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How many pounds of pressure did your newborn withstand at birth?

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How many pounds of pressure did your newborn withstand at birth?

Congratulations! You’ve just given birth and now you have a beautiful baby to cherish.

Let’s think for a moment about your personal birth story and how your baby arrived in the world.

  • how many hours were you in labour?
  • was your baby born at home, in the hospital, or at a birthing centre?
  • were there interventions involved?
  • was your baby in some way pulled or suctioned from you?

In many birth situations, the baby is often forced out of the mother. This puts an immense amount of pressure on the head and neck of your baby.

Imagine your 8 pound baby potentially experiencing anywhere from 60 to 120 pounds of pressure (tractional force) to its head and spine.

If we use 100 pounds of pressure for the ease of math, 100 pounds divided by an 8lb baby is 12.5 times his/her weight.

Now, what would happen if you pulled a 180 pound man across the floor by his neck at 12.5 times his weight? That is 2250 pounds of tractional force, by which he would most likely be killed instantly.

It takes only 120 pounds of pressure (or less) to sever a baby’s spinal cord, and doctors often apply nearly that amount pulling the baby free in delivery.

The spinal cord is the most important part of every body, without its function, you could not survive even one second.

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The spinal cord houses the central nervous system, which controls every single aspect of the function, development and healing of the body.

And when we realize the amount of trauma that your baby (and you!) have just gone through to have him/her arrive in the world, we can see the connections with lasting side effects of a potentially now-misaligned spine, called subluxations.

There are many symptoms that can indicate that your baby has a misaligned spine, but sometimes there are no symptoms. A partial list of symptoms can include:

  • strained breastfeeding (baby can’t turn his/her head one way or the other)
  • unable to latch on
  • colic
  • sleeping problems
  • reflux
  • vomiting

Now that we understand the lasting side effects associated with birth, we must take a moment to consider how we can help your baby to grow and develop.

The first step is to identify if your baby has subluxations present in his/her spine. The only way to do this is have him/her examined by a doctor of chiropractic.

Chiropractors are trained to identify and correct subluxations to allow your baby’s spine to return to the correct alignment and allow optimal health to be expressed.

To correct a subluxation, the chiropractor performs an adjustment – with very light touch – to shift the bones back into the correct alignment. Don’t worry, it’s nothing like you imagine from the movies. The amount of pressure that a chiropractor uses to adjust a newborn is the amount of pressure that you would use to touch your eye with your pinky finger.

Having a spine in the correct alignment sets your baby up for optimal development and a great start to their health.

Just in time to become a toddler – where he/she will fall 2000 times learning how to walk. So keeping up with baby’s adjustment schedule through childhood will maintain a healthy spine for his/her growth and development.

You can see where I’m going with this. Life-long chiropractic care is essential at every stage of life to maximize your family’s health.

So be sure that you also have your spine checked by your chiropractor to be sure that your spine is in the correct alignment after the trauma of giving birth as well.

With Sources From: The Effect of Subluxation at Birth

Exercises to Help Improve Your Posture

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Virtually everything we do requires us to hunch forward – typing, cooking, driving, etc. When we slouch, our chest muscles shorten, our back muscles weaken, and our abdominal muscles grow slack. This muscle shortening is a cause of a wide range of uncomfortable symptoms. Fortunately, however, being mindful of our posture can prevent back pain, help us feel better, and even assist in projecting more confidence.

We hear a lot about “core” strength, but what exactly is the core? Put simply, it is the series of abdominal and lower back muscles that connect to your spine and pelvis. These muscles are involved in virtually every movement we perform, but like any other muscle group they can become unbalanced from lack of consistent use. Imbalances in strength and use can cause them to grow fatigued, get overstressed, and wither over time.

In order to improve posture, we must strengthen our core muscles through consistent, periodic training, without overdoing it. Finding routines which use resistant bands or dumbbells can be a great way to improve strength and flexibility but it’s important to realize the differences between resistance bands and dumbbells before incorporating them into your fitness routine.

Having the right routine to strengthen your core will assist in reversing the feeling of “tight” muscles, strengthen little-used muscles that have atrophied through lack of use, and keep consistently-used muscles from growing fatigued.

Try the following simple exercises on alternating days with one day off in-between. You may feel a bit sore on the first few days, but being consistent with this quick and easy routine will improve your posture and fortify your core and back muscles.

Core Exercises:

Lying Leg Raises

Lie down on your back with your legs straight. Put your hands by your sides or under your glutes with palms facing down (to support the lower back). Press your lower back to the floor as you lift your legs off the ground until they make a 90-degree angle from the floor. Slowly lower your legs back down towards the ground.

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Curl Up/Crunches

Lie down on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground. Put your hands across your chest or pointing forward by your sides. Keep your lower back pressed to the floor, slowly roll your head, shoulders, and upper back off the ground. With control, slowly roll back down.

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Plank

Start with your elbows on the ground with palms facing down and fingers facing forward. Make sure that your shoulders are right above your elbows, and they are away from your ears (no shrugging). Your toes should be tucked under towards your shins. Keep your core tight and leg rigid. Try squeezing your thigh and glute muscles. Hold in this position for as long as you’re comfortable. You should not be feeling your lower back.

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Back-Focused Exercises:

Superman:

Lie down on your stomach with your arms out overhead and your legs straight behind you. Lift your arms and legs off the ground simultaneously as you contract your back and glute muscles. Keep the motion slow and controlled. Your neck, head, and spine should be aligned. Slowly lower your arms and legs back down on the ground.

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Shoulder Blade Pinch:

Stand or sit with your shoulders back, down, and relaxed. Squeeze your shoulder blades together as you open up your chest. Hold the pinch for 10 seconds.

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Cobra Back Extension:

Lie on your stomach with your hands by your shoulders. Straighten your arms as you contract your back muscles in a back bend. Hold this pose for a second before slowly lowering back down.

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Trainer’s Tips:

Pull ab muscles in and up toward your spine – try not to use your hips to move your lower core.
Use slow, controlled movements—don’t jerk your body through the movement.
Breathe evenly throughout the movement—don’t hold your breath.
Stop doing any activity that causes pain or makes pain worse!

 

 

Blog by Guest Author:  Sally Leung – a fitness coach, certified personal trainer, fitness instructor, and nutrition and wellness specialist who is committed to helping others live their healthiest lives. She is also the host of Get Fit, Get Strong on Rogers TV and the creator of her signature program – The Bikini Body Method. Sally believes in sustainable changes, and she is passionate about helping everyone discover how to permanently improve their lives. For workout ideas, fitness tips, and recipes, check out her website www.SallyLeungFitness.com and follow her on social media: www.Facebook.com/SallyLeungFitness and www.Instagram.com/SallyLeungFitness

Meditation isn’t Supposed to be Frustrating!

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I don’t know about you, but whenever I sit down to meditate, I have instant anxiety! I have got a to-do list that is growing by the minute, I have so many balls in the air that I feel like if I take my eye off of one just long enough to take my first meditative breath, they are all going to come crashing down.

Which is EXACTLY why I need to meditate!!!

So I am going to start meditating more regularly, and actively trying to turn off the panic that rushes toward me whenever I take a mini-break for myself to recharge.

I encourage you to join me in daily meditation!

Because really, what better way can we spend just 5 minutes than bettering ourselves!!

Meditation is an excellent way to reduce stress and improve your focus (once you get past the panic!! just kidding.)

It is particularly important for people who feel daily stress and find themselves in a routine that they can’t quite keep up with. It is an excellent way to quiet your mind and clear your thoughts of trivial issues to make room for more meaningful ideas to surface.

The best part is, you can carve out time for meditation any time you’d like throughout the day. Some people prefer to meditation first thing in the morning, to set the tone for their day, while others prefer to take a break over lunch, and find a quiet spot to meditate mid-day. It can also be quite nice to spend some time in the evenings meditating before you get ready for bed. This can be very helpful in turning off the days’ thoughts, aiding restful sleep, and calming your mind.

Here are some tips to make your meditation productive and enjoyable:

1. Find a comfortable place to relax. If sitting cross legged on the floor doesn’t do it for you, find a comfy chair. Make sure you are warm enough, because as you are not moving and potentially calming your heart rate, you may feel chilled. Throw on a warm sweater.

2. Make your new comfy spot a place that is relatively quiet. Especially for beginners, it is so easy to get distracted by others talking or moving about. If you can have a quiet room with a door that can close, even better!

3. It’s okay if you have racing thoughts. Part of the whole point is to take some time separating yourself from those racing thoughts to position yourself to be able to just observe them. Rather than connecting with them and feeling like the pressure of whatever you are thinking about, simply take the vantage point of looking down upon your thoughts and watching them float by. With no attachment, you can hover above them and not be affected by them.

4. What are you supposed to think about?? Well, nothing and everything! A great way to just let thoughts come and go is to focus on your breath. Be still and be one with each inhalation and exhalation. Notice how your breath feels inside your body. Notice the pause you take between inhaling and exhaling. That is really how you are in life while meditating – embrace the pause!! Feel the rhythm of your breath and imagine it is like the ocean waves. In and out, powerful and strong. Feel the gratitude that comes with feeling this moment of just being alive!

5. Guided meditations are a very nice option to listen to a recorded voice that will guide you along a visualization meditation. There are many on YouTube that you can enjoy that also have beautiful music accompanying your visualized journey.

Most importantly, the best tip is to try to meditate daily. The more consistent you become with your practice, the more you will look forward to this time you spend benefiting your whole being.

Just remember, an athlete doesn’t just work out when they’ve gotten out of shape – they work out every day to be their best self. It’s the same with meditation – we can’t just meditate when we feel stressed already – it should be part of our daily schedule.