Reach Physio Solutions

When more exercise doesn’t always mean more benefits.

Friday, January 23rd, 2009 | General | No Comments

HI Everyone! A blog does not replace the advice of your physician or health professional. Use common sense before you apply or attempt to apply any suggestions you read on the web!

Sue Shalanski

Want to get interesting health-related articles coming straight to your email box? Subscribe to my newsletter on the right hand side of this page!

If you do a Google search for “benefits of exercise”, the results are in the hundreds of millions. When you Google the results for “effects of too much exercise”, the numbers are exponentially lower…why? Because outside of the Sea to Sky corridor, and other pockets of this planet with exercise or outdoors obsessed folks, people DON’T MOVE much. Around here though, I’ve learnt that a little caution in required regarding the additional benefits of exercise when you’ve either had several previous injuries, are  a bit cardio-obsessed or start up a little too much too fast…

› Continue reading

Tags: arthritis, athletes, cartilage damage, core muscles, joint pain, muscle imbalances, osteoarthritis, running

Is the initial commitment wavering a little?

Friday, January 23rd, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | No Comments

Some wisdom from Lara…

How to Motivate Yourself to Exercise: It’s All in the Presentation

After the initial excitement of a new commitment wears off, it’s all too easy to slip into old, comfortable patterns. A secret to staying motivated is to stay connected to the positive benefits of your goal. Sometimes getting out for your workout can seem like a chore…but if you describe the activity by its results…you are far more likely to sustain your valuable new habit.

Which is more energizing…. “I am going for a walk/run/ride/workout because I have to”….or “I am creating more joy in my life through movement” ? It’s all in how you frame it.

You made the choice to commit to yourself, and the choice came from a positive intention. What was that intention again?

After deciding on what you would love to get out of exercising daily, find a way to describe your daily commitment in a way that reminds you of what you are getting out of it:  i.e. “I am off to go get my energy fix”…. “I am getting my upper body ready for the best biking season ever!” …”I am just heading out to make sure I look hot in my favorite dress next month”

You are in charge. Instead of taking about what you ‘have’ to do….talk -about what you are choosing to take charge of in your life.

Lara Williams is a Vancouver-based Life and Productivity Coach and Motivational Speaker for

get on with it Coaching.  www.getonwithit.ca

Tags: commitments, exercise, habits, Lara Williams, motivation, patterns

A word on work and love

Thursday, January 15th, 2009 | General | No Comments

As my roommates will attest, I have been perfecting my workaholic persona this past year or more, seeing loads of patients (which I always enjoy) but mixing that with running a business while simultaneously learning how to run a business…staying barely one step ahead of things on a regular basis!

So what’s the whole purpose of this? Well, I think I could sum it up simply by saying, I would like everyone to experience physiotherapy in a way that allows them to feel like they are awakening to either a new part  of themselves yet undiscovered or re-awakening an old part of themselves they thought was gone (more often then not, that youthful feeling you USED to have when rolling out of bed was easy and you almost “sprung” out of bed your joints felt  so light….) That’s why I get up early almost everyday and stay up a little too late, a little too often. But it’s worth it. I get great satisfaction from my work- people so often comment “You sure seem to love what you do”!

May you try this mini-motto I’ve decided to adopt (for the week initially) but maybe for good, even better! It is this…

“Do what you LOVE, love what you do!”

Easy. Simple. Turns things around in my brain anyhow, especially when Im facing something I could procrastinate on.  ”Love is all you need”, right?

Sue

Eat Your Greens!

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | No Comments

Marissa

The really cool and unique thing about greens is they balance out a meal with their bitter flavour. Bitter balances out sweet and is the best way to stop those sweet cravings. If you start your meal with green veggies your taste buds will get that bitter flavour which stimulates digestive enzymes and balances out the sweet flavours that you have in your meal. The sweet flavours in a typical dinner include the carbohydrates such as pasta, bread, rice and other grains. Surprisingly meat is also a sweet flavour. Imagine if you have a meal of pasta with meat sauce and a slice of garlic bread, which all contain “sweet” flavours. You fill up as full as you can and then 30 minutes later you want desert. The easiest thing to change is to add a green veggie; ideally at the start of the meal.

Read more about greens and get ways to eat them at Healthier Me Blog

I invite you to sign up for my FREE recipe book and articles at www.ahealthierme.ca

Some Samples of Workout DVD’s

Monday, January 12th, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | No Comments

Ellen Barrett’s Fat Burning Fusion

Dance Moves for Dummies- good for a SMILE!

GO Vitality

Rockin’ Body

Tags: 10 minute abs, cardio, exercise DVD's, fat burn, youtube

Your best friend could be keeping you healthier

Monday, January 12th, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | No Comments

My Sammy-J

Click here to listen to a 3 minute podcast.

Tags: dog walking, Dr. Oz, Dr. Roizen, fitness, RealAge, You the Owner's manual

Snowshoeing, it’s just walking on snow right?

Monday, January 12th, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | 1 Comment

Well, not according to the guys making this video. After watching a number of videos on snowshoeing, I quickly realized that snowshoeing is something meant to be done, not WATCHED! Who would have thought it could practically be an “extreme sport”?

Make Room for Your New Habit

Friday, January 9th, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | No Comments

Habits take time to develop. Creating a new habit takes repetition over a number of days, and because it is something you aren’t used to, you will need reminders.

Welcome your commitment to regular exercise by making time and space for it.  This isn’t just something you are throwing on your to-do list. This is a departure from your regular routine, and its going to take some resources to sustain.

You will need to set aside time. Time to set and review your goals, and of course, the time for exercise. You will be more successful if you treat exercise like your number one priority everyday and slot in special times for it and protect those appointments like gold.

Make physical space for exercise in your world. Designate special spots in your home or workplace to house your runners and other gear that aren’t hidden away (out of sight= out of mind). If you are exercising outdoors in wet weather, have a designated drying area, and keep your gear and clothes in a place that will remind you to get up and go. If it helps to post signs, pictures or other visual reminders, then do so. Surround yourself with as much as it takes to keep you focused on this new habit, and soon enough it will become second nature to you.

For the first little while, it is the consistent reminders that will help to instill the tendency into your brain. Experts have concluded that it takes 21 days of repetition to make a lasting change. Arm yourself for the 30 day challenge with reminders and your new habit will become a part of your lifestyle!

Lara Williams is a Vancouver-based Life and Productivity Coach and Motivational Speaker for get on with it Coaching.  www.getonwithit.ca

Tags: 30 days, goal-setting, lara wiliams, life coach, motivaton, Vancouver

Are you comfortable with being uncomfortable?

Thursday, January 8th, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | No Comments

Have you heard the stories of lottery winners who win multi-million dollar prizes but wind up back to their “pre-winning” financial life in a few short years? How is that possible, you ask? Or the person who loses the a large amount of weight, multiple times over but always returns to the same weight eventually. A few years ago, they labelled this “the set point”. But we’re not really sure what that is.  Or the cycle of committing to exercising regularly, that starts with great gusto but tends to taper down, and then gets kick-started again, only to diminish again…you’re getting the picture!

Humans have several built in thermostats- some of which are essential to our survival- called our homeostasis systems, that regulate us to a sustainable level. By ensure there’s not too much or not too little of something, we are kept alive. Even our brains have this regulation by ensuring that at the first sign of fear and doubt that we find some sort of stabilizing mechanism to return to “normal” quickly through chemical signals.

With these internal thermostats, if temporarily, the heat rises( in the form of doubt or stress) systems kick in quickly to bring us back to comfort. I don’t know about you but whenever I’ve made a significant change in life (that’s lasted) I’ve had to be comfortable with being uncomfortable because when this unconscious mechanism of temperature control activates, we quickly slip back into the status quo if we aren’t watching. That’s how the money quickly disappears (when you’re only used to not having any you might spend it really quickly because it feels unsafe to have so much around…) or the weight quickly comes back (because the attention people are giving  to your new physique make you a little nervous, perhaps) or the ease of skipping a workout takes over.

Being uncomfortable, in my mind at least, means standing  in the presence of some sort of fear that we choose to acknowledge but don’t give any “air time” to. Is there a situation in your life where you’ve allowed fear to share your space without listening to it’s whining, like a child who’s stuck in a rant but you’ve chosen to tune them out to discourage the behavior…

How long did it take, before it wasn’t difficult to be that uncomfortable any longer? Could you go there again? Would you be willing to go there every day, just a little, if you knew the long range outcome would be nothing short of amazing? Do you have a story where you stuck with the discomfort and it paid off immeasurably? If so, quite likely your story would inspire others because these stories are so easy for us to relate to- you ALL have a story like this one, I’m SURE…

When I was 16, I decided it was time to stop being afraid of hospitals. This is a bit of a strange fear and to this day, I cannot tell you why, but it would cause me extreme stress just walking inside a hospital.  I decided that in order to overcome this fear, I would be a volunteer at the University of Alberta Hospital and get rid of this silly “fear”. I secretly hoped they’d assign me to the gift shop but instead I was posted to the spinal cord rehabilitation unit for patients recovering from life-altering injuries. Some were even my own age or only slightly older. In particular, I remember a rodeo rider who was in his twenties who fearlessly popped wheelies in his wheelchair down the long hallways while I held my breath. I dreaded my shifts. I watched the clock endlessly. I survived, essentially. But over the months, I started to not hate my “hospital” day so much. Sometimes, I could feel myself let go a little and laugh a little more while I was there. At that time, I had never considered being a physiotherapist, I mean that might involve having to WORK in one of these scary places!!! Little did I know at that time that I was opening the door for my career. Such a minor little “discomfort” I had to overcome to start a really cool life!

Got a story you would like to share? Email it to me and I’ll share it (anonymously if you like) to the  group. Hey, I bet the idea of posting your story probably makes some of you a little uncomfortable already. GOOD! Start writing. I look forward to having a stuffed email inbox!

These won’t be part of MY daily coffee habit…

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | No Comments

I confess I purchase a (drip) coffee daily, but this breakdown of the “nutritional content” of a few Starbucks beverages had me quite surprised. When you add the fact that people tend to eat the same calories worth of food whether they have water or a hefty drink like this just before (meaning our body may not notice it’s fullness as well when the calories come in a  liquid form), it’s DANGEROUS BUSINESS!!!