Self-directed health care starts a long time before you find yourself in the medical care world. It starts with choices such as: Diet, exercise, no smoking and limited alcohol intake. Other choices are easy as well: driving the speed limit, getting good sleep regularly, washing your hands, following the health & safety rules and keeping your stress levels in balance. The first step is always the hardest BUT you’ve already made it by reading this far! Find out about local resources that support you making healthy choices! “69% of deaths globally each year are the result of preventable diseases.” Center for Disease Control 2017

For most people, the Christmas holidays are a time of celebration and good cheer. Unfortunately, not everyone feels the same way at this time of year. For some, the holidays can be a sad time if there has been a past trauma or if they suffer from depression. If you feel sad, lonely, or become depressed during the holidays, don’t struggle alone. Talk to your health care professional or reach out to family and friends. If you don’t feel you can share your situation with anyone you know, call a support line. Help is a call or text away.

PTSD is a physiological disorder that results from being exposed to a traumatic event. It can affect anyone at any point in their life. The disorder can result in several symptoms including, but not limited to anxiety, irritability, insomnia, nightmares, and flashbacks. Acupuncture for PTSD is administered by stimulating specific auricular points as well as others in the body. These points are responsible for signaling areas of the brain to help control nervous functioning as well as mitigate stress levels. Acupuncture treatments also have benefits such as a decrease in depression and physical pain. Soldiers, police officers, fire fighters and countless others who have been diagnosed with PTSD are using acupuncture to experience relief.

If you have a rotator cuff tear several factors influence whether or not you are a good surgical candidate. These can include level of function, age, extent of the tear, and if it was a traumatic injury or developed chronically over time. Current research shows that in many cases conservative management like physiotherapy has similar outcomes when compared to surgery. Physiotherapy for rotator cuff injuries focuses on strength, posture, and mobility, all of which help to decrease shoulder pain and improve function. In cases requiring surgery, those who engage in physiotherapy while waiting for surgery have improved outcomes post operatively.

Do you know the difference between a Power of Attorney (POA) and an Enduring POA? The distinction is important. A POA ends if you become declared mentally incompetent as may happen from an illness or head injury in an accident. An enduring POA carries on and allows your appointed person the authority to manage your financial affairs if such a tragedy occurs. Like your will, a POA should be reviewed and updated every 5 years or right away if you’ve moved from another province. No matter your age, everyone should consider having an enduring POA in place.

Breathing is the single most important thing our body does.  We may be able to live a few days without food or water but without breathing, we would only last a few minutes!  So, why don’t we pay more attention to the way we are breathing?  As our breathing is part of our autonomic nervous system, we don’t have to make a conscious effort to breathe.  It happens automatically.  This usually means, however, that we don’t think about our breathing until we experience some kind of breathing problem.

Using the breath effectively is an important element in ancient practices like meditation, yoga and qigong.  In our fast-paced society, many people breathe too fast with a resting rate of 15 to 20 breaths per minute.  This shallow type of breathing does not allow enough oxygen into the lungs for your blood, muscles and organs.  Slow, sustained, gentle deep breathing of 10 breaths or less per minute for at least 15 minutes every day can help relieve stress, calm the nervous system, relax the mind, relax the diaphragm, ease muscle tension, improve circulation and digestion.  It can even help to improve your concentration and creativity!

Spring Forest Qigong is a relaxing, meditative practice that uses the breath as well as the mind, simple movements and sound to help improve your health in these areas and more!  This form of qigong, although simple, is powerful and very easy to learn.  The practice can be adapted to your capability as you can do the movements or meditations standing, sitting or even lying down.

Before you know it, you will be choosing to breathe slowly more frequently throughout your day just because it feels so good and brings so many other added benefits!

A major underlying cause of health problems are the toxins within our internal organs. Unhealthy eating habits and excessive stress cause your intestines to become cold and stiff, which prevents food from being completely excreted, which then releases toxins. This is called auto-intoxication—self-poisoning by the body’s own toxins. This also negatively impacts absorption of nutrients and minerals from the healthy foods we eat. Intestine Exercise stimulates your intestines and improves peristalsis of the colon, which removes the feces along the walls of the intestine and relieves constipation. As the solar plexus is stimulated, bladder and reproductive functions are often enhanced, improving illnesses caused by cold energy. For a guided video tutorial:

Q. I just noticed that I can see certain things better without my glasses now. They’re new glasses, I just got them three years ago. What’s up with that?

A: Three years is actually more than enough time for your eyes to change, or for something to go wrong with your glasses. You can bring back your glasses to where you bought them to see what the issue is, but it sure sounds like you’re due for an eye exam in any case. Time goes by pretty quickly for just about everyone.