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It is well known that when we are opened up for surgery, air gets in causing the fascia to become sticky, potentially creating adhesions between different organs or between organs and the body wall. This can compromise organ function and body movement. Visceral massage can break up these adhesions.

Our organs are all encased in fascial bags that are suspended from the back-body. In four-legged animals the organs literally hang down from their back.

Because humans are upright gravity also plays a roll, so the fascial bags that are hanging down sit on top of each other, but they should be quite free to move as we move. So, when we twist or bend or reach, our organs move around to accommodate the motion.

Our liver, stomach and kidneys move up and down significantly with each breath. When we twist, our heart lifts up, and the lungs drop back behind to allow the ribcage to rotate.

Surgery isn’t the only thing which can cause visceral adhesions.  If we don’t move enough in all ranges of motion, organs that don't regularly get that slide and glide happening between their surfaces can adhere. Falls, car accidents or other body impacts can create adhesions. Or as I found out the hard way, too much icing can cause an adhesion problem.

Organ adhesions are problematic because if the organs are not free to move as they are meant to, liquids may not flow as they should, nerves may be strangled, blood flow and range-of motion may be impaired, and uneven tension through the system may create pain.

And of course, the function of the organs involved may be impaired, which can lead to other issues, such as inadequate digestion, detoxification, reproductive and immune function.

The body will tend to hug the adhesion in order to keep as much freedom in the area as possible, which can alter posture and function significantly.

For example, if the cecum (start of the ascending colon) is adhered to the parietal peritoneum (the fascia on the inside wall of the abdominal cavity), one might stand and sit slightly side-bent right in order to keep some slack in the area.  This might be the root cause of back, neck, or shoulder pain.

Organs that are stuck have to work extra hard to do their jobs and they get tired. When we feel fatigue, our organs are telling us that they are fatigued. This can be a significant stress on the body, and can lead to cortisol issues and adrenal fatigue too.

Organ adhesions can also create significant problems far away from where the adhesion is located, because of the extended fascial connections within the body.

For example, head issues (headaches, dizziness, brain fog, concentration problems, vision issues, numbness, ringing in the ears etc.) can be directly caused by the stomach being stuck to the parietal peritoneum (inner body-wall of the abdominal cavity), or the descending colon, or small intestine, or, or …

The fascia that holds the food pipe (esophagus) runs from the stomach all the way up the front of the spine to the top of the mouth, where it attaches to the sphenoid, the all important bone in the middle of our head in which the pituitary gland sits.

So the sphenoid bone can be pulled down and to the left due to an esophagus or stomach adhesion, creating head issues.

Visceral adhesions can alter the blood flow, nerve supply and mechanics not only of the abdominal cavity, but also of the legs, arms, neck and head.

Surgeons realize that adhesions are a problematic side-effect of surgery, but they also know that going in again to cut the adhesions just leads to more adhesions later.

During the previous Fascia Congress in Amsterdam, a Squamish BC massage therapist named Susan Chapelle told Dr. Geoffrey Bove, a basic scientist from Boston,  that she was able to use visceral massage to break up adhesions non-invasively.

Doubting her, Dr. Bove said he would create such adhesions in rats and asked her to prove her abilities to him.  Needless to say, she did, and they presented their paper at the Vancouver Fascia Research Congress in March.

Visceral massage therapists have known they can do this for many years, but not many in the medical community are aware yet that this kind of treatment is available and effective.

Yesterday I learned that my pancreas was quite stuck to my spleen and was not really moving. Before and after treatment, my therapist did the typical  thoracic-outlet syndrome (TOS) test. Usually I lose blood flow at about 60-70 degrees of arm abduction (out to the side).

After the treatment, the blood flow to my left arm improved significantly.  So if scalene, first rib and pec minor treatment don't work for TOS, perhaps look at the viscera.

If you have a health problem, and you feel you have tried "everything", consider visceral massage. More frequently than one might expect, the root cause of a body problem is structural or has a structural component, and visceral adhesions are a structural cause that is frequently missed.

Please do keep the comments coming on my blog. If you want to share this article, go to the blog post and scroll to the bottom and click on the “share this” icon. If you want to search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

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Understanding how fascia works will alter movement protocols when addressing musculoskeletal pain issues. Here is how this new understanding might alter physical therapy for the knee.

Interesting how things shift when a paradigm that one has believed for a very long time comes crashing down.  There is no going back.  The other way of looking at the world simply no longer makes any sense, and the illogicality of it makes it hard to understand how anyone at all can live under the old belief system.

This has happened to me on two previous occasions, and when the other paradigms fell, both times I felt very alone.  Almost everyone I knew was still living under the old belief systems, and many thought I had lost it when I started to suggest there was another, perhaps better way.

The first paradigm that fell for me was the idea that allopathic medicine was the best way to treat all ailments.  Although it can't be beat for acute care, I realized that treating symptoms instead of causes, and treating a disease instead of the person with the disease was not going to work well for chronic conditions.

The second paradigm to fall for me was with respect to diet - the ideas that eating fat makes one fat, and that animal fats were extremely harmful, whereas vegetable fats were healthier.  I spent many years on a very low-fat diet. I'd have bread with jam or honey, without butter, and I bought low-fat everything.

After studying nutrition in general, and the biochemistry of fats in particular, I realized how completely backward those ideas were. Furthermore, I realized that the advice to lower saturated fats, and choose vegetable fats was likely to harm the health of far more people than it would help. 

I couldn't understand how this could be the nutrition gospel that was being disseminated by everyone, from governments via food guides, to physicians, even  to dietitians. So I researched how this nutrition advice came into being, and that explained everything.

Even though intellectually I understood that pastured saturated fats were not harmful, it did take me a while to "get it" emotionally. It is hard to switch away from the "society approved" low-fat diet to one that includes higher fat meats, cream, cheese etc. But when I did not get fatter eating more fat, I became more comfortable with the idea.

I decided to start my blog in order to attempt to counter the mountain of wrong information out there.  I was worried about people I cared about eating a diet that I felt might harm them, and it took me a long time to realize I can't make that my business as all I do is damage important relationships.

And I created my "Why the Food Guides are Wrong" nutrition course to help people see the other paradigm on how to eat.  Suddenly everything becomes crystal clear - there is no more confusion about what food is healthy and what is not. If you want to learn more about the course, click here.

Now the studies are coming out thick and fast that support the notion that quality saturated fats have been demonized for no reason, and cholesterol is not the enemy.  How many years it will take before the food guides are altered to reflect the science is anyone's guess. 

This third paradigm that muscles move bones has been problematic for me in my practice for many years, and I actually feel relieved that the science agrees with my experience.

I had noticed in my practice that it is not only possible but frequently desirable to activate one end of a muscle, while the other end remains quiet.  That does not fit with the old mechanistic lever concept which would entail the entire muscle being activated driving force along the length of the muscle and into the bone.

Dr. Tom Findley, in his editorial in this month’s Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies explains the change in concept this way:

“The point is that in real bodies, muscles hardly ever transmit their full force directly via tendons into the skeleton, as is usually suggested by our textbook drawings.  They rather distribute a large portion of their contractile or tensional forces onto the fascia sheets.  These sheets transmit these forces to synergistic as well as antagonistic muscles.  Thereby they stiffen not only the respective joint, but may even affect regions several joints further away.  The simple questions from musculoskeletal textbooks regarding “which muscles” are participating in a particular movement thus become almost obsolete.  Muscles are not functional units, no matter how common this misconception may be.  Rather, most muscular movements are generated by many individual motor units, which are distributed over some portions of one muscle, plus portions of other muscles.  The tensional forces of these motor units are then transmitted to a complex network of fascial sheets, bags, and strings that convert them into the final body movement.  “

When motor units within a muscle are activated they get thicker which tightens the fascial bags that contain them, which in turn directs the forces wherever the fascial connections are - not necessarily only along the line-of-pull of the muscle.

I think research will continue to map exactly where the various fascial connections go in the body, as that has a direct impact for rehabilitation and movement practice.

Physical therapists and movement teachers spend a lot of time getting their patients and clients to strengthen particular muscles and stretch others, which is important.

I think this new knowledge will result in physical and movement therapists paying far more attention to teaching people to relax certain muscles, thereby reducing tension through particular fascial connections in order to lower tensile strength going through painful joints.

For example, I have noticed that those with knee pain frequently over-activate the muscle in the front of the shin (anterior tibialis), which tightens the fascial bag in the lower front leg, pulling that fascia down towards the foot.

When the quad (front of the thigh) is also activated, particularly when the knee is quite bent, the tension over the front of the knee joint is increased dramatically, as the quad fascia is pulling up towards the hip at the same time as the shin fascia is pulling down towards the foot.

I believe people activate the front of the lower leg in an effort to keep the heel on the floor, which I propose is usually unnecessary. 

The other reason one may not be able to relax the ankles is that one is not fully centered over the foot, but is instead trying to use the shin muscles to stop from falling backwards.  Getting one's weight directly over the feet should resolve that issue and make it possible to relax the feet and ankles.

When moving from a seated position to standing with relaxed ankles, even if initially the heels are not on the floor, as the weight of the body comes over the feet the heels will come down as the fascia along the bottom of the foot and calf is passively stretched.

If the muscles around the ankle including those in the front, are relaxed, and the foot is simply sinking into the floor, the tension over the knee is reduced as the fascia is not being pulled down towards the foot.

When we go up stairs, we place our forefoot on the stair and sink into it, keeping the muscles around the ankle relaxed. This same concept should be also be applied to squats, lunges, step-ups and deadlifts in my opinion, as it will reduce the tensile force around the knee.

Obviously this won't fix all knee pain, but I have had good success with this concept for a few months, even before the Fascial Research Congress confirmed that there is merit to the idea.

If you want to search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

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I just spent the last 4 days at the 3rd International Fascia Research Congress, so thought I would attempt to share this new way of looking at the body.

What is fascia, and why should we care about it? Because it is the tissue that holds our body shape. There is so much fascia in the body that if we took out the muscles, the fat, the blood vessels, the organs, the nerves - everything in the body except the fascia, we’d be able to recognize each other with no difficulty.

Fascia is everywhere, and connects everything to everything else. So why the sudden excitement over a tissue that has always been there?  Because most frequently anatomists have cut it off to better view the other body parts that they were interested in examining.

Some fascia has been considered important for a while, such as the IT band, and the thoracolumbar fascia, which support the side of the hip and the low back respectively. 

For this reason, anatomy books do show that fascia, but most of the images are devoid of fascia, and if you went to BodyWorlds, the muscles were all separated out, hanging as separate pieces which does not represent what is really happening in the body.

Think about the magic that is our skin and the tissue just underneath.  We can pick up a pinch of skin and roll it under our fingers, and when you let it go, no matter what direction you moved the superficial tissue, it pops back into place. 

The fractal grooves in our skin are a reflection of the 3-dimensional spider-web-like, flexible, dewy tissue underneath, designed in a way that allows for movement in any direction via watery sliding fibres and stretch.  Take a look at this video clip to get a feel for what the superficial fascia under the skin looks like.

Veins, the bluish tubes that return deoxygenated blood to the heart, are collapsible, yet the loose superficial fascial web keeps them open while we move and  stretch our bodies.

Human movement does not work entirely as a muscle-lever system as we had previously thought.  Such a lever system would probably result in very robotic movements, but we are capable of very smooth, coordinated movements.

Muscles don't really begin and end - they continue via the deep fascial system something like sausages linked together through their casings.  This means that when we stretch or massage a particular muscle, we will affect many of the muscles within that connective tissue.

You can prove this to yourself easily.  Stand up and bend over, and note about where your fingertips reach with respect to your legs or feet.  Then stand up again, and roll the bottom of left foot only on a golf ball for about 3-5 minutes. 

Bend over again, and what do you notice?  Most people notice that the left fingertips are reaching further than previously.  Even though you only worked the tissue on the bottom of the foot, you have magically become more flexible in the entire back-line of the body on that side!

Fascia not only connects muscles lengthwise to each other, but also glues certain muscle bellies that sit beside each other together.  This allows forces to be transferred laterally (or obliquely or whatever) across muscle bellies as well.

Depending on the movement we are doing, different layers of our muscle-fascia system move us by sliding over each other as needed. 

The ability of the fascial-web system to spread forces out and to dynamically create tension exactly where it is needed, when it is needed in order to move the body makes for a movement system that is far superior and more representative of how we actually move than a mechanical lever system ever could be. 

I wish I were able to find online a copy of the video we saw of a fresh dissection, showing the slide and glide as a leg is moved.  What I saw did not match at all how I had previously imagined movement to work. 

Obviously the movement was passive rather than active but still I did not expect to see so much sliding of layers of myofascia over each other.  What I had in my mind previously was muscles stretching and shortening but staying rather static.  I did not imagine the sliding.

Individual muscles can be useful to designate a particular area of the body, but when it comes to function or treatment it is helpful to consider what is happening in the entire muscle-fascia system involved rather than each muscle individually.

So, instead of learning anatomy by memorizing origins and insertions of muscles that don't really exist as independent functional units as we previously believed, perhaps it would be easier, more accurate and useful to study movement patterns like  the squat pattern, lunge pattern etc., or fascial planes that organize movement, such as the inner-leg line, the side line etc.

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We all know that muscles “pull” the bones like levers to make us move, but muscles can also “push”, which can be helpful to keep in mind when trying to resolve postural-pain problems.

The statement about "muscles" being able to push is not entirely accurate but if I’d said “myofascia can push”, I’m guessing many of you might not know what I’m talking about. And yes, I know. You can’t push a string. But hear me out.

Each hinge-joint for example, has muscles on the front of it and the back of it, one of which will bend the hinge, and the other which will pull the hinge straight. Hinge joints include the knee, the elbow, and the talus joint at the ankle.

The hamstring muscles at the back of the thigh bend the knee by pulling the lower leg backwards towards the thigh, and the quadricep muscles in the front, straighten the knee by pulling the lower leg forward.  This is simple lever mechanics.

However, because we are not machines and our bodies adapt to how we use them, muscle lengths can be altered from their functionally-optimal length. 

Here is a simplified example to help you understand how muscles can push joints:

If we do not kneel on the floor and sit on our heels as frequently as we bend over from the hips to pick something up from the floor, the body, being economical like it is, decides that since the full range-of-motion in the front of the thigh is not being used we don't need it, and over time the quad muscle (front of thigh) will shorten.

Now the quadricep (fascia) on the front of the knee is tighter than the hamstring (fascia) on the back of the knee, and when we stand we are more likely to lock our knees out, which pushes the joint back, resulting in the shin bone leaning back.  So hyper-extended knees signal the possibility of tight quads.

If you have a pliable rod which you have wrapped in plastic, and you tighten the plastic more on one side, the rod will bend like a bow. The tight plastic is pushing the rod into the more extensible side.

So, if someone stands with their hips forward of their ankles, the muscles behind the hips are tight, pushing the hips forward (external hip rotators, hip extensors).  

If one's pelvis is rotated to the left in standing (right side forward), the muscles in the back of that right hip are tight or overly contracted, pushing it forward creating a rotation.

If one's ribs appear shifted left in relation to the pelvis, the muscles and fascia on the right side of the ribcage are pushing it over (serratus anterior), and that muscle/fascia could use some stretching or massage.

If one's pelvis is shifted right in relation to the feet, the muscles and fascia on the left side of the pelvis are tight are pushing the pelvis right, and could use some stretching or massage.

If the ball of someone's shoulder appears forward on the ribcage and there is shoulder pain, look for tightness at the back of the shoulder and stretch that (infraspinatus, posterior shoulder capsule).

The shoulder case is interesting to me because it was always drilled into my head that a shoulder that is rounded forward is due to a tight pec minor (chest muscle) pulling the shoulder forward.

So I would always give pec minor stretches, and more often than not the results were less than satisfactory, occasionally making the shoulder pain worse.

Following through on the idea that tightness from the back is pushing the shoulder (humeral head) forward, it makes sense that stretching and loosening the front would make things worse by creating a bigger imbalance front to back.

In order to "push" the ball back into the socket, strengthening the muscles at the front of the shoulder would probably be helpful, specifically subscapularis.  Often in these cases, the push muscles (pecs, delts, triceps) are weaker than the pull muscles. 

Chest strengthening would need to be done very carefully, as we would want to avoid further stretching the front of the shoulder capsule. I use three different strategies for this. 

1. Dumb bell chest press is done on the floor so the elbows do not descend below the body resulting in a stretch of the anterior shoulder capsule.  I often don't even allow the elbows to reach the floor, and have occasionally put blocks or towel rolls on the floor so the elbows only descend to the height of the shoulder.
2. I use a close-grip dumb bell chest press to start - hands no more than shoulder-distance apart, and only widen the motion when pain is reduced. Elbows start alongside the ribs, forearms vertical.
3. Chest press and shoulder press are done starting with the palms facing each other, and as the arms reach skyward, the palms turn and face behind the head as far as is comfortable with no strain. The external rotation of the arm at the end of the range of motion stretches the lats and the chest, seems to reduce over-protraction of the shoulder-blade, and also seems to help sink the arm deep into the socket potentially stretching the posterior shoulder capsule.

Pec minor is a small chest muscle that runs from the ribs to the coracoid process of the shoulder blade (sticky-outy bit that one finds if one searches, just under the collar-bone by the shoulder). Pec minor does not attach to the arm or to the ball of the shoulder.  When it is tight, it pulls the shoulder blade up and "over" the shoulder giving the appearance of the shoulder rounding forward.

In order to discern whether the problem is a tight pec minor as opposed to the ball of the shoulder being pushed forward, check the shoulder blade in the back.  If the bottom point is sticking out, and if the shoulder blade appears high, pec minor stretching is probably in order.

Please do keep the comments coming on my blog. If you want to share this article, go to the blog post and scroll to the bottom and click on the “share this” icon. If you want to search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

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Guest article today by Dr. David Cronauer, Doctor of Optometry.

Can you imagine what it would be like not to be able to see, or to have a dramatically reduced visual ability? There are so many things we take our sight for and yet we do very little to protect our eyes and keep them healthy! Fortunately, there are some easy ways to make sure your eyes get the protection they need to stay strong throughout your life. This post will focus on five key nutrients that will keep your eyes healthy and help avoid the development of eye damage, such as cataracts or glaucoma.

1. Vitamin A. Do you remember hearing that carrots are good for your eyes? That is because carrots are an excellent source of Vitamin A, which plays a key role in vision as well as in cell reproduction and healing. Vitamin A helps you see well in the dark, and a deficiency in this vitamin often causes blindness in third-world countries. In addition, vitamin A helps the immune system. Other than carrots, an excellent source of vitamin A is liver. Nutritional supplements can also provide this important element. Be careful, though, as large doses of vitamin A can be toxic.
2. Vitamin C.Vitamin C has been linked to the prevention of cataracts. Studies show this is most effective over a long period of time, so start focusing on this today! It can also reduce eye pressure in glaucoma patients, easing the stress on their vision. Excellent sources of vitamin C include many fruits, such as oranges, watermelon, grapefruit, and strawberries.
3. Vitamin E. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that protects body tissue from cell damage cause by free radicals. Intake of this vitamin can help protect your eye from many diseases associated with aging. Good sources of vitamin E include nuts, nut oils, and green leafy vegetables.
4. Lutein. Lutein is a carotenoid that can protect your eyes from light-inflicted damage. While sunlight is an important nutrient in itself, certain frequencies within the sunlight can be damaging to your eyes. Leafy green vegetables are a good source of lutein, and you can also find supplements that provide carotenoids.
5. Sunlight! Many of us spend the majority of our days indoors, often in front of a computer. Extended periods of time looking at a computer screen and in unnatural light can be very damaging for your eyes. Be sure to take frequent breaks, focus your eyes on a variety of distances, and try to get at least one hour of natural sunlight each day.

We all want to make sure we stay healthy as long as possible. As you take care of your muscles, cholesterol, joints, and bones, don’t forget to also nurture your eyes. They will serve you well throughout life if you make sure they receive the nutrition and care they need.

About the Author

Dr. David Cronauer works for ReplaceMyContacts.com, an online retailer of cheap contacts such as 1 day acuvue tryeye and Proclear Toric. He is a graduate of Wilkes University Pennsylvania College of Optometry where he received his Doctor of Optometry degree. Dr. Cronauer is certified in the treatment and management of ocular disease and specializes in vision-related problems for head injury and stroke victims.

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Staying limber is key to avoiding the closing down of one’s life due to physical limitations

When I was attending the University of Toronto in Physical and Health Education I remember listening in on a conversation that two of my friends were having. They were arguing about what limits our function more, the lack of strength or the lack of flexibility. Both made very valid points, and at the time I could not determine a winner. They agreed to disagree.

Now, after studying how people move in my corrective-exercise practice for close to 20 years (yikes!), I think that a lack of flexibility closes down more lives than a lack of strength. And I think that more frequently than not, the lack of flexibility leads to the loss in strength, usually more so in the opposite muscle to the tight one. (Tight hip flexors lead to weak glutes for example).

Strength-declines follow flexibility-declines, because people tend to stop doing activities which become awkward due to a lack of flexibility, such as getting down onto the floor. Strength is then lost due to disuse. If one does not move regularly through the existing range-of-motion, often all the muscles around a joint become tight impeding function further. Which then decreases strength further. And of course, the less flexibility one has, the less available motion there is to strengthen.

If there is very little slack in the system, it no longer takes much to pull a joint out of its optimal axis of rotation. If the give in the system is no longer adequate, pain is more likely to occur. Simply restoring adequate range of motion can go a long way to decreasing pain, because it puts slack back in the system and makes it more forgiving.

Also too much tightness creates too much compression at the joint, potentially adding to a wear problem within the joint itself, particularly if that joint is not in its optimal alignment.

In most weight-training programs, the emphasis is placed on lifting heavier weights, as opposed to increasing the range of motion. The usual way of progressing the squat, for example, would be to increase the weight as strength improves. But usually people compromise their range of motion as the weight feels heavier and heavier.

The best way I have found thus far to increase flexibility without compromising on the strength-training component of an exercise program, is to work the exercise to the maximum range of motion without allowing any compromise in form, and set up the exercise in a way that forces maximum range of motion with every repetition.

I use box squats to force the full range-of-motion on every repetition. I use stackable stools as my “box”, and determine the least number of stools my client can sit on while leaning forward as if to get up, maintaining a neutral spine, feet flat on the floor etc. Usually this is lower than most people tend to squat to in a gym. The exercise is to stand up, then sit down for the appropriate number of reps using a weight that is challenging and yet does not compromise form.

The first priority goal for progressing is to lower the “box” by taking away stools as flexibility improves. Usually this makes the exercise significantly harder, so increasing the weight is not necessary. If the box cannot be lowered because doing so would cause the low back to round or the knees to roll in, the weight can be increased instead.

For most people that are not accustomed to exercise, the starting weight is their bodyweight. I find often on set 3 or 4, once the tissues are good and warm and the joints are well lubricated, I can take away a stool, thereby increasing the range of motion. The long-term goal for weighted squats is to get to 1 stool (about 9 inches from the floor) or slightly lower using a step, as long as the spine can be held in neutral throughout the range of motion for any weighted squat.

The long-term unweighted goal is to be able to squat to the floor and feel able to stay there for extended periods of time. The low back will round in this position, which is fine for healthy backs.

For those that regularly do squats in the gym, forcing the range-of-motion in this way will mean a huge decrease in weight. But in my opinion, gaining that range-of-motion is a far worthier goal than pushing a heavy weight, as it will translate into an ease in movement in daily life, and far less pain as the slack in the system is restored. And let's face it. How useful is it really, to be able to squat a gazillion pounds through a short range of motion anyway? Do you regularly carry your fridge on your back?

If you want to share this article, scroll to the very bottom and click the “share” icon to post on Facebook, Twitter etc. If you want to subscribe or search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

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This post was written by the insightful psychic mediums at Hollywood Psychics. They use their ability and insight into the human psyche to help people with their troubles in life and find balance with a variety of different psychic readings available.

The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.” – Sophocles

It is typically advised that we all find solace in our most negative of situations; but as time goes by, one must wonder: why go through the negativity in the first place? Finding light in the darkness will never be a problem if you can manage to ensure that the room is constantly lit at a level of brightness that keeps you content, happy, and devoid of the negativity that can so often consume lives. Let’s take a look at ways to remove negativity from your life once and for all.

1. 1. Eliminate relationships that make you feel bad about yourself in unnecessary ways. Though you may feel that keeping these people around will benefit you in some way, you’re more than likely perpetuating a rationale that centers around sought approval. It is natural to want to be liked, but this should never dictate the dynamics of your relationship with someone. What does it matter if someone likes you, if you don’t even like them yourself? Stop seeking approval of those who don’t seek yours.
2. 2. Think good thoughts. Positivity can only be obtained through your own mental perseverance. In all actuality, positivity is something that needs to be forced if you’re looking to make a significant transition from negativity. Your life is not going to magically turn out positive if you don’t make the conscious effort to try. When you find yourself about to open your mouth to complain about something, think twice and reconsider your phrasing, or whether what you’re about to say is at all productive. Remember that there is a fine line between constructive criticism and just being mean. Negativity from outward environments can only have an impact on you if you allow your inner negativity to embrace it.
3. 3. Eliminate the word “should” from your vocabulary. Your life is yours to narrate and navigate, and no one else’s. What other people expect of you is irrelevant, especially if it makes you unhappy. Focus more on the “coulds” in your life.
4. 4. Take the career path that truly grants you fulfillment. Yes, we all have to pay the bills, but that doesn’t mean you need to suffer in the process. Consider that you spend an incredibly large chunk of your day working and focusing on your career, and consider what that may mean for your life outside of work. Like it or not, there is a direct correlation between the two, even if it doesn’t appear to be right in front of your face. Eliminate those mental barriers and take a look at some career options you may have always wanted to pursue but never had the courage to do so.
5. 5. Location, location, location. Let’s be honest, you’re not going to find happiness if you’re an anxious city dweller living a white picket fence lifestyle in rural America. We like to believe that happiness can be found just about anywhere (which is partially true), but finding a happiness that brings out the best version of you can only be accomplished if you’re genuinely content with where you live and the types of people you surround yourself with. Environment goes a long way in building good character and, more importantly, good moods.
6. 6. Give it away. All of that negative anxiety needs to be channeled somewhere, so why not be productive about it? Give back to your community; you might be surprised by how wholeheartedly good it feels to do something for someone else without expecting anything in return. A wise woman once told me that the key to a euphoric happiness is to be able to give love without ever expecting anything in return.
7. 7. Stop listening to power ballads about heartbreak and self-wallowing. It may sound simple, but it goes a long way. After all, what purpose do these things serve other than to evoke our own pain and insecurities? A positive playlist makes for a positive attitude.
8. 8. Exercise the negative away. Take a yoga class, meditate, or start working out. A lot of our anxiety can be worked out through physical activity. It also allows for healthy self-reflection, as these physical activities are typically done alone. (But feel free to bring someone along as a work-out buddy to lift the mood!) Or if physical exercise isn’t your thing, take up a new hobby. The first step to positivity comes in the form of taking an active step forward to drowning out the negativity.

If you want to share this article, scroll to the very bottom and click the “share” icon to post on Facebook, Twitter etc. If you want to subscribe or search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

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Acid reflux is a fairly common condition that has serious consequences for the body, and can often be addressed without antacids.

Most of us have probably encountered heart burn at one time or another, and many suffer from heart burn or acid reflux on a daily basis. The problem is caused by hydrochloric acid in the stomach splashing up into the esophagous (food pipe) causing a burning sensation in the chest. If this acid gets into the food pipe often, it can inflame and damage it.  The usual medical treatment is antacids, which neutralize the acid, or protein pump inhibitors which block the body’s ability to produce acid in the first place.

But here's the thing. Our body manufactures hydrochloric acid for a reason. We need it to help us break down and digest proteins, to stimulate the pancreas and liver to dump their digestive juices into the tract for the digestion of carbohydrates and fats, and also to kill off dangerous microbes that make their way inside of us along with the food we eat. So by reducing HCL we are destroying one of our very important immune defences, thereby increasing our chances of food poisoning.  And we are severely impacting our ability to gain the nutrition from our food.  Since food provides the building-blocks for our cells, acid reflux can be considered a sign of malnourishment.

Acid reflux can be viewed like a warning light on your car. What would you think of your car mechanic if you brought your car in and he removed the warning light-bulb as a strategy to resolving your car problem? That is exactly what taking antacids or PPIs does - it deals with the symptom but does not address the underlying issue.

Ironically, more frequently than not, those that suffer from acid reflux actually have too little acid rather than too much. Commonly another symptom is an inability to digest meat - it sits in the stomach for hours because there is not enough acid there to break it down. The little acid these people have is floating on top of the other gastric juices, and then splashes up when the valve from the esophagous (food pipe) opens. So taking PPIs which decreases acid production further is actually making the underlying problem worse.

The problem can also be mechanical. The stomach is located on the left side just under the ribs and is snugged up against the diaphragm, which separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity. There is a hole in the diaphragm which allows the esophagous (food pipe) through to the stomach, and there should be a few centimetres of esophagous below the diaphragm before it enters the stomach.

The diaphragm moves a long way when we breathe, and if the esophagous is pulled up too high, the valve that prevents the stomach acid from backing into the esophagous may be kinked open due to diaphragm movement, and acid can more easily escape up. If there is a huge amount of upward pressure, the stomach can also be pushed up through the hole in the diaphragm, creating a hiatal hernia.

Other common symptoms related to low stomach acid include belching, gas, flatulance, indigestion, constipation or diarrhea, undigested particles in stool, iron deficiency, fatigue, cracked, weak fingernails, dry skin, food allergies, acne, and/or chronic candida.

Here are some solutions to heart burn, acid reflux or GERD:

• Find a visceral massage therapist who can nudge your stomach a bit lower allowing for proper closure of the valve, and preventing a hiatal hernia.
• Drink at least half your bodyweight in pounds, in ounces of water each day.  A recent study shows that water works better and faster than antacids to clear up heart burn.  And it provides the raw material from which to make your own HCL.
• Drink your water at room temperature rather than ice cold, as ice cold water suppresses HCL production.
• Eat a quarter to half a cup of fermented foods that have not been pasteurized after they were fermented, such as cold sauerkraut or kimchi with each meal, in order to increase the good bacteria in the gut.  Or speed up the process by taking a good quality probiotic.
• Chew your food thoroughly until liquid before swallowing to help digestion.
• Decrease or eliminate sugar intake, which suppresses HCL production.
• Eat lots of bitter greens, cooked -  dandelion is especially effective at increasing HCL production.
• Do not lie down after a meal - stay upright so gravity can aid in keeping the acid down.
• Avoid raw vegetables until digestion is improved but do eat them cooked or fermented.
• Avoid triggers like caffeine, alcohol, hot and black peppers.
• May be helpful to take a multivitamin if you've been suffering from acid reflux for a while, as you will probably be mineral and vitamin deficient.  Vitamin B12 can't be digested at all without adequate HCL, for example.
• To support your digestion until you are making enough of your own HCL, take betaine HCL supplements immediately after each meal. To figure out the right dosage for you, take the tablets / capsules one at a time with a meal until you get a slight burning sensation. Your dosage is one less pill than that with each meal.  When you are at the right dosage, your stomach should feel like you just had a warm cup of tea.
• Digestive enzymes may also assist initially until the body is producing them properly on its own again.
• If you are overweight, decrease sugar and flour products as well as all processed food in order to lose weight.  The extra abdominal weight particularly when lying down, pushes the stomach up, potentially worsening the mechanics.
• Turning the lights out by 10:30pm increases melatonin secretion, which has been shown to reduce acid reflux.

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The Glycemic Index is a very useful way to determine how quickly the carbohydrate (sugar) in a food will be absorbed into the blood stream, but the Glycemic Load is an even better measure of determining the insulin response and therefore how fattening a food is.

The Glycemic Index is a list of foods that compares how quickly 50 grams of carbohydrate within the food will raise your blood sugar as compared to 50 grams of sugar
alone. To calculate the Glycemic Index of a food, scientists measure out the quantity of a particular food needed to obtain 50 grams of carbohydrate, they feed that quantity of food to test subjects, and measure the blood sugar response.

They then compare the blood sugar response of the food with the response from 50 grams of straight sugar, which is given a GI value of 100. For example, four slices of white bread has about 50 grams of carbohydrate, and gives a blood-sugar response of roughly 70 to 73% that of straight sugar, and therefore has a GI of 73, if we take the high number.

The more quickly the sugar is dumped into the blood stream, the higher the insulin response, the greater the fat storage and chance for disease. The closer the number is to 100, the closer the food acts like sugar in the body and the more fattening and the more destructive it is. A GI value of 55 or less is considered low.

The problem with the Glycemic Index is that although it looks at how quickly the sugar that is in the food is put into the blood stream, it does not consider serving size at all. One might have to eat a whole lot of some foods to get that 50 grams of carbohydrate in order to figure out the GI.

For example, it takes 1 1/2 pounds of carrots to get the 50 grams of carbs upon which the GI is based. Not many people eat 1 1/2 pounds of carrots at one sitting however. Glycemic Load takes into account serving size, which therefore provides an even more useful number.

Glycemic Load is calculated by taking the number of grams of carbohydrate in the serving of the food being consumed, multiplying that with the GI value, and then dividing by 100. I like the boiled potato example, given in this article written by Bill Campbell, PhD, CSCS.

“For example, a boiled potato has a glycemic index of 101 and a Mars® candy bar has a glycemic index of 65. However, the average serving size of a baked potato is about 150 grams (5.3 oz) and contains 17 grams of carbohydrate. Conversely, a Mars® candy bar serving size is only 60 grams (2.1 oz) but contains 40 grams of carbohydrate. The boiled potato has a glycemic load of 17, while the Mars bar is 26. Thus, even though the potato has a higher glycemic index, the Mars® candy bar has a greater effect on blood glucose than the potato even though the size of the Mars® candy bar is less than half that of the potato.”

A Glycemic Load of under 10 is considered low and would make for the best food choices, particularly if they are unprocessed. Click here for a list of foods and their Glycemic Index and Load.

Note how almost all the grains and cereals, even ones considered healthy like steel-cut oats, have a high glycemic load. For those that fatten up easily or are at higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease or cancer, eating pastured steak or eggs along with lots of veggies would therefore make for a healthier breakfast choice.

These lists contain the foods specified alone.  One can also greatly affect the blood-sugar/insulin response by eating the food with protein and/or fat which blunts the blood sugar response. Putting butter on a slice of bread or cream on porridge makes it less fattening than having the bread or porridge alone.

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Manual therapists that know how to listen with their hands to what the bodies of their patients are telling them are worth their weight in gold, as they can zone in on the most important area to treat.

Today I’d like to present something a little different. I’m hoping that you will find some wellness take-aways from what happened to me last week, and that you will endulge a personal story.

Those that have been following these tips for some time probably already know that my biggest health struggle is getting to sleep and staying asleep. I have made huge improvements over the last year to 18 months, but in the effort to improve my sleep still further, I began supplementing with magnesium. My understanding is that magnesium is not easily absorbed via the gut, so I was very excited to get my hands on a topical magnesium oil.

As a general rule I put nothing on my skin but soap and coconut oil, in order to avoid the long list of potential toxins in personal care products. The mineral oil ingredients were water and magnesium chloride, so I didn’t figure there would be an issue. I sprayed the oil on my back and a couple of days later realized that I had developed a very itchy rash. Assuming it was an allergic reaction, I tried antihistamine sprays to take out the itch, but they did not work. I did not think anything was infected and I did not want to use corticosteroids, so I did not go to the doctor. But the itch was unbearable.

In hindsight, that is when I made my biggest mistake. I figured my back was inflamed, so I iced it. Those that know me know that for me to resort to ice means that the itching must have been something aweful, because I tend to be cold and have to fight hard to stay warm. But the ice worked like a charm, easing the itch almost immediately. I iced a few times over the course of the day, and once I think I kept the ice on for as long as 20 minutes.

The following morning when I tried to get out of bed, I realized something was very wrong. As I lifted my head up in order to sit up, I felt a strong pull down the left side of my back. It felt like the inside of my ribcage on the left had been encased in shrink-wrap. Every time I moved, I felt this sproingy tug from about the 6th rib on the left side, down to my left low back. Even when I stood normally, a fairly strong pull remained. The sensation in my back was similar to how it feels if one were to pull back a finger and hold it there for several hours. I also felt a tether pulling my stomach off to the left, and my skin around the whole left side of my trunk felt irritated just like skin feels when one has the flu. This was now in addition to the horrible itching.

What had I done? If you are a health-care practitioner, what would you suspect with that symptomology? What would you do to treat?

My suspicion was that the ice had dehydrated the tissues, and that my spleen had firmly attached itself to the posterior wall inside my ribcage. It felt like the spleen was where all the tethering sensations were originating. Suddenly I was remembering what my mother always used to say when we were kids - “don’t let your coat ride up or you will chill your kidneys”. My partner told me that when he was a boy playing hockey, the coaches would never let them lie on the ice because they might “freeze their organs”. Old wives’ tales? Or based in some truth? Certainly ice is commonly recommended to relieve inflammation, and I don’t recall hearing any caveats with respect to icing the back.

I stretched in every way I could think of to sheer the organ away, to no avail. I tried heat and stretched after that. Nope. So, for the last couple of days I’ve been incredibly uncomfortable in pretty much any position. This weekend I’m in a course with a bunch of manual therapists, so today I begged and pleaded for a treatment.

My therapist spent about 20 minutes listening with her hands to what my body was telling her. She did not want me to tell her my story because she knew that that would confuse her sense of touch. Her hands told her that no, the issue was not my spleen but rather that my left kidney, which had been pulled up against my spasming diaphragm. My spleen and stomach were coming along for the ride, but the primary problem was the kidney. She proceded to treat it, and about 5 minutes later I noticed the tethering sensations were gone. I am so grateful! I feel considerably better, and hopefully over the next day or so the achy skin will calm down too.

It is important to understand that our organs are supposed to slide and glide with respect to each other, and with respect to the canister that contains them. They should be attached only at their attachment sites - not be glommed together or glued to the walls. When many think of pain or discomfort, they think muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments, but the discomfort can also be caused by a tethering from one or more organs, or from the nerves.

When something stops moving as it should, whether that something is a muscle, joint, nerve or organ, the body is forced to compensate for that lack of movement. Pain or disease happens when the body is no longer able to compensate.

Painkillers only treat symptoms. If there is pain, there is a cause somewhere. And that cause might be very far away from where the pain is. Manual therapists who know how to listen with their hands to what the bodies of their patients are telling them, can locate those causes and help resolve them.

If you want to share this article, scroll to the very bottom and click the “share” icon to post on Facebook, Twitter etc. If you want to subscribe or search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

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