Written by Dr. Alison Gault B. App. Sci. (clinical sci) B. Osteo. Sci.  from Vale Osteopathy Clinic located in Ascot Vale and Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Information in this post is from the website for the national breast and ovarian cancer centre.

Symptoms

The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often vague and can be similar to the symptoms of many other conditions that can be part of everyday life.

The most common symptoms that may indicate ovarian cancer are:

• abdominal bloating/feeling full
• abdominal or back pain
• appetite loss or feeling full quickly
• changes in toilet habits
• unexplained weight loss or weight gain
• indigestion or heartburn
• fatigue.

If any of these symptoms are unusual for you, and they persist, it’s important to see your doctor.  There’s no screening test for ovarian cancer. A Pap test doesn’t detect ovarian cancer. It’s designed to detect cervical cancer.   The best thing you can do is to know your body and be aware of the symptoms of the disease.

If you’re still concerned about a persistent symptom, it’s OK to get a second opinion. Trust your instincts. No one knows your body like you do.

5 things women should know about ovarian cancer

1. Ovarian cancer is not a silent killer

Most women with ovarian cancer experience at least one symptom of the disease in the year prior to their diagnosis.  While these symptoms can be part of everyday life, it’s important to see your doctor if they are unusual for you and they persist.

2. There’s no screening test for ovarian cancer

A Pap test doesn’t detect ovarian cancer. It’s only used to screen for cervical cancer.
You may also have heard of a CA125 blood test for ovarian cancer. This test looks for increased levels of the CA125 protein which may indicate that ovarian cancer is present. However, there are many factors that can affect CA125 levels including menstruation. For this reason, the CA125 test alone cannot be used as a screening or diagnostic test..

3. Even if you don’t have a family history of ovarian cancer, you are still at risk.

While having a family history of ovarian cancer increases your risk, 90–95% of all ovarian cancers occur in women who do not have a family history.   Ovarian cancer can occur in any woman but the risk increases in women over 50 years of age.

4. It’s important to be referred to a gynaecological oncologist

If you’re suspected of having ovarian cancer, you should be referred to a gynaecological oncologist. Research shows survival for women with ovarian cancer is improved when their surgical care is directed by a gynaecological oncologist.

5. No one knows your body like you do

Since there’s no screening test for ovarian cancer, the best thing you can do is get to know your body and what is normal for you so you can recognise any unusual changes.

Some statistics for Ovarian cancer in Australia

Incidence

• Ovarian cancer is the 9th most common cancer diagnosed in Australian women.
• The present life expectancy of Australian women is 84 years. One in 77 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer before the age of 85.
• In Australia in 2005, a total of 1,205 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It is projected that there will be 1,378 new cases of ovarian cancer in 2010.
• The age-standardised incidence rate of ovarian cancer has remained stable at 12-13 new cases per 100,000 females from 1983 to 2002.
• The risk of ovarian cancer increases with age. About 83% of all new cases of ovarian cancer diagnosed in 2005 were in women 50 years or older. The median age of first diagnosis is 64 years.

Mortality

• Ovarian cancer is the 6th most common cause of cancer death in Australian women.
• A total of 795 women died from ovarian cancer in Australia in 2006.
• The age-standardised mortality rate of ovarian cancer has decreased from 8.7 per 100,000 in 1983 and to 6.7 deaths per 100,000 in 2006.

Survival

• The five year relative survival rate for Australian women with ovarian cancer during 1998-2004 was 39.8 per cent, compared with 32.7 per cent in 1982-86.

Prevalence

• There were 7,637 women alive in 2004 diagnosed with ovarian cancer during the previous 23 years.

Risk factors for ovarian cancer

Generally, it’s not possible to say what causes ovarian cancer in an individual woman. However, some features are more common among women who have developed ovarian cancer. These features are called risk factors. Having certain risk factors increases a woman’s chance of developing ovarian cancer.

Having one or more risk factors for ovarian cancer doesn’t mean a woman will definitely develop ovarian cancer. In fact, many women with ovarian cancer have no obvious risk factors.

Known risk factors for ovarian cancer include:

• getting older: women who are over 50 are more likely to develop ovarian cancer than younger women
• inheriting a faulty gene (called a gene mutation) that increases the risk of ovarian cancer
• having a strong family history of ovarian cancer, breast cancer, or some other cancers, including colorectal cancer and endometrial cancer.

Only around 5–10% of all ovarian cancers are due to inherited factors.

Research suggests that the risk of ovarian cancer is slightly higher for women who:

• have medical conditions such as endometriosis
• use long-term hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
• smoke cigarettes
• are obese.

Protective factors for ovarian cancer

There’s currently nothing that can be done to prevent ovarian cancer. However, there are some things that are thought to protect against ovarian cancer. These are called protective factors. Women with protective factors may still develop ovarian cancer.

Research has shown that the following are associated with a reduced risk of certain types of ovarian cancer:

• removal of the uterus (womb)
• removal of the ovaries and having the fallopian tubes tied
• having children
• using oral contraceptives.

Disclaimer: information provided on this post is of a general nature and should not be used in place of individual advice from either myself or another medical professional.  Vale Osteopathy Clinic and Alison Gault will not take responsibility for any injury resulting from following information in this post.

Vale Osteopathy Clinic provides osteopathic services to patients from a wide number of suburbs such as Ascot Vale, Pascoe Vale, Flemington, Melbourne, Australia, Footscray, Maribyrnong, Essendon, Essendon North, Moonee Ponds, Strathmore, Niddrie, Keilor, Coburg, Brunswick, Oak Park, Glenroy, North Melbourne, Avondale Heights, Airport West, Travancore.

Written by Dr. Alison Gault B. App. Sci. (clinical sci) B. Osteo. Sci.  from Vale Osteopathy Clinic located in Ascot Vale and Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

As the year turns over to 2010, you may have decided to lose some kilos and get fit.  So you join a gym (or start using your membership), take on a personal trainer or start jogging.  In the first week all goes well, you get up early, sweat, run, jump and lift.  Just as you start to think that this year will finally be the year that you stick to your resolution, it all goes pear shaped and your body lets you down.  Any number of things could happen….. your knees start to hurt, your Achilles tendon is burning, under your feet is a tight stretching feeling or you throw your back out.  This results in you stopping the exercise and all that great momentum you had is gone.   So what has happened??

Your body need time to adapt to changing levels of exercise.  If you go from being sedentary to active or from low to high intensity, your body may not be able to compensate fast enough.  Your muscles get tight, sore and over worked and your tendons get inflamed and painful. This lack of adaptation can lead to injuries like muscle tears, ruptured ligaments and tendonitis.  It is vital to start exercise and to increase intensity slowly.

So what can you do?

• Have a check up with your GP. Your physician will inform you if you have a medical condition or are on a medication that will impact your ability to safely exercise. You may need to start extra slowly or avoid certain things.
• Check out your runners. Many lower limb sporting related issues start because of unsupportive shoes. It is recommended that runners are replaced every 6 months. Even though they may look fine on the outside, it is the supportive aspects of the shoe that wear out quickly.
• Don’t train too hard, you get great results with medium intensity. Research shows that you will get the same benefits by exercising at 50-60% of your maximum heart rate as you would get at 80%. To work out your maximum heart rate, minus your age from 220. To work out 60% of your maximum, multiply this number by 0.6. For example, a 40 year olds maximum rate is 180, therefore 60% is 108. At this level of intensity, you should still be able to talk easily.
• Make sure that your technique is correct with weights and other strengthening exercises. Get a personal trainer to check your technique if possible. Take it slowly, it is better to do less and do it correctly than do more and get injured.
• Give your muscles at least 48hrs break between workouts otherwise they start to break down. A day off between working on a muscle group ensures that any micro damage has been able to heal and that the muscle becomes stronger. You shouldn’t work a muscle group out more than 2 times per week.
• Stretch. It is important to stretch after any exercise to keep your muscles supple and functioning at full capacity.
• Walk before you run. Even professional marathon runners walk/run for the first few weeks back at training after time off. For the first week, walk 2 minutes, run 1 minute. The next week 1 minute each. The third week run 2 minutes and walk one. Etc…
• Remember to do a warm up and a cool down. As it suggests, a warm up warms your muscles and tendons up so that they are supple, loose and ready to exercise. After exercise while you muscles are still warm is the best time to stretch.

So remember, to stop injury preventing you from reaching your weight loss and fitness goals for 2010, start and progress slowly!

Disclaimer: information provided on this post is of a general nature and should not be used in place of individual advice from either myself or another medical professional.  Vale Osteopathy Clinic and Alison Gault will not take responsibility for any injury resulting from following information in this post.

Vale Osteopathy Clinic provides osteopathic services to patients from a wide number of suburbs such as Ascot Vale, Pascoe Vale, Flemington, Melbourne, Australia, Footscray, Maribyrnong, Essendon, Essendon North, Moonee Ponds, Strathmore, Niddrie, Keilor, Coburg, Brunswick, Oak Park, Glenroy, North Melbourne, Avondale Heights, Airport West, Travancore.

Written by Dr. Alison Gault B. App. Sci. (clinical sci) B. Osteo. Sci.  from Vale Osteopathy Clinic located in Ascot Vale and Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

As you (hopefully) spend more time sleeping than sitting at your desk, your sleeping posture is even more important than your sitting posture.  I have come across an interesting study on the sleeping posture of 1000 people, stating that 41% of people sleep in the foetal position.  This poture however isn’t optimal in maintaining correct spinal alignment.

The best spinal alignment when sleeping is the same as when sitting but obviously lying down.  The triple C-curve of your spine is maintained and there is no excess pressure on any part of the spine.  I know bad habits are hard to change but try going to sleep correctly and hopefully your sleeping body eventually gets the picture. We will start from the top…

Neck strait with your chin away from your chest

Good supportive pillow filling the gap between your head and shoulders ( review pervious article)

Arms in front of you or hugging a pillow

Maintain the curve in your low back or lumbar spine by having your knees below the level of your hips.  Both knees should be together so that the back is nice and strait. Many people, especially women with larger hips will find this uncomfortable or impossible, placing a pillow between your knees will remedy this.

Your bed may be the culprit…

Goldilocks wasn’t wrong… your bed shouldn’t be too hard or too soft, it should be just right. A bed that is too soft will not support your spine enough and a hard bed will not allow your pointy bits to sink into the bed to enable correct spinal alignment.

A bed lasts 8-10 years before the internals start to fail, how old is yours?

Your bed should be at least 15 centimetres longer than you are

If you sleep with a partner, don’t settle for anything smaller than a queen size bed, the average sleeper turns 40-60 times a night, if there is not enough space, you will keep waking each other up.

Buy the best bed that you can afford, this is the kind of thing where there is direct correlation between cost and quality.

If your current bed is too hard and not very old, consider buying a pillow top in latex or memory foam to save buying a whole new bed

Some tips for sleeping posture when pregnant

Silk or other shiny PJ’s will allow you to slide when turning rather than having to lift your whole body weight

Invest in a pregnancy pillow.  There are full length ones or those just for under the belly, they really make a difference

If you are suffering from hip region pain at night or when you get up, your bed may be too hard with your change in weight distribution.  Regular egg carton foam underlay can drastically improve your symptoms.

Disclaimer: information provided on this post is of a general nature and should not be used in place of individual advice from either myself or another medical professional.  Vale Osteopathy Clinic and Alison Gault will not take responsibility for any injury resulting from following information in this post.

Vale Osteopathy Clinic provides osteopathic services to patients from a wide number of suburbs such as Ascot Vale, Pascoe Vale, Flemington, Melbourne, Australia, Footscray, Maribyrnong, Essendon, Essendon North, Moonee Ponds, Strathmore, Niddrie, Keilor, Coburg, Brunswick, Oak Park, Glenroy, North Melbourne, Avondale Heights, Airport West, Travancore.

why it is important and how to get it

Written by Dr. Alison Gault B. App. Sci. (clinical sci) B. Osteo. Sci.  from Vale Osteopathy Clinic located in Ascot Vale and Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Although we all love the idea of having a 6 pack and a flat stomach, doing lots of crunches isn’t the key to toning the mid section, it is the core.  Not only does having a strong core act like a corset tightening the midsection, it is also vital in preventing low back pain and injury. Strong core muscles are your own internal back brace when lifting or going about your everyday activities.  This type of exercise also trains you to be more conscious of your posture which further helps in preventing injury.

The Muscles

The function of the core muscles is to stabilise movement of the lumbar spine and pelvis before and during any movement.  There are two types of muscles in the body.  Fast and slow twitch fibres.  Fast twitch are muscles like the biceps whose function is a short, fast and strong contraction when lifting something.  Slow twitch fibres are your postural muscles like those of the core, whose function is to contract softly yet over a long period of time.  The exercises therefore to strengthen the core are slow and controlled and initially require a lot of concentration to do correctly.

The key muscles of the core are the transverses Abdominus, Multifidus, Internal Oblique and pelvic floor.  When all these muscles contract together, they produce pressure within the abdomen which stabilises the lumbar spine.  This core protective system is very intelligent, as you think of performing a movement, the muscles contract ready for when you do the movement.

Since these muscles have a postural and stabilising function, they need to be strengthened when your spine and pelvis is in the correct alignment. These muscles don’t need great strength but instead need endurance.  The key to training the core is doing it regularity, consciously and correctly.

The basic contraction

• Lie on your back with knees bent
• You lower back should be neither arched nor flattened against the floor, but aligned normally with a small gap between the floor and your back. This is neutral spine
• Breath in deeply and relax all your stomach muscles
• Breath out and, as you do so, draw your abdomen below your belly button back towards your spine. (like you are trying to zip up tight jeans)
• Breath in and out normally whilst holding this contraction for 10 seconds
• Repeat 5- 10 times

It is vital that this is done correctly in order to get the most benefit. Some points to keep in mind.

• Visualise the deep abdominal muscles as a corset that wraps around the abdomen
• Place one hand above the belly button and one below
• Only the bottom hand should be feeling tightening, not the top
• You shouldn’t be feeling contraction in the 6 pack muscles
• You should be able to breathe normally, if not, you may be trying to contract the muscles too hard. Don’t hold your breath
• Aim to hold for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times
• Don’t brace too hard, you are aiming for endurance not strength
• Don’t bear down. You should feel a lifting of your pelvic floor not downward pressure.

Taking it up a notch

Now it’s time to further challenge the core. With all of these next exercises, start in the same position as the basic contraction with your spine in neutral and your pelvis level.

• Slide one leg along the ground and return to starting position
• Let one knee drop out to the side then return to starting position
• Lift one leg then the other off the ground with knees at 90 degrees to tabletop position

Vale Osteopathy Clinic provides osteopathic services to patients from a wide number of suburbs such as Ascot Vale, Pascoe Vale, Flemington, Melbourne, Australia, Footscray, Maribyrnong, Essendon, Essendon North, Moonee Ponds, Strathmore, Niddrie, Keilor, Coburg, Brunswick, Oak Park, Glenroy, North Melbourne, Avondale Heights, Airport West, Travancore.

Disclaimer: information provided on this post is of a general nature and should not be used in place of individual advice from either myself or another medical professional.  Vale Osteopathy Clinic and Alison Gault will not take responsibility for any injury resulting from following information in this post.

Written by Dr. Alison Gault B. App. Sci. (clinical sci) B. Osteo. Sci.  from Vale Osteopathy Clinic located in Ascot Vale and Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

These 1st aid tips for soft tissue injuries can be applied to any soft tissue injury such as hamstring strains, pulled calf muscles, shoulder strains, corked thighs and sprained ankles.

First 48 hours

The first action to take as soon as possible after the injury has occurred is RICER.  Rest, ice, compression, elevation, referral. This should continue for at least 42 hours after the injury as occurred.   RICER helps to reduce bleeding in the muscles, swelling and pain. It makes the recovery and healing process much faster.

Rest: Keep the body part as still as possible. This prevents further damage and slows down the bleeding in the muscles.

Ice: Ice is very important in reducing bleeding, swelling and pain. Never apply ice directly to skin as it can burn, wrapping the ice in a damp towel is the best way to conduct the cold without damaging your skin. Ice can mean anything from a bag of peas, a cold pack or ice cubes, whatever you have access to is fine just as long as it is very cold. Apply the ice for about 20 mins every 2 hours for first 48 hours.  Use discomfort as a guide as not everyone is able to put up with ice for a long period of time. If you are sensitive to the cold, it is better to do 3-5 mins every hour than none at all.

Compression: reduces swelling and bleeding and also provides support to the area reducing further injury.  Use a firm elastic compression bandage over the injured area as well as above and below.

Elevation: raise the injured area above the height of the heart as frequently as possible. This reduces blood flow to the injured area so decreases bleeding and swelling.

Referral: Visiting your GP or someone like myself to ensure correct diagnosis and treatment.

AVOID: heat of any type as this increases the bleeding and swelling. This includes heat lamps, heat creams, heat packs, saunas, spas and also alcohol. No massage over the area for at least 48 hours as this can start up the bleeding again.

After 48- 72 hours

• Get moving within pain free zone to prevent formation of inflexible scar tissue which can result in the area being weak and reinjure easily. Light exercise gets blood into the injured tissue and with it the nutrients needed to heal.
• Deep tissue massage to physically loosen up the soft tissue
• Avoid any activity that causes pain.
• Treatment to remove any of the biomechanical factors that may has caused the injury and any that will impair the healing.

Disclaimer: information provided on this post is of a general nature and should not be used in place of individual advice from either myself or another medical professional.  Vale Osteopathy Clinic and Alison Gault will not take responsibility for any injury resulting from following information in this post.

Vale Osteopathy Clinic provides osteopathic services to patients from a wide number of suburbs such as Ascot Vale, Pascoe Vale, Flemington, Melbourne, Australia, Footscray, Maribyrnong, Essendon, Essendon North, Moonee Ponds, Strathmore, Niddrie, Keilor, Coburg, Brunswick, Oak Park, Glenroy, North Melbourne, Avondale Heights, Airport West, Travancore.

Written by Dr. Alison Gault B. App. Sci. (clinical sci) B. Osteo. Sci.  from Vale Osteopathy Clinic located in Ascot Vale and Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Most of us hopefully spend at least 8 hours a night with our head on a pillow which can become a big problem if your pillow is not supporting your neck correctly.

The spine in your neck curves in order to evenly distribute the weight of your head when upright.  Whatever position that you prefer to sleep in, it is important to keep your spine as close as possible to its correct alignment which is how it is when upright.  This means that the curve is maintained and the shoulder isn’t squashed.

Symptoms of a bad pillow

If your neck is not supported correctly when sleeping, many symptoms can develop such as:

Neck pain

Headaches

Migraines

Shoulder pain

Numbness and tingling in the hands at night due to the nerves and blood vessels that pass from the neck to the arm being squashed

Upper back pain

Lower back pain

Neck stiffness in the morning

Restlessness or tossing and turning

What happens when  your pillow is not right…

Too High

If your pillow is too high your neck will be bent away from the bed stretching the muscles and taking the spine out of alignment.

Too Low

If your pillow is too low and you are a side sleeper then your neck will sag towards the bed putting a strain on the spine and neck muscles.  It will also squash your shoulder and make your more likely to roll your leg forwards which puts your lower back in poor alignment.

No Contours

If your pillow has no contours whether you lie on your side or back then the natural curves of the spine are not maintained. A supportive pillow fills the gaps therefore maintaining the correct curves.  It also takes pressure off your shoulder if you sleep on your side.

Is your pillow ok?

Here are some questions to ask yourself about the pillow you are using now.

Is it more than 2 years old?

When your lie on your side do you feel pressure on your shoulder?

Do your sleep with your arm or hands under your pillow?

Do you try to support your neck with your hands when sleeping?

Are you constantly fluffing up your pillow?

Do you try to bunch your pillow into your neck for more support?

Do you toss and turn?

Do you have any of the symptoms mentioned above such as neck pain and headaches?

Do you wake up in the morning with a stiff neck?

If you have answered YES to 2 or more of the questions you need a new pillow as you are not getting the neck support that you need.

How to get it right…

How do you sleep?

If you are a back sleeper, the pillow needs a contour to mold to the back of your head and your neck.  It will be lower than those who sleep on their sides.

If you are a side sleeper the width of your shoulders determines how high the pillow needs to be.  The broader you are the higher the pillow needs to be as the gap between the side of your head and your shoulder is greater.  There also need to be a contour to maintain the correct alignment of the spine as there is a difference in height between the side of your head and your neck.

If you sleep on your stomach, you need either no pillow or a very thin pillow as a higher pillow will turn your neck further to the side and produce more strain.

How hard is your bed?

With a soft bed you need a lower pillow as your shoulder sinks into the bed.  Therefore you need a higher pillow with a firmer bed.

How much do you weigh?

Your weight also effects which pillow is correct for you as it effects how far you sink into the bed.  The heavier you are, the lower the pillow needs to be.

Get someone to check you out

A great way to check if your pillow is the correct height is to get someone to look at you lying on it! If you are a side sleeper, from behind your neck should look strait not bent up or down. If you are a back sleeper then your neck should look like it does when you are upright with your chin a good distance from your chest.

CONFUSED???

After many years of patients asking me for advice of which pillows to buy I decided to start stocking a range of therapeutic pillows.  I have trial pillows available to take home and sleep on for a week to make sure that it is correct for you.  These therapeutic pillows are contoured for optimal spine alignment and have different heights on the two contoured edges enabling choice for comfort.   The pillow has a zip off cover enabling easy washing and the foam is an open cell enabling it to breath for better hygiene. The pillow comes with a 5 year guarantee not to sag, loose shape or crumble.

Disclaimer: information provided on this post is of a general nature and should not be used in place of advice from either myself or another medical  professional.

Vale Osteopathy Clinic provides osteopathic services to patients from a wide number of suburbs such as Ascot Vale, Pascoe Vale, Flemington, Melbourne, Australia, Footscray, Maribyrnong, Essendon, Essendon North, Moonee Ponds, Strathmore, Niddrie, Keilor, Coburg, Brunswick, Oak Park, Glenroy, North Melbourne, Avondale Heights, Airport West, Travancore.

Written by Dr. Alison Gault B. App. Sci. (clinical sci) B. Osteo. Sci.  from Vale Osteopathy Clinic located in Ascot Vale and Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Many of us spend long periods of time at a desk or in front of a computer whether it be at work or at home.  I find that a huge contributing factor to the symptoms of a large percentage of my patients is due to poor desk posture and set up.

Some symptoms of poor desk posture:

Headaches

Neck pain and tightness

Shoulder tightness

A feeling that you can’t sit up strait

Pain in between the shoulder blades

Shoulder and arm pain

If left for too long, these symptoms can develop into more serious issues such as:

Rotator cuff tendonitis (inflammation of the tendons of the shoulder muscles)

Bursitis in the shoulder (inflammation of the lubricated balloons between muscles)

In very bad cases: numbness, tingling, weakness and pins and needles in the arm.

Correct sitting posture:

Your backside should be right in the back of the chair so that you are using the lumbar support fully.  In this position you will find it more difficult to slump foreword as you will feel off balance.

Your knees should be a bit lower than the height of your hips.

Both feet should be on the ground.  If you are a leg crosser, I know this habit is hard to get rid of but just regularly check in with yourself and uncross them!  Hopefully you will kick the habit quickly.

Correct desk setup:

Move anything from under your desk that is not letting you sit facing strait foreword such as a filing cabinet or rubbish bin.

Adjust your chair height so that the top of the desk is at elbow height.

Make sure that your phone is placed so that you don’t have to reach or twist to pick it up.  If you need to write or type often when you are on the phone, it is easier to have the phone on your non dominant side (ie: left for a right hander) so you don’t need to reach across all the time.

Correct computer setup:

Your screen should be strait in front of you on the desk.

The height of the screen should adjusted so that with good posture and a strait neck, your eyeline is in the centre of the screen.  You may need to lift it up with books or a stand.

Your keyboard should be right in front of you and not at an angle. If you don’t often use the numeric keyboard, consider getting a mini keyboard as this will enable you to have the mouse is a better position.

The mouse should be right next to the keyboard.  You shouldn’t have to reach to use it.  The top of your arm should be hanging strait down from your shoulder so not slightly forwards or backwards. If your arm if not hanging strait down, you are unnecessarily using muscles in your shoulder which can cause tightness and strain.

If you are typing off a document, it is best to place it between the screen and the keyboard.

A wrist support can greatly take the strain off you hands and wrists.

Correct Laptop setup:

If you are often using a laptop, I strongly suggest getting a separate keyboard so that you can place the laptop on a stand to get the screen to the correct height and distance.   Looking down at the screen for long periods can cause great problems in the neck and shoulders.

How can I help you?

If you have been sitting at your desk for a while with bad posture, your body may have compensated and become fixed in the ‘bad posture’.  This is where I come in!  Osteopathic hands on treatment can help to undo all those hours, weeks, day and years  of sitting badly.   I will also give you specific stretching and strengthening exercises to help you improve and maintain your better posture.

If you wish to make an appointment with Dr. Alison Gault, contact the Pascoe Vale Clinic on 9379 3888, the Ascot Vale Clinic on 9370 1813. Otherwise you can get further information at www.valeosteopathy.com.

Disclaimer: The information provided is of a general nature and should not be used in place of professional advice from myself or another medical professional.

Written by Dr. Alison Gault B. App. Sci. (clinical sci) B. Osteo. Sci.  from Vale Osteopathy Clinic located in Ascot Vale and Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Sitting at a desk and tapping away on a computer all day is not what our bodies are designed to do.  A huge number of my patients suffer from ‘complaints of the arm, neck and/or shoulder’ also known as CANS. This is a musculoskeletal condition that is not caused by acute trauma or any systemic disease, just by poor sitting posture.  Interestingly, computer workers more often experience pain in the neck and shoulders than the hands and forearms.  This is unexpected as the muscles used to type are in the hands and forearm.

CANS causes pain across the shoulders and often up the side of the neck.  In more severe cases, the patient can experience headaches, numbness, tingling, pins and needles in the arms.

The office worker’s poor posture is most commonly slumped with the head positioned forward and the shoulders rolled in.  This anterior or forward position of the neck puts a huge amount of extra stress on the muscles of the shoulders and neck causing them to become tight and painful.

The nerves and blood vessels that supply the arm come out of the spine and pass through the neck muscles, under the clavicle or collar bone, under the pec muscles, through the arm pit and into the arm.  The muscles that are affected by the poor sitting posture are the ones that the bundle of nerves and blood vessels pass through.  The pressure of tight muscles onto the nerves causes tingling and numbness, the pressure onto blood vessels effects blood supply to the arm causing pins and needles or make the arm “go to sleep”.

The research into this common condition says that there are several other factors that influence the pain experienced by the patient. Things such as high stress, having little influence over one’s work situation and limited breaks increase the likelihood of experiencing pain and that it will be worse that someone without these other factors.

Interestingly, Women experience CANS more often and to a greater degree then their male co-workers in exactly the same conditions.  In a year, 51% of male computer workers experience CANS verses 72% of women.  The research suggests that the reasons are the difference between the male and female body, that women tend to work without a break for longer than men and finally due to the extra stress on women from running a house hold and child care.

What can you do about it?

There are several things that you can do to prevent and manage CANS.

Make sure that your desk is set up properly.  Your screen and keyboard should be directly in front of you.  You should position the items on your desk so that you are not reaching too far for anything such as your phone.

Make sure you are sitting properly.  Your butt should be right up against the back of the chair as you can’t slump in this position. Your arms should be hanging at your side with your elbows at 90 degrees.  The wrists should be strait.  Both feet should be on the floor.  This position may feel quite uncomfortable for a while as your body is stuck in the bad posture.  You may need to work up to sitting properly all day.

Get treatment!!!! If you can’t quit your job, you need to regularly “service” your body just like your car to decrease your symptoms or to prevent them from developing.  How often you need “servicing” depends on your body, you may need treatment every fortnight or once every 6 months, everyone is different.

Stretch….. Try to decrease the tension in those muscles, you should do these regularly.  I have a patient that has an alarm set on her computer that reminds her to stretch every hour but just twice a day will do!!

Torso Stretch

Seated or standing, lace the fingers together and stretch them up towards the ceiling.  Stretch up as high as you can and lean back slightly over the back of your chair.  Hold for 15 seconds.

Shoulder shrugs

Seated or standing, lift the shoulders up towards the ears, squeezing them as hard as you can. Hold for 1-2 seconds and roll them back as you relax down. Repeat for 8-10 reps.

Neck stretch

Sitting in your chair, reach down and grab the side of the chair with the right hand and gently pull while taking your left ear to the left shoulder, feeling a stretch down the right side of the neck and shoulder. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat on the other side.  Then, starting in the same position, slightly rotate your neck so that your nose is pointing towards your right armpit.  Hold for 30 seconds and repeat on the other side.

Upper back stretch

Seated or standing, stretch the arms straight out and rotate the hands so that the palms face away from each other. Cross the arms so that the palms are pressed together, contract the abs and round the back, reaching away as you relax the head. Don’t collapse but instead imagine you’re curving up and over an imaginary ball. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds. If twisting the arms doesn’t feel good, simply lace the fingers together.

Disclaimer: The information provided is of a general nature and should not be used in place of professional advice from myself or another medical professional.

Vale Osteopathy Clinic provides osteopathic services to patients from a wide number of suburbs such as Ascot Vale, Pascoe Vale, Flemington, Melbourne, Australia, Footscray, Maribyrnong, Essendon, Essendon North, Moonee Ponds, Strathmore, Niddrie, Keilor, Coburg, Brunswick, Oak Park, Glenroy, North Melbourne, Avondale Heights, Airport West, Travancore.

Written by Dr. Alison Gault B. App. Sci. (clinical sci) B. Osteo. Sci.  from Vale Osteopathy Clinic located in Ascot Vale and Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Other common names for the same thing are: disc prolapse, disc herniation, blown disk, slipped disc and pinched nerve.

A Doughnut…

We first need to understand a little more about the disc.  The best way to describe it is a comparison to a jam doughnut!

The disc is made up of a strong outer layer (the crusty outside), lots of water (the soft, squishy dough) with an inner core or nucleus (the jam).

Moving Disc

With a doughnut, the jam can be squeezed around depending on where you put the pressure on the bun. If you squeeze it too hard, then the jam will escape.

It is just the same with the disc. When you bend forwards or sit down, the pressure is placed on the front part of the disc. This has the effect of squeezing the disc core (shown in red) backwards. The more bending you do, the more you are encouraging the disc to move in a backward direction.

If you decide to lift something with your back bent, then you are adding a tremendous force to your disc. Basically you are asking for trouble!

Prolapse, Herniation…it’s all the same thing!

And so, if pressure is placed onto a part of the disc, the central core material will be squeezed to the area of least pressure (think of the doughnut!). In the diagram you can see a birds eye view of what happens when you bend forewards. The disc corel tends to move backwards.

If there is too much pressure on the disc or too frequent high pressure on the disc, it can bulge out into the outer wall. This is when you get a disc bulge, prolapsed disc or slipped disc! This bulge in the disc can then press on the spinal cord or nerves as they pass out from the spine.  This pressure on the nerve effects its ability to function causing pain, numbness, tingling and weakness.

Symptoms

Symptoms of a prolapsed disc can vary widely. It ranges from simple localised lower back pain to raging leg pain, weakness, numbness and/or pins and needles. The leg symptoms are most commonly down the back of the thigh, the outer side of the leg and the top of the foot.  You may have difficulties walking due to muscle weakness.  The symptoms tend to get worse with sitting, sneezing, coughing and going to the toilet as there is extra pressure on the disc and therefore also the nerve.
It can occur in any age group but is most common between the ages of 20-40 when the disc is most mobile.   Unlike the typical movie version of someone lifting a heavy weight and then collapsing on the ground, the most common way that the symptoms start is actually the next day after lifting something heavy.  The patient wakes up not being able to move with the pain.

Treatment

Treatment is usually conservative with manual therapy such as osteopathic treatment to get everything around the effected disc moving to decrease the pressure on the disc.  However, in severe cases, especially those involving muscle weakness, surgery may be required.  Exercise such as core strengthening and swimming are of great benefit. Anti-inflammatories and ice can help control the symptoms.  In general, it can take about 12 weeks for the symptoms to go however there will be a weakness in the disc for the rest of the patients life.  Regular treatment and strengthening exercises will be needed to help prevent reoccurance.

How do I prevent it??

• Get regular maintenance treatment especially if you lift often in your day to day life such as tradesmen and parents of young children. Treatment will ensure that all your joints are working properly so that one joint isn’t getting most of the load.
• Use good lifting techniques. This means using your legs not your back!! Rather then bending at the hips and back to pick up your child, bend at your knees keeping your back strait!
• Tighten your core stabilising muscles whenever you lift something. If you don’t know how to do this, ask me next time you have appointment or start learning clinical pilates.
• Stretch!
• Keep your weight within the healthy range for your age and height. Being overweight puts much more strain on your joints and discs which increases the chance of a bulge.

Disclaimer: information provided on this post is of a general nature and should not be used in place of advice from either myself or another medical  professional.

Vale Osteopathy Clinic provides osteopathic services to patients from a wide number of suburbs such as Ascot Vale, Pascoe Vale, Flemington, Melbourne, Australia, Footscray, Maribyrnong, Essendon, Essendon North, Moonee Ponds, Strathmore, Niddrie, Keilor, Coburg, Brunswick, Oak Park, Glenroy, North Melbourne, Avondale Heights, Airport West, Travancore.

Written by Dr. Alison Gault B. App. Sci. (clinical sci) B. Osteo. Sci.  from Vale Osteopathy Clinic located in Ascot Vale and Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Sciatica is a set of symptoms rather than a specific diagnosis. The symptoms are generally buttock pain and a sharp pain down the back of the thigh and sometimes into the calf.  Occasionally, when severe, there may be numbness, muscular weakness and tingling in the leg.

The sciatic nerve is the largest and longest nerve in the body.  It arises as many little nerves from spinal cord in the lumbar spine (lower back).  The little nerves then pass out of the spinal canal between the vertebrae, pass through the pelvis and into the leg.

The symptoms of sciatica are produced by pressure onto the nerve which decreases its ability to function and causes pain.  There are many different causes of sciatica as there are many different parts of the body where it can become compressed.

Here I will outline a few of these causes.

Piriformis Syndrome

When the sciatic nerve passes through the pelvis, it travels through, under or over the piriformis muscle.  If this muscle gets tight, it can then compress the nerve. This is one the most common causes of sciatica and is easily treatable with osteopathic manual therapy and stretching.

Disc bulge or prolapse

I will be covering this topic further in the next newsletter as it is a big topic.  As I mentioned previously, the sciatic nerve, as it comes out of the spinal cord, passes between the vertebrae. The disc is like a shock absorber between two vertebrae.  The disc can bulge and press upon one of the little nerves as it comes out of the spine.  This can be quite a serious condition causing severe pain, numbness, tingling and weakness in the legs.  Thankfully, I don’t often see this condition.

Pregnancy

In the late stages of pregnancy, the uterus itself can compress the sciatic nerve causing the symptoms.  Due to the change of posture and extra strain on the body, trigger points, piriformis syndrome and sacroiliac dysfunction are more likely to occur (these are described below).

Osteophytes (bone spurs)

As part of the process of arthritis, bone spurs can grow on vertebrae.  These bone growths can press on a little nerve as it comes out of the vertebrae, therefore causing the sciatica symptoms.

Here are some causes of Pseudo-sciatica. This is a condition that can have the symptoms like sciatica but have nothing to do with the sciatic nerve at all.

Trigger points

The pain experienced is actually referred pain.  This means that the pain is felt somewhere distant from its cause.  A trigger point occurs when a portion of the muscle becomes ischemic.  This means that it hasn’t had enough blood supply. This can occur with injury or long term muscle tightness.   Trigger points causing sciatica like symptoms are most commonly found in the ‘glute’ (bum) muscles or the deep hip muscles.

Sacroilliac joint dysfunction

The sacroiliac joints are the two large joints at the back of the pelvis.  These quite commonly become inflamed or irritated and may cause referred pain in the legs. This however is more commonly down the side of the thigh than the back of the thigh.

So what can you do about it???

• Always sit with good posture and both your feet on the ground.
• Never, never sit with your wallet in your back pocket, you are just asking for piriformis syndrome!
• Lift properly. This means using you legs not your back.  The fastest way to get a disc bulge is to bend forward, twist then lift something.
• Keep your weight within the normal healthy range so not to put extra pressure onto your discs and pelvic joints.
• Get treatment and advice. Osteopathic treatment can assist will all the causes of sciatica and pseudo-sciatica explained above.

Disclaimer: information provided on this post is of a general nature and should not be used in place of advice from either myself or another medical  professional

Vale Osteopathy Clinic provides osteopathic services to patients from a wide number of suburbs such as Ascot Vale, Pascoe Vale, Flemington, Melbourne, Australia, Footscray, Maribyrnong, Essendon, Essendon North, Moonee Ponds, Strathmore, Niddrie, Keilor, Coburg, Brunswick, Oak Park, Glenroy, North Melbourne, Avondale Heights, Airport West, Travancore.