Tuesday, November 24, 2015

You sprained your ankle 15 years ago, why should it matter now?

You sprained your ankle 15 years ago, why should it matter now?
Dr. Elton Clemence- Family First Chiropractic and Wellness 403-347-3261
Ankles. We have two of them. The vast majority of patients I see have sprained one of them at some point in their lives.  This is a question I normally leave to the end of the consultation questions, normally receiving a confused look…  I can see the cogs turning in my thinking patients head, “…What? My ankles? Really, what has that got to do with my back…”.  Well, it has everything to do with your back pain.  It has everything to do with your knee pain, your hip pain, your neck pain, your shoulder pain, you name it pain.  Our feet and ankles are crucial aspects of our bodies that are far too often overlooked.
The soles of our feet have 200,000 receptors.  Our foot and ankle complex has 26 bones, with one quarter of the bones in our body in our feet (!).  There are 33 joints (!!) and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments (!!!).   All these structures within the ankle and feet are neurological powerhouses when it comes to sending our nervous system and brain information about where we are in space, the terrain we are walking on, how to safely move and change direction, plus many more.  If your car had one or two dodgy tires, how would your car drive? Not as well as it should. And what’s more, you wouldn’t put up with it.  The same applies to our feet and ankles.  If we have disrupted the information cycle between our feet and ankles and brain at any point during our lives, this can have ramifications for the rest of body, immediately or later on in the future.
When you sprain an ankle, it significantly changes the way that you walk.  It’s obvious at the beginning, but as time progresses and it begins to heal and you can walk more ‘normally’ again. However, it doesn’t mean that the ankle and foot have been properly rehabilitated back into a fully functional part of the body.  Your nervous system won’t think so, and will be protective of it without you even realizing.  These can cause potential problems later on, with many people re-spraining the same ankle over and over again.  The vicious cycle begin because the neurological information systems keeps becoming disrupted, and it goes on.
The bottom line is our ankle and feet are crucial to the optimum function of the body. Pay attention to those ankle sprains, they might be more important that you think!



Tuesday, November 03, 2015

Low back stretches for Guy Lacoursiere RMT


One of the most common questions I get from my massage clients is “what stretches can I do to minimize my lower back pain?” So here are the top 7 stretches I give to my clients.
1. The hamstring floor stretch.

Hold for 30 seconds twice for each leg.

2. Knee to chest stretch.

This helps strengthen and relax your glutes. Hold for 20 seconds for each leg twice.
3. Spinal stretch.



This was a favorite of mine when I suffered sciatica. Hold for 20 seconds and repeat on the other knee. Do this as many times as you like but don’t overdo it.
4. The piriformis stretch.

Hold for 30 seconds and repeat with the other leg.

5. The hip flexors stretch.

Hold for 30 seconds and then switch and repeat.
6. The quadriceps lying down stretch.

Hold for 30 seconds on each side. Do this one twice on each side.
7. The total back stretch.
Hold this for 30 seconds and then try this:

Hold for 10 seconds on both sides.




With any luck, this will have your lower back feeling great again!
Guy Lacoursiere practices at Family First Chiropractic and Wellness- 142 Erickson Drive, Red Deer.T4R 2C3   403-347-3261 www.family1stchiro.ca