Free Motion Therapy
1233 Main St East L8K 1A5 Hamilton, ON, Canada

Hi guys, Tom, our osteopathic manual therapist was recently nominated for a readers choice award. Please go online at the following link and vote for your favorite osteopathic practitioner. Thanks for yor votes! https://readerschoice.thespec.com/

Timing of exercise for the individual. There are different opinions out there as to the best time to exercise. Many like to exercise first thing in the morning as they feel that it is a great way to start the day, get your metabolism going and wake up the mind. Others like to exercise at night as a way to release stress or tire them out to help them sleep at night. Some will argue this last point and say that they find exercise keeps them awake even though they are tired. Why... are there differences in how people feel with exercise? There are several factors that help to explain this difference in opinion. I decided to write a series of articles to help with this explanation. The first explanation lies with our sympathetic (fight or flight), and parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous systems. Whenever we exercise our bodies have a hormonal reaction which activates our sympathetic system which overrides the effects of our parasympathetic system. This is why people feel that exercise wakes them up and keeps them awake for a while afterwards. However after this stimulation ceases, and the hormone levels decrease, our parasympathetic system again starts to take over and we start to get sleepy, our digestive function increases and our healing rates increase. With this in mind we can see how exercise in the morning is a great way to get the system going for the rest of the day. We can also see how exercise is a nice way to tire us out and prepare us for sleep if done with enough time before bed. When I explain this to clients, it’s often at this point that I get asked, Then why do some people find they can’t wake up enough in the morning to exercise or can’t sleep even hours after exercise? A primary reason for this is because of the differences in individual body composition, diet, exercise frequency and rest/sleep levels. All of these factors have effects on the body which dictate, how our body is able to respond with the sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous systems, thus dictating how we function. One way our bodies control our hormonal reactions to exercise is through the production of Adrenaline. In my next post I will talk about Adrenaline production, absorption and what we can do to help with our body’s regulation (including improved sleep patterns).

http://freemotiontherapy.ca/hunchback-of-upper-back-pain

http://freemotiontherapy.ca/how-physical-treatment-can-imp/

Stretching: How to ensure it is helping. With the warm weather coming back, you see many people running through our streets and beginning to enjoy the benefits of warmer weather and outdoor activities. With an increase in activity I encourage everyone to ensure they are completing a proper warmup and cool down including stretching. When doing so I am often asked many questions about the importance of stretching. I thought I would take a moment to help answer some of these q...uestions. 1. Why should you stretch? Muscle tension plays a very important role in injury prevention and recovery. Our muscles pull our bones creating movement in our limbs, allowing us to move. Our muscles and ligaments help protect our joints from injury from the strains of forces generated during daily activities. 2. What does stretching do? Since flexible joints require less energy to move through a wider range of motion, flexible bodys improve overall performance by creating more energy-efficient movements. Tight muscles will pull on our joints in inefficient ways, having an effect on our posture, making it harder for our muscles to perform. This can decrease our joint mobility which leads to increased joint degeneration. A classic example is low back pain as a result of hamstring or hip flexor tension. Muscles also have an effect on the tension on our circulatory system. Reduced blood flow has a profound effect on our body and its rehabilitation, thus helping our circulation helps to promote tissue generation and prevent tissue degeneration. 3. When should you stretch? Before your workout, time is better spent warming up with dynamic stretching. A dynamic stretch is an active stretch of your muscles. Examples of this are butt kicks and walking with high knees, these help to improve range of motion and loosen up muscles that you’re going to use on the road. They also increase heart rate, body temperature, and blood flow so you feel warmed up sooner and run more efficiently. Your traditional (or static) stretching is best completed after a workout. These stretches are best held in a position of slight discomfort (not pain) and held for 30 seconds. 4. Is stretching enough? In most cases muscle tightness and discomfort can be helped and alleviated by a proper stretching routine, however sometimes our muscles and joints get to a point where we can heal on our own. When the bodies get to this point we start to get aches and pains that do not heal. With any injury it is important to be sure to get properly diagnosed and treated accordingly by a health care professional.