Gardening Tips for a Healthy Spine

        Summer time in Alberta is a great time to get out and plant flowers, vegetables and fruits in your yard and garden. It is a great experience to get out of the house and enjoy new life, the sunshine and God’s creation. It improves your mood as well as giving you exercise while enjoying the birds chirping and kids playing outside with each other.Before bending down and kneeling to remove debris and till the soil, here are a few tips to help keep your day enjoyable:

Warm up your body- Go for a short walk, do some lunges, arm circles and squats to warm up you muscles

Stretch – Some simple stretching of your legs, back, arms, shoulders and wrists will help to avoid injury or severe muscle stiffness later. Some muscle soreness is normal as you probably have not used all the same muscle groups for other activities during the winter. This will generally subside in a couple of days as your body gets used to this new activity.

Take your time – Going too fast too soon increases the risk of injury so enjoy your time outdoors and pace yourself. Take a few days if you have a large garden or yard. Alternate your tasks between kneeling, standing, digging and planting.

Use the Right Equipment – Use a wheelbarrow to transport smaller loads of dirt or planters. Use a kneeling pad to protect your knees. Use ergonomic tools while working the soil.

Include your children and family and HAVE FUN- Work doesn’t have to be a chore, you can incorporate fun as you weed, pick flowers and water the garden- an old fashioned water fight will be remembered by your kids for a long time!

Visit your Chiropractor and Massage Therapist – Regular chiropractic adjustments and muscle therapy will help to keep your spine aligned and reduce back and joint pain while maintaining flexibility.

Enjoy the fruits of your gardening! There is nothing like healthy fresh fruits and vegetables straight from your own garden.

Happy Gardening!!

Call Dr. Joelle Johnson at Family First Chiropractic & Wellness at 403-347-3261 to book your appointment www.family1stchiro.ca, look for us on FaceBook, Twitter and Instagram for more great information on your health. 

Take Care of Yourself. 5 Tips anyone can do

Take Care of yourself….How? 5 tips anyone can do.

You've heard people say, "You need to take care of yourself." And somehow that is supposed to fix everything?

When you are a massage therapist, your work is to help people take care of themselves. Massage therapists encourage people to take care of themselves, too. The question is HOW?

When taking care of one's self, here is a few key points:

1. Get adequate sleep - most people need between 6-9 hours of sleep per nite. People try to function on 3-4 hours of sleep, but this inhibits tissue repair and depletes the immune system among other things.

2. Stay active - take a walk instead of a drive to the mail box, or park further away from stores an walk a few dozen extra steps. Build in activities that get you out in the sun for 15-30 minutes minimum per day. Both vitamin D and exercise help to improve your mood.

3. Take your vitamins/nutrients- whether in food, bodily soaking, liquid or powder/pill form, when you are stressed your electrolytes and other essential nutrients get used. For example, go rock climbing in a gym for an hour or two with no breakfast....you will be ravenous by the time you are done because of all the calories/nutrients you consume in that one short hour or so.

4. Eat appropriately for your daily activities -massaging is a high calorie drain nearly the same as rock climbing or other exercise. For everyone, and especially therapists, eat a good breakfast high in un-greasy protein to diminish your sugar cravings, set aside time to eat a good lunch and you will be prepared for a light dinner (so you don't feel like gorging right before bed).

5. Take time to smell the roses - when you are stressed, the body is acting like it is running from a tiger (or some animal that is trying to eat you). Your body is in fight or flight mode....

This is the equivalent to running a marathon all day every day - your body will begin to give out after a while of running full out all the time.

When stuck in fight or flight, the mind is reviewing the situation and looking for escape as if you were faced with a tiger chasing/cornering you. This is the 'racing mind' when you try to sleep. Its a fabulous function if you were to actually be faced with a tiger, because you wouldn't want to be caught napping by the hungry tiger (you probably wouldn't wake up too happy when the tiger takes a leg). But when its a test, a bill, or a paper due, its an imaginary tiger and won't actually kill you, but your body still reacts the same...

Do what you can to resolve the situation, set a timeline or accomplish what can be done today and make a To Do list for what is waiting on tomorrow. Once everything that can be done is...

Smelling flowers and enjoying scenery, relaxed conversation, massage, down-time will help reduce that stress or take you out of fight or flight.

So schedule your massage and Take Care of yourself.
All of our staff and practitioners at Family First Chiropractic and wellness are here to help you through your journey, please call us a 403-347-3261 to book an appointment today.