Category: Blog

You bent over to pick something up, felt something catch in your lower back, and was put out of commission for a week. A couple of months later, the same thing happened but worse, and you found yourself in the doctor’s office because you’re worried that you’re going to blow your back out again in a year’s time. When you hear your doctor saying, “Surgery,” there’s bound to be lots of questions going through your mind. Do I really need this? Will it be painful? Am I going to be pain-free after that? How long does it take to recover? I’m scared of invasive surgery – is there another way for me to get relief? When you hear your doctor saying, “Don’t lift weights,” you start worrying. How am I gonna carry my kids? My grandkids? What about running? Am I just going to be doing bodyweight exercises for the rest of my life?  Conservative care should ALWAYS be tried before surgery, unless it is a medical emergency and absolutely necessary. We’ve got some questions that we hear all the time in the clinicians room, and we’re answering them for you today. 1) What’s the success rate for spine surgery? “Failed back surgery syndrome” is an actual diagnosis, and is when the outcome of back surgery does not meet the expectations of the surgeon or the patient (in terms of pain, daily function, and activity goals). This can affect 10%-46% of spine surgeries which is a huge number.  Conservative care should ALWAYS be tried before surgery, unless it is a medical emergency and absolutely necessary. Conservative care can include physical therapy, chiropractic treatment, etc. but it should always involve ACTIVE rehabilitation where your clinician is working together with you to get you back to your goals!   2) When...

I’m writing this about a month after the Movement Control Order (MCO) transitioned to a “Conditional” MCO and what a world we’re living in right now! Wearing a mask, regular surface sanitising and hand washing have almost become second nature in this new way of living. Who would’ve thought we’d be living like this if you told me about it 6 months ago. In fact, a time before this pandemic almost seems like a distant memory. Honestly, I was personally counting down the days where we could reopen for operations as we didn’t get the opportunity to do so during the entire MCO period. Every other week I would closely watch the Prime Ministers’ address to see if our sector would be allowed to operate. Some of our Practice Members did ask why weren’t we allowed to open seeing as we were a healthcare provider and some other business owners in our industry decided for themselves that they were essential and remained open. However, I wanted to be responsible and not put any of my team members or our Practice Members in any risk even though it came at a high cost to us as a business. We’re all just different boats stuck in the same storm and as long as we acknowledge and accept that, we can get through this pandemic together. As our practice began to reopen our doors during the CMCO under strict guidelines by the Ministry of Health (MoH), I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Firstly, would people still be confident enough to step out of their homes in the midst of the pandemic and secondly, how would we be able to administer our treatments in a safe and effective manner without risking the health and safety of everyone. Well, it has...

  We’ve started seeing some of our Practice Members via Online Video Consultations! What’s amazing with the session done online is that we don’t need to be located in the same area and recently, we were able to conduct one internationally, in a different time zone! With many individuals working from home and confined indoors, we foresee that there will definitely be an increase in complaints with muscle aches, strains and pain. Our practice has decided to accelerate this initiative to get ourselves online to ensure our Practice Members or anyone for that matter, aren’t feeling left out during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period. We want to make our expert advice and services even more assessable to as many individuals as possible during this MCO period so that we can put their minds at ease. So, here’s what you can expect from an Online Video Consultation or review session with us: Visual assessment done via a video call to determine the nature of your complaint as well as setting clear expectations. Our practitioners will send you a Google form for you to fill out and ask some background and health history. Our team may get you to do certain movements to confirm and facilitate their visual assessment. We will explain in detail what our working diagnosis is and make recommendations as well as advise you on what you can do next. An exercise programme may be prescribed to you via an app and we will monitor your adherence remotely. We will set up another review session again so we can continue with you through the recovery process. When the #MCO is over, if needed, we will arrange another session to be done in-person at our clinic. Don’t worry if this is all new to you. See it as a...

With the extension of the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia till the 14th of April 2020, getting that appointment to see us in the first week of April to address your aches and pains as a result of working from home (WFH) doesn’t look like it’ll be happening soon. By now, we’re sure that there are a few of you who are starting to feel the tight muscles in your shoulders, lower backs or necks as you sit for prolonged hours, hunched over your laptops during this MCO period working from home. Our team has kindly listed some helpful tips you can do to make your #WFH during this MCO period feel less of a burden and add to your productivity. Monitor – The top of the computer monitor should be at or slightly below eye level. Ideally, it should be tilted just slightly (as needed) for the most natural viewing position. Arms – The arms should be relaxed at the sides and the shoulders never tense. Elbows should bend at about a 90º angle for typing and using the mouse. Wrists should not need to bend in order to use either. Chair – It is best to put the hips as far back into the chair as possible and then sit upright. The curve of the lumbar spine (lower back) should have some support, though any supportive backrest or cushion shouldn’t exaggerate the curve. The chair should be adjustable so that the worker will be able to sit comfortably while maintaining healthy positioning of arms, hands, legs, and feet. Legs & Feet – Thighs should be parallel to the floor and feet should be comfortably resting on the floor. Some shorter employees will benefit from a small footrest to facilitate this if the height of their chair...

Hopefully the Restricted Movement Order (RMO) period will give us all some time to think, reflect and catch up with our own immediate family members at home. For some of us in the team, the RMO has allowed for some much needed quality meal times with our very busy household – which is a great thing! It’s also a time to catch up on long overdue household chores, spring cleaning and for a couple of us, a time to get through some clinical readings. But for the most of us, who are extroverts, staying indoors for this prolonged period is going to challenge us. The events leading up to the RMO have certainly been unprecedented and gave anyone of us very little control over. We are, figuratively speaking, “sailing into the unknown“! We can only hope and pray that everyone will be sensible and responsible enough to adhere to the RMO as mandated by the Federal Malaysian Government so that the spread of the Covid19 outbreak can be slowed. Moving forward towards April 2020, we will make some key changes as to how we operate our practice so that we can still continue to address your complaints in a safe and comfortable manner. These are extra steps we will be taking on top of our current SOPs of pre-screenings and temperature checks. Some of these changes include: Reduced number of people in the practice at any one time, Practitioners to work in staggered shifts (Morning & Afternoon) to cover longer opening hours and, Temporary extension of our opening hours (till June 2020). We hope that the worst is over and there will be a solution to this virus as soon as possible. As mentioned in the video by our GM, Keith, the decision to adhere to the RMO as...

As an athlete, its normal to get sores and aches from time to time due to high intensity training as well as games. Chiropractic care treatments are focused more towards passive care which could benefit athletes as the chiropractor does most of the work. For an athlete, the biggest issue is staying fit and limiting injuries. Dr. Chandra Nagendran Depending on the nature and intensity of training, there’s a high chance that athletes will go through a period of feeling sore and stiff every few weeks. Things like adjustments where it addresses any restrictions in the spine or joints as well as soft tissue therapy i.e. massage, trigger point therapy, dry needling etc can help athletes recover quicker as well as perform more efficently. Furthermore, chiropractors also look to address any movement patterns that may be restricted or compensated to improve the athletes ability to perform under stressful conditions & at high levels. Biases aside, as someone who is very active in sports, I tend to see a chiropractor once every 2-3 weeks to maintain my mobility and function so I can perform at the best of my ability as well as just to feel good and loose. For an athlete, the biggest issue is staying fit and limiting injuries. By seeing a chiropractor regularly, as stated above, with their treatment modalities focused towards promoting function and mobility, this helps reduce the occurrences of injury. Of course, not everything is that simple. In order to stay fit and injury free, strengthening and rehabilitation is also essential. Most athletes tend to lean more towards physiotherapist for all their aches and bodily needs. Why not try using both? Chiropractic and physiotherapy actually work very well hand in hand. A chiropractor can first get the patient mobile and also improve function of...

The vestibular system, a system that is not commonly talked about – but has already begun to develop in the womb as the foetus is rocked back and forth by the mothers movements, maturing from birth until the ages of 16 years old. It is the brain’s “traffic controller” for all the sensory information it receives. For example, it helps to integrate things seen by the eye with the movement of the head, allowing the body to remain balanced and stable instead of falling over. It is crucial for good balance, visual tracking, and motor development of the child. Vertigo, the feeling of you or your surroundings moving, is one of the main symptoms of vestibular issues. You might notice your child having balance problems, constant clumsiness, or having difficulty scanning a line of text or changing head positions to see something (eg from book to whiteboard). When the vestibular system is not properly functioning, they might find it hard to “hold themselves up” properly – choosing to lie down, or slouch over the desk. “Adults can readily report and clarify vertigo symptoms, but this is not the case for young children. For very young children who cannot describe what they are feeling, vertigo may be demonstrated by clinging to parent or caregiver, refusing to stand up, or falling asleep. The older child may say that “the house is moving” or “I am falling.” (Vestibular.org) Neck development is also an important part of a child’s growth. An infant develops from top to bottom – and the strength of the neck has to be there for proper control of the rest of the body, which is why tummy time has been advocated even by 2 weeks old! By 3 months old, a baby should be able to lift their head up steadily during tummy...

Most of us as parents understand that our children would have achieved certain developmental milestones at certain ages, whether it is cognitive, social, behavioral or motor. As a physiotherapist, my interest lies greatly in the motor development of young children! For example, catching thrown items at 4 years old, skipping at 5 years old and so on. There is a good reason why doctors and researchers have always used milestones to check in on the development of your young child. It gives them a way to understand whether your child is growing well physically and cognitively, as it requires both the maturing of the connections in the brain as well as the bones and muscles in the body to allow your child to develop into a healthy, playful, cheeky young person. Both are inter-related! We need an environment where our child is allowed to grow and explore to build their physical bodies. As that happens, their minds are also connecting the dots between themselves and the world, expanding their perceptual and cognitive abilities. As the connections in their minds grow, the body is also influenced positively as the child responds physically to problem solving. A child intrigued by a puzzle will begin to handle the small pieces and attempt to fit them into the right places – an example of both cognitive and motor development influencing each other. Parents should be aware of certain conditions in their children that may be influenced by motor development: Knock-knees (Genu valgum) It is common for young children to have knees that look like they are touching each other up till the ages of 7 years old, as the body is adapting to their growing height and weight. This is called physiological knock-knees and by age 8 to 10 years, the child’s legs...

At the time of writing, certain places in Sarawak and Selangor have an API (Air Pollution Index) readings of between 200 to as high as 290+! Schools in these these states as well as Putrajaya have been ordered to close for the safety and health of the students. Events all around Malaysia have been cancelled or postponed due to the severely high API readings. In 2015, the Standard Chartered KL Marathon was cancelled due to the haze and only time will tell if this years’ marathon will take place if the haze condition continues to worsen. As we regularly champion our Practice Members to continually stay healthy by encouraging them to be active, we understand that with the current unhealthy weather it would push all activities indoors. For those of you fortunate enough to live in a condominium with gym facilities, we strongly encourage you to keep up with your exercises in there. But for the times we have to move between our homes and work, or the car and the places we have to be at; you can stay one step ahead by protecting yourself from being exposed to the unhealthy air. You could wear an N95 type mask or you could also consider an anti-pollution mask like the ones from MEO Air. We recently started stocking these premium, high quality and innovative anti-pollution New Zealand made face masks and our stock has been flying off our shelves! They come in a variety of colours and sizes in either a disposable version or a reusable/washable version with replaceable filters. The unique thing about the MEO range of face mask is their use of wool in their proprietary Helix™ Filters as it has proven to outperform synthetic materials as well as inhibiting the growth of bacteria! According to MEO,...

Am I going to get injured? How can I prevent injury and make sure that I avoid injury? What if I’ve been injured before – can I become more confident in facing the same sport that gave me the injury in the first place? Is there something I could do better? Simple questions that are being asked all the time, and you’re not alone. In our practice, we come across people of all walks of life, where a large number of them being those who play sports for leisure and competitive levels. Being involved in sports frequently means that you’re exposed to a higher risk of injury as a result of frequent training and participation in your chosen sport. Experiencing injury and recovery from during your training or sport is never easy. It is a test for both the physical and mental state of an individual. While some of the injuries take a shorter period to recover, there are also some that may take longer than we would generally hope for. In some cases, when the recovery takes longer than it should, we have seen individuals refraining from returning to their favourite sports or activity just because they’re afraid of re-injuring themselves again. All of these cases lead us to ask: Is there a way that we can help reduce the risk of injury while participating in sports? and How can we better prepare our own Practice Members to return to their sports? In our quest to look for solutions to our questions above, we found a technique called Movement Assessment Tool or MAT. MAT is an evidence based assessment technique that uses objective data to record the individual’s movement. Based on the data collected, we can then compare the individual’s performance to the normative values gathered from a...