Prevention better than cure

I regularly deal with people who have significant injuries. These are not caused by accidents but by long-term poor posture and movement patterns

They manifest themselves into disc herniations, sciatica, shoulder impingements, bad knees, sore necks and painful Achilles tendons that won’t repair – to name just to name a few.

They occur from a lack of education or understanding of the natural and optimal body position. 

How we hold ourselves and move everyday is the key to being pain free and having healthy tissue, joints and nervous system.

Learning the basics of body positioning and how to move and lift efficiently is essential knowledge. Otherwise we are set up for a lifetime of pain and discomfort.

Most of the people I treat have rotated pelvises, round shoulders, scoliosis in their spines, tight hips or hamstrings that are tightened through core weakness.

These people sit poorly for hours every day and have no idea how to move, bend and lift to protect their bodies.

These positions starting in early adolescence. Teenagers stoop if they are taller than their peers, carry heavy school bags on one shoulder and play unilateral sports; these positions follow through for many years to come.

The focus on losing weight means people will hammer themselves, running or jumping around in group classes or at boot camps. Some participants are taught Olympic lifting that requires much awareness and skill when they can’t even hold themselves up properly.

This is madness. Most people are weak in their stabiliser system and set themselves up for injury when the are doing movements they can’t control.

I believe in empowerment and that everyone from housewife to athlete should have daily tools to mobilise and move their bodies to keep joints from locking up like a rusty old car.

If a car has a bent chassis that is throwing tension into the wheels and causing them to wear badly it will be fixed. But this is what’s happening with a lot of bodies.

Many orthopedic injuries and surgeries could be prevented if people took responsibility to learn the tools they need to sustain their own bodies.

Poor body positioning can be easily remedied with the right education and prevent much pain in the future.

It is deeply ingrained in people to fix things when they are broken rather than looking at possibility of prevention. But you don’t want to run your body into the ground until it fails before you do something about looking after it.

Michelle Owen is a postural and wellness specialist, corporate wellness speaker and CHEK practitioner

www.michelleowen.co.nz

michelle@michelleowen.co.nz

Get grounded for your own good

Although we know at a subconscious level that fresh air is good for us, we also get an amazing amount of energy through our bare feet from Mother Earth.  

Earthing is based on the discovery that connecting to the Earth's natural energy is foundational for vibrant health. This knowledge has been overlooked and under estimated.

Earthing restores and maintains the body’s most natural electrical state, which in turn promotes optimal health and function in daily life.

This energy is the ultimate anti-inflammatory and anti aging medicine. Fascinating new research has raised the possibility that being disconnected from the Earth could actually contribute to chronic pain, fatigue and poor sleep.

Back in time, mankind walked barefoot and slept on the ground. But modern lifestyles have changed dramatically with most of us living and working inside, wearing insulated shoes and, of course, rarely sleeping on the ground.

Electromagnetic pollution is endemic – from computers, mobile phones, TVs, microwaves, electric clocks, radios, electric blankets and other home appliances. These can disturb the body’s electric circuit and ability to be healthy.

The answer is reduced exposure to electromagnetic pollution and to keep connected to the Earth. This is best done by getting outside and going bare feet in the dirt, lawn, sand, sea and rocks. Wood, asphalt and vinyl do not work, as they are not conductive surfaces.

Nature is the best designer. The moisture from feet helps transfer electrons up into the body. Foot soles have more nerve endings per square centimetre than any other part of the body. 

The sole also has the most sweat glands and perspires more than any other part of the body except head and hands

When the weather is cold or wet, use grounding products such as conductive bed sheets and footpads when working at a desk. These products are at www.grounded.com or www.earthing.com. They can also be used in conjunction with outdoor grounding to prolong the benefits.

What they say about EARTHING

“I regard Earthing as the greatest health breakthrough in all my years in medical practice. Regular grounding (another name for Earthing) restores the body’s natural electrical state, calms the nervous system, reduces inflammation and improves circulation. No pill on Earth can do what Mother Earth does!” – Dr Stephen Sinatra, integrative cardiologist and co-author Earthing

Three in one

The Earth’s energy is free and you can have as much as you want. Getting out with bare feet and connecting to the grass, sand or walking in the ocean are all amazing ways to recharge your body, mind and spirit.

Connecting with the ground (grounding), absorbing Vitamin D (sunshine) and movement is like a trinity of health.

Over the summer, plan some time to put your feet on the Earth every day for at least 30 minutes.

Michelle Owen is a postural and wellness specialist, CHEK practitioner and corporate wellness speaker

www.michelleowen.co.nz

michelle@michelleowen.co.nz

Become a corporate athlete

Professional athletes work extremely hard to be good at what they do. Sometimes training for hours a day.

They also have scheduled rest, recovery and focus on food, hydration, and sleep. They take supplements and have massages to assist in their goal.

In the business world, wouldn’t you want your top executives looking after themselves at the most optimal level?

Operating everyday without quality food, hydration, time to self, movement and sleep certainly does not allow us to be in top form.

A lot of top corporate people I work with are extremely good at what they do but have few self-care routines in place and their day can look like this:

• Skip breakfast

• Long meetings

• Boozy lunches or takeaway meals

• Poor sleep

• Busy minds

• Too much coffee

• Lack of movement

• Sitting behind computers for hours at a time

This is defiantly a recipe for burnout, lack of focus, concentration, creativity, enthusiasm and motivation.

If I were paying a lot of money to have high-flyer staff I would require them not only to understand optimal health routines but also to practise them.

A question to ask is: “How much high quality energy do you put into looking after yourself?”

This requires many components. It also requires habits and routine just like brushing your teeth. Otherwise, as soon as a bit of stress is thrown into the mix, the looking after self goes out the window.

Corporations have the most to gain by building healthy environments. Wellness programmes in the workplace are a real investment and a win-win situation. With the correct knowledge, your team can make the right decisions to live well and have sustained energy.

It’s the hundreds of little things we do every day that transforms our health.

Workplace potluck lunches are a great way to share the cost and the burden as well as building strength and connection in your workforce. Team up with workmates to exercise before work, lunchtime or after work.

Improve the quality of food at meetings; instead of sugary biscuits and pastries provide fresh real food!

Develop incentives for employees to participate in these programmes.

Ideas for great self-care

The harder and longer we work the more essential it is to have the ability to shut off busy minds through meditation, diaphragmatic breathing and resting so we can repair and recover.

It is also important to take regular breaks through the day, especially from sitting at a computer.

To perform at your best, routines should consist of balanced high quality meals 4-5 times daily. Minimise sugars, alcohol, cigarettes and cigars. Consistent sleep times means early to bed and early to rise; bodies love routine.

Quality movement should consist of functional strength training at least 2-3 times a week – cardio and intervals can be included in this. With the right education and skill making, this doesn’t have to be separate and take a lot of time.

Having a stretch and mobility programme that is designed to address your muscular imbalances is essential for long-term structural health and being pain free. This can be achieved through having a postural and orthopedic assessment.

Michelle Owen is a corporate health and wellness speaker, a CHEK practitioner and Holistic lifestyle coach
www.michelleowen.co.nz

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Stay in shape with weight training

Movement is essential for human beings and we all need different levels of intensity and variety. 
If you are fit and healthy then harder workouts can be beneficial. If you are unwell and unfit, movement may involve just gentle stretching, mobility and a focus on breath that creates energy in the body.Examples of these are Tai Chi, Qui gong, joint mobilisations and zone exercises.  It all depends on your ability to recover and repair from exercise.

Weight training is one of the most rewarding if done correctly and skilfully. You can not only create great shape and tone but also sustain or add to your muscle base, which speeds your metabolism, strengthens joints, sustains the spine and organs, and is anti-aging.

A quality weight-training programme raises the heart rate, decreases body fat also corrects postural/structural imbalances.

Exercise should not be painful – pain is a warning sign that something is not right.

When considering an exercise consider its lifetime value – one that breaks you down and makes you a cripple in the days to come may not be beneficial for the big picture.

Think of exercise in two ways. Fun exercise, the things we love to do, includes golf, tennis, hiking, mountain biking, squash, swimming and dancing, etc..

Then there is the exercise to keep the body in great working order.

The fun exercise does not keep you structurally sound – it can actually lead to more muscular imbalances. In fact, the more active you are the more you need a skilled exercise programme to support muscle imbalances that lead to pain and dysfunction.

We are all only as strong as our weakest link.

Michelle Owen is a corporate health and wellness speaker, and a level III CHEK practitioner
www.michelleowen.co.nz

michelle@michelleowen.co.nz

                                                                                   

Check out the medical benefits of exercise   

Exercise opens the capillaries in the muscle tissue and by lowering the resistance to blood flow in the arterial system causes the blood pressure to drop to normal.

Exercise builds up muscle mass and prevents muscles being broken down as fuel.

Exercise stimulates the activity of fat burning enzymes for the manufacture of constantly needed energy for muscle activity.

Exercise makes the muscles hold more water in reserve and prevent increased concentration of blood that would otherwise damage the lining of the blood vessel walls.

Exercise compels the liver to manufacture sugar from the fat that it stores or the fat that is circulating within the blood.

Exercise causes mobility within the joints of the body. It causes the creation of an intermittent vacuum inside the joint cavity. The force of the vacuum causes suction of water into the cavity. Water in the joint cavity brings dissolved nutrients to the cells inside the cartage.

Increased water to the cartilage adds to its lubrication and smoother bone on bone gliding movements of the joint.

Exercise enhances the activity of the adrenalin-operated sympathetic nervous system. Adrenalin also reduces the over secretion of histamine and as a result prevents asthma attacks and allergic reactions providing the body is fully hydrated.

Exercise increases production of endorphins and enkephalins natural opiates of the body that produce natural highs.

Your Body’s Many Cries for Water – Dr F Batmanghelidj