How many hours a day do you spend sitting? Reading, using computers, driving, watching TV —all that sitting adds up, especially if you have poor posture. Did you know that lower back pain and other musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions account for one third of missed work in Canada?
It’s time to Straighten Up Canada and improve your spinal health!Canada’s chiropractors have developed an app for that. Straighten Up Canada is a FREE, easy-to-perform posture program that you can use in just three minutes a day. It’s the only free Canadian app specifically designed and completely dedicated to improving posture and spinal health.
The Straighten Up Canada program can be practised almost anywhere and is a great warm up, cool down, stand-alone routine or ergonomic break.
Good posture will help you to:

• Look and feel even better than you already do,
• Prevent back aches and muscle pains,
• Decrease wear and tear on your joints,
• Use less energy for daily tasks, and
• Increase your spine’s flexibility and resilience.

Straighten Up Canada app features:

• 12 unique posture exercises
• Adult and youth exercise options
• Easy to follow Image stills and video content
• Tracking function
  • Set personal reminders
  • Track your progress

• Share your posture exercise progress with friends through social media
• Learn about your back and common back-related problems
• Find a Chiropractor in your area quickly and easily
• Read the latest blog posts on MSK health

Watch the Straighten Up Canada exercise videos online For Adult  |  For Youth

The development of this app has been supported by the CCA and all provincial associations.

Participating in sports is a great way to stay active and in some sports, a level of physical contact is required. However, this physical contact can sometimes result in injury. Although we hope that you are able to play safely, concussions are a common traumatic brain injury that can occur in high-contact sports. This injury can be serious, and it’s important to know what steps you should take in the event that you suspect that you or someone you know has suffered a concussion.
​

​Here are five things you should know about concussions: 

1. A concussion may be caused by a direct blow to the head, face, neck, or impact elsewhere on the body that transmits force to the head.1

1. There are multiple ways to get a concussion such as from falling, or a car or bike accident. When it comes to physical activity, concussions have a greater risk of occurring in sports that involve body contact, collisions, and/or moving at high speeds.

1. A concussion can be difficult to diagnose because clinical symptoms and signs can change and may evolve over time. The diagnosis of a concussion is based on the assessment of a range of symptoms (i.e., headache, difficulty concentrating, feeling like being in a fog, or emotional lability), signs (i.e., loss of consciousness or balance disturbance), cognitive impairment (i.e., confusion or slowed reaction times) and neurobehavioural changes, such as irritability.

1. Recovery: When properly managed, 80–90% of concussions resolve in a short period of about 7–10 days, although the recovery time frame may be longer in children and adolescents.1

1. Often, the most important factor in concussion management is physical and cognitive rest until the symptoms resolve. From there, a step-by-step guideline is followed that slowly increases physical and cognitive exertion before returning to one’s regular active lifestyle.1 However, emerging evidence has suggested that starting aerobic exercise sooner rather than later after a diagnosed concussion contributes to a faster recovery and return to sport, school and work.2
   “Historically, concussion management was based on a simple recipe of rest until your symptoms go away.  However, what we have realized is that in many people symptoms take time to resolve and prolonged periods of rest may have a negative impact because rest was interpreted as no activity in sport, school, work, screen and social activities,” said Dr.Michael Hutchison, director of the concussion program at the MacIntosh clinic and co-author of the study. “We still believe that a brief reduction in activity from normal levels is beneficial,” he said. “However, we recommend maintaining activity levels that do not exacerbate symptoms in the acute period.”

Many chiropractors with first responder training commonly work with other healthcare professionals to support sports teams. Part of their role is to manage cases of suspected concussions and refer for additional medical attention as needed. Chiropractors can also help to co-manage the recovery and return to play of athletes.
If at any point you believe someone may have a concussion, contact medical staff immediately to assess the situation. Concussions should never be taken as a light injury and must be attended to. For more information on athlete-related concussions, take a look at our blog post on Returning to Sports after a Concussion.


References

1. McCrory P, Meeuwisse WH, Aubry M, et al. Consensus statement on concussion in sport—the 4th international conference on concussion in sport held in Zurich, November 2012. Br J Sports Med. 2013; 47(5): 250-8. doi: 1136/bjsports-2013-092313.
2. Lawrence DW, Richards D, Comper P, Hutchison MG. Earlier time to aerobic exercise is associated with faster recovery following acute sport concussion. PLoS One. 2018 Apr 18;13(4):e0196062. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0196062. eCollection 2018. PubMed PMID: 29668716; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5905975.)

​​Now that it’s summer, many people are deep into their favourite sports and recreational activities. A common result of recreational sports is repetitive strain or injury due to overuse. Two of the most popular injuries that occur are tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow. Even if you don’t play tennis or golf, these injuries can easily happen to you over time.
Tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow are different types of injuries that both involve forearm muscles, but impact where the muscles connect to the joint on opposite sides of the elbow. They both relate to inflammation and damage in the elbow and involve the wearing down of different tendons and the slowing of their ability to repair themselves.
What are the differences between the two?
Tennis Elbow

• Tennis elbow involves the muscles and tendons of your forearm that extend to your wrist and fingers. Symptoms may develop gradually, with mild pain that slowly worsens over time. Tennis elbow usually doesn’t come from an injury, but rather from overuse of the tendons in your forearm.
• Symptoms include weak grip strength and a pain or burning sensation on the outer part of the elbow. Usually, they get worse when you use your forearm in activities like holding a racquet (hence “tennis” elbow), turning a wrench, or shaking hands.

Golfer’s Elbow

• Golfer’s Elbow also involves the forearm muscles. In this case, we’re talking about the muscles that attach from the wrist and go to the “funny bone” area of the elbow near the inner bump. These muscles are responsible for wrist flexion (or the twisting motion of the wrist), which explains its connection to golf.
• Symptoms include pain or tenderness near the funny bone, or inner bump of the elbow, as well as reduced strength in your grip. This type of injury can happen outside of sports activities: workers that regularly complete tasks that involve repetitive wrist flexion or “twisting” or forearm pronation (turning the palm downwards) commonly suffer from golfer’s elbow.

Luckily, there are some exercises and stretches applicable to both conditions that you can do to help manage your symptoms. Here are some options that can help with both tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow injuries:
Common Stretches

1. Wrist Stretch (tennis elbow): Hold your arm out in front of you, palm facing down, and pull your hand and fingers back towards you using your other hand. Do so gently so as not to cause pain. This shouldn’t be painful, so if it hurts, pull more gently for a slight stretch. This should stretch your forearm. Hold for 30 seconds, relax, and repeat three times.
2. Wrist Stretch (golfer’s elbow): This exercise is similar to the one for tennis elbow, but the hand is inverted to the other direction. Hold your arm out in front of you, palm facing up, and gently pull your hand and fingers back towards your body using your other hand. Hold for 30 seconds, then relax. Repeat three times. You can do these stretches throughout your day.

Common Exercises

1. Wrist Extension (tennis elbow): One of the common range of motion exercises for tennis elbow is wrist extension. Begin with your elbow at a 90-degree angle, palm facing down, resting on a table’s surface. Gently extend your wrist to lift it off the table (this should not be painful). Repeat ten times. As you progress you can add weight, like holding a water bottle, to add resistance and incorporate strengthening into the exercise.
2. Wrist Flexion (golfer’s elbow): This exercise is similar to the wrist exercise above, but the palm is in the other direction. For the wrist flexion exercise, begin with your elbow at a 90-degree angle, palm facing up, resting on a table’s surface. Gently extend your wrist to lift it off the table towards the ceiling (this should not be painful). Repeat ten times. You can also add weight resistance to add strength training to the exercise.
3. Grip Strengthening: For this exercise, all you need is a squishy ball or “stress ball.” Hold the ball in your hand and gently squeeze. Hold for five seconds, relax, and repeat ten times. This exercise is helpful for both tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow.
4. Strength Exercise: One of the common strengthening exercises you can do is informally called the “hammer exercise.” You will need a hammer as your weight resistance. Hold the handle of the hammer, and keep your elbow at 90 degrees, rested flat on a table’s surface. Slowly rotate the hammer towards the centre of your body, turning the direction of your palm downwards. Then slowly reverse the motion, rotating the hammer outwards—your palm begins facing up with the heavy side of the hammer pulling on your arm. Rest briefly. Repeat ten times.

You can also manage your pain by modifying the activities causing the pain, such as reducing the repetition or the duration of the problematic activities. You can also seek chiropractic care, which would include the stretches and exercises listed above. You might also be able to obtain compression or stability braces for your elbow (available from your chiropractor or you can purchase over the counter tension sleeves from your local pharmacy). You could also explore other treatments such as laser or shockwave therapy.

​Canadian Chiropractic Association

The Greens First® Revolution
​Greens First® is the delicious, fast and easy way for the entire family to enjoy the phytonutrient and antioxidant benefits of a diet rich in dark greens and brightly colored fruits and vegetables in one, easy-to-use product. Join the Greens First Revolution to maximize your health and overall well-being!*
Greens First® contains Certified Organic fruits, vegetables and barley grass which are first juiced, then spray dried at low temperatures, leaving all the important nutrients and live enzymes intact.

We have been undergoing renovation this summer and are pleased to announce the addition of new offices and a wheelchair accessible back access to the building.  Not only have we added space, but we have added two new practitioners to our clinic!

We would like to welcome Mackenzie Gregson (Registered Massage Therapist) and Margie Hartley (Family and Addictions Counsellor) to our clinic. ​

Take advantage of the Summer weather by taking your workout outside and going for a run. Running is a great way to get fit and have fun.
Among many other benefits, running improves:
The health of your heart and lungs
Your energy and stress levels
The tone and strength of your leg and hip muscles
Your bone density (reduces the risk of osteoporosis)
Stretches are an essential part of your running routine to avoid injuries. There are some important points to keep in mind to safely stretch your muscles after a run:
Never stretch a cold muscle
Hold each stretch for a slow count of 30
Repeat twice on each side
Don’t overstretch—be comfortable
Don’t bounce when stretching
If you suffer an injury or experience pain that lasts longer than your usual post-workout soreness, ice the area to reduce swelling and inflammation, and consult a chiropractor.
Here are five recommended stretches you can do after every run to target the major muscle groups: 

​Lower calf
Adopt the same position as for the upper calf stretch. Shift the foot of your back leg forward until the toes are just behind the heel of the front leg. Keep both heels on the ground with toes pointing forward. Lower your hips by bending both knees. You should feel this stretch through the back of the ankle.

​Hips/Buttocks
From the back thigh stretch position, bend your front knee so that foot is now on the edge of the surface. Hands on hips, lean slightly forward over the bent leg. Keep the leg you are standing on straight. You should feel this stretch in the back of the hips and buttocks.

​Author: CCA 
​Summer weather is here! This means there are more opportunities to go outdoors and have fun. One activity that many of us look forward to in the summer months is camping. The fresh air, a well-lit campfire and a dip in the lake are difficult to resist. But preparing for camping is just as important as enjoying it. Be ready for the unexpected.
Camp grounds and parks allow us to enjoy a large variety of recreational activities, which is what makes it a summer favorite. Preparing and organizing packing ahead of time can help you manage the unexpected and tackle challenges as they arise. We want to help out all our campers this summer with some useful tips to follow before you load up the tent and strap your canoe on the roof of the car1: 

1. Test your gear to ensure it works. Before packing materials in your vehicle, test your equipment to ensure it works and do so safely.
2. Plan for activities. Plan your activities in advance to ensure that you have the right equipment and are physically ready for the challenge.
3. Familiarize yourself with your upcoming campsite. Learning about the facility and what is available to you helps you prepare in advance for what to bring.
4. Make a list and check it twice. Preparation is key! Make a list of the items that you may need, but consider what is truly essential. Packing extra weight can put a strain on your body, so be discerning and keep things light.

Like many other events in your life, camping can pose a number of risks to your MSK health. Preparing for the challenges ahead can also help prevent potential injuries. If you plan on doing any activities during your camping trip such as hiking, biking, or running, it is a good idea to see your chiropractor in advance for tips and advice on how to physically prepare yourself when outdoors. Here are some tips to consider:

1. Support your back. From packing to pitching the tent or while on a hike, keep neutral curves in your spine while keeping your core engaged and active. (See our blog on how to maintain good posture.)
2. Mind the lift. Remember to bend from the hips and knees while using your legs to lift. Keep a neutral spine and use your entire body to turn. Pivot from your feet to move your body.
3. Pack light. Carry only what you need, and avoid excess. This can help prevent fatigue and strain from packing, hiking, or even canoeing. Being a minimalist can help prevent injuries.

​Author : Canadian Chiropractic Association

As the seasons start to turn, we sometimes forget things from the year before. In winter, we may underestimate the preparation needed to tackle the snow and ice. We might forget our mittens, we might forget the proper footwear for damp and slushy streets, or we might forget our posture when it comes to maintaining our sidewalk or driveway.
Snow and ice create a hazardous situation for everyone. Shovelling and using salt, sand, or other ice-melting substances (like kitty litter) help to reduce the potential for slip and fall accidents.1
Apart from dressing properly for the weather and making sure you have a sturdy, lightweight shovel, there are a few practices you can follow to help make snow-shovelling safer1,2:

• Stand with stability: Stand with your feet at hip-width apart to maintain your balance. It’s also best to wear boots that are non-slip when you shovel. This will help protect you from sliding when shovelling.
• Keep the weight close to your body: Hold the shovel close to your body to guard against straining or pulling a muscle. When the snow is deep, try to shovel smaller amounts (3–5 centimetres/1–2 inches) of snow at a time.
• Grip strategically: Space your hands apart on the handle to increase your leverage when lifting the snow.
• Lift with your legs: Bend from your knees, not your back, when lifting. Not only does it protect your back, but you can strengthen your legs as well!
• Engage your core: Tighten your stomach muscles when lifting snow. This helps to protect your back as you lift.
• Don’t twist: Avoid twisting your body when you lift. Move your feet instead to turn your body.
• Don’t fling the snow: Make sure to walk to place the snow on the side of the path rather than throwing it. Turn your feet in the direction you’re dumping the snow—this better positions you to maintain good form. Your whole body will thank you.

Snow shovelling can be a very strenuous activity, and even more so without the correct, protective form. With the proper preparation, tools, and technique you can make shovelling safer for you, and your walkways safer for your family, friends, and neighbours.
Happy shovelling!

Author : Canadian Chiropractic Association