Hello all.

Dr Brad here again.

We have been in and out of lockdowns for exactly one year now.

Today and over the next few weeks I am going to share with you my personal clinical observations and also what parents are telling me about how these lockdowns have affected their children.

Children are unfortunately the innocent victims here. They have already lost a year of normal childhood; a year of precious childhood that they will never get back. And for some children, this does not go without consequence.

Here is what I am hearing and what I am observing. You may want to keep an eye out for these things in your own children.

Some moms are telling me that their kids are not sleeping well and they are downright miserable during the day. Other moms are concerned that their kids are gaining excessive weight. And I am seeing some kids develop horrible posture.

Today, I want to talk a little bit more about sleep. Inadequate sleep according to the American Association of Pediatrics is associated with the following poor health outcomes; increased injuries, hypertension, obesity and depression.

And a couple of things that have a huge impact on sleep quality are WiFi and Electro-Magnetic Frequencies (EMFs). EMFs are emitted from every single electronic device. In fact, 75% of kids have more than one electronic device in their bedroom while sleeping.

If your kids are struggling with sleep, try doing this …. turn off cell phones, tablets and laptops, and unplug desktop computers and TVs; just during sleep time.

Every electronic device that would be in their bedroom.

Another thing is that our research at the American Posture Institute recommends that no one interact with any technology for at least one hour before bedtime, due to the hyper-stimulatory effect they have on your brain.

This effect prevents your brain from falling into its normal sleep rhythms. There is nothing wrong with old school. Read a book before bedtime.

Remember that children should normally sleep 9 to 12 hours every night and teenagers 8 to 10 hours every night.

Next time we are going to discuss weight gain and obesity in children so if you have any such concerns regarding your own kids, please be sure to join us.

Hello all.

Dr Brad here again and last time we discussed the connection between your flexibility and stress-resiliency.

Today, I am going to give you my best recommendations on how you can improve your flexibility.

These are things that I also do myself.

One thing you do is to have a deep-tissue massage every 4 to 6 weeks. This will increase the blood flow to your muscle tissue and flush out those toxins that make your muscles stiff.
Another thing you can do is yoga once or twice per week. You don’t have to be a yoga expert either. You can easily find a 15 to 20 minute beginners yoga routine on YouTube that would more than suffice. And you can do this right in the comfort of your own home.

The most important thing however is to have a balanced and properly aligned posture system. When your posture system is properly aligned, your muscles, ligaments and tendons are happy.

And what I mean by that is they are not too tense or too tight, and not too many knots or aches and pains, and your muscle tissue is elastic. Elastic means flexible not only for your muscles, but your spinal joints and skeletal joints (shoulders, hips, knees etc.) as well. And your body will relish in this flexibility both on the inside and on the outside.

Now, if you are curious about how your posture system lines up (or any of your kids), I would like invite you to come in for a Comprehensive Case Review.

There are 3 parts to this.

First is a detailed health history from as far back as you can remember. And the reason for this is because spinal problems and posture distortions can often times be traced back to early childhood. Even the birth process itself.

Next is a consultation regarding your current health status and any immediate concerns that you may have.

We follow this up with a detailed postural analysis. This is non-invasive, highly informative and will confirm if there are any legitimate postural concerns.

If there are, then we can discuss what would be the best thing to do next.

The Comprehensive Case Review is of no-charge to you.

To schedule your appointment, please call us at 905 335 LIFE(5433). If no one answers, please use our voicemail and clearly leave your name and your phone number. We will get back to you as soon as possible.

I promise that this will be a very informative and enlightening experience for you.

And of course, there is no obligation on your part.

Hello everyone.

Dr Brad here again and today I am going to explain the connection between your flexibility and stress resiliency.

When humans of all ages are stressed, we typically hold that stress and the resulting tension in our muscle tissue. Especially the facial muscles, the muscles around your jaw, the neck and shoulder muscles, the muscles along each side of your spinal column and those large muscles in and around your lower back.

When these muscles are continually stressed or there is very little relief from stress, they get too tight, they get too tense and they then lose their elasticity.

In other words, they lose their flexibility and your skeletal system then becomes stiff. Those nasty achy knots that you are all too familiar with.

And it does not stop there.

As our spinal column loses its flexibility, it is more susceptible to misalignments of the spinal vertebrae and spinal misalignments undetected and uncorrected will then cause collapse of your posture system.

As your posture system collapses, your body will not move right. And when it doesn’t move right, it will not work right.

Impossible!

And when it does not work right it will not feel right. This is when you will become symptomatic.

The most common symptoms of postural collapse are headaches, insomnia, irritability, fatigue, neck and shoulder ache, lower back ache, frequent colds, weight gain around the waistline and on the hips, and even high blood pressure.

And when your body is continually struggling with some or all of these symptoms, your resiliency to stress will be very low or even non-existent.

It is very important to understand that symptoms are never the primary problem. They are always secondary to something else which often times would be collapse of your posture system.

We have been told over and over for at least 100 years that symptoms are bad for you. Yes, they may be uncomfortable so as to get your attention but they actually perform a very important service. They are how your body alerts you that something is not right. It is not prudent to ignore them or to mask them chemically.

By restoring flexibility in your skeletal system, your body will start to move better.

And as your body starts to move better, it will start to work better.

A body that works better will have better stress resiliency.

A body that works better will also feel better.

No need for all those uncomfortable alarms (symptoms).

Next time I will discuss those things that you can do to gain better flexibility and thus ad to your stress resiliency.

Hello all.

Dr Brad here again and today we will continue our discussion on how to fight pandemic stress.

We already talked about cardio-vascular exercise and resistance (muscle training) exercises but two other things we must also consider are your mindset and your food choices.

Now, I am not an expert in either one of these areas but I think I can give you some good direction here.

Our brains process 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts every single day. And make no mistake; your body is listening to every single one of them. There are many, many studies citing how negative and fear-based thoughts have a detrimental impact on one’s body including your immune system.

And with the way things are right now during this whole pandemic thing, I am sure a lot of us are entertaining more negative thoughts than we typically would.

Let’s keep this in mind though; worrying about the future is quite pointless because no-one has a crystal ball. No- one can predict what will happen tomorrow.

A wise man told me many years ago that 95% of the things you worry about never come true in the first place and the 5% that do are never as bad as you thought they would be.

Similarly, dwelling in the past is also pointless because your past does not equal your future.

Focus instead on being present in the moment where you are free from self-judgement. Focus on the here and now. This is where you will find more inner-peace and calmness.

Meditation is also beneficial if you can find some quiet time for yourself throughout the day. And there is nothing wrong with teaching your children how to meditate. This is common practice in many cultures.

But, if you or anyone in your family is struggling with anger issues, depression or anxiety and you think professional help is in order, please reach out to me and I will refer you to one of my colleagues here in Burlington.

Regarding food choices, it is very easy to reach for those comfort foods in times of stress. The chips, crackers, soft-drinks, sweets, breads, pasta; let’s put alcohol on that list too.

All of these will mess with your blood sugars and your hormones leading to mood swings, weight gain and also predispose you to diabetes, heart disease and even cancer.

Some people really struggle with making healthy food choices. It takes a lot of discipline. If you are one who struggles with your food choices, try this.

Six days in a row eat really healthy food. Lots of fresh veggies, the occasional piece of fruit, healthy protein and healthy fats (seeds, nuts etc.).

Then on the seventh day, which we will call your cheat day, this is when you can eat your favorite junk foods.

You will be doing your mind and your body a huge favor!

Next time we will talk about how spinal alignment, flexibility and posture can help you fight stress.

Hello everyone.

Dr Brad here again and last time we learned about the 7 signs of pandemic stress.

If you are currently struggling with any of these, today and over the next 2 weeks I am going to give you some tips on how to build better stress resiliency within your body.
 
Where we need to start is to start doing those little things each and every day that will work towards moving us towards optimal health.

When we express health optimally, we then have better defenses and resiliency to anything that may tax our health including stress.

There are 5 things that we must consider here …

1 Cardio-vascular exercise (exercising your heart and lungs)
2 Resistance exercises (exercising your muscles)
3 Your mindset
4 Your food choices
5 Spinal alignment, posture and flexibility

Today, we are going to talk about the first two.

I know you guys are busy with lots of stuff, but these are easy to do. Commit to making the time to do them because the payoff is huge.

First off is your cardio training. I am a certified Personal Training Specialist with canfitpro and we recommend that everyone get 300 minutes of moderate intensity cardio exercise per week (45 minutes per day), or 150 minutes of vigorous cardio exercise per week (22 minutes per day).

This depends on you and your fitness level.

If you do not have a treadmill or a stationary bike in your home, when it is safe to do so, you can meet these requirements by going outside for a walk. Walking at a moderate pace for 45 minutes a day, or a brisk/speed-walk type pace for 22 minutes a day.

Next is your resistance exercises.

Canfitpro recommends exercising your large muscle groups at least 3 times per week.

You can easily do these right in your own home; push-ups for your upper body and deep knee bends or stationary lunges for your lower body. Three sets of 12 to 15 repetitions for each exercise will suffice.

The benefits here are too many to list. But in the context of this discussion, the two most pertinent ones are; increased metabolism at rest (which means you will burn more fat and lose weight), and secondly, a release of endorphins within your body.

Remember that endorphins are your feel-good hormones which also counteract those nasty stress hormones; adrenalin and cortisol.

As always, if you need any guidance here please reach out to me on fb. I would be more than happy to help you out.

Please join us again next week when we will talk about mindset and your food choices.

Hello everyone.

Dr Brad here again and today we are going to talk about stress.

And there is no doubt that a lot of us have been experiencing unprecedented levels of stress in our lives that past 12 months due to this whole pandemic thing.

Emotional stress, mental stress, psychological stress, chemical stress (more people are drinking alcohol, using drugs, eating junk food – these are sources of chemical stressors) and sadly, stress from physical trauma.

In 2014, Stats Canada reported that 23% of Canadians 15 years of age and older reported most days were “quite a bit stressful” or “extremely stressful”.I find these numbers very disturbing.

That is one in 4 people and young teenagers should not be stressed to that degree. And I would guess without a doubt that these numbers would be much different right now the way things are today; more than one in 4 and younger than 15 years of age.

This is unacceptable!!!

There are 2 hormones that are released into our bodies when we are in stress response. They are adrenaline and cortisol. When they are released in small amounts on an occasional basis, they are of no threat to us.

In fact, they are beneficial.

But, when they are released on a regular, consistent or daily basis and the concentration levels start to elevate in your blood and body tissues, and you are not getting any relief from these hormones, this is when things will go side-ways.

Now, some people are tuned in to their body. They are self-aware and can sense when they are in stress response. They know how to counter-act the stress response and return to that healthy balance.

Not everyone possesses this capacity however. And especially not kids who do not yet have the knowledge nor the life experience to draw upon. Kids are more interested in what going is on in their outer world and not so much what is going on in their inner world (their body).

Here are the 7 signs that your body is in a stress response (let’s call these the 7 signs of pandemic stress):

Exhaustion. You get up in the morning and you still feel tired and not at all rested.

Irritability. You have a short temper.

Frustration. Things that typically don’t frustrate you now do.

Lack of concentration. You have difficulty concentrating on the task at hand.

Increased pain syndromes. More headaches, neck and shoulder aches, and backaches.

Insomnia. No or very little quality sleep.

Weight gain. Weight gain around the waistline and on the hips.

If you have even one of these, your health potential is a risk.

If you are reading this and you are asking yourself … “What can I do to get out in front of this?”, or “ Is there a way out of this mess?”, I want you to know that I am going to do whatever I can to help you.

The first thing however is to become self-aware.

Keep an eye out for any of the seven signs of pandemic stress because once you become aware, then we can take the right steps to move forwards.

So, please make sure to follow me over the next few weeks.

It is very important!

Hello everyone.

Dr Brad here again.

Over the past few weeks we have talked about how certain household activities can cause some mom’s to have aches and pains in their neck, shoulders and lower back.

I also gave you some stretches and postural tips on how to prevent these things from happening.

If you have tried some of these and you’re still struggling, there is most likely an underlying problem. Symptoms such as aches and pains are often times the secondary problem. The underlying or primary problem in this circumstance, would logically be a spinal misalignment or postural distortion in the spine.

And this is what I can help you figure out.

What we would need to do first is a comprehensive case review.

A comprehensive case review is a thorough health history from as far back as you can remember up to the present day and a detailed postural analysis. This part is complimentary and will let us both know if you have an issue with your spine and posture system.

And if you do, and with your consent we would proceed with an interactive functional and neurological examination and structural radiographs (if required) to assess your spinal alignment and measure your posture.

Next, we would sit down together to review your radiographs. I will show you what the issues are, how they relate to your current problem(s) and more importantly and most importantly, what potential future health issues you need to be aware of.

Next we would discuss care plan options and then the decision to proceed is totally up to you.

If this sounds good to you, your next step is to pick up the phone and call to make an appointment for your comprehensive case review.

The phone number to call here in Burlington is 905 335 LIFE (5433).

If you get a voicemail, please clearly leave your name and phone number and we will return your call as soon as we can.

I look forward to meeting you in person and I look forward to helping you reclaim your health.

Better posture helps your body move better. And when it moves better it works better. And when it works better you feel better.

Hello all.

Dr Brad Ivanchuk here again and the past few weeks we have discussed how activities around the house can for some mom’s result in aches, pains and stiffness in the neck, shoulders and lower back.

Specifically, activities such as breast feeding, standing at the kitchen sink and vacuuming.

I also gave you a few suggestions on how to change your posture during such activities to minimize any aches and pains.

If you have tried these and you are still struggling somewhat, there is one more thing you may want to try.

You do it every morning as soon as you get up, it’s easy to do and I promise you can get it done in 5 minutes or less because I know how busy mornings can be especially when you have kids.

What I am talking about is something called active stretching.This is how you do it …First, sit on the edge of your bed in an upright posture. Do 30 sec of nodding your head ‘yes’, followed by 30 seconds of turning your head back and forth (‘no’) and finish with 30 seconds of side to side (tilting your head ear to shoulder; right then left etc.).

A nice comfortable pace and a nice comfortable range of motion. You do not have to force anything.

By the way, if you get dizzy or lightheaded doing this stop right away.

You really need to have your neck posture checked because this should not happen.

Next, stand with feet shoulders apart and bend forwards (your hands don’t have to go past your knees) and stand up straight again. Do this for 30 seconds. And then with hands on hips rotate side to side for 30 seconds followed by tilting side to side for 30 seconds.

Again, a nice comfortable pace and a nice comfortable range of motion. Do not force anything.

So, what is this going to do for you?

It is going to increase the blood flow to the muscles in your neck and lower back, and it is going to wake up and warm up the spinal joints in your neck and lower back.

You will thus be better prepared to take on the tasks of your day.

If you do try this, let me know how it works for you.

I always enjoy your feedback.Feel free to leave a comment or a question on our FB page.

Hello everyone.

Dr Brad here again and the last couple of posts we talked about how activities such as breast-feeding and standing at the kitchen sink can cause some mom’s to experience back pain and stiffness.

And I gave you a couple of tips on how to remedy this.

Now, what about that vacuum cleaner?

Here is another home activity that can be very physically demanding especially if you have a lot of area to do.

The leaning forwards at a slight angle for prolonged periods can irritate the spinal joints and spinal nerve roots in your lower back resulting in backache. And the repetitive arm motion back and forth can cause neck and shoulder pain in some people.

If this sounds familiar to you, try changing it up a bit. Here are 3 tips for you to consider.

First of all, instead of leaning forwards and using your arm, bring the vacuum closer to your body and move with the vacuum. A few steps forwards and a few step backwards etc. In other words, move the vacuum with your legs instead of with your arm. This works exceptionally well in the large open areas.

Save your arm for the nooks and crannies and any over-head stuff. This can both be a real back-saver and shoulder saver for you.

Secondly, consider investing in a smaller lightweight vacuum. Technology has come a long way and they are quite strong and powerful. They also include a lot of back-friendly attachments.

And finally, enroll your life-partner or the kids to help with such chores. After all, you guys have tons of other things to do around the house and a little bit of extra help goes a long way especially the way things are right now.

Let me know ow this works for you.

I always appreciate your feedback.

Please feel free to leave a question or comment.

A common complaint from hard working mom’s just like yourself is backache while standing at the kitchen sink while washing dishes or preparing food.

The reason for this is when you are standing and bent forwards, even at the slightest angle, this puts a lot of strain on your lower spine.

This type of posture for prolonged periods will irritate the spinal joints and the spinal nerve roots in your lower spine causing that backache.

If this sounds like you, here are 2 simple things you can try that may help.

First of all, try opening the cupboard door under the sink and make some space to put one foot up on the lower shelf.

This will allow you to move in closer to the sink and thus stand in a more upright neutral posture.

 The more upright and neutral your posture is, the less stress there will be on your posture system as a whole. And remember to switch back and forth the every now and then; switching between your right leg and left leg.

If your kitchen isn’t designed this way, try using a small step stool 8 to 10 inches high.
Secondly, to give yourself a break simply sit on a bar stool.

Either one of these techniques will take a load of stress and strain off your lower spine and can be a real back saver for you.

After all, you have tons of other things to do, right?

Let me know how this works for you. I always welcome your feedback.

Feel free to leave a comment or question if you have one.