Genesis Health Care Centre c/o King West

17/11/2021

Posture
Oct 30
Written By Winnie Tsu

I remember when I was studying physiotherapy. I went to a mall fair to provide posture assessments. Boy was I surprised how many people wanted their posture assessed…I think I have a pic…darn it I can’t find it. Good posture is this

Chin slightly tucked

like somebody pulling the back of your head away from your neck to open space at the back of neck

Like somebody pulling your chest up towards chin

Tighten tummy muscles slightly

To decrease lower back arch

All exercises and stretches should be done in good posture

sit right back in your chair

the middle of your screen should be at the tip of your outstretched hand

elbow bent 90 degrees and at the side of your body

knees bent 90

I often get asked about ball chairs. I don’t like these as you have to hold your torso upright for the many hours you are working and often we try to straighten in our lower back contributing to back pain

Knees should be over middle of the foot

Good posture

activate abs to prevent excessive arch in lower back

chin tucked so you are looking slightly down to avoid excessive arch in neck

17/11/2021

Atomic Habits
Oct 30
Written By Winnie Tsu

I am listening to the audiobook Atomic Habits. It says that our habits contribute to our Identity. It isn’t the goals we set it is the system of things we put in place to achieve our goals that make us progress in life. If we don’t do this we can actually never progress and we can actually progress downwards!

This made me think that I need to beef up my blog so that I can contribute to everybody’s excellent physical health. Here are all the things I can think of at the moment that contribute to our excellent physical health:

sleep - amount, timing and positioning

NUTRITION - eat foods that are rich in nutrients not just fillers

exercise - schedule it in

posture - I will blog on this later

manage stress

do something that matters to you

socialize with like minded people

be grateful

let go of anger

know your boundaries

be organized …I am working on this

as I am blogging I must add knowledge about how your body works and how to take care of it

email me if you think of anything else or want to contribute your own experience….winnie.valencia@gmail.com

08/10/2021

Impingement Syndrome of the shoulder
When your shoulder hurts in the middle of the range as seen in the picture below
Your shoulder blade which has the socket for your shoulder has to rotate up at a certain rate when you raise your arm. If it doesn't then the ball in the socket pushes up and rubs your supraspinatus tendon leading to tendonitis and impingement syndrome. In addition, when your arm raises up above your head your upper back needs to straighten
Here are things to help with Impingement syndrome...
-work on straightening your upper back - a ten minute cushion is great for this
-stretch your pectoral muscles, rhomboids, traps, lats and your levator scapulae
-strengthen abdominal muscles, upper back straightening muscles
-anti-inflammatory electrotherapy for the supraspinatus tendon
- manual therapy on your head and neck

29/09/2021

Releasing the emotional hold on pain.

In order to heal this must be done......piggy backing on my last post....we can also release the emotional hold on pain by following a light through the top right front of our skull and following that light through our body wherever it brings us until it is done

OR I have found working on the olfactory nerve(sense of smell) was extremely helpful for releasing emotional holds.

What I notice after releasing an emotional hold is this...
I get more movement in the following joints
1. Head on first vertebrae- in particular left sideflexion and rotation to right
2. First and Second cervical vertebrae where 50% of your head turning occurs
3. Second and Third cervical vertebrae - sideflexion
4, Straight leg raise -a sign of how flexible your nervous system is
Just to name the few that I regularly check!

29/09/2021

Meditation
I've discovered meditation for healing. I find it helpful in removing the emotional hold on our stress response aka fright or flight response. This stress response c***s our head slightly to one side, typically I find the right traps tightens and the vagus nerves tightens along it's path of the esophagus pulling it up under our stomach. Not forgetting the pulling up of the greater omentum which can irritate the left hip and groin.

Here is a short meditation with Jay Shetty and Novak Djokovic

https://youtu.be/lOPalboqN28

I like Brian Weiss's meditation on you tube as well

In the second part of Novak Djokovic's interview with Jay Shetty on IG Live, the latter guided a meditation including breath work, visualization and mantra.G...

04/08/2021

Pelvic Organ Prolapse

One of the things that can be causing your bladder, uterus or re**um to drop down is a tight pelvic floor. People can have a tight pelvic floor after having children or after having a fall on their buttocks. A tight pelvic floor will also contribute to tight hamstrings. A manual therapist trained in treating the pelvic floor can help release the following to help:
* nerve to the pelvic floor
* pelvic floor muscles
* pelvic organs
* central nervous system
* sacrococcygeal joint - tailbone joint
* coverings of nervous system
Here is a nice stretch to try and manage a bit of it yourself. As you do a hamstring stretch pull your sit bone away from the middle of your body. Compare side to side. You could also do a bilateral hamstring stretch and pull both sit bones away from the middle of your body at the same time

30/05/2021

Falls on Buttocks must be treated

The spinal cord ends at the level of first lumbar vertebrae. From there it sends the FILUM TERMINALE to the tailbone. If you suffer a fall on the buttocks it can pull the whole central nervous system with it. This can cause alot of pain not just located in the tailbone. This can and shouold be treated.

26/05/2021

Emotional Holds on pain

I am finding that emotions can hold onto a pattern of pain and thus limit our body’s capacity to function optimally. In addition to osteopathic work for emotional holds on pain or the safe sound protocol I find the following advice from Deepak Chopra useful:

When you notice a pain …notice also what comes to mind. If it is a difficult situation from the past….think about it in your own perspective, in the other person’s perspective and then in a third person’s perspective. This will help your body and mind resolve this emotional hold. I find it helpful myself.

This is also helpful for conflict that arises in the present to prevent the accumulation of aches and pains and decline in your body’s ability to function and heal itself.

I also find it helpful to move through life with as positive attitude as possible to protect myself from the physical and mental pain.

26/05/2021

Suboccipitals
May 19
Written By Winnie Tsu
These muscles connect the first and second vertebrae to base of the skull. As soon as you are stressed whether you know it or not the head c***s and gets the body read to flee. Constant sitting with your chin poking out at the computer will also compress the nerve to the muscles and tighten the muscles and the membranes in the back of the head. This leads to headaches as well as aches in the other parts of the body as the membranes are continuous with the nervous system in thee body. Here is a way to release the suboccipitals throughout your day.

https://youtu.be/khd6XkP2UAo

26/05/2021

Headaches, Migraines, facial pain?

The Trigeminal Nerve not only provides sensation to the face and tells the muscles of the jaw to chew it also provides sensation to the membranes inside the head! Now imagine if these nerve fibers are stretched or compressed via whiplash, concussion, stress and infection just to name a few. The pain and effect on a person’s function can be intense! A therapist trained in craniosacral therapy and neural manipulation can work on this to prevent further debilitation.

26/05/2021

Breathless? Shoulder pain?
The PHRENIC nerve

SYMPTOMS of Phrenic nerve injury - unilateral
shortness of breath, more apparent with exertion
shoulder pain
morning headache
anxiety
symptoms of VAGUS nerve irritation as the phrenic nerve injury will lead to spasm of the diaphragm compressing the things that pass through the diaphragm such as:
VAGUS nerve
esophagus
nerves and arteries to abdominal cavity and contents
veins returning to heart

Injury of the phrenic nerve can occur by multiple mechanisms:
motor vehicle accident
blunt trauma
invasion from tumour
infectious causes
neurological diseases such as cervical spondylosis and multiple sclerosis and myopathy
immunological disease such as Guillain Barre Syndrome
penetrating trauma
post thoracic and cardiac surgery
neuropathic disease including thyroid and automimmune disorders
injury to neck
post viral infection
metabolic disease like diabetes
Contact us if you need help with this!

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00115-002-1312-5

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482227/

The phrenic nerve is among the most important nerves in the body due to its role in respiration. The phrenic nerve provides the primary motor supply to the diaphragm, the major respiratory muscle. Phrenic nerve injury, such as may occur from cardiothoracic surgery, can lead to diaphragmatic paralysi...

07/03/2021

Ankle Sprains should always be treated!!
The most frequent sprain is on the outside of your ankle. This leads to the following:
- fibula(the outer thinner bone) gets pulled down affecting knee hip and trunk
- talus (ankle bone at the bottom moves forward blocking foot to shin movements - alters your ability to stand straight and walk smoothly
Contact us if you need help!

03/03/2021

The Greater Omentum is a large tissue hanging off your stomach. It's job.....to move over infection and cordon it off! Remember my post on the vagus nerve. When the vagus nerve is irritated it pulls up on the stomach and guess what comes up with it ....The Greater Omentum....having work done on the Greater Omentum can be helpful with left abdominal, hip and groin pain. Contact us if you need help!

26/02/2021

We sell Compression socks! With a prescription they can be covered by your health insurance! (20-30 mmHg)
Have swollen feet?
Have pain in your feet?
Varicose veins?
Stand at work all day?
Sit at work all day?
Don't move too much at work?
Compression socks are amazing at helping these symptoms! It took my pain away while I stand all day at work!
Movement breaks and supportive footwear are also recommended but together with Compression socks it makes the world of difference We carry fun patterns from Lunatik and more formal ones from Therafirm. Contact us for a fitting!

21/02/2021

the Facial Nerve- cranial nerve 7
-involved in Bell's Palsy
Signs and symptoms of irritation of the Facial Nerve
-absence of wrinkles on the forehead
-flabby cheeks that flutter during respiration
-deviation of the mouth to the side not affected - causing saliva to run from the drooping side of the mouth that is injured
-tearing of the eye
-inability to close the eyelid on the affected side
-hyperacusis
-tinnitus - ringing in the ears
-dental problems
-loss of taste
Check out this pic from the Mayo clinic
We can help with this! Contact us if you need help!

20/02/2021

I have been using this exciting new program in my physiotherapy practice. It improves the function of the Vagus Nerve. It is necessary for pain relief. It is necessary to function at your best in work, life and play. It is good to use this after a physical, infectious or emotional trauma. I can offer this under physiotherapy coverage remotely or in person. Contact us if you are interested!

20/02/2021

Check out the Green nerve. It's the Vagus nerve. Now imagine if it's stuck due to physical trauma or damage due to infection. It will pull on many different parts of your body. It will affect it's ability to tell the organs to work. Leading to digestive, hormonal, breathing, circulatory and bladder and bowel problems just to name a few! A therapist trained in neural manipulation, craniosacral therapy and visceral manipulation can help. Contact us if you need help!

20/02/2021

Covid Diary
We had a young adult come in with a swollen ankle for no reason.
As I assessed him I found tightness in his vagus nerve that needed to be unwound first. Upon further questionning he revealed that he had Covid 2 months ago! I worked on his Central Nervous system and vagus nerve and his swollen ankle was better after that visit! Next he let me know that everything tastes burnt. I worked on the nerves to his tongue and it took a week and a half for his taste to return to normal! Anybody else have interesting Covid stories? Contact us if you need help:)