Community News
The Kinesio Benefit

Do you ever wonder why some pro athletes are wearing colourful tape on their shoulders, knees and elbows? This tape is called kinesiology tape. Kinesio tape is very thin and light weight mostly made of cotton and elastic properties, the tape mimics skin and can be stretched to different tensions. It can be used anywhere on the body and is applied to provide support that helps you stay active while recovering from injuries. It works by affecting the way your muscles fire either by relaxing them, or helping them fire stronger. Physiotherapists commonly use kinesio tape for muscular injuries, postural correction and to help decrease swelling. The tape in some situations can be a great alternative to bulky braces and can be easy to apply once the technique is shown. If you’re suffering from pain and think this tape may help, ask your physiotherapist at your next treatment!

Kristy Maksymyk, Prairie Trail Physiotherapy
www.prairietrailphysio.ca

Caregiver Pharmacy Support

It can be difficult to be a caregiver and manage multiple or complex medications for a loved one. It is important to ensure medications are taken appropriately to help maintain good health. A visiting pharmacist provides personal support with regular medication delivery and home consultations. The pharmacist reviews a client’s prescription drugs and over the counter medications to advise if there are any drug interactions and makes adjustments as necessary. This level of support can reduce emergency room visits and hospital stays and results in strong, trusting relationships between clients, caregivers and pharmacists. The visiting pharmacist also provides seamless care for hospital discharge patients and works closely with other health professionals to deliver a high level of care to the client. Care is tailored to specific individual needs such as assisting with blood pressure readings, adding medications as needed to adherence packaging and making changes in an efficient manner.

Teresa Giesbrecht, Care at Home Pharmacy
www.careathomepharmacy.ca

Better with Balance

Balance plays a key role in sports performance, injury prevention, and the activities of daily living. Good balance is a fine coordination of muscles, nerves, the brain, the inner ear (vestibular system), and your eyesight. Every move you make sparks rapid-fire communication between these systems, to keep you upright. Any injuries to your muscle-skeletal system and in fact simply aging, can affect your balance. Balance exercises enhance the mind-body connection to keep you safe and injury free. Our physiotherapists can assist you in instruction of exercises to maximize your balance.

Nicole Marier, Action Physiotherapy & Wellness Clinic
www.actionphysio.net

Book Club: Gut

The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ. By Giulia Enders. The gut’s nervous system, food intolerances, allergies, gut bacteria and the science of bad breath are detailed, suggesting the body’s “most underrated organ” plays a greater role in our overall wellbeing than we might have otherwise thought. Throughout the book, Enders points out, it is the gut that most frequently presents us with some of life’s most pressing questions. Pick up a copy at your local book store.

Clean Eating: Easy Healthy Borscht

Ingredients:

4 cups of organic beef broth
1 cup diced carrot
½ cup garden peas
1 cup chopped green beans
1 cup chopped potatoes
2 cups beets with stems and leaves diced
1 onion chopped
4 fresh sprigs of dill
2 Tbsp Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients into a crockpot and cook on low for 6-7 hours. Alternately, cook on top of the stove until the vegetables are soft enough to eat. Serve topped with sour cream.

 

Burn Fat, Don’t Abuse Carbs

Many leading scientists, medical professionals, and nutrition experts agree the ketosis lifestyle is the pinnacle of health and wellbeing. Ketosis is a natural metabolic state where the body burns fat for most of its energy rather than carbohydrates. Fat offers the body 225% more energy than carbohydrates. Today, most people have sugar-burning bodies, not fat-burning bodies. Fat-burning bodies typically experience better energy and fewer cravings due to balanced blood sugar levels. Typically, without several days of fasting or sticking to unrealistic diet plans, our bodies cannot reach ketosis and take advantage of this energy. So unless you have serious discipline and nowhere to go, nutritional ketosis has been believed to be out of reach… until now.

David Warfield, ForeverGreen Ketopia
www.warf.fgxpress.com

The Procrastinator’s Challenge

www.doneanddone.ca

How many projects are on your back burner?

If you’re like most people, that back burner is chock-full of tasks that have been in the planning phase for far too long. Getting stalled projects off the ground can be difficult. A plan of action is what’s called for:

1) Set a specific date & time aside for your project, allowing time for prep and cleanup.

2) A week previous, anticipate and gather all required supplies.

3) Enlist help! There are times in our life when we all could use a hand – that extra push is often what we need to see a project through to a successful conclusion.

4) Put on some great tunes, have your beverage-of-choice on hand and Get to Work.

5) You’ve done it – enjoy your results!

Done & Done Family Concierge Service
www.doneanddone.ca

Financial Fitness

During the beginning of a training season in rowing, I always have my athletes go through a phase of weight training called symmetry and hypertrophy. The idea behind this training is for athletes to build a lot of strength and increase their training capacity. When it gets closer to race day we lower the weight and volume of their strength training and focus more on endurance. When my clients are just getting started with their investments I follow a very similar approach. I get their portfolios to do the heavy lifting early so that later on they can settle in to less risky and steadier investments. At a young age it is best to take on more risk to amplify returns. As you get closer to retirement risk is something we want to avoid.

Jesse Reitberger
jesse.reitberger@nbc.ca

Stop to Smell the Roses

With the summer season comes the expectation that the rush of day-to-day life can slow down. Beaches, barbecues, and vacations are all great ways to enjoy summer. Are you able to relax, quiet the mind, and actually achieve the relaxation response in your body that makes you feel like you have spent a week at a spa? As our culture becomes more technologically driven, with constant stimulus at our fingertips, people are becoming chronically anxious and stressed. Instead of achieving the relaxation response, we are experiencing the fight-or-flight response as a daily occurrence. Consider making a mental commitment to yourself this summer to take more time to literally smell the roses, enjoy the outdoors and beauty of nature, and BREATHE. Take the extra time to give yourself the space and calm you need to achieve the relaxation response. You’ll have a better summer for doing these simple things.

Maureen Becker
www.sourcewithin.com

Product Review: Zevia

These days’ people are becoming much more conscious of what they are putting into in their body, and are realizing that regular soda is just not good for us. Happily, there is a smarter, healthier alternative – Zevia. Created with the miracle sweetening ingredient stevia, which makes it all natural and have zero calories, Zevia is a more healthful soft drink. Stevia is a small green plant native to South America, originating from the sunflower family. It is sweeter than sugar, but with no caloric value or effect on blood sugar levels. The drinks also contain Monk Fruit which is a round fruit, and Erythritol which is a natural component of fruits, vegetables, and grains. Zevia is a non-GMO verified product and certified as Kosher by the Orthodox Union. By choosing only the safest and smartest ingredients for consumers Zevia is able to offer a completely gluten free, vegan beverage!

Nutrition Plus
www.nutritionplus.com

Acupuncture

The ancient art of acupuncture works by stimulating our body’s neuroendocrine system to produce its own natural pain relieving chemicals, endorphins and serotonins, which help the body to heal itself. Stimulation occurs when fine needles are inserted into specific places on the body, known as acupoints.

Acupuncture is often used as an adjunct to physiotherapy treatment to alleviate both chronic and acute pain, swelling, muscle spasm and even headaches. It is used widely in sports physiotherapy, and is used to encourage and support a healthy active lifestyle. Acupoints can be picked to target various muscles, joints, promote energy or relaxation and more. Medical studies comparing physiotherapy treatment plans with and without using acupuncture found that those who had acupuncture, had faster results and longer lasting benefits. If pain is limiting your function in work, life or play, consider acupuncture as a possible adjunct to a good physiotherapy and exercise program.

Kristi Hunter, Prairie Trail Physiotherapy
www.prairietrailphysio.ca