Winter is tough on your body. If your joints feel stiffer in the cold, you’re not imagining it. Lower temperatures can tighten muscles and restrict blood flow—making everyday movements more uncomfortable.
🥶 Why Cold Affects Your Joints
Muscles tighten in the cold.
Blood flow slows down.
Inactivity increases stiffness.
🏡 Easy Home Care Tips
Start With a Warm Shower It boosts circulation and loosens up muscles.
Stretch Gently Every Morning
Neck rolls
Shoulder circles
Light forward bends
Stay Active (Even Indoors!) Try yoga, stretching, or even walking around the house.
Dress in Layers Keep your joints warm to avoid stiffness.
In today’s digital age, working from home has become the new norm for many professionals. While this shift offers numerous benefits like flexibility and comfort, it can also lead to physical strain, particularly on your spine and overall musculoskeletal system. As a chiropractor, I’ve seen an increase in patients experiencing back pain, neck stiffness, and other discomforts related to working from home. Here are some essential tips to help you maintain your spinal health and overall well-being while working from home.
Ergonomic Work Set Up
An ergonomic workspace is crucial to prevent strain on your body. Ensure your chair supports the natural curve of your spine. Your feet should rest flat on the floor, and your knees should be at a 90-degree angle. Your computer screen should be at eye level to avoid straining your neck.
Mind Your Posture
Maintaining good posture is key. Sit up straight with your shoulders relaxed but not slouched. Keep your back aligned against the chair and avoid leaning forward or hunching over your desk. Regularly check your posture throughout the day. You can remind yourself by putting a colored dot on your hand, each time you see it, you’ll remember to check your posture!
Practice Eye Care
Staring at a computer screen for long hours can strain your eyes. Follow the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, take a 20-second break and look at something 20 feet away. This practice helps reduce eye strain and maintain good eye health.
Incorporate Movement into Your Day
In addition to regular breaks, incorporate movement into your daily routine. Consider a standing desk or a convertible desk that allows you to alternate between sitting and standing. Short walks, light exercises, or even a few minutes of yoga can help keep your body active and reduce stress.
Stay Hydrated
Drinking plenty of water is essential for maintaining good health and keeping your muscles hydrated and flexible. Dehydration can lead to muscle cramps and increased tension. Keep a water bottle at your desk and sip regularly throughout the day.
Working from home doesn’t have to mean compromising your health. By setting up an ergonomic workspace, maintaining good posture, and incorporating regular breaks and movement into your day, you can prevent discomfort and maintain your spinal health.
In addition, regular chiropractic visits can help ensure your spine stays healthy and can prevent potential issues before they become significant problems!
Been bitten by a mosquito and now suddenly you have a blister likesore? Dont worry you may be suffering from an allergic reaction to the mosquitos saliva! In this blog we will be talking about how, why and what you can do to both prevent and treat this concern.
How Does Skeeter Syndrome Occur?
Skeeter syndrome is simply just an allergic reaction to a mosquito bite. It causes inflammation within the sore creating excess fluid forming a fluid filled blister.
What Are The Signs and Symptoms?
Before your body gets to the stage of blistering you may feel itchy, sore and red around the area where the mosquito as bitten. There is actually no difference apart from when your body reacts to the saliva within the bite. After this occurs inflammation will cause the body to fill the area and Blister!
How Can I Treat Skeeter Syndrome?
Like every other bug bite that may cause a blister like lesion you must for one not pop it! The reason being is that the body will try to repair the skin underneath the lesion that when out in the open becomes susceptible to infection. The best way to ensure you dont end up with an open wound is to gently cover and wash the area. Betadine is also a great disinfectant and can help kill any germs on the outside. Avoid scratching the area and use a cold compress to help with the itching. If swelling persists, redness and pus begins to appear visit your GP as medications may be needed to help treat the infection.
What Happens If The Blister Bursts or Pops?
Not all is lost but now you are left with an open wound! Be sure not to remove the blister as this helps protect the wound underneath and allows it to heal safely. Be sure to use betadine on the sore to help disinfect the area and use a breathable bandage such a cutifilm to help protect the sore. A light bandage will also help to protect the area without restricting breathability. Be sure to change the the film every couple of days and use salt baths to accelerate wound healing!
How Can I Prevent Skeeter Syndrome?
Prevention is simple! Aerogard spray, long sleeve tops and pants help prevent areas of skin exposed to mosquitos. Be careful of sitting in damp areas over summer or lakes as mosquitos are more prominent in these areas.
How Can Chiropractors Help?
Unfortunately for skin irritation and blistering our team of health care professionals are not able to help ease or increase the rate of healing when it comes to these types of concerns. Although if you are suffering from any muscle or joint aches our team could be the right choice to help!
Chiropractors help in many ways not just with regards to aches and pains but also functional goals. Exercise and stretching are components which need to be tailored to the individual to bring out the best in them.
What Else Do Chiropractors Help With Apart From Back or Neck Pain?
Creating a wellness plan in 2024 is simple and easy. Just think about what your goals are and write them down and set yourself a timeframe to complete these all! Remember rushing your goals may cause injury or unwanted stress so make your goals realistic and achievable!
If you are someone who wants to make a difference this new year and wants to get the added benefits of seeing a chiropractor you can call us on 9302 1023 or book online to organise your first appointment!
We offer specialized appointments for pregnancy and paediatrics also with the added benefits of various techniques used during standard appointments to enhance patient care!
Merry Christmas! Another day year of setting up the Christmas tree and enjoying quality time with friends and family but lets not forget how our body feels from the aftermath!
Aches and pains from hours of seated activity in awful couches or playing an outdoor game of soccer or cricket for the first time in years good become one of the last times.
The amount of “holiday injuries we see during this period is great for us as chiropractors but at the same time we to need a break over Christmas and here we will show ways in which you can combat these injuries before they happen.
How Do I Stay Injury Free Over Christmas Break?
Listen to your body! If you are someone who works a desk job and does little to no exercise, overextending yourself could cause more harm than good. Gardening the whole backyard in a day is also an example that we see throughout the year which brings people in with “sudden” back pain or sciatica.
What Should I Do Whilst With The Family?
Engage in family time but know when to much sitting or to much physical activity is enough. If you are a fit individual this is less likely to affect you although uncomfortable seating or longstanding can still bring on unwanted pains.
What To Do When The Pain Starts?
Sit down and relax. Rest is best and if possible call up your nearest chiropractor to get in for an adjustment. Being that it is the holiday period time slots may be limited from clinic to clinic but thankfully our practices will be open throughout Christmas and New Years for any emergency appointments!
Call our clinic on 9302 1023 and we will book you in with the next available practitioner over the holiday period!
What Is The Difference Of A Pregnancy Chiropractor?
Pregnancy chiropractors have specialised in certain techniques, adjustments and exercises to help alleviate a pregnancy patients aches and pains. Unlike a general chiropractor, a pregnancy chiropractor will use alternative methods to move joints, decrease muscle tension and stretch areas of concern without harming the baby.
What More Do Pregnancy Chiropractors Offer?
Pregnancy chiropractors aim to make changes to not only the body but prepare the body for birth. They can also make changes to the amount of pain and pressure felt in the pelvis especially in 3rd trimester. Pregnancy chiropractors also have the ability to eliminate common causes of pregnancy pain such as pelvic pain, back pain, headaches and round ligament pain.
When Should You See A Pregnancy Chiropractor?
The best time to see a pregnancy chiropractor is as soon as possible. Once the pain starts it will make the process a longer one and harder to eliminate. As your body grows during pregnancy the extra pressure in the abdomen and the changes to posture will make it just that little bit harder every week until action is taken. Getting a check up even without pain during pregnancy is a great way to minimize pains in the long run and prepare the body for an easy 40 week journey of pregnancy!
Thankfully our team of practitioners operate on Sundays. We have both chiropractors and Remedial massage therapists available from 8am till Late on Sundays across multiple locations in Melbourne.
This can be subject to change if there are public holidays!
If you are someone looking for a Sunday Chiropractor that is open now you can book instantly online or call on 9302 1023 to schedule in an appointment!
Inflammation is something we usually see in our joints and is something that we all like to avoid! Unfortunately sugar is something that fires up our bodies inflammatory system in various ways. We all want to be functioning as best as we can so it is ideal to restrict your sugar intake. It is common to have a sugar craving for sweets and there can be healthier substitutes that allow for better energy and overall performance when it comes to bodily functions.
These snacks can include things such as fruit or nuts which are a great way to avoid ramping up your sugar intake and avoiding those high GI foods that cause us to crash. There are also other types of foods such as yogurts and nuts which are also great snacking foods but beware as they are also high in calories and should be limited.
Exercise is also a great way to decrease sugar cravings as the body tends to crave healthier foods to refuel and rebuild.
By substituting or limiting sugar in your diet the following benefits can be seen in various research articles:
The Melbourne Chiropractor Westmeadows provides specialised therapeutic techniques to help with all types of musculoskeletal problems. Our team of chiropractors strives to decrease pain, increase function and create solutions to your problems which will be long term. Our team strives to get patients back on their feet as quick as possible with ongoing support if it is essential.
Our westmeadows and broadmeadows clinics offer chiropractic services which also include modalities such as dry needling, cupping, sports taping, trigger point therapy, Stretching and exercise prescription.
Our Westmeadows chiropractic practice also accepts referrals from GP’s for chiropractic services. If you are given a CDM or EPC plan you are eligible for up to 5 chiropractic visits per year!
What Can You Expect On Your First Visit To Our Clinic?
First Visit or First Treatment at either of our westmeadows or broadmeadows health clinics includes a case history, posture scan, movement analysis, pain assessment, orthopaedic testing and a full body treatment. Referral for X-ray imaging (if required) is bulk-billed through Medicare.
Our Westmeadows Clinic
Our Westmeadows Clinic is spacious and easily accessible by car, bus and train. Onsite Parking is available with wheelchair accessibility and is within 10km of Melbourne CBD
What Can Our Team Do To Help?
Depending on the severity of the injury or area of concern our practitioners in our Broadmeadows, Westmeadows and Fawkner Clinics will treat accordingly to your complaint. Treatments that may be provided but are not limited to include:
Spinal manipulation, Activator Methods, Drop Piece, SOT and other adjustive techniques can help alleviate joints that have restriction such as spinal segments and joints (LeFebvre, Peterson & Haas, 2012)
PNF/PIR/prescribed stretching – Stretching has shown to reduce pain, improve functionality of the wrist and hand also maintains strength and improves patients in both long and short-term outcomes.
Remedial Massage, Trigger point therapy or use of handheld massager – Have shown to decrease pain/tenderness, enhance both range of motion and quality of life and influence flexibility (Shah et al., 2015) (Imtiyaz, Veqar & Shareef, 2014)
Advice on daily living activities/diet – This enables advice on how to change to make healthy actions into habits and may offer a valuable alternative with potential for long-term impact. (Gardner, Lally & Wardle, 2012)
Prescribed exercises – produce more beneficial outcomes in terms of increased strength, improved function and reduced pain scores. (Fernandes, Pedrinelli & Hernandez, 2015)
Dry Needling or Cupping to the surrounding musculature to help decrease tension and inflammation around the area of the hand and forearm.
