Healthy Moves RTUS & Rehabilitation Services

Discovering the wonderful news that you are pregnant is both a time of joy and anxiety. Your body will begin to undergo many profound changes ranging from hormonal, biomechanical, and increased nutritional demands to physical and psychological changes.

     According to many scientific studies, nearly one-half of all mothers-to-be suffer from low back pain but surprisingly, these pains can be prevented. Additionally, women who have suffered from low back pain prior to becoming pregnant, those that have physically demanding jobs are at an even greater risk of suffering from low back pain during pregnancy.

    So, why does pregnancy create such intense low back pain? Studies found that it may be related to with a condition called sacroiliac joint dysfunction.

    The sacroiliac joints are created by the joining of the sacrum (the triangular bone that sits above the tailbone, the coccyx) and the bones that are on either side of the sacrum known as the inominate bones. There is a right SI joint and a left SI joint, and together with the joint in the front of the pelvis known as the pubic symphysis, these three joints create what is referred to as the pelvic girdle.

Throughout the pregnancy, changes in the joint mechanics are related to the hormones.   Progesterone, estrogen and relaxin works together to allow loosening of the joints. Ligament which are needed to accommodate the growing fetus.  Yet, it also undermines the proper alignment of the sacrum and adjacent iliac bones producing subluxations during pregnancy.

Loosening of the firm joints under hormonal influences combined with the weight gain associated with pregnancy leads to changes in posture, weight bearing, and the degree of spinal curvature. Furthermore, during pregnancy, there is a stretching and weakening of the abdominal muscles, which are very important in maintaining optimal posture, and this further aggravates postural problems. These factors may cause additional low back and pubic pain, which commonly present as “duck waddling gait” at the late pregnancy. Worse still, if pain persists, it might affect daily activities and limits the functions of the expected mom.

Moreover, with the spine as a unit, changes in posture will also affect the neck and the thoracic.  It is not uncommon during pregnancy to suffer from neck pain, pain between the shoulder blades, pain in the mid back and rib cage and even headaches.

So can anyone have a pain free pregnancy?  Surely do, as prevention is better than cure.

Want to know more: See the Healthy Belly Program

We’ve been invited to present in a radio interview about real time ultrasound for rehabilitate low back pain, the following links are the recordings:

Radio interview part 1

Radio interview part 2

Read the rest of this entry »

經濟滑落，人心惶惶。筆者剛從澳洲回港，回想六月份經濟一片好景，萬眾期待的奧運，一片繁華。九月毒奶粉事件，令一眾父母憂心不已，相不到九月尾開始經濟暴破，全球也受影响，各行各業也受牽連。

筆者與病人治療時，他們亦大吐苦水，擔心2003年SARS的光景重現，有可能更壞，看得出壓力已來臨。

面對壓力，若處理不當，伴随而來的焦慮、失眠、飲食失調能影响身體健康，亦可引發各類不同的痛症。

處理壓力筆者並不是專家，但站在運動治療與健康的角度上，相信亦能提供一些簡單意見：

• 保持作息定時，叫身体有足夠休息，亦可減低失眠的情况。
• 保持飲食定時定量，切勿節食或暴飲暴食來減壓，免得傷了腸胃。
• 常吃新鮮蔬果，少吃添加食物，並多喝開水，少飲咖啡、茶等刺激性飲品。新鮮食物的營養成份較高，並可減低腸胃在消化過程中的負荷，加上清水有助排出身体的污穢物，人自然精神爽利。
• 作適當的運動。運動在生理上能令血液循環加速，耗氧量驟增，體溫上昇，新陳代謝率提高，從而令廢物的排泄因而增加。經常運動的人，身體比較健康，肺活量較大、應變能力較強，睡眠較沈。至於心理方面，運動令人感覺較舒適，樂觀，自我形像更堅強及降低焦慮

最後保持心境開朗亦非常重要，正如

聖經上記着：「喜樂的心，乃是良藥；憂傷的靈，使骨枯乾。」（箴言17章22節）