Category: Blog

Breathing is a daily part of our lives but we hardly think about something that occurs nearly every second of the day. With science, we know that the average human takes in oxygen from the air, where it enters our lungs, and the exchange of oxygen for carbon dioxide occurs. Freshly oxygenated blood from the lungs enters our heart, and is then pumped to the rest of our body, occurring every single second that we are living. This simple yet intricate system of gaseous exchange that happens unconsciously is, in part, governed by our breathing. Scientifically, the term is “respiration” – a more fancy word for the process of taking air into our lungs, and breathing it out again.  Have you ever observed a baby breathing? Their shoulders and chest are relaxed. There is a gentle rise and fall of their bellies as they inhale and exhale. Many of us do not realise that as we breathe, our chest expands and our bellies remain ‘tight’ and drawn in.  “…we may also develop unhealthy breathing patterns such as over-breathing, chest-breathing, and holding your breath.” We often forget the importance of breathing; in turn, forgetting that every system in the body relies on oxygen gained through that very act itself. As we go through the stresses of life, we may also develop unhealthy breathing patterns such as over-breathing, chest-breathing, and holding your breath (Perhaps you’ve found yourself forgetting to breathe?).  Breathing habits like these lead to a shortage of oxygen and energy, creating physical stress in the body which may manifest in symptoms such as mental and physical lethargy, increased heart rate, increased feelings of stress, and upper shoulder pain when movements begin to occur through the chest and shoulders in our attempt to suck air in. Are you a belly-breather...

As chiropractors and physiotherapists, we see that one of the most important goals many of our practice members have is essentially to become healthier. Unfortunately by the time they come to see us, many of these individuals are already experiencing some level of pain where for some, their conditions are already chronic. Our aim through this post is to try and educate the wider community on the importance of prevention when it comes to their overall spine and joint health. It does require a mindset change but we’re sure we can at least try and get individuals to take notice and be mindful of their wellbeing moving forward. How can you practice preventative health for your spine and joints?  As a start, you can start by getting physically active! The human body, is not structured to be sedentary for a prolonged period of time. In a study, it showed that out of the 302 respondents who live a sedentary lifestyle, 68% of them showed a recurrence of low back pain! If you’re someone who isn’t very active, you could begin by taking the stairs on a regular basis rather than the elevator or attend a weekly aerobics class at your local gym. Recently, even the Malaysian government issued a directive to its civil servants to encourage physical activity by allowing 15-minute “x-breaks” throughout the working day for light exercises.  By keeping active, it can help lubricate our joints, prevent muscle atrophy (weakening and shrinking), and ultimately reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases. This is just a start, but it all depends on your own individual goals. The most important thing is to begin moving about more if you identify yourself as someone who leads a sedentary lifestyle. Another way to practice preventative health is by ensuring you’re eating the...

What is an Ankle Sprain? What Causes Ankle Sprain? Types of Ankle Sprain High Ankle Sprain vs Low Ankle Sprain Severity of Sprained Ankle Ankle Sprain Recovery Time Ankle Sprain vs Broken Ankle – How Can You Tell? Ankle Sprain Treatment – How To Treat an Ankle Sprain? What is an Ankle Sprain? A “sprained ankle” is one of the most common injuries that can occur when the ligaments around the ankles are stretched beyond their normal range. Ligaments are bundles of connective tissues that connect adjacent bones together. They help to keep our joints stable and prevent excessive movements. What Causes Ankle Sprain? Ankle ligaments are non-elastic, meaning that when they are pulled beyond a certain range, they can be torn or injured. Hence the reason ankles are susceptible to regular injury.   Types of Ankle Sprain Different mechanisms of injury produce different types of sprains: Lateral Ankle Sprain In the case where your ankle “rolls over” itself when pivoting or turning, the lateral ankle ligaments (outside) ligaments get injured. We call this a lateral ankle sprain or ankle inversion sprain. The ligaments involved in this type of sprains are the a) anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL), b) posterior talofibular ligament (PTFL), and c) calcaneofibular ligament (CFL). Usually not every ligament will be torn, and the ATFL is the most commonly injured ligament, accounting for 73% of lateral ankle sprains. Medial Ankle Sprain Medial ankle sprain or eversion ankle sprain happens when sudden movements cause the ankle to roll inwards and overstretch a group of ligaments called the deltoid ligament. Medial (inside) ankle sprains are less commonly occurring, comprising of only 6% of all ankle sprains. This type of sprain is commonly seen among gymnasts when they miss a landing and land on the insides of their heels, or,...

Shoulder pain is a common problem among the general population, and can include pain that occurs around the shoulder region anteriorly (from the front), posteriorly (from the back and along the shoulder blades), and laterally (along the sides of the shoulders, up to the sides of your neck). Pain may originate from the many structures around the shoulder complex, and the pain felt can also travel to a wider area; for example, the neck, upper arm, or upper trunk. The shoulder complex gives us a large range of motion through four joint articulations: the glenohumeral, acromioclavicular, sternoclavicular and scapulothoracic joints (See image below). Therefore, stability is required through the support of the surrounding muscles and the ligaments and capsules around the joints. In conditions where the shoulder complex may be excessively loaded beyond what it can handle or is used to, injury may occur to the surroundings and cause pain.   Here are some common scenarios that you might identify with that may be the cause to your shoulder injury or pain: 1. Traumatic Injury Imagine slipping on a wet floor (or bathroom), and to break your fall, you put your arm and hand out. These types of falls are also known as “falls on outstretched hand (FOOSH)”. FOOSH causes the forces to be absorbed through the shoulder and depending on the direction of fall, may sometimes result in a dislocated shoulder. Alongside dislocations, soft tissue injuries may occur that only a radiograph/X-ray or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) would be able to identify more clearly. 2. Overuse Injury Workplace strains such as overhead working, heavy lifting and working in awkward postures are possible risk factors for shoulder pain. Some examples are occupations like car mechanics where they have to constantly reach upwards to fix a car. Another example where...

Gymnastics and ballet are quite commonly practiced by individuals who started out when they were young. Watch rhythmic gymnastics during the Olympics and you will see how young many of these athletes are. For example, US gymnast, Dominique Moceanu started her training from as young as 3 years old, and later went on to represent the US at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. This 1996 team were nicknamed the “Magnificent 7” as they were the first American Women’s Gymnastics Team to win the Olympics team gold medal.   In the past year, we have been treating quite a few competitive gymnasts. Most of these girls are aged between 7 to 10 and are also involved in a near-daily training programme with their respective gymnastic teams. Most of their complaints are usually due to a wrist/elbow sprain, neck or low back pain and in some cases, a result of their scoliosis. As practitioners, we got quite concerned when we began to see more girls coming in regularly especially after we understood their training regime and the high level of competition these young girls are training at. We’re glad that these parents have trusted our team of practitioners to ensure their daughters’ well-being are taken care of. This is important as these young girls are still physically developing and we want to make sure that their injuries do not bring any long lasting effects. We also make it a point to ensure that their parents are well-informed of the situation and we try to manage the expectations of each parent and child – especially when they are involved in an upcoming competition. To try and shed some light to our concerns as practitioners, we thought it would be a good idea to share some of our thoughts surrounding injuries sustained as a...

Our bodies are mainly made up of bones, joints and muscle. However, a key system that works within our bodies are the nervous system. The nervous system is responsible for making our whole body function the way it does as it involves the brain. The nervous system helps different parts of our body communicate as well as allowing our brain to control what’s going on. In essence, nerves are like wires that carry communication signals or impulses around the body. There are 2 main types of nerves: motor nerves and sensory nerves. Motor nerves allow the brain to control our muscles (either to expand or contract), so we can move. Sensory nerves on the other hand, carry signals to the brain to tell it about what is going on in the outside world. These can come from our skin (touch), eyes (sight), tongue (taste), nose (smell) and ears (hear).  In each case, the signals only go one direction. The motor nerve signals travel from the brain to the muscles, whereas the sensory nerve signals travel from the senses to the brain.     Now that we’ve given a brief background to what our nervous system is and does, we will attempt to explain a little bit more to what happens when there is a problem when the signals are blocked or restricted. The nervous system is very extensive and although protected by different structures within the body, each individual nerve can actually move. Like an elastic band, our nerves have the ability to slide and “glide”. Much like stretching out a muscle when it’s tight, nerves can also be “stretched” (but not literally) when it’s tight, to help improve the movement of the nerves throughout your muscles or joints.  When nerves are tight, it could be due to staying...

“Yoga is the poetry of movement.” – Unknown We do have a few Practice Members who are very active in yoga and even our very own Dr. Joseph, uses yoga to maximise his overall health. So, what are its benefits and does it really complement your chiropractic care? We couldn’t have chosen a better time to talk about this especially since September is officially Yoga Awareness Month according to the Yoga Health Foundation! Hopefully by the end of this post, you’d be able to decide for yourself if combining yoga with your chiropractic care plan is for you. There are some individuals who would prefer pilates over yoga, however that will be a topic for another day. So what exactly is yoga and is it some mystic religion? Well, although yoga originated from ancient Hindu spiritual and ascetic disciplines, many individuals today practice yoga specifically for its health benefits as it focuses on the body and mind. There are many forms of yoga where each focuses on a slightly different aspect. However for the purpose of our post, we shall focus mainly on how yoga benefits an individuals’ physical posture, builds strength and also how it improves their breathing. It is also interesting to note that individuals who regularly practice yoga (“yogis”) are able to manage their stress better and aren’t as likely to experience depression and anxiety. Perhaps this may be one of the reasons why there is the misconception that yogis are a religious group due to their constant relaxed stress-free demeanour and identified by their colourful outfits. On the other hand, some high performing athletes actually perform yoga on a regular basis to keep their mind mentally sharp. “…individuals who regularly practice yoga are able to manage their stress better and aren’t as likely to experience depression and...

Over the past few years, we have been using a type of spinal orthotic together with our chiropractic adjustments and physiotherapy rehab sessions as an added value service for our Practice Members. So, what exactly is a spinal orthotic and what does it do? Most people are already familiar with orthotics for their feet (inserted into their shoes). The function of a pair of shoe in-sole orthotics is to help the person wearing it to correct the shape or function of the feet, ankles or lower limbs. Over time, it is the general idea that the body will begin to adapt and get used to the corrected position with the use of orthotics. With the addition of regular strengthening exercises, the muscles will eventually get strong enough to hold the corrected position or posture.     Much like in-sole orthotics, spinal orthotics work the same way. With the consistent use of these spinal orthotics, it is seen to assist in the correction of poor spinal curves as well as improve movement. The poor spinal curves mentioned here refers to the changes of the normal curvatures in a spine (See our previous post) as a result of our poor postures specifically. Ideally, our neck and lower back should be arching inwards (lordosis) and the upper back arching outwards (kyphosis). The spinal orthotics help to restore back these healthy and normal curvatures in a spine as these blocks are placed underneath a person’s spine as they lie down for a set amount of time. We have seen many of our Practice Members benefit from our use of the spinal orthotics. There are also specific spinal orthotics and settings that we use for individuals who come in with scoliosis. The usage of spinal orthotics in scoliosis allows the spine to be more flexible as it...

On occasion, we do get many enquiries asking us what chiropractic care can do and whether it can do this or that. With the input from Dr. Loh Wei Chee, our resident chiropractor, we will attempt to debunk some of the common myths as well as clarify certain misconceptions surrounding chiropractic. “Chiropractic care is harmful/dangerous.” On the contrary, chiropractic adjustments (when the chiropractor administers their treatment by hand, manually) are very safe. Over here at Spinefit Chiropractic, we always get each individual who wishes to receive chiropractic care to undergo an initial consultation with our chiropractors. During this session, our team will ask a series of questions to get a detailed health history, conduct their assessments and come up with a working diagnosis before they proceed with any treatments. This session is very important for us so that the team is aware of any “red flags” and to rule out any doubts. Each chiropractor at Spinefit has been certified, qualified and trained by their respective recognised medical institutions. They have received years of training to ensure they are competent to administer the necessary chiropractic adjustments. Chiropractors are also trained to ensure their Practice Members are comfortable and are fully aware of what treatments would be administered before they proceed.   “Chiropractic is all about the “cracking” and “popping” of your spine/bones.” We’re sure you’ve seen videos on YouTube where a chiropractor adjusts their Practice Members and you hear a loud “crack” or “pop”. Or perhaps you’ve been told by a friend or relative that’s what happened. To reassure you, no bones are being broken in the process! What is actually happening are the sound of gas bubbles being released from the joints during the adjustments. This is why it sounds like a crack or a pop. However, in saying this,...

Exercise and Recovery Everyone knows that exercise is important – we’ve read numerous articles on the many benefits on exercise, yet it might still be difficult to drag ourselves out for a run/to the gym/to the field. But does exercising actually give you a long life? Well, studies have shown that physical activity is not only linked to benefits such as an improvement of our physical and mental health, but also aids in the reduction of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). First of all, what are NCDs? NCDs are diseases that are not infectious, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes – infamous issues to our ears.     Who are more susceptible to NCDs? Risk factors such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, and alcohol abuse all increase the risk of NCDs, as well as metabolic issues such as raised blood pressure, obesity, and raised blood glucose. These metabolic issues in turn contribute to an increased risk of NCDs in an individual. So, why is this important to us, and how can exercise help? It has been found that 73% of the deaths in Malaysia (that also happens to be Asia’s most obese country) were caused by NCDs, with cardiovascular diseases being the leading cause of half of that percentage. Individuals who are obese are put at a much greater risk of many diseases, such as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, and coronary heart disease. How can we counter this? The answer is simple – a healthy diet and regular exercise.     Understandably, dieting might be a difficult feat for many. Especially in the land of extremely good food, and even more so with the many festive seasons all throughout the year! However, just keeping more active, even in the slightest bit, can help reduce...