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March 10, 2021 Clinical

Are we moving less since covid ?

I don’t want to offer an opinion on the appropriateness of government interventions and lockdowns of fitness facilities and outdoor exercise classes during Covid-19 but an interesting meta-analysis published in the open British Medical Journal of sports and exercise medicine highlights the issue of decreased aerobic activity.

The articles reviewed 66 published research which nearly all concluded that peoples physical activity had dropped significantly during Covid whilst sedentary activities like watching television had increased.

It’s not just the gym closures, its the fact that people where no longer commuting as much which means less trips to the bus top, less walking around workplaces and just doing less exercise in general.

This problem becomes even more pressing when you consider the new evidence outlining just how strong a predictor obesity is of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) and mortality rates itself ( 2 ).

It’s estimated that western populations now face obesity rates of over 40% and several large studies point to obesity being a direct risk factor in the need for ventilation and other more higher level interventions. The risk of obesity can be summed up nicely by the graphic below.

 

From a public health perspective the issue of getting populations moving more and loosing weight is now more pressing than it ever was and if any good can come out of Covid the need to focus more on lifestyle medicine is more pressing than it ever was.

I’m guilty

So if you somebody like the me that lost their routine through Covid. At the start of all this they closed the dodgy little Kutchan gym that suited me needs nicely. The strange this is now it’s semi-reopened I still have not been back. Funny how good habits can be broken so easily and bad habits seem impossible to shake.

And if you share  complaints like me that me left knee and other little niggle points are now really sore since stopped my rehab program then I hope you may join me in trying to get our exercise routines back in place as we past the peak and start to move to final stretch of these crazy times.

If you would like to discuss this further or make an appointment with an english speaking chiropractor both in either Niseko or Okinawa you can so here 

 

References

  1. Stockwell S, Trott M, Tully M, et al
    Changes in physical activity and sedentary behaviours from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown: a systematic review
    BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine 2021;7:e000960. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2020-000960

https://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/7/1/e000960

 

2. Kwok S, Adam S, Ho JH, Iqbal Z, Turkington P, Razvi S, Le Roux CW, Soran H, Syed AA. Obesity: A critical risk factor in the COVID-19 pandemic. Clin Obes. 2020 Dec;10(6):e12403. doi: 10.1111/cob.12403. Epub 2020 Aug 28. PMID: 32857454; PMCID: PMC7460880.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32857454/

 


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March 2, 2021 Uncategorized

Should we be using anti-depressants for lower back pain ?

An interesting meta-review was just published in the journal of Systematic reviews.

They were trying to answer the question of weather physicians should be be prescribing anti-depressants as a means to assist with the pain and disability caused by lower back pain ?

Certainly I seeing a lot more patients on anti-depressants since working with a more American population in Okinawa and I guess the stress of the covid-19 pandemic has only increased the this.

The authors concluded that in a review of 23 quality randomized controlled trials the best evidence available does support the prescription or efficacy of anti-depressants to address low back pain. In there words ” Taken together, these data indicate treatment of LBP symptoms with antidepressants has no important benefit; is less acceptable, less safe and less tolerable; and may be harmful, compared to treatment with a placebo medicine “.

That’s not so say that antidepressants  don’t have legitimate reasons for their prescription. Simply that they should be prescribed as a modality to treat lower back pain or perhaps even the depression that can be directly linked to the chronic pain.

What does seem to offer better results are exercise therapy, physical therapy or when that fails  other medications commonly used to treat chronic pain such as  pain medications and anti-inflammatorys and muscle relaxations.

Remember too you should never decide to alter your medication by yourself and in some cases this may be dangerous . Always talk to your primary health care practitioner that prescribed your medication and discuss with them.

If you would like to read the article it is below.

References

  1. Ferraro, M.C., Bagg, M.K., Wewege, M.A. et al. Efficacy, acceptability, and safety of antidepressants for low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Syst Rev 10, 62 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-021-01599-4

    https://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13643-021-01599-4?fbclid=IwAR3LSMT10GSsi5W2lYfsfiiae623-_FHQ32bWz2Tu-3PcNBe4MBkamvGuK4#citeas

 

 


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February 10, 2021 Uncategorized
Just a reminder that I will be available in Niseko for 4 more days before returning to Okinawa from the 17th-25th Feb.

Please note I will not be in the same purple house by the Sea Wall in Sunabe but rather a house just around the corner ( by strange co-indicine also purple ! ). I have updated the confirmation email with you new directions so for anybody booked it might pay to give the it a quick read once you make a booking in Okinawa.

Covid cases continue to fall in Hokkaido

From a peak in late November 2020 it’s great to see the sharp drop in Covid-19 cases in Hokkaido. To be honest I have no idea why the number of cases continues to fall but very happy to see it.


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February 9, 2021 Clinical

How prevalent is Low back pain in the US military ?

As Niseko Chiropractic seems to be getting a lot busier in Okinawa I thought it would be worth doing some further study on the prevalence of low back pain in the US military.

And it turns out it’s pretty common. Well low back pain is pretty common anyway affecting up to 85% of adults at some point in their life for an extended period but military training puts some unique stresses on the body.

A high quality research paper published in spine examined the rate of lower back pain over 9 years and is considered the most in depth research on this issue.

They found that the average incidence of low back pain in US forces was 40.5 per 1000 Person years (1). A person year is basically just 1 year of military services. So if you surveyed 1000 military members for 1 year you would expect on average to have 40.5 recorded of documented lower back pain in that given year.

Interestingly the incidences where higher in women with 58.3 incidences per 1000 person years compared to 37.6 incidences  in men although experience in Okinawa makes me suspect that women may also be more likely to actually do something about their pain so maybe the actual underlying differences between the sexes may not be as large as the study suggests.

Age also played a factor with lower back pain pain most common in the 40+ age group ( 1). No significant differences in race was picked up by this study.

And what about service ? Interestingly the Army takes the poll position for the most lower back pain, followed by the Marines with Air force behind that. It would be nice to know what the differences between army training and marine training make up for this difference ( 1)

Perhaps not surprising the higher your rank, the less likely you were to experience back pain. The authors suggested this was most likely due to the more physically demanding roll of enlisted active duty.

Another risk factor they found was having had been married and then divorced.

Ok so what do about it

Firstly if you have chronic lower back pain don’t ignore. If your pain has not gone away in a few weeks to months it is unlikely to do so.

There as many treatments for lower back pain as there are causes and the truth is low back pain is complex and no modality has also the answers or comes out consistently better in the literature than other modalities.

As a Chiropractor I must be declare some bias here but a recent study did find some positive results in the treatment of a military for lower back pain (2). They looked at 110 personal at a Navy hospital in florida and found strength increased of about 5kg after 4 weeks of treatment and a reduction in pain and increase in ability to perform balance tasks.

Certainly Chiropractic stakes up as a good relatively low cost option for military members with lower back pain.

If you would like to discuss this further or schedule an appointment with an English speaking Chiropractor in Sunabe Okinawa or Niseko you can book online on the link below

www.nisekochiropractic.com/appointments

What about exercise ?

 

Niseko Chiropractic did a summary of great article on this topic a while back. You can read it below

Niseko Chiropractic Research update- The best exercises for chronic low back pain

 

References

1. The Incidence of Low Back Pain in Active Duty United States Military Service Members

Knox, Jeffrey MD*; Orchowski, Joseph MD*; Scher, Danielle L. MD; Owens, Brett D MD; Burks, Robert PhD§; Belmont, Philip J. MD

2. Effects of Chiropractic Care on Strength, Balance, and Endurance in Active-Duty U.S. Military Personnel with Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Vinning et al. J Altern Complement Med  2020 Jul;26(7):592-601.

 

 

 

 

 


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February 5, 2021 Clinical

Your not alone with a pregnancy headache

If you are experiencing headaches during pregnancy  you are not alone. According to a recent study published in the journal  Revue Neurologique about 1/3 in women in experience what’s known as secondary headache during pregancy which is higher than the general population.

The first challenge from a management point of is rule out the red flags and nasties.

Headaches are almost always caused so something we can manage but occasionally they can be the first sign of something more serious. Imaging such as an MRI scan of the brain can be a good idea if you suddenly experience a headache that never stops and you not usually a headache sufferer, headaches that wake you up, headaches that get worse when you change posture or also have fever.

If you have experienced any of the above it’s worth consulting your primary care physician and getting the more serious stuff ruled out.

But in all likelihood it’s not of the nasty ones and it’s just a plain pregnancy headache.

The next step from here is determine what sort of headache you have.

Whilst headache research is still evolving we can categorize headaches by patterns such migraine, cluster headaches, tension headache etc and this changes the out come and management a lot.

If you do present to Niseko Chiropractic with a pregnancy headaches it’s worth writing down ahead of time as much information about your headaches as you can think of. Does the headache present at a certain time of day ? Do you have any visual disturbances ? Does it present differently to the headaches that you usually have ?

Amongst pregnancy headaches vascular headaches are the most common with about 80% of headaches being related to hypertension ( 1), particularly in the 3rd trimester .

If you do have your own blood pressure cuff it’s worth checking your blood pressure during a headache to see if it’s related.  We also have to mindful of CVT and stroke but thankfully these are extremely rare. According to the paper only about 3 in 10,000 pregnancies’ will suffer from this problem.

Some good news if you are a migraine sufferer is the research indicates that pregnancy is more likely to decrease your frequency of migraine headaches rather than increase. 42-67% percent of pregnant migraine sufferers reported less headaches during pregnancy (1).

Tension type headaches

Around 12% of pregnant women will experience tension type headaches ( 1) With large fluctuations in hormones, extra stress, and postural stress of a rapidly changing body it’s no wonder than your body can feel overloaded and trigger a headache.

It’s been a pleasure to be working down in Okinawa in where I am now treating many pregnant patients again for the first time in a few years and certainly headaches are one of the most common problems we as chiropractors are called on to manage during pregnancy.

Tension headaches usually respond very favorably to decreasing the muscle tension in the traps and sub-occipital muscles in the base of the skull. It is thought that once of the su-0cciptal muscles go into spasm they further compromise there own blood supply sometimes causing the situation to escalate.  Often just some simple massage and sub-occipital release techniques can bring a lot of relief.

Cluster headaches

If you are a cluster headaches sufferer, firstly my condolences and deep respect. These little bastards are nasty and also very challenging to treat. The research of the prevalence of cluster headaches is very scant but apparently they like migraines tend to improve during pregnancy rather than get worse.

I wish I could say that Niseko Chiropractic can really improve these but my experience with non pregnant patients is that it can be very hit and miss, unlike tension headaches where we almost always get some improvement.

Don’t put up with it

In short, headaches during pregnancy are common and it’s important to first rule that out that we not dealing with anything nasty. If you are experiencing tension headaches these are the ones that are most likely to respond to Chiropractic treatment.

If you would like to schedule an appointment either in Sunabe Okinawa or Niseko with an Australian trained english speaking Chiropractor you can do so on the link below

www.nisekochiropractic.com/appointments

References

  1. Headaches during pregnancy

S.de Gaalona A.Donnetb

Service de neurologie, hôpital Laënnec, CHU de Nantes, Nantes, France

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurol.2020.05.012

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0035378720306226?via%3Dihub

 

 

 

 

 

 


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February 3, 2021 Uncategorized

Research Update

Interesting study from the Journal of manipulative and physiological therapies on the effect of dry needling for muscle pain. 

They were looking at the effects of dry needling ( acupuncture without meridian theory ) on the women that had upper trapezius pain.

What they found that was the effect was of greatest benefits when the needles were inserted away from the trigger point ( tight knot located in the muscle belly ) rather than trying to needle directly in the middle of the knot.

This makes sense as often when a needle is inserted directly into a ” hot ” are sometimes the body just reacts more once it’s alarm bells have been activated.

I had quite a few neck torticolis to deal with last time in Okinawa and that was often the same lessons. Sometimes a gentle indirect approach is best. The rule of thumb is if so something is hot go in indirect and if something is chronic then sometimes a bit of caveman soft tissue work can be indicated.

If you would like to make an appointment with Brent Verco either in Niseko or now in Sunabe Okinawa you can do so on the link below

www.nisekochiropractic.com/appointments

References

Dry Needling and Photobiomodulation Decreases Myofascial Pain in Trapezius of Women: Randomized Blind Clinical Trial
Dalpiaz Et al
Published:November 26, 2020DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmpt.2020.07.00

https://www.jmptonline.org/article/S0161-4754(20)30149-4/fulltext


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February 1, 2021 Clinical

Your head- It’s heavy and important

Chiropractors have long advocated for good posture.

It just seemed to make sense to us that our modern lifestyle and work habits are not helping our health. Research is finally catching up to explaining how poor neck posture can adversely affect your health.

Let’s consider your head. It’s pretty heavy.

In a average adult your head weights approximately 6% of your body weight (1)  so that’s nearly 5kg for yours truly or 11 pounds for my Okinawa clients :). Now imagine if you dangle an 11 pound bowling ball hunched over a computer screen. Just keeping your head up requires huge workloads on muscles really only setup for firing for few seconds. For every inch the head goes forward the stress on our muscles builds significantly.

A great study recently published in the International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health reviewed 16 previously published studies and looked at the effect of forward head carriage on a very of health metrics.

What they found was really interesting.

 

Effects of poor head posture

  1. The effect on your respiration-Forward head carriage was associated with lower lung volumes. It’s thought that the posture posture limits how much how lower ribs can move during inspiration. This makes our accessory muscles work harder and means we are not breathing deeply or efficiently.

2. Effect on muscle tone- Not surprisingly our neck extensors become short and week which is often a trigger for headaches. Other imbalances and areas of tension where found in accessory muscles once you start to carry your head to far forward.

3. Proprioception- This is our bodies ability to know where it is space just from accessing it’s own movement and tension. Imagine you close your eyes and try to touch your nose. The ability to do this comes from your brain able to interpret the amount of movement in your muscles and tension on joints and ligaments. People with forward head carriage also had poor proprioception. As your posture gets worse you become let aware of your body .

4.  Balance: Subjects with forward head carriage also had poor static balance. If you look at a ballet dancer or athlete they also have great upright posture. This is more than just looking good but also aids their ability to hold difficult poses.

5. Neck pain: One study looked at the question of ” Is forward head carriage a good predictor of neck pain ” and it turns out it is. The more your head starts to be forward of your centre line, the more likely you are to report higher pain levels. If you are experience chronic neck pain it’s really worth having your posture assessed for forward head carriage and starting an active rehab program to address this.

The article also makes a great point about our generation.

Normal may be not be correct anymore. In fact less than 10%  of subjects had neck posture that was considered ” ideal ” (1) So what’s happening here really is a generational problem. As we all grow up with computer workstations and Iphones being the new normal our posture is suffering.

 

What to do about it

Fortunately it’s not too hard to address the effects of forward head carriage.

  1. Get adjusted !– I know this sounds a bit self serving but if you have an area of the spine that has been restricted for some time a short course of adjusting is still is the fastest way to get some movement back and allow you streamline the rehab process. But adjustments won’t fix the underlying problem nor are they are a substitute for an active care approach . That’s going to take some work on your part.

2. Address your work posture. I have been a big fan of the sitting standing workstations and whilst there are some great models around you can also build your own with simple materials. Be prepared to think creative and use what you find at 2nd stores. An interesting example below

3. Aim for 40 minutes walking each and everyday. You can split this up into 2 20 minute sessions if you like.

This topic has been covered in more detail here

The importance of walking

 

4. Stretch- The real causes of forward head carriage is rounded shoulders. As you shoulders roll forward your pecs and other anterior muscles become short and weak. We need open these back up. The 3 best exercises for this are the brugger self stretch, the chin tuck and the wall angels.

The Brugger self stretch

 

Chin Tuck exercise

These exercises give a really good stretch out of our tight anterior neck muscles.

Wall angles

A great exercises to open up the chest and stretch tight pecs

 

5. Stregthen

Here you want to look at building more strength in the muscles that pull our shoulders back. We are thinking things like rowing, seated row gym press and external rotation of the shoulder with free weights.

If you need anymore reason to consider improving your neck posture I hope the article mentioned may stimulate you further into action.

If would like to discuss this article further either down in Sunabe Okinawa or Niseko with an english speaking chiropractor ( well Australian anyway) feel free to book online at

www.nisekochiropractic.com/appointments

References

  1. The impact of the position of the head on the functioning of the human body: a systematic review

Elżbieta Szczygieł 1, Natalia Fudacz 1, Joanna Golec 1, Edward Golec

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32713947/

 


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January 22, 2021 Uncategorized

Niseko Chiropractic research review:

A surprising result

 

A few years ago the research began to show that strength training also leads to gains in range of motion.

This is not new news for those following sports research but what’s really interesting is a recent high quality meta review examining 11 published articles in the research literature asking the question ” Does strength training lead to the same increase in flexibility as stretching “.

Here is the interesting thing.

The researchers found that there was no significant statistical difference between the flexibility gains from weight training and those coming from a stretching program. This is certainly news to me and really puts a rocket up the idea that you should not start the a gym program if you are worried about loosing flexibility.

The study did not specifically examine the question of just how much exercises is needed to get the job done however it’s thought that most of the studies suggested about 2 times a week for 5 weeks straight was sufficent to see some improvements (1).

What can we take from this ?

Well firstly it’s a false dichotomy to assume it’s one or the other.

There are no reasons why you can’t include strength and flexibility in your weekly training regiment. If you are however short on time or motivation and already have some underlying strength issues then this may tip the balance for you to move towards more strength training.

The golden rule of Niseko Chiropractic is that you have to find something you actually enjoy doing. If that’s yoga then carry on with that and yoga also builds get strength at the same time.

It does also tell us that we should probably not be afraid of the effect that our strength training may have on our joint flexibility, its probably good news !

Like all things there are limits and caveats.

I worked with a lot of “Gym junkies ” back in Australia and even a few now in Okinawa and it’s pretty obvious that they have trained to such a level that there flexibility is starting to go down but these are extreme cases from people to willing to push there bodies far further than the average person.

Studies like this are also great for determining what’s good for population but less good for determining what may be in your best unique interest. That’s why research is always only one arm of evidence based medicine.

 

Above all, get out there, move and do something you enjoy.

If you would like to discuss these findings further or schedule an appointment with an english speaking chiropractor in Okinawa or Niseko you can do so on the link below

www.nisekochiropractic.com/appointments

References

  1. Strength training is as effective as stretching for improving range of motion: A systematic review and meta-analysis. 2020 Afonso et.al
  2. https://osf.io/preprints/metaarxiv/2tdfm/?fbclid=IwAR3_bPysWdFc0bdj9ChvHFe0e9xdxFQA8fm3VshpyyE2gtcu0Rab1QiGVxY

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January 20, 2021 Clinical

Chiropractic and headaches in Kids

Many people don’t realise that kids can also suffer re-occuring headaches as well as adults. It’s estimated that around 5% of 3 year olds suffer reoccuring headaches and by puberty this number is around 50% (1).

What up to now has been sadly lacking in the literature is any well designed studies that examine what role chiropractic may play in helping these patients.

In recent study published in the journal ” Chiropractic and manual therapies ” with good sample size of 199 children that experienced regularly headaches they were divided into 2 groups. One group received chiropractic manipulation and the other received a ” Sham ” treatment.

What they found was that the kids that received Chiropractic treatment had significantly fewer episodes of headaches with around a 20% improvement. No serious side effects were reported and the study concluded that given it’s relatively cheap cost and lack of side effects Chiropractic treatment for Children is a good first line treatment options for kids with recurring headaches.

Further research is needed to help classify what types of headaches in kids respond best to chiropractic treatment as there are many types of headaches out there and some seem to respond better than others.

If you would like to make an appointment in Niseko or now also in Sunabe Okinawa with Brent Verco you can do so on the link below

www.nisekochiropractic.com/appointments

 

References

  1. Effectiveness of chiropractic manipulation versus sham manipulation for recurrent headaches in children aged 7–14 years – a randomised clinical trial

https://chiromt.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12998-020-00360-3

 


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January 4, 2021 Clinical0

With 2020/21 dumping snow Niseko Chiropractic has been busy treating many injuries that did not occur on the ski slopes. Snow shovelling has to be up there somewhere high if not top of the list.

Sure you can probably use a shovel already.

Most of us would claim not to need a lesson on how to shovel snow. But like many everyday things such as ridding a bike or a few tips from people that have given it some more thought can be very helpful and can be make a big difference to how you feel at the end of it and also help your efficiency.

Tip number one is if you don’t have to lift the snow then don’t.

Have a look at the elderly residents of Niseko town that have mastered the art of not shovelling but rather just pushing it out of the way. When I first moved to Niseko I was amazed at how they would flock out of their houses within hours after a heavy or even during a heavy snowfall. There is method in the this approach as snow is so much easier to move when it is still powder snow and can be cast aside with the greatest of ease.

If you do find yourself needing to shovel then there a few things to consider.


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December 27, 2020 Niseko life

Great family day to ride niseko. Those winds have backed off and still plenty of fresh tracks to find for those who know where to look. Winds look light over the next few days as the pow continues to fall.

For better or worse 2020 in Niseko is shaping up to be a season to remember.

Now consulting back in niseko until the 10th of jan 2021 before returning to Sunabe Okinawa on the 10th of jan until the 27th of Jan.

For online bookings with an English speaking Japanese registered Chiropractor both in Niseko and now Okinawa go to

Www.nisekochiropractic.com


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December 21, 2020 Uncategorized
New Chiropractic clinic in Okinawa
Thanks to my new clients in my unexpected new 2nd home of Sunabe for again making me feel so welcome and proving all the hot tips on what do see. Flying out today but will be back in Okinawa from the 14-28th of Jan 2021 in the same ” Purple house “
As for my Niseko clients I will be closed xmas day (25th dec ) but open for appointments all other days right up to the 9th of Jan although I am taking this Tuesday the 22nd off for some much needed snowboarding. Apologies to my Niseko clients that I could not see the last 2 weeks but the international flight closures have been tough of my Niseko visit numbers and for some reason they seem to like me down there.
It’s been torture watching all the pow dump whilst stranded in a tropical paradise.
If anybody in Niseko or Okinawa does wish to book ahead online you can do so on the link below.

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December 14, 2020 Uncategorized

Cutting your risk of sitting yourself to an early death

Brilliant research just in from the British Journal of sports medicine

They did a review of previous studies with a combined sample size of around 44,000 people and looked at the risk of sitting causing an early death and how much ( or actually little ) exercise is needed to combat this effect.

Hard to find data from Japan but Americans spend on average 55% of their day sitting or 7.7 hours sitting ( 2) and we are starting to learn that this is associated with shorter lifespan, increased risk of cancer and type 2 diabetes. This result was not linear either. In other words your risk increases greatly once you go past the 8 hour mark. Even a few extra hours rapidly increases your risk.

 

So that’s not really new news.

What makes this study interesting is they examined just how much exercise you need to do mediate the damaging effects of sitting.

And it’s not much !

Just about 30-40 minutes a day was the amount needed to mitigate the increased risk caused by sitting but even as little as 11 minutes a day still was found to significantly helpful and reduced the risk of all but the most prolonged sitting.  Previous studies on this topic concluded that at least an hour a day was needed but this new better designed study actually reduces the amount needed.

The new guidelines from the UK, the USA and WHO recommend that adults should participate in physical activity for 150–300 minutes of at least moderate intensity every week (1)

Even better news is that there seems to be no difference if you break this up. So if you don’t have time for a 40 minute walk break it up into 2 2o minute walks. Even if the smallest things can really help. Always try and take the stairs instead of the elevator.

This is not say you should exercise less of course. There are still many other benefits to more than 40 minutes such as weight loss, improvement in mood and better sleep as well.

So get out there and get moving !

If you would like to make an appointment with an english speaking Japanese registered Chiropractor in Sunabe Okinawa or Niseko Japan please go to

www.nisekochiropractic.com/appointments

References

1.https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/24/1499

 

2.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10654-018-0380-1


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November 27, 2020 Clinical

Reflections from Chiropractic experience in  Okinawa

One of the great things about being able to work in Okinawa was to rekindle an interest in managing lower back pain through pregnancy and also shortly after.

Lower back pain is very common in pregnancy and usually peaks in the middle of the 3rd trimester with as many as 75% of women reporting pain in either the lower back area or lower down over the joints of the sacrum ( 1). Most women reported on average that this pain was rated as around 4/10 on a visual analog scale so it’s fair to say it hurts, and can make life pretty uncomfortable.

What causes low back pain in pregnancy

Surprising it’s not as well understood as you think.

One of the pain factors is the obvious one of the weight gain of a little human now growing inside your belly but its not just the weight but the way your posture changes that also causes more stress on your joints and ligaments.

There are also some hormonal changes at play. As your body prepares for pregnancy a hormone called relaxin readies the body for birth and soften the ligaments around our joints, particularly the sacro-illiac joints on either side of the sacrum.

Interesting the relaxin levels actually spike around the 1st trimester but it takes a few weeks for the effects to be fully translated in the body. The graph below is handy reference for the various hormones at play.

Then there are are also some genetic and invidual variations. If you already have a history of low back pain you are in more of a high risk group.

Talking about weight

One of the best predictors of pain in pregnancy seems to be one when you carrying over 15Kg of extra weight over your normal healthy weight (2) so if you are planning on getting pregnant or in the very early stages and are overweight it may be well worth your time to consult with a health profession on coming up with plan to address this.

Carrying a kilo’s was also associated with a much higher risk of developing pain that lasts months to years after birth. Interestingly researchers found that just a few extra kilos ( under 10 ) was so significantly related to low back pain so you don’t have to go crazy just make sure you are not over the 10-15gk of extra weight.

Exercise is medicine

There is also some good evidence that exercise therapy can reduce pain over pregnancy’s. The jury is still out on what seems to be most effective. Is it yoga or piliates or core work ? Crossfit ? Even from a good review of the literature published this year we still don’t know ( 4).

There was some weak findings that work on ” core ” was better than general exercises but What does seem to be most important is that you do something and that it’s safe. Try and find a qualified fitness instructor that really takes the time to understand your needs and most importantly pick something that you enjoy.

Manual therapy

Lastly I we should talk about the role of manual therapy. Many women report great results with Chiropractic or physio interventions right up to the birth. Whilst most of a chiropractors job is to get stuck joints moving again often in pregnancy we are faced with joints that may be too mobile.

As such the approach tends to change a bit from traditional chiropractic techniques to more lower force joint mobs and muscle work to increase comfort levels although I do find chiro adjustments can still be very helpful in the mid thoracic spine throughout pregnancy.

I guess I also have to bring the often misunderstand Webster technique. Webster is a chiropractic technique that has a system of analysis that involves leg length and SI joint checks and then some specific release work around the pelvic ligaments and the round ligament of the uterus. The Webster technique is not an ‘external cephalic version ” were the pressure is applied over the uterus itself.

Yes there is some anecdotal evidence from Chiropractors, proponents selling or teaching the webster technique ( major conflict of interest ! ) and mothers themselves that a potential breech birth was corrected soon after a webster procedure sadly this has not yet been verified in a well designed randomized controlled trial and it makes me slightly angry and disappointed that this study has yet to be done all these years later. It’s impossible to say from a research perspective how many of these births may have resolved by themselves and how many were directly helped from the Webster protocol.

Most of the benefit of Webster in my humble opinion is simply increased comfort around the pelvis and less pain levels.

So I think as Chiropractor webster is one tool of many for the evaluation of a pregnant patient we must be guarded in what we can state with certainty as to what it can and can’t achieve and I truly hope that in a few short years we have better published data in the research literature.

If you would like to schedule an appointment with an English speaking Chiropractor either in Okinawa or Niseko please go to

www.nisekochiropractic/appointments

 

References

  1. https://www.painmanagementnursing.org/article/S1524-9042(20)30131-4/fulltext
  2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31593058/
  3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32011431/

 

 

 


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November 20, 2020 Okinawa

Thanks again for the wonderful welcome to the Okinawa community that I received on my return visit. Us Aussies have been guilty of giving yanks a hard time but I can honestly say everybody I meet was super humble and had some interesting stories.

Niseko Chiropractic will be consulting at the same location by the sea wall in Sunabe Okinawa again on from the 8th to the 15th of December 2020 and then monthly after that.

It’s been a joy to see some complex cases and also assist in the number of new and growing families that are being created in Okinawa right now. I guess you have to pass the covid lockdown somehow 🙂 Also really enjoyed learning more about the US military and how family orientated it has become.

This trip I managed to squeeze in a trip to the massive aquarium, take a drive up the Okinawain  cost and spend a few evening hours wondering American village, which to honest looked a little corny from the outside but transforms into a very funky place into the evenings.

I also managed to get an invite onto camp Foster where I meet with some representatives from the MCSS about getting a Marine snowboard trip organized to Niseko. It will happen but sadly with Hokkaido now considered off limits due to Covid it may now be late this season before this may happen.

If you are interested in seeing a Marines MCCS trip get organised slip me an email at info@nisekochiropractic.com and I keep you in the loop or even have a coffee next time I am consulting in Okinawa.

This 2nd visit also cemented that being busy here was no accident and that there is an ongoing demand for chiropractic services in Sunabe and we do thank you in advance for your patience whilst we get something more permanent set up.

If you would like to make an appointment with an Australian trained but Japanese registered Chiropractor in Sunabe Okinawa you can do so again from the 8th-17th  of December on the link below.

www.nisekochiropractic.com/okinawa


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November 16, 2020 ClinicalOkinawa

The with the all the understandable focus on Covid-19 right now it’s vital that we don’t loose of the ground that lifestyle medicine was begging to have on increasing the worlds  ageing population.

And we are getting older. Right now 8.5% of the world’s population is over 65 and this will balloon to 17% by 2050 ( 1). That means for just under one quarter of the worlds population, me and perhaps even yourself keeping our bones strong and healthy should be one of life’s goals as we age.

Research from the lifestyle medicine field has shown the importance of healthy eating in maintaining strong healthy bones. One of the leading candidates to assist Omega 3 fatty acids or more commonly know as omega3 oil.

Our bones are constantly being remodeled.

Osteoclast cells are constantly breaking down and absorbing old brittle bone and osteoblast cells are constantly laying down new stronger fresh bone.

If they are forced to operate in an environment of poor nutrition the quality of the new bone laying down is not as good as should be. Over a lifetime even small changes can lead to dramatic result at pointy end of life.

Keeping your weight within a healthy limit is also vital for bone health. When excess fat starts to invade the bone marrow this may also affect our bodies ability’s to create to new health bone ( 1).

The ratio of healthy fat to saturated fat in the modern western diet is now thought to be as high as 25:1 yet in pre-industrial times it was around 2:1. Meaning simply we are eating way to much poor quality fats and not enough good quality fats.

How to get more Omega-3 in your diet

Bear in mind your body can’t make omega-3’s internally like we can some other fats and proteins. You need a constant fresh supply in your diet.

Omega-3s are found naturally in some foods and are added to other foods You can get adequate amounts of omega-3s by eating a variety of foods, including the following:

  • Fish and other seafood (especially cold-water fatty fish, such as salmon, mackerel, tuna, herring, and sardines)
  • Nuts and seeds (such as flaxseed, chia seeds, and walnuts)
  • Plant oils (such as flaxseed oil, soybean oil, and canola oil

Source: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Omega3FattyAcids-Consumer/

So you if are like me and love the quality of fresh cold water salmon we can get here in Japan. Put a little extra in your shopping trolley next time you are out. You bones will thank you

 

If you would like to discuss this further in Okinawa or Niseko, Niseko Chiropractic would love to hear from you.

 

 

References

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S875632822030524X?via%3Dihub&fbclid=IwAR2F29bvuMg5svCn7t6_bsKqzPSF5xufILnrYPWXtnRp4ji1U7Yq7tljYEE

 

 

 


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November 12, 2020 Clinical

 

A nice little summary of how to manage soft tissue injuries was recently published in the British Journal of sports medicine. PEACE in the first phase of injury and LOVE as thing start to turn a corner.

When I was at university the it was old about RICE but the use of ice and even too much rest for that matter may actually interfere with the bodies natural healing pathways. The inflammatory process whilst a sometimes a bit painful is actually the bodies way of creating the right chemical cascade to allow our injuries to heal at full strength.

The take home message here is in that acute phase make sure you protect the joint from further injury or take anti-inflammatory to quickly ( there are exceptions here and your GP for good reason may see a benefit ).

After a few days rest getting extra blood the area can actually be a good thing and the use of gentle walking for about 40 minutes, the use of an exercise bike or even aqua acrobics can be really helpful.

It’s often not a bad a idea to get an injury professionally assessed and I also amazed how much relief can often come by addressing some of the secondary spasms in surrounding tissues as well.

If you would like schedule a session with an English speaking chiropractor now in Okinawa as well as Niseko you can book online at

www.nisekochiropractic.com/appointments

If you would like to read the full article here is a link below

Soft tissue injuries simply need PEACE & LOVE

 


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November 10, 2020 Uncategorized

Niseko Chiropractic is now back in Okinawa and accepting consultations until the 18th of November.

 

If you would like to make an appointment with an Australian trained and Japanese registered and insured  English speaking Chiropractor you can do so on the link below.

Niseko Chiropractic is currently operating from just near the sea wall in Sunabe. For those that can’t make it this visit we will be back from the 10th of December.

You can book online at

www.Nisekochiropractic.com/okinawa

 


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November 4, 2020 Niseko life

Niseko was blessed with it’s first snow today

 

Without even a frost 2020 season has lept into action and already there ski slopes of Niseko have a few centremetres of base. With a few more flurry days ahead we can expect more white stuff.

Niseko Chiropractic was fortunate enough to have a wander around our local area and capture the morning glow on fresh POW at our local site of Arishima.

Now is a great time to take care of those pre season niggles so If you would like to make an appointment with an Australian trained English speaking chiropractor in Niseko head to our appointments page and book online.

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November 2, 2020 Niseko life

Back from Okinawa !

Niseko Chiropractic returns from Okinawa. If you have not had the chance to get check it out, get down there. Peach aviation has some really cheap flights and the water is still really warm. Thanks to all the Okinawan locals I meet down there for making me feel so welcome.
If you would like to book a treatment in Niseko this week you can book online here





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Please do not hesitate to contact Niseko Chiropractic if you have any questions.We apologize in advance if there is some delay in our response during peak periods. You can contact Niseko Chiropractic at info@nisekochiropracic.com


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