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A forward head can be the root cause of all kinds of problems in the body, including headaches, jaw pain, neck and shoulder pain, and back pain.

It makes good sense that the body works best if all the blocks are stacked up properly. Pelvis right over the legs instead of in front or behind, ribs over the pelvis instead of tilting backwards, and head over the ribs so the ear is lined up over the shoulder. Seems obvious, but most of us don’t seem to live there regularly.

Our professions often mean that we are spending a lot of time sitting at desks looking at computers, which tends to pull our heads forward. We often relax by slumping into a sofa and watching TV, which curves our upper back, also bringing our head forward. Probably for most of us, we spend far more time sitting than standing.

Over time our postural habits “harden”. If we are constantly holding a particular posture and are not moving the body through the opposite range of motion, we will lost the motion we don’t use.

Soon we realize that we are uncomfortable lying on our back in our beds without that pillow, as to get our head to touch the mattress we would need to tip it way back, sticking our chin in the air, which might pull the mouth open making it uncomfortable to breathe. There is a huge gap between our neck and the bed. So we stuff a pillow in there so our face is parallel to the ceiling and we can be more comfortable.

But simple discomfort is not the only issue that a forward head can cause. As Paul Chek states, “For every inch that the head’s center of gravity is shifted forward, the lower cervical spine is subsequently subjected to compressive forces equivalent to a one-time additional weight of the head.”

Most heads weigh between 12 and 20 pounds, so if one's head were 3 inches forward, that would put between 36 and 60 pounds of extra weight on the lower cervical (neck) spine, which is extremely fatiguing to the muscles at the back of the neck.

The pull on the back of the head is also known to cause chronic headaches. These muscles that must deal with this constant load become exhausted, and their blood flow proportionally diminishes as the muscle contraction increases.

This lack of blood flow is often the primary source of muscle pain in the neck region. Releasing trigger points in the posterior neck muscles, especially splenius capitus, and the insertion points of levator scapula, traps, SCM and the occipital muscles can help, but unless one gets enough rest to allow blood-flow to return, the problem can become chronic.

Over time, the pain may migrate lower as more muscles become involved. As certain muscles tighten under the strain, their opposites lengthen and weaken, extending the problem further into the body.

For example, as the shoulder blades are pulled up to try and support the forward head, the muscles that pull the shoulder-blades down weaken.

In order to remain balanced in the standing position, we need to have our weight centered over our feet. So if the head is forward, the ribs tend to tilt back, and the pelvis will often tilt forward leading to problems in the lower back, hips and legs as well.

Because we need to keep our eyes level to the horizon in order to be able to see properly, as our head moves forward, it also tends to tilt backwards on the neck.

The area where the neck and cranium meet is a very busy place, and there should be a space of about 6.5 plus or minus 2.5mm between the base of the skull (occiput) and the 2nd vertebrae (spinous process of C2). When this space is reduced to 4mm or less, the nerves and blood vessels in that space can be mechanically compressed.

When the back of the skull and the top vertebrae (OA joint) get too close together there is potential for compressing the vertebral artery and vein as they exit the transverse foramen of the top vertebrae to make their way into the cranium. Impaired blood flow into and drainage from the brain is never a good thing. (The vertebral artery is the thinner one at the back, threading through the holes in the vertebrae.  This drawing is from Gray's Anatomy.)

This lack of space has been shown to be associated with higher incidence of vertigo (dizziness), possibly due to a compromised vertebral artery. If you notice you always get dizzy when you look up at the ceiling or airplanes in the sky, this is a warning sign that those blood vessels may be quite compromised and doing something to restore a better head position might improve the situation dramatically.

Besides blood vessels there are nerves that are in this tiny space as well. The greater occipital nerve itself can have a diameter as create as 3mm, so that does not leave much wiggle room. The nerve roots that exit from the top two vertebrae would be particularly vulnerable to mechanical forces due to forward-head posture.

Forward-head posture can create significant problems within the head too. Try sticking your head further forward, keeping your face looking straight ahead. Can you feel a stretch in the neck under your jaw? As the head goes forward, the jaw is often pulled back, which may altar one’s bite, leading to TMJ problems.

The hyoid bone in the front of the throat will be pulled up in forward-head posture, which may contribute to snoring and possibly even sleep apnea.

Notice also how as you push your head forward, your tongue drops a bit in your mouth, and as you pull your head back, more of your tongue contacts the roof of your mouth.

If your head is permanently forward and your tongue is lower in your mouth, this may encourage the habit of pushing the tongue against the front teeth with every swallow, eventually protruding those teeth forward impairing the bite.

Okay, I think I'll stop there. I won't go into the impact of forward head on the dura (fascia covering the spinal cord). I’m hoping it is clear that forward-head posture has a significant impact on the whole body, and that doing what is needed to bring the head back into its proper position can greatly improve pain syndromes and body function.

How far forward is your head? You can figure this out with a ruler and a plumb line (a piece of string with a key tied to the end), and a friend. Stand up, and put the ruler lightly in the sternoclavicular notch (the soft gushy V right above your breast bone at the bottom of your neck). Hold the string on the front of your cheek right on the bone, letting the plumb line hang, and have your friend read off the ruler how far forward your head is.

Might be more accurate if your friend does the whole thing, as often reaching your hands up towards your face will alter your normal head position.

Often awareness of body position can help, particularly when seated. Making sure one’s work environment is ergonomically correct is critically important.

The chair needs to be raised so that one can sit tall on the sit bones, shoulders resting on the ribs, elbows at 90 degrees. The monitor should be in front of the eyes, so the head does not need to be tilted down to view it. The feet should be resting on something that allows the ankles knees and hips to be at 90 degrees.

A good orthopaedic assessment can be helpful in determining the best approach to reducing forward-head posture. Sometimes it can be as simple as getting used to being in a different position – bringing the pelvis back over the legs, which would straighten the ribcage providing a upright platform for the head.

Most people would need a personalized stretching and strengthening program to bring the body back into alignment. For example, tight muscles at the pelvis will definitely impact head position, and which muscles need to be stretched and strengthened is a very individual thing.

In others, the upper back is stuck in too much curve, and the spinal segments would need to be mobilized the spinal and the back extensors would need to be strengthened.

A simple stretch that can be done is to lie on the floor or in the middle of the bed on the back (use a small pillow if you need one), and reach the arms straight out to the side, slowly raising them up towards your head like a snow angel. When you start to feel a stretch, wait until the stretch dissipates. Do this daily. The goal is to have the upper arms resting on floor comfortably next to your ears without feeling any stretch at all.

People with too much upper back roundness would probably also need stretching of the back of the neck and strengthening of the deep front neck muscles (longis colli and longis capitus). These neck muscles are tricky to strengthen without instruction, so seek out a CHEK Practitioner or physical therapist to help you.

If you are in the Vancouver area and would like help with this, please reply to this email. We would be happy to assess you and take you through an exercise program personally designed just for you. We also have gift certificates available if you want to give the gift of good posture and good movement to a friend or loved one.

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The XL Foods meat recall is highlighting the dangers of factory-farmed meat as well as giant processing plants.

Over the last month across Canada at least and probably in parts of the US, the daily news has been filled with the ever-expanding recall list of meat contaminated with E. Coli 0157 from the XL Foods meat-packing plant in Brooks, Alberta. Fifteen people have been sickened thus far.

This is the largest meat recall in Canadian history, affecting about half the meat production in the country. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency suspended XL Foods’ license Sept. 27th, putting 2000 people out of work. (That is one HUGE plant!)

Just as Canadian cattle farmers were recovering from the mad cow disease scare in 2003, they are worried about the impact this E. coli scare may have on their bottom lines.

It is unfortunate that it takes a tragedy to raise awareness in the general population of the real dangers posed by factory farms and giant agribusiness meat-packing plants, but there is a better way to preserve not only the jobs in the cattle industry, but also the health of consumers.

In my opinion there are two main issues that converged to create the E. Coli problem: 1) Factory Farms, and 2) Ridiculously gigantic meat-packing plants.

Factory farms are where most cattle are raised – they are kept inside standing in their own excrement for most of their lives, not seeing the light of day. These animals are not eating their natural diet of grass, but are fed pesticide-laden, probably GMO corn. Feeding corn (even if it were not GMO) to ruminant animals whose bodies are designed to eat grass makes the cattle very sick, raising E. Coli levels to dangerous levels.

Antibiotics are given to the animals in an effort to control illness, which we now know is one of the most important reasons we have antibiotic resistance in humans today.

Pastured cattle do not have high E. coli counts, as grass is the natural diet of a cow. Pastured animals do not need antibiotics, as they don’t tend to get sick.

Research has shown that if cattle ranchers were to stop the grain and replace with grass or hay for as little as 2 weeks prior to slaughter, E. coli counts would drop by 90%. Why is this not done? Because cows fatten up quickly on grain, and feeding hay would reduce the weight of the animal, reducing the price fetched.

This summer I read about a farmer who actually began feeding his cattle gummy worms because the price of grain was so high due to the drought. He found his animals fattened up really well – yes, a diet of gummy bears would definitely be as fattening to cattle as to humans, but also as bad for the health of the cattle as they would to humans. Can you imagine how high those E. Coli counts would be? Eating sick animals is not going to make us healthy.

Even if the cattle are grass-fed, if they are slaughtered in a huge plant alongside all the factory-farmed cattle, there is no way to assure that their meat won’t be contaminated too.

From the stories that have recently come out of the XL Foods plant, it seems that the problems are mirroring what Eric Schlosser wrote about in his book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.

The animals are being slaughtered at such a fast rate that the workers can’t hose down the carcasses fast enough to remove the poop. Therefore it isn’t hard for the poop to get into the meat. Yes, absolutely disgusting.

There are fewer CFIA inspectors on the floor of the plant due to government cut backs, so lapses in food safety are more likely to occur. A company as huge as XL Foods is unlikely to go under if there is a problem, so safety might take a back seat to profit.

The best way to ensure that the animal foods we eat are safe, is to opt out of the big agribusiness food-system completely. Small farms and small slaughter houses have to be much more invested in food safety, because if something happens they are done. Out of business.

It is encouraging how this E. Coli scare has woken many people up. Farms that sell grass-fed beef and bison are finding their businesses have increased dramatically in the last month. Hopefully more farmers will switch their operations to take advantage of a growing trend.

People are getting together with friends and splitting the cost of the meat of a whole cow, or half a cow from a local farmer that raises the animals on grass. This is not only economical for the consumer, but also supports local farmers and local economies, encourages happy, healthy cows that get to spend their life outside doing what cows do best, does not promote antibiotic resistance, is much more environmentally friendly as there are no “poop ponds” that leach into waterways, and is more likely to result in safe, delicious meat.

In my opinion, “organic” is not important when it comes to meat. A cow gets just as sick on “organic” grain. The land the cow grazes on does not need to be certified organic. It is unlikely that a farmer is going to spray the grass. So spend the money on grass-fed / pastured and hormone-free, but don’t bother springing for organic meat.

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

If you would like to get clarity on how to eat healthy, take my online nutrition course.

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Understanding the order of importance for our survival that our bodies place on our various body systems can provide a road map for successful resolution of health problems.

Paul Chek has a priority system that he uses and teaches to his students (such as myself) to help us help the people that come to see us seeking treatment for their various aches and pains and health problems.

No matter what the symptom, from low-back pain to digestive troubles to fatigue, the idea is to start examining the patient/client by looking at the system at the top of the hierarchy – breathing, and progressing down until a dysfunction is found, and addressing that dysfunction first.

Breathing is at the top of our body’s priority list for obvious reasons – we can’t survive more than a few minutes if we can’t breathe. So in our body’s innate wisdom, it will sacrifice all other body parts and systems in order to make sure that we can still breathe.

Not being able to breathe through the nose is relatively common, either due to the nasal passage being too small or due to allergies or sickness. The body makes a fair number of compensations in order to accommodate mouth breathing, the most obvious one being to bring the head forward to allow for easier air-flow when mouth breathing.

Forward-head posture greatly increases the forces on the back. For every inch the head is forward, the weight of the head is added to the workload the upper back muscles must carry. Heads weigh between 8 and 12 pounds, so if the head is 2 inches forward, that is 16 to 24 pounds of work those poor back muscles are forced to do, which can lead to upper back strain, shoulder problems, and low back problems.

Because the body will always sacrifice a back in order to breathe, one can’t fix a back by only treating a back, if the person is not breathing correctly.

Hyperventilation will increase the pH of the blood which has chemical consequences in the body, such as making it more difficult for the hemoglobin to release the oxygen to the cells (not good), and it also causes more calcium to enter the the muscles and nerve tissue, making them more excitable than they should be.

Blood that is too alkaline causes the arteries of the brain, heart and body to constrict, increasing blood pressure and reducing blood flow to these tissues. Reduced blood flow results in a huge variety of symptoms, from headaches, to digestive issues, to fatigue, to cold hands and feet, and on and on.

The above are only two examples. There are many ways people breathe incorrectly and many various problems that can manifest in the body because of it. So no matter what the issue, it makes sense to check and correct breathing first. Changing how one breathes is not an easy process, but well worth the time it takes.

If you have breathing issues like hyperventilation, chest breathing, shallow breathing etc., seek a physical therapist or a CHEK Practitioner for help, or try yoga. Structural Integration (a form of massage therapy) can help open up the nasal passages if your nose tends to be blocked.

Paul Chek puts bite and chewing (temporomandibular joint and teeth) second on his totem, because if you can’t eat, you won’t survive long either. He is obviously correct, but I think the body prioritizes circulation higher than eating so I would put circulation 2nd on the priority list. After all, a severed artery or a heart attack are both emergencies that need to be addressed immediately to avoid death. I think of the CPR mantra – ABCs – Airway, Breathing, Circulation.

The circulatory system delivers blood carrying oxygen, nutrition, communications via hormones and peptides to the cells, and returns cellular waste to the liver for recycling or disposal.

Any tissue that for whatever reason is not receiving the blood flow it needs will be unable to function optimally.  The body will alter its posture in order to protect a tethered or partially plugged blood vessel.

Blood vessels should be somewhat mobile – they should slide with the tissue as one reaches an arm up overhead, or as the legs move as we run or walk.  Moving our bodies through full range of motion daily should help keep the mobility in the vessels.

However, if a blood vessel becomes stuck and is no longer able to slide (due to a fall, MVA, not enough exercise etc.) suddenly the body has a problem.  For example, if there is a blood vessel tether in the "leg pit" or groin area, the front of the hip is stretched as we walk.

From the tether on downstream the adhered blood vessel is also being stretched, which would narrow the diameter restricting blood flow.  Suddenly the body will discourage a long stride in order to prevent a serious injury to the vessel.

The body will try to adjust by tightening certain muscles and relaxing others to change the position of the pelvis, leg or foot in order to accommodate the compromised  blood vessel and improve blood flow.

The common adaptation is too much anterior rotation (pelvis-bucket pouring water out the front) to keep adequate slack in the blood vessels going into the leg. 

No matter how much that poor pelvis position might wear out a hip joint or cause facet-joint irritation in the low back, that is the sacrifice the body will make to protect its circulation.

Furthermore, no amount of hip-flexor, quad, and low back stretching will create a permanent change if there is a tethered or compromised blood vessel in the groin area. Muscles, bones and joints are the slaves of the blood.

Maybe hip and knee surgeries could be prevented if blood flow were restored before too much cartilage damage occurred.

If you have spent a lot of time stretching and you are getting no more flexible, perhaps this is the reason.

Look for an osteopath or someone that has done training to release nerves, as the blood vessels usually travel in the same channels as the nerves if you think this might be affecting you.

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

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I was asked to write an article on running. Here are some ideas that I think may help runners improve their ability while staying pain free.

Standing Posture
Because posture is the place from which movement begins and ends, having good static posture will greatly enhance running ability, while having poor static posture will be detrimental to running or any other sport for that matter, and may even be the cause of injury.

If our posture is poor and the joints cannot maintain a proper axis of rotation, the joints may suffer wear and tear. Imagine a garden gate that is not hung straight – the hinge on that gate is not properly aligned. It squeaks with use, and if the gate is continually used in its poorly aligned position, the hinge will eventually wear out. Our joints are the same.

If our static posture is good, the muscle balance about every joint in the body will be even, meaning that the joint can maintain its instantaneous axis of rotation throughout the range-of-motion. Good posture is the foundation for great running.

To get into the best posture possible, stand up, feet shoulder distance apart, and move your pelvis forward and back until you have found the place where you can feel the weight of your trunk going through the leg bones and out the feet into the floor. The thigh and buttock muscles are relaxed.

Then pick your ribcage up off of your pelvis as best you can, making yourself as tall as possible. Relax your shoulders and arms on your heightened ribcage. You may feel a sensation of decompression in your lumbar spine, and you may be aware of a muscle in your lower abdomen turning on.

Now, lift the base of your skull at the back of your head as high as you can, so that you are as tall as you can be throughout your body. Try to separate your shoulders as far away from each other, so you are also as wide as you can be.

The end result of this effort should be that your pelvis is directly over your legs, your ribcage is directly over your pelvis without tilting forward nor backward, and your shoulders are sitting squarely on the platform of your ribs, and your head is directly over your ribs, with the plane of your face vertical.

Practice this as you go through your day, as you sit, and as you walk. The feeling should be that your legs are floating under you as you walk, not that you are using muscle effort to move your legs.

There is a definite sense of ease. Experiment with how this sense of being as tall as possible creates ease in your running. This will assist in activating your deep stabilizers, which will keep your back and pelvis healthy while you run.

If you want a better understanding of how the deep trunk stabilizers work, and specific exercises to target them, feel free to purchase our exercise DVD – we included a whole section on it, as well as exercises in the work-out geared to help strengthen this area.

Adequate Flexibility
Having good flexibility in the legs and trunk will help you run faster, as you will be able to increase your stride length. Poor flexibility may put you at risk for muscle pulls and tears, particularly in the calves, hamstrings and possibly quads if you are a sprinter.

Tightness in the quads (front of the thigh) and TFL / IT band (side of the upper leg) is often the key reason for knee pain in runners, as the tightness pulls the kneecap out to the side so it is no longer sliding properly in the knee groove.

Furthermore, tightness in the front of the hip area makes it impossible to get adequate hip extension while running, so the glute
max, the main powerhouse muscle needed for running would not be firing adequately. Impossible to run fast without the glutes!

Tightness in the inner thigh will pull the knee into the midline, leading to instability in the hip (gluteus medius weakness), potentially creating hip, knee or ankle pain.

And tight hipflexors, quads, calf, shin, bottom surface of the feet and toes can be a primary cause of Achilles tendon problems as well as plantar fasciatis (pain on the bottom surface of the foot and heel).

To run well, one needs to be able to rotate the trunk and pull with the arms, so anything restricting those motions will lead to overuse of something else further down the chain to compensate for the lack of motion above.

Muscles and fascia might be tight, joints at the spine, ribs and sternum may be restricted, and organs, nerves and blood vessels may be tethered, all of which may compromise motion in the trunk.

Strength
For the performance-minded runner, increasing strength is important to developing power, which is needed for increasing speed.

Increased strength can also be converted to muscle endurance, which will allow you to run faster for a longer period of time. Being strong is helpful in preventing injuries, as long as you are strong without compromising flexibility.

The ability to strengthen up is often limited by tightness in the opposing muscle (as I suggested earlier). Strength-training in a manner that improves flexibility simultaneously is the most efficient way to train.

If you want some ideas on how to do this, some of the exercises in our DVD are designed specifically to increase strength and flexibility at the same time.

Muscle Endurance
Muscle endurance is defined as the number of times one can contract a muscle, as opposed to strength, which is defined as how much force can a muscle generate once. Clearly, muscle endurance is extremely applicable to running.

 Even when looking at a 100 metre sprint, each foot hits the ground 40-50 times. This can hardly be classified as “strength”. Even in the gym when training muscle endurance, the rep range most usually considered is 15-20 repetitions, which is too low, even for sprint training.

It is muscle endurance that is going to get you through your run. It will allow you maintain proper running mechanics throughout the distance and therefore keep you injury free.

Running Technique
Learning proper running technique will make a huge difference to running efficiency as well as to preventing injuries. Developing the essential motor patterns to correct running is well worth the effort, and more time should be spent on this initially than on increasing mileage.

Increasing mileage using poor form will simply engrain bad habits that become harder and harder to change with every kilometer you run. By practicing good technique, you are running smarter, and in the long run, you will run better, longer, faster.

The best way to do this is to run barefoot or in minimalist shoes as they will force you to avoid landing on your heel, improving running mechanics immediately as your bodyweight will be more over your foot as your foot strikes the ground.

If the heel hits first, the foot is landing too far forward of the body, and
the heel acts like a break slowing you down, because the ground reaction forces
going back up your leg are pushing you backwards.

These forces can be up to ten times your bodyweight, and are therefore often responsible for Achilles, ankle, knee, hip and occasionally low back issues.

By pawing back with the leg and landing on the midfoot instead of the heel, the braking effect is minimized, speed is increased, and injuries are reduced.

Take a lesson from a good running coach who has experience with minimalist shoes. If you are a runner with a heel-landing technique, it will take a long time to make the switch.

The first run in minimalist shoes should probably be only about 5 minutes long. Resist the temptation to up the mileage too fast. Going too far too soon will only result in injury and frustration.

Hiking with a pack on uneven terrain in minimalist shoes will help the foot and lower-leg musculature become stronger and more flexible – good training that will maintain cardiovascular fitness while you are trying to learn a new technique and can’t put in lots of running mileage.

Over time as you gradually improve your technique, you will probably find that you are able to run more comfortably, probably faster, and that those lower-leg irritations disappear.

Please do keep the comments coming! If you want to search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

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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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