meant that their body was ‘on edge’. 

There was a build up of tension in an area of their spine and that mundane event was just the straw that broke the camels back (for the want of a better term).

Does it make sense to you that if your spine is functioning well that a trivial stress would be enough to make your mid back and ribs hurt? 

If your range of motion was symmetrical, your muscles, ligaments and tendons were relaxed, elastic and strong  does it make sense that it would suddenly start to hurt you? 

Of course it doesn’t. 

An underlying imbalance of function is most likely why you notice rib pain that comes out of no where, or won’t calm down, or keeps coming back. 

This is why our initial assessment of someone with rib pain looks for two things:

1. What is the cause pain and how do we get it to calm down as quickly as possible? 

2. Is there an underlying imbalance and if so, what can you do to address it to minimise the chances of it coming back?

For a more detailed account of how we assess these 2 features, be on the look out for Part 2 of rib pain which will be posted soon.

As stated earlier, there are also more serious causes of rib pain that, although much more rare than the list above, we need to screen for and you need to be aware of. 

Some of the more serious causes of rib pain are: 

• Fractured ribs or vertebrae, 

• Disc prolapse compressing on nerves,

• Cancer, 

• Pleurisy,

• Heart attack,

• Shingles

We have designed our assessment to be able to determine if your rib pain arises from an issue that we can start to address immediately, requires referring for further testing (such as X-rays or MRI etc.) or if you require immediate referral for medical assessment. 

SO HOW DO I KNOW IF I NEED TO SEE YOU OR GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM?

If you are experiencing intense rib pain after a severe injury, have intense pain when breathing that stops when you hold your breath, have lost or severely altered bowel and/or bladder function, your rib pain is linked to intense fever and/or unexplained weight loss, your rib pain also shoots down your arm or is accompanied by a rash, we advise that you visit your ED as soon as is possible to make sure that you aren’t suffering from more serious conditions. 

As always, if you are concerned that you might be having a heart attack, contact 000 IMMEDIATELY, you are better to be too eager to call for an ambulance than not eager enough. 

If you have any questions or concerns about rib pain, please do not hesitate to get in contact with us at Align.

7 tips to ease into easing restrictions.

Congratulations! If you’re reading this you’ve made it through what is hopefully the highest level of lockdown we will have to face. 

Despite this positive news, we are finding a lot of clients who are finding life stressful even as the restriction levels lower. 

They are finding that the threat level has decreased but their body is still in fight or flight mode.  

As long term readers of this blog or client’s at Align will know, helping your body to better manage stress is kind of our thing. 

Due to this, we have kept our highest “alert level” in operating the practice. 

We are adhering to the stricter levels of social distancing, sanitising all frequently touched surfaces within the practice and will maintain our separation of chiropractors and front desk teams to protect our clients and ensure that in the even either myself or Martin had to self isolate, the other one of us should still be able to provide care to our community. 

(For more details on our Covid-19 procedures click here)

But Kieran, why as our restrictions ease am I not feeling more at ease myself? 

As usual, great question and also as usual, it’s answer is a little complex. 

On the one hand, it’s good to feel like things have gone back to normal to some extent (I mean, who hasn’t been missing eating at a restaurant, drinking a pint or having coffee INSIDE a cafe?), but at the same time it is important to note: 

THINGS ARE STILL NOT NORMAL.

Yes more businesses are opening up, yes we can move more freely and see friends again, but we are a long way from how we lived up until February this year. 

The reality is, Coronavirus is still a daily feature of our lives, affects our actions and looms in the back ground all the time. 

Thankfully we are in Australia where we have hopefully avoided the worst that the virus can wreak, but that doesn’t mean we are free of it. 

Our nervous system is very good at detecting threats. It is always scanning your environment for trouble. It’s why you will get a vibe from some people or places that you don’t like being around when you haven’t had any evidence to indicate why you might feel that way. 

So despite the relative good news we are currently receiving, your nervous system is still aware that things aren’t normal, people are more stressed and as a result your nervous system might put you on a war footing…just in case. 

This is why I decided write a little list of tips for managing our world as it slowly thaws out of lockdown freeze.

1. It’s OK to not feel comfortable going out into the world just yet. 

   We are creatures of habit and we have just spent 8+ weeks training ourselves to be wary of leaving the house, avoid groups of people and keep distance from people at all times. 

   This is not easy to unlearn. It is OK to need time to ease yourself into interacting more openly with the world outside. 

   Try finding places that have protocols that respect social distancing to the standard you feel comfortable with and build confidence from there. 

2. It’s OK to tell people you don’t want to shake hands or stand close to them.

   Again, as a society we have tried to train ourselves to be uncomfortable with others. This will take time to change. 

   More importantly though, the expectation is still to maintain social distancing measures so you should feel empowered to not shake hands, bump elbows or acknowledge people without touching at all. 

3. Look after your health! 

   -Keep exercising,

   -Try to take time to yourself to relax,

   -Focus on the nutrition you’re fuelling your body with,

   -Take care of injuries or health issues, get adjusted when you need to,

   -work on your sleep hygiene and,

4. Be thankful that your children’s teachers can work face to face again.

5. Move. 

   This is different to when I said for you to exercise. We are all sitting more at the moment, even if you’re exercising, incidental movement from commuting, walking you a co-workers desk or to the bathroom in a large office or worksite etc. are no longer forcing you to break the habit of sitting for long periods and in my experience as a chiropractor in South Melbourne, this has been causing clients a lot of issues. 

   If you’re working from home or can’t be in your usual work space, watch these videos on how to set up your work space when working on a desktop or laptop. 

6. Keep washing your hands. 

   It’s easy to be complacent as people around you relax, remember that the expectation is that we keep washing our hands to stop spread. 

   Finally:

7. Read my ‘top 7 tips for surviving the lock down’ post. 

   It contains a lot of info about looking after yourself that even as the world opens up is still relevant. 

The team at Align wish you and your loved ones all the very best for this next phase of the pandemic. We look forward to helping keep you all as healthy as you can be. 

HOW TO SET UP YOUR HOME WORK SPACE IN 4 STEPS - LAPTOP EDITION

2018, when I first posted this video was a simpler time.

Game of thrones hadn’t been ruined yet, Britain was still in the EU and working from home was an occasional thing, dare I say it, a luxury for most. 

Flash forward to today and a lot of us are still having to work form home due to the coronavirus, and many may actually CHOOSE to stay working from home as part of continued social distancing efforts. 

Whatever your reason, it’s important that we make the most of our workstation when we are at home as our health and keeping our body working at its best are perhaps more important right now than ever before.

As a chiropractor for Albert Park, Melbourne and South Melbourne,  Martin and I see a number of clients who suffer from tension headaches, neck or low back pain, high or sore shoulders, or other postural issues such as forward head posture. 

Every day ergonomics are paramount to the ongoing care of these clients to allow for optimum function and increased stability. As a result, despite this video being 2 years old, Martin and I still refer people to it regularly. 

In the video, Martin (using Kieran as the perfect ergonomics model) talks us through the correct ergonomics of how to set up our laptops as a workstation.

To see our top 4 tips for setting up a desk top computer, click here

Please enjoy the quick video, for your convenience, the ergonomics demo has been transcribed below. 

Hi, this is Martin and Kieran from Align Chiropractic, we're here today to give you a quick video that will answer one of the most commonly asked questions that we get in the practice every day.

HOW SHOULD YOU HAVE YOUR DESK SET UP SO THAT YOU CAN LOOK AFTER YOUR SPINE AND YOUR POSTURE WHEN YOU'RE SPENDING TIME AT YOUR COMPUTER

The first example we're going to do today is how to set it up for a laptop. Laptops are always a little bit more of a compromise than a desktop because you can't separate the screen but we’re going to go through how you can set it up so that your posture is in as close to the optimal position as possible. 

STEP 1: SEAT HEIGHT

The first point that we want to address is make sure, we can't see this but just take my word for it, Kieran's feet are flat on the floor. 

So we don't want crossed legs because it’s going to create twisting and torsion through our pelvis and lower back and create tension there. 

We want to make sure that the height of the chair, if you've got a gas lift chair, is up high enough so that your hip is either level with your knee so that we've got a straight line there, or you want the hips slightly higher than the knees.

What you don't want, because it's going to create a real curve in your back is knees higher than hips. 

So first point; set up the gas lift so that you're at that height. 

STEP 2: KEYBOARD AND ARM POSITION

we also want to have when we've got a hand on the keyboard there we want to make sure that we have pretty close to a 90 degree angle here. 

The main thing you don't want to have is to have the keyboard a lot lower, so this is particularly important for shorter people. 

If you have the chair too low then you're in a position where you start having to bunch up and create a lot of tension in your shoulders to be able to keep your hands on the keyboard. 

We want the set up so that we have hands easily on the keyboard with elbows roughly at about that 90 degrees or slightly more open. 

So we want to move our chair in or out so that with our hands comfortably on the keys we've got our hip and shoulder lined up because what we're really wanting to do here is have the big weight of the chest balanced over our hip.

What we don't want to be is so far back that we start to do this kind of thing, where there's a lot more tension on both the lower back and shoulders. Similarly, we don't want to be leaning all the way forward because it's going to tire out our back. 

STEP 3: HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE SCREEN POSITION?

So, a nice comfortable position of the chair, then this is the bit where we always have the little bit of a compromise with the laptop where we want to get your head balanced over your shoulder, but if you're looking down at a screen on a laptop, then that's always going to be a little bit tricky. 

The idea with the laptop is, make sure that you realise that you're always going to have a little bit of your head posture forward rather than balance the weight of your head over your shoulder so it’s really important to take micro breaks. 

STEP 4: MICRO BREAKS

There are programs you can get that will remind you every 20-25 minutes to just stop for a minute, relax your arms way aside have a little micro break, turn your head all the way to the left, all the way around to the right, just drop your shoulders up and down a little bit and then you can get back to work.

So there it is, a couple of key points that you can use to set up your desk or your laptop in the optimal position, thanks.

How to set up your home work space in 4 steps - Desk top computer edition

As a chiropractor for South Melbourne and Albert Park and Seeing as though a lot of our community will be working from home for a little while longer, I thought I would take the opportunity to repost some of our more relevant blog entries. This one was from 2018 but is even more on point today, Martin and I still refer people to it regularly.

This post is gives our 4 steps for setting up your desk top computer to work from home.

It is especially good for people worried about or who suffer from tension headaches, neck or low back pain, high or sore shoulders, or other postural issues such as forward head posture.

In the video, Martin (using Kieran as an ergonomics model extraordinaire) talks us through the correct ergonomics of how to set up our desktop as a workstation.

Please enjoy the quick video. 

For your convenience, the ergonomics demo has been transcribed below.

Hi, Martin and Kieran and we are here to give you a quick instructional video on how to set up your desktop computer so that it puts you in the best position to look after your precious spine and nervous system that you have, given that we are spending so much of our day working on computers.  

We have got a separate video that shows you how to set up for a laptop. There are some similarities but there are a couple of really key differences when you’re setting up for a desktop, so we'll run through everything here as well. 

Just like with the laptop setup, key thing is we're gonna start from the bottom up.  

STEP 1: SEAT HEIGHT AND FOOT POSITION

First thing is, Kieran has his feet absolutely flat on the floor, he’s not crossing his legs which would create a twisting torsion through your lower back then cause tension to build up through the day. 

Next, we set the height of the chair. If you have a gas lift chair, you want the height of a chair so that your hip is either at the same level as his knee, so we've got a horizontal line, or so that the hip is slightly higher than your knee because that allows him to maintain a really good lower back position. 

If you sit with your hips lower than your knees it's really easy of get into a rounded posture, causing horrible loading up of tension in your lower back. 

STEP 2: POSITION YOUR ARMS, ELBOWS, KEYBOARD AND MOUSE

So once we've got that position we then want to make sure that the height is still okay for his elbow position. 

What we really want is as close to possible as a 90 degree angle at the elbow so that you can have relaxed shoulders while your hands are on the keyboard. 

What we don't want is to be sitting too high, so that you have to reach down or too low, so that you’re scrunching shoulders up to get your fingers onto the keyboard. 

That height looks pretty good.

Then what we want to do is to zoom in or out, so that we've got a nice relaxed position here. 

If Kieran was too far back he'd be reaching and then having to use all those shoulder muscles to hold his hands on the keyboard. 

What we want is that so that his arms are nice and relaxed by his side while he's using the keyboard. 

The same rule applies to the mouse.

A lot of people may have the keyboard set up right but then end up having the mouse right across the desk where it’s causing a peep of pressure through their shoulder that feeds back up into your neck and causes all sorts of problems. 

So once we've got that set up, this is where it's a bit different to the laptop setup. 

3. SCREEN POSITION

With a desktop, the screen can be moved to two different positions depending on how often you needing to look at your keyboard. 

If you touch type or you're doing a lot of data entry where you're very rarely looking down at the keyboard, then you really want the screen to be a bit higher than we've got it here. In that case, the landmark that I always use is the absolute dead center of the screen.

If you are the type of person who needs to look down at the keys periodically you don't want the screen too high, otherwise you make yourself dizzy going up and down. 

So the compromise in this instance is to have the centre of the screen at about chin level and that way you're never looking too far up, and you're just working in this range. 

If you're the sort of person who can touch type and you don’t really need to look at your keys, then you can go up higher which has the advantage of having a posture where your head is more balanced over your shoulders. 

What we have here is a set up that is good for Kieran if he can touch type. 

If he doesn't often need to look down at the keys he can spend all of his time just looking straight ahead at the screen. 

So for this setup, what we've done is put a couple of books underneath the screen here, to raise it up, allowing us to have the centre of the screen at the point where it's hitting here, in-between the lip level or the tip of his nose.

That's a really comfortable posture for him to be able to look at the screen and have his head posture really nicely balanced over the shoulder, meaning a nice relaxed position through here. 

When you're in that position, you are not building up so much tension on your neck and shoulders etc. by looking down all the time. 

Remember, this setup is only for people who can touch type but it's a really optimal position that'll mean that he feels nice and comfortable for hours and hours of work. 

STEP 4: AS ALWAYS, TAKE MICRO BREAKS

There are programs you can get that will remind you every 20-25 minutes to just stop for a minute, relax your arms way aside have a little micro break, turn your head all the way to the left, all the way around to the right, just drop your shoulders up and down a little bit and then you can get back to work.

I hope you found this video helpful please feel free to shoot us a message and let us know what you think.

Align’s top 7 tips to surviving the lock down.

Firstly, let me be clear, this is NOT a Covid-19 survival guide. I am not Pete Evans and I am not peddling a miracle cure. 

Thankfully for all of us, there are actual experts working in hospitals and emergency keeping sufferers alive during this crisis, as well as people working on a ‘cure’. 

No, this is about surviving the largest side effects of this pandemic; social isolation and distancing. 

Even in the hopefully likely event that some of our restrictions are to be eased in the coming week, it is still important to remember, life will still not be going back to normal as of next week. Social distancing is here to stay at least for a while. 

Sadly, there is still the possibility that once lifted, stage 3 and beyond can still be re-instituted if need be.

Most frustrating of all, even if we do have eased restrictions, nearly everything and everyone you see and hear will still be talking about coronavirus for a very long time, so we won’t get to fully escape for a while yet. 

But staying home can be fun and relaxing, why does this effect us soo badly?

I think if you’re reading this then you have probably noticed by now that this is not like a weekend staying at home and watching movies because you couldn’t be bothered heading out to a BBQ. 

The new behaviours to which we all have to adapt are all encompassing and for most of us, do not come naturally. 

“No man is an Island, entire of it self; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main.” - John Donne's Devotions (1624)

Put simply, our brains are wired to connect and communicate with people and enforced separation is stressful for our neurology. 

On top of this, when we DO go out into the world, there is a heightened sense of fear all around us as everyone else is stressed also.

As well, we are increasingly worried about sterilising our hands or even feeling like we should be wearing masks.  

Even pleasant and socially appropriate interactions like with a person in a shop, at a cafe or running into a friend in the street are cut short or filled with furtive glances around to see if you are being noticed or about to receive a huge fine. 

A lot of us are dealing with the loss of the year we thought we would have. Be it no longer going on holiday, missing a birthday, cancelled wedding plans, or even just missing a return of AFL, it all takes a toll on us. 

Not to mention, most of us, at least on some level, care about what is happening to the people around us. It is not easy to hear of people being sick, dying, not being there for their friends, and it is hard to see so many people losing their jobs. 

Yeah Kieran, we get it, it’s a pandemic, why does it concern a chiropractor?

While I don’t know how to manage a pandemic, I am not the person to see if you HAVE coronavirus and I am not sure how long social distancing measures will last, what I can say with certainty is this:

-Most of the issues we deal with as chiropractors are either caused, or made worse by stress. 

-Understanding/managing how someone’s body approaches stress is a big part of what we do.

-Very few people’s homes appear to be set up well to be used as a full time workstation. 

-Schooling your children at home does NOT fit into your regular weekdays easily. 

-Living through a pandemic is TIRING. 

As a result, most of the client’s I have been seeing in the last few months have had issues that would likely heal faster, potentially be less severe or even have not happened at all if they had methods to help their body respond to this crisis before their symptoms even showed up. 

This is why I wanted to write down our top 7 tips for surviving a lock down.

Now I promise, unlike reading my my writing style where I tend to get wordy, the recommendations I make will not involve massive commitment on your behalf…lets face it, you probably already feel like there’s enough on your plate. 

I am confident that the suggestions below have the potential to change not only the way you are feeling now, but how you pull up on the other side of this lock down period as well. 

7 lock down survival tips

1. Recognise that it is OK to be sad/angry/frustrated at the current situation. 

   Even if you don’t think your concerns or issues rate highly on the scale of how disastrous your issues can be, they still can have a large effect on your life and are therefore valid reasons for you to feel bad. 

   To recognise that how you feel about it all is important and you need to deal with that, not just say “it could be worse”. It could be, almost always, but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t being affected now. 

   If you feel hard done by that the things you would normally be doing to feel like you, aren’t happening at the moment, then you are allowed to be annoyed by that. Don’t carry stress around thinking that you help people by not complaining. You don’t, you just get more irritated. Recognise it’s OK to be mad and express it healthily, exercise vigorously or speak up if need be.

2. Exercise. 

   I know right? obvious and boring, but it’s more powerful than you realise and usually overlooked. 

   One of our clients recently told me that they have discovered that without commuting and the incidental exercise they used to do purely from working in the city in an office, they have gone from averaging 8000 steps a day to fewer than 800. 

   In times of stress, volume of exercise is frequently one of the first casualties. Ironically, It’s also one of our best natural stress managers and anti depressants. 

   Ever regretted exercise? Ever felt MORE stressed after exercise even when it was only a small amount of it? No. No one has. Our nervous system registers stress by putting us in fight or flight, or survival mode. Still living on the other side of exercise tells our brain that we have successfully overcome a stressful situation and therefore we don’t need to be in survival mode.

3. Take some time out.

   I know what you’re thinking, easier said than done right? Where are you going to find time or space when locked in your house with your family to have some time off? 

   I get it, sounds like a classic “this guy doesn’t have any kids” thing to say, but I don’t mean try find 45 minutes to fully relax. We all have lives to live, work to do and/or people to look after.

   What we are talking about here is finding even quick “mini breaks” throughout the day that allow you to reset for a second.

   Meditation is a great way to help relieve stress (as well as lots of other benefits). If you're looking to use your self isolation time to up your meditation game we highly recommend the Oak and Smiling Mind apps. Both are free and excellent!

   The Resilience Project has an app that is a daily well-being journal. This app is suitable for and has programs designed specifically for primary & secondary school students, as well as adults of all ages wanting to improve their mental well-being.

   Alternatively if meditation isn’t your thing, you can replicate some of the same effects by listening to songs you find especially soothing. The research into this phenomenon used the songs ‘Strawberry swing’ by Cold play, and “Someone like you” by Adel. Feel free to mix it up, don’t be afraid to admit to yourself that ‘Only time’ by Enya is your relaxation jam.

4. Watch your posture.

   Never underestimate the importance of posture. Just like how research has shown that trying to have confident posture has been shown to release testosterone in our body that increases our feelings of strength and confidence, the opposite is true. 

   There is a reason that if I ask you to do an impersonation of a stressed or anxious person you slump forward and hold your shoulders tight and up near your ears. It’s because universally, that’s what our body does under extreme or chronic stress. 

   This posture increases stress chemicals in our body and just happens to be replicated by sitting for long periods, especially if using a computer, a laptop, a tablet or our phones. Sound familiar during iso anyone? 

   Lie on a foam roller along your spine from your head to your backside with your arms at 4 and 7 o’clock. Then just LIE THERE. If you can only manage 2 minutes, that is better than none. If you’re comfortable or have time to, then 15 minutes is better again. 

   If you can’t get access to a longer foam roller or posture pole, then in a pinch you can roll up a few beach towels, but a roller is best. 

   This position has the added bonus of improving your body and spinal health by decreasing stress and strain on your body, especially you neck, head and upper back. 

   Improved posture can decrease headaches and risk of injury. 

   If you have more questions about this position, want a photo of your posture that we measure to know exactly where you are at or want more information about what improved posture can do for you, please do not hesitate to get in touch as Martin and I would both love to be there to help. 

5. Get Adjusted.

   This can also work towards your taking some time out, but do not neglect your health during this period. 

   Do not put up with ailments that make it even harder to get through the day. Or if there is some annoying issue that you have had for ages that you haven’t felt like you have had time to manage or keep injuring because of your daily routine, now that you’re out of your normal routine is the PERFECT time to get on top of it. 

   Don’t lose any momentum you had heading into this situation!

6. Tune out the news every now and then.

   I know the temptation is to try stay up to date on every little bit of coronavirus news, but eventually it can become fatiguing. Every now and then avoid hearing about it or reading the new story on your newsfeed. 

   This goes hand in hand with having a time out, but I wanted to keep it separate as it is it’s own addiction to break. It doesn’t always help us to know the latest doom and gloom. It will still be there tomorrow. 

   Take the time you would spend on the news to have the time out I mentioned earlier. 

7. Ask for help.

   Speak up. Let people know how you are feeling. It is OK not to find this situation easy, I know I haven’t. Find someone you can have a vent to or speak to someone professional who can help you if you’re feeling like you need specific help. 

   It goes without saying this but obviously, check in on your friends and family. We don’t want people coming out of this in worse shape if it can be helped. 

   Remember that you are not alone in this. Although the lockdown and it’s effects are felt individually as all our circumstances are our own, we are all in this situation together. We will all understand where you are coming from and everyone wants to help everyone else get through it. 

As always, if there is anything we can help with, the practice is here for you. We are working hard to keep up our capacity to care for our community while observing strict social distancing rules. 

Please do not hesitate to contact the practice if you need our help, or if you want to find out how you can visit us and feel safe by respecting social distancing guidelines. 

What is happening at Align due to the Coronavirus Pandemic?

There are really two ways to answer this question…in one sense, a lot, in another more important sense, not much. 

Let me explain. 

We have been getting a lot of questions from client’s including but not limited to; is Align still open? Is it OK to see chiropractors at the moment? And can people over 70 receive care? 

The answer to those 3 are yes, yes, and yes they can, we have special measures in place to decrease risk for clients in higher risk categories. 

I hardly need to tell you, in the last few weeks in Victoria/Australia/the world, things have been a bit different. 

None of us have been immune to the effects of social distancing and shutdowns, as it appears to effect nearly all facets of our day to day life. 

At Align, we have had to adapt quickly to this new set of circumstances. 

As I said earlier, there HAVE been some noticeable changes at Align and I wanted to outline the steps most relevant to keeping our community safe to you below. 

So…What are the changes? 

1. We have adopted more stringent sanitising procedures, increased our frequency of cleaning frequently touched surfaces, hand sanitiser is now present at the front desk as well as in the adjusting areas should you want it and provided single use hand towels for the bathroom. 

2. We have adopted social distancing measures within the practice by revising our booking procedures to limit the number of client’s that will need to access the building around the same time. 

In addition to this, we have removed some of our waiting room furniture to allow for more distance between clients. 

3. Sadly, we have had to remove some of the fun things in our beautiful waiting area that are frequently touched, like our magazines, coloured pencils, books and toys. 

Fear not, the little garage WILL return, but we hope that all of our community, big and small will understand that for the moment we have to minimise risk of transmission.

4. We have had to split our fantastic team into an A team and a B team…I won’t get into the debate here as to which team is which, but as the person writing this, I can’t help but think Kieran’s team has an edge in naming rights here. 

We have done this to protect our clients, minimising risk of spread, and importantly, ensure that care can continue to provide care in case Martin or myself had to self isolate. 

Separating the chiropractors out like this has changed our daily booking capacity so it is possible your usual time may not always be available. We recommend booking in advance to ensure continued convenience. 

So…in what way is Align staying the same? 

I am glad you asked. 

No matter what, Martin and myself, along with the rest of the Align team are still committed to providing chiropractic care for the people of South Melbourne, Albert Park, Port Melbourne, Melbourne city, South Yarra…anywhere the current restrictions of movement will allow to travel to our practice. 

That means, that as long as allied health professionals are allowed to stay open, we will be providing care. 

In Australia we have been fortunate for several obvious reasons, one of which is the fact that some types of primary contact Allied health practitioners (In this instance, Chiropractors) have been encouraged to stay open for client’s to receive care and where possible ease the burden on emergency rooms. 

Martin and I know chiropractors around the world and we are unaware of any jurisdictions where practices have not been shut as part of larger more draconian lock down measures. 

It has truely been an honour to get to be in practice and serve our community during this time. 

As well, even though Martin and I are not practicing the same hours as before, we are still open our regular 6 days of the week.

As always, our team at Align has stepped up to this new challenge. If you or a loved one are in a higher risk category please contact our front desk, we are providing opportunities for our most vulnerable to visit the practice completely by themselves, or wait in the comfort of their own cars before entering the practice to limit time exposure. 

Above all, we would like our community to know, you are not alone. 

We have had a number of our clients mention that we have been their only trip outside other than the supermarket for weeks and we are humbled by your trust in us. 

We do not take this responsibility lightly. 

Please don’t feel like you have to tough it out or go it alone through this period, we are here to help. Please do not think that because your issues might seem insignificant compared to others that you shouldn’t address them. 

This applies both physically and mentally. This is a very stressful time, for everyone. Even if you personally don’t feel you should be stressed, the very fact that everyone around you currently IS stressed, puts your nervous system on high alert too. 

Do not underestimate the need to take care of yourself through this time. 

Over the next few weeks I will be writing a lot about what you can be doing to ease stress levels, physical strain and make themes of this current situation. 

Like you, we are looking forward to having a sense of normality return. 

Personally I am looking forward to working along side the whole team in the practice again, and see the burden of this current situation lifted off our client’s shoulders. 

Wishing you all the very best, 

Kieran.