WHAT TO DO WHEN IN PAIN
4 Reasons To Add Yoga and Pilates In Your Workout Routine
The Magic Bullet For Boosting Your Metabolism
3 Step Process To Build A Solid Foundation In Yoga
How to Eat and Exercise for Lasting Energy
How To Deal With Chronic Pains – The Holistic Ways.
Office Syndrome – What EXPERTS are NOT TELLING YOU!
Are you tired of your shoulder and neck pain? Or the symptoms of office syndrome?
If you are reading this, I assume you have tried every possible treatment like massage, physio, painkillers and acupuncture and all forms of physical exercises that claim to give you the relief from your pains and haven’t got any results or still hoping that continuing to a so-called general method will help you fix it and get rid of that pain?
What is Office Syndrome?
Do you have an office job? Do you
spend at least 8 hours each day sitting on a chair in front of a computer? Then
chances are you suffer from the office syndrome.
People suffering of the office
syndrome have back, neck or shoulder pain, headaches, aching arms, numbness of
the hands or feet, eye strain, dry eyes or glare and other complications.
How did you get Office Syndrome?
With the evolution of technology, most jobs nowadays involve 8 hours of sitting on a chair, in front of a computer. Sure, this is much easier and comfortable than doing physical labor, but it also causes a series of problems.
Sitting on a chair and staring at a
monitor for so many hours every day can cause chronic pain, intervertebral disc
disease and abnormalities in the spine.
This problem should be taken very
seriously, If you do not plan to change career, you will probably do the same
office job for the next 30 years or so. And even if you are feeling ok right
now, you will definitely feel worse over the next years.
There are plenty of treatments out there that claim to be helpful, and I am sure you have tried some or all of them, by now you already know that, they will only give you temporary relief.
Why experts haven’t told you the most effective solution to your office syndrome?
There are many methods out there that only provide temporary pain relief or that do not work at all, and it seems that experts are hiding the most effective solution for the office syndrome. Some of the ineffective solutions include acupuncture, electrical treatment and general Yoga classes.
What if I told you that you are not given the complete treatments. To every professional you go, they are experts of one method, and you might be an absolutely new case, but they still impose same treatments on every patient that has worked for others without a thorough examination, assessments, posture analysis or habits checked and why in the first place you got that pain? They might notice that you have some posture issues but they still are only limited to reducing your pain, which eventually will come back or move to other weak parts of the body.
Why acupuncture is only a temporary solution to your office syndrome?
Pricking a needle on so-called “acupoints”, may relieve pain by releasing endorphins, the body’s natural pain-killing chemicals, and by affecting the part of the brain that governs serotonin, a brain chemical involved with mood. If the acupuncture works on your body, you will start noticing that you are less stressed, you are sleeping better, having more energy, and your digestion is better. But all that can also be the result of simply doing proper exercises in their correct form.
Some people claim that acupuncture might be a solution, but that’s not really the best option. Acupuncture should be done by a specialist with lots of experience, otherwise just putting needles in random places of the body is useless.
Some people felt better with acupuncture, others haven’t felt anything, while others felt even worse. And even if the pain goes away for a short period of time during the session, it quickly returns. Not to mention that acupuncture requires a lot of time to get results, and not all people have the time, the money and the willpower to get stung with needles 2 to 3 times each week, over the course of a few months.
How Electric treatments in physiotherapy can not give you long term relief from your chronic pain?
The various electric treatments offered by Physiotherapists are not effective in getting rid of the chronic pains. The TENS therapy (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) provides short-term pain relief and involves placing electrodes on the skin and delivering low-voltage electrical current. This alters the normal perception of pain, and it can work for some types of pain. Similarly, the ultrasound and short wave diathermy provide deep healing which promotes healing of the soft tissues such as muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the body.
But when it comes to chronic low back pain, arthritis, or symptoms related to office syn-drome, it is not effective and is not recommended by the American Academy of Neurology.
Why general Yoga classes are not going to fix your posture?
You believe it or not but the fact is 90% of Office syndrome is related to habitual postural misalignment. There are various solutions out there, and yoga seems to be one of them. Sure, it has multiple benefits for the mind, body, and soul, but regular yoga classes may not be the best choice. People with no experience and with back stiffness, pain and lack of mobility, go to these classes and try to replicate the complicated poses they see others do. Not only they risk injury, but they will definitely not improve their back condition and office syndrome.
Most classes will not give you options that are related to your posture, in reality, none of the Yoga teacher trainings educate the teachers to analyze the posture. If you are flexible one way and stiff the other way, you always have a tendency to do the yoga positions that are easier, for example, if your beck bend is very good you will usually like to do the backbends, And that’s what makes your body more imbalanced. Please don’t get me wrong, Yoga is my life and profession, its also my most preferable form of training to keeping my body in good condition and for that reason, general yoga classes are absolutely beneficial but they won’t help you improve your posture in particular.
Postural imbalances are best corrected in a gradual, systematic manner. Since we are not only biological but also psychological and spiritual in nature, a change in our biology will affect our minds and enhance our spiritual awareness as well. In a nutshell – Maintaining a good posture is an inside job.
That’s why small group classes or even private one on one sessions are so much better because its customized solution for your problem and the instructor will focus on your specific needs and will have you perform movements that are beneficial for YOU. You get all that at Abbysan that is affordable.
What’s the solution?
“Treat the disease not the symptoms.”
Hello, I am Dr. Abhishek, a registered Naturopath & Yoga therapist. My holistic approach, can provide you the ultimate solution and help you break free from your pain and poor posture once and for all.
A behavioral change is a long-term solution to office syndrome and is easier than treatment required when the illness becomes chronic.
My 3 Step Holistic Approach will help you FREE from YOUR PAIN and LIMITATIONS.
- Step
1 – Yogkinesis Therapy - Step 2 – Habit Based Nutrition & Wellness Coaching
- Step
3 – Lifestyle Coaching
Plus you will get a customized FIVE step program to self-management of chronic pain:
- Pain Journal.
- Eliminate inflammatory food from your diet.
- Proper Exercise & Posture.
- Proper Diet & Supplements.
- Try A Holistic Approach
If you are serious and committed to fixing your pain, Look know more book your free 30 minutes consultation today and find out more.
This solution is NOT for you
- If you can not make time for your health.
- If you are impatient or looking for the short cut.
- If you don’t believe in the power of Nature.
- If you only believe that medicine or surgery is the ultimate solution to a pain-free life.
- If you are not willing to do what is actually right for your body.
- If you are not ready or willing to change your habits.
BUNUS: Tips for office syndrome
- Change your sitting or working position every twenty or thirty minutes
- Stretch the muscles in your arms, hands, wrists and legs every hour. Get up and walk around.
- Make sure your wrists are in a straight position; do not bend or twist them too often.
- Give your eyes a rest from the computer every ten minutes
- Sit with a straight posture
- Do not sit on the edge of your seat
- Set your computer and keyboard facing you.
- The screen should be a little over your eye-line.
- There should be a lot of space for you to use the mouse and mover your arms.
- The computer should be arms-length away from you.
Why aren’t you as flexible as you were born?
The human body is amazing and it never ceases to amaze – with the ability to learn new techniques and adapt over time in order to survive – however, there is one thing that it gradually ceases to do: be flexible.
A human fetus (unborn baby developing in the mother’s womb) spends whole of its time floating and somersaulting in amniotic fluid (water that breaks before a woman goes into labor). This could explain the smooth flexibility of babies. One can often see an infant suckling their big toe or tumbling left and right in their cots and cradles. This flexibility only increases during childhood when they get the hang of their bodily functions. The newly acquired skills of walking, running and jumping add to the mayhem as kids are seen playing everywhere. However, this privilege starts to decline as they get older.
The first slump in a kid’s flexibility is during their teenage years or adolescence. In this age, kids are having a rage in hormones and a lot of bones and joints are reaching ossification (bones become rigid and strong). The second slump occurs in their twenties – when they have reached their prime and are now regressing slowly to a degenerative phase of their life.
The question is : why does this happen? Why don’t we remain as flexible as when we are born? What factors affect this change?
1. Connective Tissues
Growth is a natural process. It happens to everyone. It is inevitable. No elixir in the world can prevent it from happening. We grow taller and more mature. We grow smarter and acquire new skills. Different organs and systems in our body contribute in growth. To the naked eye, it would appear that only our bones and muscles are getting bigger and longer. In reality, our entire body is made up of congregations of cells. Connective tissue is one of the most abundant kind of tissue present in the body. It holds various structures and fluids in place.
As we grow, our connective tissues also adapt to the surrounding conditions, environmental stress and genetic predisposition. The cells grow bigger and multiply into various progenies (families) until they can do no more. Their lifespan is spent and waste products accumulate as a result of it. Common among these inclusions (substances that are found suspended in cells) are lipids and pigments, eg lipofuschin, which is a fatty brown pigment. [1]
The impact of these wastes makes cells acquire a stiffer arrangement. Not only the vasculature (blood vessels like arteries, veins and capillaries that carry blood) or airways, tissues also have great trouble getting sufficient oxygen and nutrients. Thus, they end up getting stiff. This change, however, is not sudden.
2. Joint Structure Formation
When we are born, we are very small and flexible This is because majority of the structures in our body have not undergone complete development. The bones have not been completely fused and hasn’t acquired complete length either.
Aging leads to ossification (becoming rigid) of bones and development of joints. As these elements fix, our body loses flexibility. It has also been observed in cases of immense stress that our muscles tend to become taut. Acute or chronic stress can directly injure muscle tissue by increasing damage by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and a greater rate of accumulations in the cells This cell damage leads to apoptosis (cell death) of muscle cells, and thus, contributing to increased rigidity and decreased mobility. [2]
3. Bone and Muscle Hardening
It is apparent that the body undergoes various changes with time. Our bones are initially soft and our movements more swift. However, it is our habits that shape how our body transforms. For example, how pelvic joint fuses and bones of the body become harder as we get involved in various day to day activities. Whether we are active or sedentary also determines the fate of our flexibility. The more active someone is, the more likely he or she is to be swift in their movements. It has also been noted that activities like stretching directly contributes to ease in mobility, whereas weight training and heavy duty activities decrease it.
But it is essential to note that activities are performed during a certain time frame. It is the long-term position of our body that ultimately determines our state. Just like prolonged collision with a water stream can form rivers or even crack open rocks, repetitive movements – or lack thereof – can leave lasting effects. Good posture is key.
Everyone must have heard phrases like “don’t make that face or it will stick that way” in their childhood. Well, there is some truth in it. How you stand or sit affects the alignment of your body. If you continuously cock your head forward near a screen or perhaps bend your neck to get a closer view of your phone every other minute, you might see a hump forming in some time. This is the effect of posture.
Other than the position we maintain while we’re wide awake, our sleeping positions also matter. On average, we sleep 6 to 8 hours a day, and some even 9 or 10 hours. The posture we maintain during this time can affect the mobility of our joints and the tautness of our muscles and fasciae (the connective tissue sleeves that cover muscles and associated structures in place, fitting like a glove).
4. Race
It is undeniable that our genetic makeup plays a major role in determining our adaptation in every aspect of life. Whether it is contributing to our intelligence or our physical characteristics. It has been observed that most Asians with have soft connective tissues as compared to the people of the West. [3]
5. Use It or Lose It
There is a simple theory called “use it or lose it”. According to this, if you keep on using your joints and performing everyday activities, you will remain able to move swiftly. It is seen that kids move around a lot and thus are immensely flexible but as they start to age, pain and inflammation, and a sedentary lifestyle prevents them from practicing and exercising their joints at the rate they used to. This leads to a disuse atrophy and joints become hypoflexible (less flexible). [4]
Thus, it can be summed up that healthy lifestyle modifications early on in life can contribute to a healthier and easier adulthood, with lesser obstacles in movement. Eating healthy foods, regularly exercising, and good posture can set you up for a flexible life.
References
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2147307/
[2] https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/stress-body
[3] https://academic.oup.com/rheumatology/article-abstract/26/1/9/1781943?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Why Yoga & Pilates Are Better Than Intense Workouts
You see this every day on social media channels: people posting “motivational” fitness quotes such as “No Pain, No Gain” or “If it’s not hurting, it’s not working” or “Blood, sweat and tears”. People have the wrong impression that working out so intensely that they puke will eventually make them thinner and healthier.
But this is far from the truth, and exercising too intensely can do more harm than good. In this article, we’ll have a look at the negative side effects of over-training and then we’ll see a solution to this problem.
Overtraining is the condition where someone performs excessive training from which the body is not able to recover from. Studies have shown that overtraining is actually worse than under training, having negative side effects on the body, mind and health. Plus, it can also affect your skin and overall beauty.
The Side Effects Of Overtraining
Training super intensely requires multiple days of recovery (sometimes up to 2 weeks), but people keep on pushing themselves and train super hard almost every day. The side effects are felt both physically and mentally, and they are:
- Muscle Loss – when training hard (especially when using weights), micro-tears take place in the muscles. Then, in the next days, the body rebuilds those tears, but creates a bit more muscle as well, just to be prepared for the next intense workout. The rebuilding and recovery process requires plenty of time, plenty of protein and plenty of sleep. Considering that most people don’t consume enough protein and don’t sleep enough hours, they would need at least a week to recover, even if they wouldn’t work out at all in that time. But some continue to do intense workouts even with a bad diet and with not enough rest. So not only that the muscles don’t get a chance to rebuild themselves, but they end up being torn down over and over again. So that person loses muscle, which eventually slows down their metabolism.
- Joint Pain – if someone performs high-intensity workouts with a bad form on the exercises, they will end up with achy joints.
- Difficulty in Sleeping – overtraining can interfere with your sleeping pattern and you will have a hard time falling asleep.
- Getting Ill Frequently – working out too much and too hard will weaken the immune system. The combination of muscle loss, exhaustion and lack of sleep will make you get sick more often.
- Sore Muscles – when you start any form of exercise it’s normal to have a slight pain in the muscles. Normally this will go away in a few days. But with overtrained people, the pain does not go away and it can last for weeks.
- Fatigue – workouts are meant to make you feel good and energized. But if you overdo it, you will feel sluggish and exhausted, and will not look forward to the next workout or to any physical activity whatsoever.
- Mental Side Effects – overtraining for a long time can also give feelings of depression, anger, apathy and irritability. They go hand in hand with the lack of sleep.
- Skin Problems – some forms of exercises can create wrinkles and stretch marks, while hot yoga can make people dehydrated. Overheating and sweating can leave those with sensitive skin with added irritation. Also, people with rosacea or eczema will have worse skin after intense exercise. Sweating with makeup on and then sitting for minutes in the car without showering can cause acne breakouts. Frequent sweating can also cause dandruff to appear or to get worse. And last but not least, there is the issue of thigh chafing (thighs rubbing together and causing irritation and rashes).
The Solution
Being fit and healthy does not require strenuous and stressful exercises. You can look and feel great even with no gym sessions or cardio workouts. And when it comes to losing weight, 90% of the process takes place in the kitchen, not in the gym.
Yoga and Pilates can offer you a fit, flexible and balanced body, without requiring you to train so hard that you get “blood, sweat and tears”. The health benefits of these 2 activities include:
- Improved flexibility
- Increased muscle tone
- Balanced muscular strength
- Improved posture
- Improved balance
- Relaxation
- Prevention of injuries
- Increased lung capacity
- Improved concentration
- Improved body awareness
- Less stress
- And much more
In case you need a healthy diet approach, mindfulness coaching or Yoga & Pilates classes, the Abbysan Center is here to help. You can start with our 30-days Jump Start Program, which includes UNLIMITED group Yoga and Pilates classes, as well as posture screen, body metrics, a goal setting and strategy session and more.
If you also want to lose weight, sleep better and have more energy, we also invite you to check out our 10-Day Detox Program. Feel free to contact us for any questions you might have. The experienced trainers at the Abbysan Center are here to help!