For many people with joint injuries and joint conditions such as arthritis, pain feels worse when the temperature drops. Here’s why it happens and what you can do to ease the discomfort.
Do you dread winter in anticipation of worsened joint pain or stiffness - whether you engage in outdoor sport or exercise or suffer from a joint condition such as arthritis? This experience is common. While the effects of colder weather on pain are subject to debate and ongoing research, there are plausible reasons why you may feel pain in the colder months. Fortunately, there are also simple DIY ways to feel better!
The offender: Air pressure
It is difficult to draw a definite conclusion about whether changes in barometric air pressure (also known as atmospheric pressure) affect the severity of joint pain. But some research and experts suggest that changes in barometric air pressure may cause tissues to expand, placing pressure on joints. This has particularly been explored in conditions such as arthritis, which many people report worsens in winter (in fact, some physicians refer to ‘arthritis weather’).
The offender: Couch time
It’s dreary. Dark. Cold. Who wouldn’t rather curl up on the couch or stay in bed than go for a run or hit the gym? While vegging out may feel good at the time, inactivity in autumn and winter can set you up for pain. Without an adequate amount of regular movement, joints can become stiff and muscles lose condition, meaning that when you do return to activity (or even beforehand), you’re at greater risk of pain or injury. If you don’t feel you can continue your summer exercise regimen in the colder months, swap it for a winter-friendly routine you can maintain, comprising both aerobic and resistance or weight-bearing activity. Think indoor gym work and swimming or water aerobics, yoga and treadmill runs, Pilates...you can stay cozy and warm while keeping your joints strong, mobile and supple.
The offender: Pain expectations
Memories of painful winters can create an expectation of pain, which can actually ‘create’ the experience of pain (in a similar way to when you’re faced with a food that once made you sick and you feel nauseous just imagining eating it). In fact, neuroscience research suggests that the brain may not be able to tell the difference between thinking about, or imagining pain, and pain caused by responses to tissue damage. In studies using functional MRI technology, simply thinking about pain has activated the same brain areas as those activated by an ‘actual’ pain experience.
The offender: Magnified pain
Besides the type and severity of tissue injury or damage, our pain experience can be influenced by other factors including mood, confidence that pain will resolve or can be treated, and stress levels. Mood and mood-related brain chemicals are particularly relevant to autumn and winter, when increased darkness, lower activity levels and less engagement in rewarding activities can decrease levels of feelgood neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine and endorphins, which may correlate with increased perception of pain. Subsequent inactivity, due to pain itself or low mood, may further exacerbate pain and fuel a kind of vicious circle.
Now for the good news. These DIY winter tips from our physiotherapists and chiropractors may reduce the severity of, or relieve, winter joint pain.
DIY winter pain-reducing tips:
If you experience ongoing or recurring joint pain, consider consulting a chiropractor or physiotherapist to ascertain the cause, receive appropriate manual treatment and learn lifestyle and activity modifications to reduce pain and promote healing.
The attributes that make certain foods comforting often work against weight and health goals, but these simple, science-based diet tricks can help to prevent winter weight gain and bloating while letting you enjoy the warming, comforting traits of hearty winter foods.
Choosing kilojoule-laden comfort foods. Staying indoors with less incidental exercise. Skipping morning gym sessions for the doona. These behavioural hallmarks of winter are a recipe for weight gain. The combination of extra fat, particularly saturated fat, in comfort food favourites and less activity also increases your risk of heart disease and may exacerbate existing coronary conditions. So how do you prevent ‘middle year spread’ without forgoing your favourite warming, rich, melty meals? Try these dietitian-approved tips.
Mistake: In winter, many of us increase our consumption of hot drinks as a source of warmth and comfort. Yet we may not consider the kilojoule contribution from milky coffees (a full cream large latte has more kilojoules than a Tim Tam). We may also fail to compensate for the dehydrating effects of caffeinated beverages by consuming more water, which can cause us to mistake thirst for hunger and overeat.
Solution: If you do feel like a milky coffee, opt for skim milk and choose the smallest size. Try to supplement one or two coffees with beverages containing less or no caffeine, such as fruit teas or green tea. While you may not feel like drinking cold drinks, make a point of keeping a water bottle (with a squeeze of lemon or lime if you prefer) handy and sipping throughout the day, aiming for a daily quota of 1.5 to 2 litres. This will also help to keep your appetite in check and prevent mistaking thirst for hunger.
Mistake: Many of us shy away from meat, eggs and dairy and nuts in the belief that they promote weight gain. We may instead choose ‘lighter’ options such as salad or rice with vegetables and feel ravenous between meals, causing us to negate any kilojoule savings or even consume more than we need in extra snacks or increased portion size at the next meal.
Solution: Eat protein-rich meals during the day - starting with breakfast. Including protein foods such as lean meats, chicken, fish, nuts, seeds, legumes, eggs, dairy and soy products increases the satiety quotient of a meal and keeps you feeling full, in turn reducing the need to snack or overeat later (the extra 300 to 500 kilojoules from a hard boiled egg added to breakfast or lunch may well reduce your intake at dinner by significantly more). Bear in mind that nuts and seeds are high in kilojoules and keep portions to a small handful or less.
3. Introduce soup
Mistake: When we’re cold, we tend to feel hunger more acutely, which increases the risk of consuming more (and more kilojoules) than we need to maintain body weight. Yet this cold weather effect doesn’t actually indicate that our bodies need more food. This trap can cause us to consume more kilojoules than we need, setting the scene for kilo creep.
Solution: Augmenting your winter diet with low-kilojoule vegetable soup can combat both the feeling of being cold that can cause us to feel hungrier and moderate hunger and appetite before meals, which reduces the risk of overeating rich, high-kilojoule foods. Research suggests that consuming a healthy, energy-controlled soup before a main meal may reduce the energy you consume at your main meal. Beware that many bought soups are high in sodium and can contain low quantities of vegetables. Try making your own with minimal or no added salt and freezing it in daily portions to defrost as you need it. (If you work in an office, consider heating a small amount in the kitchen microwave and consuming a mug or bowl before lunch.) At dinner, serve soup as an entree.
4. Find healthy comfort foods
Mistake: It can be tempting to equate comfort foods with high-fat, high-kilojoule options such as bacon and eggs, cheesy melts and creamy pastas - each of which can easily contribute half of your daily energy needs in one meal (not to mention abundant saturated fat, which is a recipe for heart disease). This is often based on fond memories of scenarios in which these comfort foods made us feel good (like that croque monsieur grandma used to make when you were upset). Comfort food choices can be a less-obvious form of emotional eating.
Solution: There is nothing wrong with seeking comfort from food, but it pays to reimagine what ‘comfort food’ is. In fact, there are scientific reasons why many healthy foods are likely to induce feelings of comfort and calm. Consider whole cut oats, which are a healthy, slow-release, low-GI carbohydrate, made or served with hot skim milk and served with stewed fruit or berries. This balanced meal delivers the nutrients required for optimal synthesis of key feelgood neurotransmitters, is filling and maintains fullness, blood sugar and energy, preventing hunger pangs and cravings. Other healthy ‘comfort foods’ may include pan-fried mushrooms or avocado and poached egg with crunchy, wholegrain bread.
5. Smarten your methods
Mistake: Many favourite winter meals include unnecessary saturated fat, due to standard ingredients, cooking methods or both (think mashed potato made with full cream milk and butter and topped with lashings of melted butter or pasta sauce made with cream).
Solution: Look for opportunities to substitute ingredients such as cream, butter, full cream milk and puff pastry with healthier options such as carnation milk, small amounts of margarine, skim milk and filo pastry. When cooking, consider tweaks that may reduce the amount of fat (rather than frying, consider baking, steaming or grilling in foil). For stews, roasts and deep fried meals such as fish and chips, consider using a slow cooker or air fryer to upgrade the health quotient of comfort favourites. For side dishes, try trading mashed potato made with butter and full cream milk for mashed cauliflower with a sprinkling of low-fat cheese.
If you’re looking to prevent weight gain or other effects of winter’s dietary staples and sedentary lifestyle such as bloating and digestive issues, consider consulting an accredited practising dietitian, who can recommend food and recipe swaps, clue you up on reading food labels, advise on best choices when dining out and provide strategies to regulate appetite and portions, including meal composition and mindful eating.
When it comes to exercise, many of us subscribe to the adage ‘no pain, no gain’. But not all exercise-related pain is positive. Here’s a quick primer on differentiating between ‘good pain’ and ‘bad pain’ and tips for faster recovery.
Do you associate pain from exercise with effectiveness? Or push yourself to the absolute limit to get better results (the old ‘no pain, no gain’ mentality)? It sounds counterintuitive, but your grit may actually undermine your progress by increasing the risk of injury and/or prolonging recovery time. (Goodbye, fourth workout. Hello, physio appointment.) While some pain during or after exercise can be harmless (e.g. feeling the burn from lactic acid or a couple of days of DOMS), and you do need to push yourself past comfort to get results, here’s how to know if you’ve crossed the line and tips to fast-track recovery.
Warning signs that your pain has crossed the line
SIGN: Acute or sharp pain in muscles or joints that affects movement during exercise (e.g. a sharp twinge or stab).
SOLUTION: Stop the exercise!
SIGN: Sloppy form/technique may mean you’ve past an optimal level of fatigue and are at increased risk of injury. Stop the exercise!
SIGN: DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) that inhibits movement beyond a couple of days after a gruelling workout.
SOLUTION: Skip the hard session and engage in light exercise at a lesser intensity than what caused the DOMS to ease pain and hasten recovery. Think a leisurely swim or walk.
But what is DOMS?
Delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is muscle pain that emerges after exercise types or intensities to which you’re not accustomed. It is more likely to occur following exercise that forces muscles to contract while lengthening (eccentric exercise), such as during long-distance running and plyometric workouts. It basically indicates an inflammatory response to microtrauma or myofibril tears. While it is usually short-lasting, DOMS does cause discomfort as well as impairment of muscle strength and function.
How can I tell if it’s DOMS or something more serious?
DOMS typically presents as a dull pain, stiffness and tenderness in exerted muscles around 24 to 48 hours after exercise and lasts between one and three days. Sufferers may also notice localised swelling. At its peak, DOMS can compromise muscle strength, range of motion.
How can I minimise DOMS symptoms?
While DOMS may make you feel like curling up on the couch to minimise pain, in fact, moving affected muscles is likely to result in decreased pain, which is why DIY treatment recommendations include active rest. Research has also indicated the application of ice and heat therapy in expediting recovery. Gentle massage has also been found to help fast-track recovery and reduce severity of DOMS (on the flip side, deep tissue massage may aggravate DOMS). To avoid exacerbating symptoms, avoid strenuous muscle stretching and intense or vigorous exercise during the first 24 hours of DOMS onset.
Can I prevent DOMS?
These simple tips may help to prevent or minimise severity and/or duration of DOMS:
If your pain persists beyond 48 to 62 hours of onset or pain onset occurred during exercise (not after), or if you notice pain or swelling in joints, consider consulting a physio to check for injury or damage.
A strategic diet could help to reduce inflammation that maintains or worsens chronic pain. We explore the mechanisms behind the theory.
If you’re living with long-term or chronic pain (pain that persists for three months or longer), you’ve probably searched widely for sources of relief. Perhaps you’ve tried medications. You may have sought out holistic therapies such as acupuncture. But have you considered how your diet may affect your pain? Should you?
Why would food affect pain?
It would be unrealistic to suggest that including or excluding certain food types from your diet could ‘cure’ serious health conditions or injuries that cause pain. Yet it would be equally unrealistic to suggest that medical interventions such as opioid medications actually reverse underlying conditions or diseases or injuries. This is why health professionals commonly use the term ‘management’ to describe interventions that may reduce the severity of symptoms. Indeed, diet may be used as part of pain management. Why? The basic premise supporting dietary interventions in chronic pain relates to inflammation, which is often elevated in individuals with chronic pain (many experts suggest that chronic inflammation can be a causative or perpetuating factor of chronic pain). In a nutshell, it is thought that manipulating diet to include and exclude certain foods may assist with reducing inflammation.
What is inflammation?
Inflammation is actually a necessary and helpful process in the body’s recovery from an injury or infection. The process involves your immune system sending white blood cells to affected to areas to repair tissue or fight infection. In an ideal world, this inflammation abates when the injury or infection heals. However, in some cases, this inflammatory response can outstay its welcome, in effect turning from ‘good’ to ‘bad’. Prolonged inflammation can contribute to pain in muscles and joints and increase risk for coronary disease, diabetes, cancer and even Alzheimer’s disease.
How does food affect inflammation?
Some research has found that the immune system can respond similarly to certain foods and diet compositions as it would to an injury or infection. While there is no specific evidence-based diet directly targeting inflammation, certain foods and constituents have been found to assist in reducing inflammation and improving pain outcomes. A 2019 study suggests that dietitian-delivered interventions may improve pain scores and increase quality of life in subjects experiencing chronic pain. What’s more, reducing inflammation may help to prevent ‘flares’ of painful auto-immune conditions such as psoriatic arthritis.
What to look for?
What makes a food anti-inflammatory? While there is no definitive list or set of criteria, foods touted as anti-inflammatory tend to positively impact inflammatory biomarkers, which have been found to be lower in those with a high regular intake of fruits and vegetables and those whose diet includes staples of the so-called ‘Mediterranean diet’. Why? These recommendations are rich in polyphenols (a type of antioxidant). That is, they combat oxidative stress, which correlates with inflammation. Omega-3 fatty acids found in olive oil and fatty fish such as salmon have also been found to potentially moderate inflammation, which is why fish oil supplements are widely promoted for inflammation and painful conditions such as arthritis.
Easy anti-inflammatory menu tips
Aim to consume up to seven servings of fruits and vegetables daily. It sounds like a lot, but when you consider that a single serving is only one cup of leafy greens or half a cup of cooked vegetable, or a medium piece of fruit, it’s relatively easy to split across breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. For maximum nutrients, choose an array of richly coloured fruit and veg (e.g. red capsicum, eggplant, leafy greens, pumpkin or sweet potato, berries).
2. Snack smart
Trade snacks such as crackers for nutrient-dense nuts. While many people avoid or minimise nut intake due to their high concentration of fat and kilojoules, when consumed in moderation (a serve is a small handful or ¼ of a cup), nuts are an efficient way to consume minerals, antioxidants, fibre and healthy fats.
3. Trade your grains
Exchange nutrient-empty carbohydrate foods such as white bread, rice, pasta and refined cereal for wholegrain alternatives. As well as looking for wholegrain versions of your favourite staples, consider seeking trading meal accompaniments such as rice for quinoa. For breakfast, rolled oats (not the highly-processed ‘quick’ oats or flavoured varieties) are a great option.
4. Moderate meat
While lean meats can be excellent sources of protein and iron, high intakes of red meat have been found in some studies to increase oxidative stress. When consuming meat, stick to a palm-sized portion. If your meals tend to rely on meat as the main ingredient, consider halving the quantity of meat in dishes such as spaghetti bolognese or stews with beans and lentils, which are great sources of protein and fibre.
5. Set the mood for seafood
Research has found links between the omega-3 fatty acids in oily fish and lower levels of inflammation. Consider scheduling two or more servings per week. (This may mean a dinner of cooked salmon with sides of vegetables and quinoa and a lunch meal of wholegrain rice mixed with a small tin of tuna in olive oil, brine or springwater and cooked vegetables. Get creative.)
6. Shelve the sugar
Added sugar such as that found in chocolate, cakes and baked goods, ice-cream and soft drinks and many processed foods (even bought pasta sauces and flavoured yoghurts) has been linked to higher inflammation. To minimise sugar intake, try to make sauces from scratch and opt for plain varieties of foods like yoghurt (look for ‘natural’ or Greek) and add your own flavour with fruit and/or a drizzle of honey. Also avoid white carbohydrates (bread, rice, pasta), which quickly break down into sugar.
7. Skip the drive-thru
While an occasional stop at Macca’s isn’t the end of the world, regular consumption of fast food items such as burgers and fries has been associated with increased inflammation. This is likely to be due to the high concentrations of unhealthy fats (e.g. saturated fat) and/or trans fats and salt coupled with a dearth of anti-inflammatory ingredients in fast food meals. If you do opt for takeaway food, consider finding a fish and chip shop offering grilled salmon or white fish and order a salad rather than chips. Minimising fast food consumption will also help with maintaining a healthy weight or losing weight if your BMI exceeds 24.9 (research shows that simply losing 10 per cent of body weight may contribute to a reduction in inflammatory markers).
This information is general and may not apply to your personal situation. If you are suffering chronic pain related to a diagnosed condition or disease or experience ongoing pain after injury, consider consulting an accredited practising dietitian (APD) for personalised recommendations that may assist you to manage your pain or condition for greater wellbeing and quality of life.
Could you really find relief from long-term or severe pain in a single session with a chiropractor or physiotherapist? Science says ‘yes’.
What do physiotherapy, chiropractic, remedial massage and myotherapy have in common? These hands-on therapies all benefit from the therapeutic power of touch. While each hands-on therapy is tailored by highly-trained health practitioners to treat specific complaints, all share the incidental healing effects of therapeutic human contact.
If it sounds a bit woo-woo, consider everyday benefits of touch. For instance, a hug promotes the release of bonding hormone oxytocin and makes us feel safe, close and connected. When you’re suffering emotional pain, a hug can make a world of difference. Then there’s massage, which has been shown to help regulate physiological factors such as blood pressure. But how can touch itself help with pain? Read on for a brief overview of the science.
How does touch promote healing?
The mechanisms through which touch can both promote the body’s own healing capacities and improve the pain experience are complex and not fully understood. However, neuroscience research solidly supports a number of powerful ‘analgesic’ mechanisms and pathways. For instance, a leading Swedish touch neuroscience research has identified special fibres in the body known as C-tactile afferent fibres, which register and convey to the brain the emotional meaning of different types of touch. We automatically detect, interpret and respond to these signals without even being aware of it. In another neat twist, these fibres also happen to respond optimally to the temperature of a human hand! (Interestingly, the word 'chiropractic' literally means 'done by hand' (from the Greek 'cheir' or hand and 'praxis' or action). So what?
In effect, the constellation of effects activated by therapeutic touch can help to relieve pain and the anxiety that can both result from, and perpetuate, the pain experience. Research shows that gentle, consensual physical contact delivered by a trusted health practitioner can relieve the anxiety that often accompanies pain and confer emotional support, camaraderie and confidence in obtaining relief (rather than fearing that it will last forever). Touch has even been shown to reduce levels of stress hormone cortisol and promote the release of feelgood hormone serotonin. This can help to reduce the perception of pain. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter that is often deficient in depression, which is common among those experiencing chronic pain and can compound both the physical and mental experience of pain. These factors can make pain feel more tolerable, even before the underlying or condition heals or improves from specific types of manual therapies. This may explain why clients often report less distress and discomfort after a single session with a chiropractor, physiotherapist or remedial massage therapist.
Do you really need a professional?
If touch itself can relieve pain or alter pain perception, does it matter which type of hands-on therapy you receive? And do you really need to pay a health professional at all? In a word, yes. While pain is a complex interplay of brain signals, physical factors and emotional responses, it usually stems from a specific physical injury, condition or compensation (e.g. joint or ligament injury, arthritis or muscle imbalance). Identifying these factors and administering targeted treatment are key to correcting the causes of pain. Diagnosis and targeted hands-on treatment by an allied health professional such as a chiropractor or physiotherapist, combined with recommended self-management strategies, can help to deliver relief from the physical and mental effects of pain while promoting healing or correction of underlying causes of pain.
If you’d like to be free of pain and are not sure which treatment type you need, our knowledgeable client services team can help you to get the best possible treatment.
Gooey. Melty. Creamy. Comfort meals often have these attributes in common. They also often share an unfortunate trait: many are far from healthy. Give your family's favourite comfort meals a healthy upgrade with these simple swaps and tips.
Nothing takes the edge off a chilly autumn or winter evening quite like a rich, creamy or meaty meal such as carbonara, mac ‘n’ cheese or curry. Unfortunately, the foods we tend to crave to warm us up or lift our mood when the weather cools can be health traps. Many family favourite comfort foods - from rich pastas with cream and cheese to meat stews and buttery potato mash - are packed with saturated fat, salt and fast-release carbohydrate that causes blood sugar to spike and drop and may encourage fat storage. Moreover, larger serves and ingredients containing fat may cause us to exceed our daily energy needs, especially since many of us tend to move less in autumn and winter. On the health front, the saturated fat in comfort food staples such as butter, cream and cheese may heighten your risk of conditions such as cardiovascular disease.
While you don’t need to ban your winter favourites altogether, it may pay to prepare for a delicious rotation of family meals minus the main offenders. We collected dietitians’ top tips for clever comfort food tweaks that will keep everyone happy and healthy.
Comfort food traps (watch out)
Trap 1: Saturated fat
Found in: Red meat, cream, butter, cheese, coconut products
Why it matters: Eating too much saturated fat increases blood levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol (LDL) and raises cardiovascular disease risk.
Trap 2. Refined carbohydrates
Found in: White flour, white bread, wraps, pasta and rice, potatoes, sugar (including sugar hidden in savoury items such as bought pasta sauce)
Why it matters: Refined carbs are quickly digested and can cause a spike in blood sugar. The knock-on effects of consuming too much refined carbohydrate can include weight gain and conditions including diabetes.
Trap 3: Salt/sodium
Found in: Salt is often used to add flavour to meals during cooking or after. It is also used generously in commercial sauces (e.g. pasta sauces) and packaged meal bases.
Why it matters: Excess salt intake can cause fluid retention and lead to high blood pressure or hypertension.
Comfort meal hacks and upgrades
These swaps give you the comfort factor without the adverse health effects. As a bonus, they won’t leave you feeling heavy or bloated like many comfort meals can. For other comfort favourites, get creative by substituting ingredients such as light sour cream or Greek yoghurt in creamy dishes.
Swap 1. Mashed potato → Mashed cauliflower
Swap 2. Mashed potato with full-cream milk and butter → Mashed potato with skim milk and a low-fat spread or herbs to taste
Swap 3. Beef lasagne → Lasagne made with minced mushrooms and/or whole wheat pasta with extra lean beef mince (trade regular bechamel sauce for a low-fat white sauce using low-fat or skim milk and cornstarch)
Swap 4. Cheesy cauliflower with full-cream milk and cheese → Oven-roasted cauliflower with herbs or spices (e.g. rubbed with curry powder) or drizzled with olive oil
Swap 5. Mac ‘n’ cheese → Mac ‘n’ cheese made with whole wheat pasta, low-fat milk and low-fat cheese
Swap 6. Quiche with crust and cream custard → Vegetable-packed frittata
Swap 7. Regular pizza crust –> Cauliflower pizza crust
Swap 8. Toasted muesli/granola –> Whole rolled oat porridge made with water or skim or low-fat milk and topped with fresh or frozen berries or other fruit
If you need assistance with planning meals that meet the nutrition needs of everyone in the family or have a personal health goal such as weight loss or reducing fatigue and increasing energy, consider consulting an accredited practising dietitian (APD) for personalised recommendations.
As autumn dawns and we turn to indoor exercise, many of us risk performing common exercises in ways that increase the risk of pain or injury. Crunches are a case in point. They seem simple enough, but common technique errors can wreak havoc with your spine. Before you aim for 100, upgrade your form with these physio tips.
As the weather cools, days shorten and exercising outdoors becomes less appealing, many of us turn to indoor exercise. And while low-intensity workouts including resistance work and floor-based exercises such as sit-ups sound safer than many higher intensity options (e.g. running), common simple form or technique mistakes in even the most basic exercises exacerbate pain or injury. (Have you thought that your lower back twinge or neck pain may result from your ab work?)
Many people perform sit-ups in an attempt to strengthen the core and, in turn, strengthen and support the lower back. After all, it sounds logical.
But contrary to popular belief, sit-ups may exacerbate or worsen lower back pain by placing undue stress on the lower back as they pull you into a seated position from the waist. It’s asking the lower back to do something it wasn’t designed for.
The anatomy
Conventional sit-ups place excessive demands on the hip flexor muscles — which link the thigh bones and lower back. When hip flexors, which connect to the front of the lumbar spine, are overworked, it can lead to a knock-on effect of anterior pull on the lumbar vertebrae.
What to do instead?
Partial crunches on a mat
Lie with knees bent and feet flat on the floor or mat. Place your hands behind your neck or cross your arms over your chest (avoid using your arms to pull your neck or head off the floor). Tighten stomach muscles and raise your shoulders off the floor, breathing out as you ascend. Hold for a second before slowly lowering all the way. Repeat 8 to 12 times. To prevent placing undue stress on your low back, keep your feet, tailbone, and lower back in contact with the mat throughout.
Partial crunches on a stability ball (see above for technique)
Partial-crunches on a stability ball may circumvent another common cause of sit-up related back pain, when the spine is pushed into a hard surface, potentially placing extra pressure on the posterior part of the spine. Another advantage of a stability ball is that it supports lumbar spine curvature and promotes a full range of motion that is difficult to achieve on a mat. As a bonus, crunches on a stability ball also call upon the engagement of the glutes and hips (how’s that for multi-tasking?).
But wait, there's more...
If you are using crunches of sit-ups to get increase core strength (which has a protective effect for the spine as well as increasing power in movement), don't rely on a one-trick pony. Sit-ups use only a few muscles at the front of the mid-section and fail to target all areas comprising core strength. Whether you're targeting a six-pack, looking to enhance athletic or exercise performance or just want to protect your spine from everyday hazards, consider complementing sit-ups or crunches with other exercises that use muscles on both the front and back sides of the core.
Some science-based indoor exercise ideas...
If you are experiencing persistent or worsening low back pain, consider consulting a physio for advice on the best exercises to promote recovery and comfort and technique guidance to optimise movement and performance.
Those few daily lattes can add up to as many as 3.5 extra kilos a year. Prevent 'coffee creep' with simple tweaks that won't diminish taste or indulgence.
Colder mornings and the struggle to crawl out from under the doona can leave many of us searching for sources of warmth, comfort and alertness. Come autumn, your regular latte-a-day can turn into two or three. Call it ‘coffee creep’. Familiar? If so, you may also experience incremental effects such as gradual weight gain. While coffee itself contains negligible kilojoules, the creamy, frothy milk in popular coffee types such as cappuccinos and lattes can contribute more than you might think to your weekly energy intake. So what’s the solution? If you do favour milky, sweet or flavoured coffees, consider these tweaks to upgrade your daily indulgence.
Here are a few hints and workarounds for your coffee run.
If you’re keen to learn how to make your favourite foods and beverages healthy, or how to overhaul winter comfort foods, consider consulting an accredited practising dietitian (APD).
Holidays are great opportunities to try new activities. Tennis. Hiking. Beach running. Surfing. But doing exercise you’re not used to can also heighten injury risk. Before you head off for a well-earned break, stash these physio first-aid tips in your luggage.
Would you know what to do if you, say, rolled your ankle while running on that glorious white beach? Or playing tennis beside the campground? Or hiking to a breathtaking lookout? While the going advice for immediate treatment of soft tissue injuries used to be R.I.C.E. or rest, ice, compression and elevation, the dominant thinking has changed. Modern recommendations follow the P.E.A.C.E. and L.O.V.E. protocols.
What are the key differences between old and new physio first-aid advice for injuries such as sprains and strains? The (quite logical) recommendations such as applying ice and resting have been superseded by more intricate tips that leverage the body’s mechanisms and processes. For instance, it is now thought that by inhibiting inflammation with extensive use of ice, healing may be compromised. Prolonged disuse of the injured area may also be counterproductive. (Skip to the end of the post for more counterintuitive injury traps and mistakes such as drinking alcohol and massage*.)
It’s important to remember that DIY first-aid is not a substitute for professional assessment and treatment. Each person and injury is different. However, if you do encounter an injury while you’re away from home or unable to access treatment, put your recovery on the right track by applying these protocols.
Immediately after the injury occurs, apply P.E.A.C.E. (Protect, Elevate, Avoid anti-inflammatories, Compress, Educate):
Protect: Restrict movement for 1-3 days. Keep rest short as prolonged disuse may undermine tissue strength and integrity.
Elevate: Position the injured part higher than the heart to encourage fluid to flow out of injured tissue.
Avoid anti-inflammatory medications and ice: Inflammation can actually aid soft tissue regeneration. For this reason, avoiding ice may also enable faster healing. f you do use ice, the founding physician of R.I.C.E, Dr. Gabe Mirkin, suggests applying crushed ice in a plastic bag directly to skin soon after an injury for pain reduction for up to 10 minutes, removing for 20 minutes and icing for another 10 minutes. Do not use ice more than 6 hours after the injury has occurred.
Compression: Strapping, taping or bandaging soon after injury occurrence can help to reduce swelling.
Educate: Consult a physiotherapist as early as possible for advice to promote optimal recovery and minimise injury reccurrence.
After a few days, switch to L.O.V.E. (Load, Optimism, Vascularisation, Exercise):
Load: Optimal loading (without worsening pain) can promote tissue healing. Return to normal activities as soon as you’re able.
Optimism: Believing that you will recover can reduce pain perception and aid recovery.
Vascularisation: Undertake gentle cardiovascular activity such as swimming or walking to increase blood flow to the injured area.
Exercise: Exercise helps restore mobility, strength and proprioception. Range of motion, strength, power and balance exercises can all help reduce risk of further injury.
*MISTAKES AND TRAPS TO AVOID
To promote optimal healing, in the first 72 hours after injury, beware of these common mistakes, H.A.R.M. (Heat, Alcohol, Running, Massage):
Heat: Immersing the injured area in heat (e.g. spa or sauna or a hot bath) may increase swelling by increasing blood flow to injured tissue.
Alcohol: A few wines may help to block the pain, but alcohol may promote swelling and bleeding and effectively inhibit healing.
Running: As much as active recovery is helpful, too much activity too soon can disrupt healing by preventing proper formation of blood clots.
Massage: It may sound soothing, but massage of injured tissue may aggravate damage and increase swelling.
If you are injured, commence DIY first-aid immediately and book a consultation with a physio as soon as possible to optimise healing and healing time and prevent long-term damage and injury recurrence.
Avoid festive weight gain, bloating and lethargy with clever ideas to transform Christmas food leftovers into light, healthy meals.
It’s easy for Christmas day feasting to turn into a week of ‘buffet grazing’. While exceeding your energy needs on a single day is unlikely to affect body weight or health markers, a week or two might. Adapt your Christmas Day leftovers with these healthy ‘transformations’. (Make sure you follow food safety recommendations for storage, re-freezing and safe consumption timings.)
The salad: Make your salad leftover-ready by serving dressing on the side (otherwise it will go soggy).
The ham:
The seafood:
The fruit:
If your new year goals include a healthy eating overhaul or you’re keen to establish healthy eating practices you can maintain all year, consider consulting an accredited practising dietitian (APD).
On a hot summer’s day, few things beat sinking your teeth into an ice cream. But should you? And how do you make it healthy? Here’s a quick cheat sheet to beat frozen treat traps. (It's trickier than it sounds.)
Have you noticed that the world of ice creams has exploded in recent years? Where once it was a simple choice between vanilla or chocolate (or Gaytime and Paddle Pop), now we are bombarded by an overwhelming array of specialised ‘healthy’ varieties, from soy-based ice cream to low-carb, protein options. At the same time, the category of premium, ‘indulgent’ ice creams has also multiplied. So how do you choose? Let’s break it down.
The simple bit
The two most ‘unhealthy’ ingredients in regular frozen treats are sugar and fat. In theory, the healthiest options are those with the lowest amount of fat and sugar per 100 grams. On this basis, it makes sense to favour the new breed of protein ice creams such as Halo Top and Fro Yo. However, it’s not quite that simple. While these nouveau contenders have miraculously low kilojoule counts, there may be drawbacks.
Between the lines
Swapping out ingredients such as sugar and fat may backfire. For instance, the artificial and plant-based sweeteners used may cause gastrointestinal upset for some people (especially if you eat the whole tub because, hey, it's only 300 calories). Ice creams and other foods and beverages made with sugar substitutes may also encourage overeating and stimulate cravings for high-kilojoule, high-fat sweet foods. There are also other reasons to believe ‘virtuous’ options may be false economy. Some research suggests that consuming ‘diet’ or ‘healthy’ foods can cause us to over-indulge on other foods, either due to a sense of deprivation (whereas a small serve of creamy, indulgent ice cream is satisfying, in part due to the fat and richness, a substitute may leave you wanting) or a sense of permission to ‘make up for’ or ‘compensate for’ your ‘savings’. Then there are ‘low-fat’ ice-cream varieties, which sound virtuous but may contain extra sugar to compensate for missing fat. They may also, as a result, be less satisfying. Frozen yoghurt is, on the face of it, healthy. Yet flavoured frozen yoghurts can also pack a tonne of sugar. So what's the solution?
The takeaway
Frozen treats are just that, treats. They can contribute significant kilojoules, fat and sugar with little nutritional merit and should be consumed occasionally (yes, even the ‘healthy’ versions). Rather than getting caught up in numbers, choose what appeals to you and what you will find satisfying, and focus on sensible portions. If your favourite summer treat is a creamy gourmet scoop, order a children’s scoop and make a point of eating it mindfully (paying close attention to the feel of the cold, creamy texture on your tongue and the way the flavours emerge as you roll it around your mouth). This helps your brain to register the experience and promotes satisfaction with a smaller portion. You may even find you don’t want to finish it. (Really!)
Nutrition pro's tip: Between indulgent occasions, create your own frozen desserts or snacks with nutritious ingredients such as fresh fruit and frozen yoghurt. For instance, try whizzing up frozen banana in a blender with healthy flavourings such as cacao or nut butter or adding these to plain frozen yoghurt. Plain frozen yoghurt can also be blended with fresh berries or pieces of fresh fruit such as banana, watermelon or honeydew for a delicious summer treat you can enjoy regularly, guilt free.
Ice treat cheat sheet
If you are looking for healthier ice cream options, save these tips and cues.
Look for:
Watch for:
Look for:
Watch for:
Look for:
Watch for:
Please note, general nutrition advice may not account for your personal health goals and needs. For personalised advice, consult an accredited practising dietitian (APD).
Christmas Day feasting can leave you feeling tired, bloated and heavy, but it is possible to enjoy festive fare without the food hangover. Try these simple tweaks from our dietitians.
For many of us, Christmas feasting turns into uncomfortable bloating and fatigue. Some experts estimate that average calorie intakes on December 25 spike from 1,500 to 2,200 calories to a whopping 3,000 to 6,000 calories (that far exceeds the body’s energy needs). Unsurprisingly, it’s reported that the average Australian gains an estimated 0.8 to 1.5kg during the festive season. However, a festive food or weight blowout is not inevitable. Try these dietitian-approved holiday tips.
If you’re looking to follow up Christmas with a healthy eating overhaul, consider a new year consultation with an accredited practising dietitian (APD), who can provide personalised advice to suit your lifestyle and set you up for optimal health.
As families prepare for varied holiday traditions, now is the perfect time for parents, teachers and carers to encourage children to celebrate diversity.
There is nothing like the festive season to demonstrate how wonderfully diverse Australian society is. Over the Christmas and new year period, we have the privilege of witnessing and learning about myriad traditions and beliefs - from religious observances and spiritual practices to different interpretations of Santa Claus and multicultural holiday foods. However, for children, such diversity of practices, beliefs and experiences may be confusing. Some children may express this confusion through comments about others’ differences, such as ‘Your skin’s a funny colour’ or ‘Your lunch smells weird’.
While such comments may sound judgmental or discriminatory, they’re usually innocent quests to make sense of what is unfamiliar against their own experience. That is, they reflect children’s innate curiosity and thirst for learning. In fact, the Christmas period is the perfect opportunity to help children to appreciate and respect cultural diversity. With families partaking of a range of holiday traditions, adults can use differing practices to model curiosity and acceptance and encourage kids to be curious about, and celebrate, differences. Not only does cultivating curiosity about, and appreciation of, difference help to foster social cohesion and support others’ sense of inclusion and self-worth, it also contributes to children’s own self-worth and ability to develop and celebrate themselves as wonderful, unique individuals.
If you’re a parent, carer or teacher, try incorporating these practices into modelling and activities. It will not only foster inclusiveness and social cohesion, but promote your child’s own ability to celebrate their individuality.
For great resources to encourage children’s appreciation of diversity, check out the Be You website, an initiative of Beyond Blue. Of course, our child psychologists would love to answer your questions in comments or on our Instagram.
If your preferred sport or exercise involves high-impact landings or quickly changing direction, your knees may be vulnerable to common injuries. Safeguard your knees with some simple knee prehab.
Running. Football. Tennis. Netball. Basketball. Plyometrics. If you’re returning to a sport or exercise that involves high-impact landings and demands speed and agility, you probably know the perils for knees. These and many other sport and exercise types generate significant force through the knee, so it’s not surprising that the body’s biggest and most complex joint is commonly injured or subject to conditions that affect its movement. Common knee-related conditions our physios and sports chiropractors see among exercise and sports enthusiasts include ACL injury and Patellofemoral syndrome - each of which can mean a frustrating layoff and rehabilitation. So what’s the good news?
While there is no way to guard against knee injuries and conditions entirely, it is possible to reduce your risk by undertaking proper knee preparation. Aside from factors such as stance, running technique and shoe type, which can help to optimise your biomechanics, one of the best ways to protect knees is with an appropriate knee-focused warm-up targeting the quadriceps, hamstrings and calves and hip adductors and gluteus muscles. Here are a few moves to get your knees sport-ready. (If you’re not familiar with these exercises or correct form, please consult an expert before commencing.)
Easy knee prehab moves to minimise injury risk
Targets: Glutes
How to: 15 steps x 3 sets
Targets: Quadriceps, gluteus, adductors
How to: 10 squats x 2 sets
Targets: Hamstrings, glutes
How to: 2 bridges x 30 seconds
Targets: Gastrocnemius
How to: 2 sets x 15 seconds
Have a question about preparing your knees for your chosen sport or activity? Our sports physios and chiros are experts in devising personalised injury-prevention plans and would love to share their knowledge. Visit our Instagram for free advice or book a consultation at our Craigieburn or Thomastown clinic.
Does your backside stick out when you stand or walk? If so, your posture may need work. Try these self-assessment and correction tips from our chiropractors.
When you think of posture, you probably think of shoulders and whether they’re back or slouched or hunched over. But a lesser-known telltale sign of posture issues is a protruding backside when standing. Even if you’re not experiencing pain or other symptoms, this may indicate a condition known as anterior pelvic tilt or lower crossed syndrome.
Sometimes referred to as ‘Donald Duck posture’, this unnatural forward rotation of the pelvis was reported to affect as many as 75 per cent of females and 85 per cent of males in the journal Manual Therapy. This tilt may in turn cause over-extension of the lower back curve, or hyperlordosis. While many of us go about our lives with the condition for some time without apparent consequence, lack of symptoms may delay us seeking interventions that would help to restore correct posture and prevent deterioration and other conditions. The good news is that often at-home exercises and lifestyle practices recommended by a chiropractor can significantly improve this alignment before it becomes a painful problem.
If I'm not in pain, why does it matter?
Left unchecked, this posture anomaly may have a range of effects on everything from sports performance to daily functioning. Potential flow-on effects include:
Preventative solutions
If you suspect your pelvis may be excessively tilted, it's a good idea to request an assessment by a chiropractor, who can determine whether you need guided exercises and lifestyle adaptations, chiropractic treatment or both to correct your alignment. Depending on the severity of your tilt, you may be able to realise improvements from a combination of focusing on good standing posture, performing certain exercises and resisting practices such as working on a laptop while slouched in a chair, bed or couch. As a start, try working on these factors.
If you suspect you may have a problem with your posture or would like to learn practices to prevent spinal and postural issues, take advantage of our new FREE spinal health checks. It’s a 30-minute comprehensive assessment with a highly-qualified chiropractor and you’ll leave with a clear picture of your spinal health and recommendations (no obligation to engage in treatment). Book your Craigieburn or Thomastown appointment online or by calling (03) 9013-5987.
