No matter what anyone says, the effort required to change unhealthy behaviour can be tough. And well, like you, I’m not perfect either. One of my unhealthy behaviours is engaging in negative self talk and occasionally sliding into imposter syndrome. For those of you that don’t know, this is when you think you are inadequate despite any evidence that proves otherwise (think self-doubt). This includes, the message going around in my head “who am I to tell you about improving your health if I can’t change this one thing”. But the point is, the struggle to make consistent healthy change is real.

Unhealthy behaviours can be physical, mental or emotional.

smoking-unhealthy Behaviours can be a combination of all 3. Some days are better than others. One day you can do all the right things, wake up fresh, get in some exercise, eat clean, stay positive and generally glow all things health, all while working, spending time with your family and keeping calm in peak hour traffic. Then the next day, it’s frantic, you’re tired, life’s somehow harder and you can fall completely off track. Maybe that looks like craving and eating a whole block of chocolate, drinking a few too many cups of coffee, sitting on the couch rather than getting in some movement, an extra glass of wine, getting cranky and or going to bed too late. I’ve been there and I’m going to make a giant leap and take a guess that you have too. The thing we know about long term and sustainable healthy living, consistency is key. If you stay on track for longer and more often, you will start to see results.

How are your health savings?

health-savings-piggy-bank Just like building up savings in your bank account, it can take time and ongoing effort to see rewarding growth over time. It’s the habits over months – years that compounds over your lifetime and determines the quality of your investment. Your body is an investment. And while more replacement parts are becoming more available via hip replacements, organ transplants and even new 3D printing options, it’s worthwhile trying to avoid unnecessary intervention where you can. Sometimes the rewards of your efforts are subtle. This could be a little more energy in the morning, less stiffness or less pain, less often. It is a natural human tendency that we don’t notice the pain that we don’t have. The absence of discomfort is not a very good motivator. In general, we are either motivated by moving towards pleasure or away from pain. This is exactly why we want to avoid using pure motivation to stay on track.

Motivation doesn’t work!

Over and over again, we see that motivation doesn’t really work. Things that are far more likely to work include sticking to a routine. I know, sounds boring right! If you make good decisions purely by operating on automatic pilot, you are far more likely to see results. Then you will be able to get a new perspective, soar above your goals. automatic-pilot-behaviours If your subconscious is working against you, or your healthy habits are irregular at best, you will need to start using motivation, determination and willpower to try and carry you towards what you really want. Your level of effort just went up massively. How long can you keep it up?

Healthy habits are key to changing unhealthy behaviour

This is why we want to learn and develop strategies and form daily habits where we don’t even consider doing anything other than making great choices. We would love to hear from you, leave us a message below about what your health goal is. Or if you prefer face to face, you can make an appointment with one of our Osteopaths, who regularly work with people wanting to make positive health changes. This will help us to keep giving you the tools you need to keep you on track. We believe in you and that you have the capacity to change unhealthy behaviour and we will continue to support you on your journey.
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I get it, pelvic floor activation exercises can be boring if not infuriating. In fact, I’ve lost count of how many times people tell me that pelvic floor exercises don’t work. When I dig a little more to find out about what they have been doing to exercises or activate these muscles, it often turns out they are being performed incorrectly, or not activating at all. Simply put, if you are not engaging the pelvic floor, it is not going to get stronger and you won’t see results! So what can be done to ignite the correct pelvic muscles and how can we maximise them to get the best response in the shortest amount of time possible?

1.  Identify the Pelvic Floor Muscles

While this sounds like a no brainer, so often, people don’t actually know which muscles are the pelvic floor. Are they the ones in your inner thigh? (No) It’s your lower tummy muscles right?  (NO). It involves clenching your butt muscles! (Wrong again). If you don’t know which muscles you are meant to be contracting, there is no possibility you will improve the way you want. The pelvic floor muscles attach basically from the inside of your pubic bone (below your tummy) and connect to your sit bones (the bony bits you literally sit on) and to your coccyx on the internal surface. To keep it simple, it is basically where you would place a panty liner in your underwear.
what-is-the-pelvic-floor

2.  Foundations of Pelvic Floor Activation

Your pelvic floor muscles have a number of functions, including opening and closing bowels and urinary tract. Just as a once off exercise, you can either stop your flow while going to the toilet to provide your self with the sensory feedback to feel where the muscles are. Or alternatively, you can just imagine doing this and feel into your body to identify which muscles contract and then relax. We don’t want to start a new habit of doing this, as we can start to create other issues. Learn why not to do your pelvic floor exercises on the toilet here.

3.  Activate with Breathing

The pelvic floor should naturally and gently move as a part of the normal breathing cycle. As you breathe in, your pelvic floor should gently descend and as you breathe out, it should gently contract and lift towards your head. This is the same movement pattern that your thoracic diaphragm should do with breathing. Many people don’t have great breathing patterns, so working with this can really supercharge your pelvic floor function. Gently visualise your pelvic floor lowering and relaxing as you breathe in, at the same time, allow your tummy to expand and gently get bigger. Then as you breathe out, gently lift your skin away from your underwear and gently draw your tummy muscles in towards your spine. In order to amplify the effect, you can gently purse your lips and blow out as if you are blowing up a balloon, or breathing out fire. breathe-out-with-pelvic-floor-exercise

4.  Short and Long Contraction Activations

We need to be able to contract the pelvic muscles immediately and quickly on demand, such as with coughing to avoid any immediate incontinence issues. In addition, we need to be able to hold on for a few minutes if we are stuck in traffic in the car. Therefore, quick short contractions plus some longer holds can be useful in order to train the muscles to work how and when we need them. In order to make a start, we suggest you do 8 short contractions (with breathing out) that last a couple of seconds. Then perform this 3x per day, known as a set. You want at least 1 minute between each set. Then we want to do one long hold, basically contract and lift the floor for as long as you can (there is a reasonable chance 30 seconds may be a long time). Make sure you are not holding your breath as you do this. Then slowly build up so you are able to lightly activate for at least 1 minute. As a maximum, 100 pelvic floor contractions over the course of a day would be a lot. If you find yourself doing more than this, please reduce down. Quality is more important than quality.

5.  Don’t Over-Contract

don't-over-contract-pelvic-floor What does this mean? You don’t want to form a habit of contracting the pelvic floor muscles all day long. This can start to lead to its’ own unique set of challenges and issues. You don’t want to contract any other muscle all day long either, so your pelvic floor shouldn’t be treated any differently. In fact, you can start to develop issues such as urinary retention, which can predispose you to bladder and kidney infections or stones anywhere along the pathway. If you want to learn more about pelvic floor activation, BOOK NOW with one of our experienced Osteopaths.
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Tension headaches and what to do about them

headache tension forehead

One of the most common types of headache is the tension headache – in fact about half the population has experience with them. Tension headaches can be incredibly painful, annoying and debilitating, especially when they are frequent. Thankfully, there are several things you can do to prevent and treat them.

So what is a tension headache?

It is usually a headache that feels like non-pulsing pressure or tightness, on one but usually both sides of the head. It is usually associated with stress, and you may feel more on-edge than your usual self. You might also have some other associated symptoms, such as noise sensitivity and a tight neck.

tension headache stress

Why do tension headaches happen?

This is a surprisingly complicated question. Tension headache is a primary headache – which means it doesn’t have any other known cause. A better name for it might be musculoskeletal headache, but this hasn’t been definitively proven. Some known contributors to tension headache are: Stress (funnily enough…) and its effects on the body Tension in neck and jaw muscles Eye strain or jaw pain

If its not a tension headache, what could it be?

Migraine without aura, also called common migraine, is experienced by about 10% of people, and more frequently in women.It differs from tension headache in that it usually happens on 1 side of the head, throbs with the pulse, and is often accompanied by some other ‘weird’ symptoms. These can include sensitivity to light, visual disturbance, sensitivity to smell and other strange sensations and feelings.

Prevention is better than cure in the long run

walking or being outdoors reduces tension

There are a few easy things you can do to try to prevent tension headaches from occurring. These include reducing physical stress on your body: Set your computer workstation up so the monitor is a comfortable distance away and slightly below your eye level. Limit aggravation from hats, goggles or tight hairstyles. Make sure your eyesight has been checked, and update if its time! Avoid holding your phone between your ear and shoulder. Make sure you’ve drunk enough water – if you’re unsure, have a few glasses and see if it helps!

This also includes reducing your stress overall. Exercise is by far the most effective method for reducing stress and managing anxiety. It doesn’t even really matter what sort of exercise it is, as long as you are moving your body. Meditation and yoga are often thrown around as stress relief, and they are worth a try, but if you personally find it aggravating then find another way to release tension. You could try art or craft, cooking, martial arts, walking in nature – anything you find relaxing really!

Treating tension headaches

  • The quickest, and easiest thing to try first is having a few glasses of water.drinking water may help treat the headache
  • Massage and trigger point therapy have shown to be successful in treating headaches, and our therapists would love to help you out.
  • Pain killing medication may be effective, you should always talk to a pharmacist before taking any new medication.
  • Cold or heat on your head and neck may be effective. This one really comes down to personal preference. Some people shudder at the thought of putting an ice pack on, while other find great relief from a cool washcloth on the face. Give both a try and see which you respond to.
  • Have a rest or a sleep, if possible. We are much more sensitive to pain when we are sleep deprived.
  • Breathing exercises, such as this short, tension-busting meditation:

Keep an eye out for our headache checklist – coming soon!

If you would like to speak to someone about your headaches, you can Book Online Now with one of our therapists. You might like to see Courtney, who has a special interest in treating Headaches.
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Lower back pain vs sciatica – how do we know the difference?

We know what it is like to have lower back pain and not knowing what is going on. We start asking questions such as “Is it sciatica?”

Could this be a disc bulge, a muscle spasm or something else?

You’re in pain and everyone has advice for you.

That’s great, except that it is conflicting and confusing.

No idea what to do?

no idea what to do  

Your brother told you to use heat and your friends said no, use ice instead.

Someone said do stretches, while your work mate is pulling you over a chair telling you to sit down and take it easy.

People can see you are in pain and start offering you random pain killer medications out of their purse.

You’re tempted.

No matter what happens, never take a random medication that someone has offered you, even from your grandparents!

Sciatica has its own unique set of signs and symptoms, but always includes referred or shooting pain down the back of the leg.

The pain may just be in the buttock and thigh, however may spread down beyond the knee and into the foot.

It may include numbness and tingling.

There is usually lower back pain, but not always.

And in addition, there are lots of causes of sciatica.

lower back pain

If you don’t have the leg pain, you don’t have sciatica.

Even if you have pain at the front of the leg, this is not sciatica either.

However that does not mean you don’t have some other cause of low back pain, hip pain, groin issue or pelvic complaint.

Common other injuries include a facet sprain (a joint in your lower back, this is a ligament injury, similar to spraining your ankle), a disc injury or a muscle spasm.

The length of time the injury takes to heal varies according to the specific problem you have sustained and how significant the injury is.

During the injury phase, you may continue to aggravate it, which can slow down the healing time.

In addition, even when you’re out of pain, if your back continues to be weak, you will be at risk of re-injury for a period of time after the event.

This is where knowing where you are on the path to recovery is helpful.

A health practitioner, such as an Osteopath can assess, diagnose and formulate a treatment plan with you.

This way you can get back to doing the activities you love in the shortest amount of time possible.

Then there may be a focus on injury prevention, this way you are less likely to experience the same problem over and over.

Taking random advice from loving and caring friends, family or strangers is never advised.

Even if it sounds just like what “Aunty Betty” had.

This is why you should see a professional.

treatment plan for you

If you are experiencing back pain, sciatica symptoms or muscle spasm, now is a good time to find out what is going on.

No amount of google search is going to give you a definitive answer.

Only seeing a qualified health professional is going to be able to definitely provide this for you.

If you would like to make an appointment or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at any time.

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