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Winter wrap-up
What's new at OOST
> Richard and Shauna have both returned from parental leave. Richard is available to see patients Monday, Tuesday and Thursday between 8am - 4pm, and Wednesdays and every other Friday morning from 8am - 12pm. Shauna is currently available Mondays between 8am - 3pm and Wednesdays between 12pm and 6:30pm. She will be available 4 days a week (Tuesday through Friday) as of March 6th. Christian, Pauline and Neil are still available at their usual hours. Click here to see everyone's hours.
> New visitor parking information: As of January 3rd, 2017, the visitor's parking at our building has changed to PAID PARKING. It is a pay-and-display system. The pay machine is located beside the little red hut in the visitor parking area. The machine accepts credit cards or cash and the fee for parking is $1.00 for every 30 minutes.
Prenatal Health & Wellness Course
 Shauna will be offering her popular Prenatal Health & Wellness course in March. Beginning on Wednesday March 1st and running for 4 weeks, the course will empower women with the knowledge and skill to lead an injury-free pregnancy. They will learn how to align themselves posturally, how to strengthen safely and effectively, and how to manage and/or prevent the common aches and pains that often plague pregnancy. We will also discuss a safe return to activity following delivery.
Dates: Wednesdays | March 1, March 8, March 15 and March 22.
Time: 6:45pm - 8:00pm
Fee: $120 (covered by most extended health care insurance)
For more information or to sign up, click here.
Hellos and Goodbyes
> Olivia is moving to South Korea! Olivia will be leaving OOST at the beginning of  February to spend a year in South Korea. She'll be teaching English at a school in Seoul. We are sad to see her leave but excited to hear about her adventures over the next year!
> Chelsea has joined the OOST team! We are excited to welcome Chelsea to the team as OOST's newest Office Administrator. She'll be the first friendly face you'll see when you come into the clinic, and she'll be available to help with booking appointments and answering questions. Welcome, Chelsea!
> Matthew Cameron has relocated to Calgary, AB. His quirky personality and unparalleled deep tissue massage skills will be greatly missed, but we wish him well in Calgary!
Congratulations to Richard!
 We're happy to announce that Richard and his wife, Amanda, welcomed baby Asher into the world at the end of September. Born at a healthy 7lbs 4oz, Asher has been sleeping and eating well, giggles a lot, and smiles every time he sees his dad. He is a happy boy!
Congratulations and all the best to Richard, Amanda, and Asher!
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Kinesiology in Real life
Meet Linda.
Linda’s personal health journey began 20 years ago, when she was diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma. After a successful bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy, Linda was unfortunately left many years later with cardiomyopathy and a weakened immune system. During this time she developed pneumonia, which resulted in heart failure, and Linda fell into a coma. While in the coma, Linda suffered from a stroke that affected her balance and caused renal failure, putting her on dialysis.
Though Linda’s resolve was tested, her determination persevered. Linda recovered from the stroke and learned to walk again. After years of being told there was nothing she could do about being breathless when moving, Linda took it upon herself to find a solution. She was taken in by the Heart Institute’s Rehabilitation Centre and began walking with Nordic poles for several kilometres twice a week. Although the odds were against her, Linda had a goal of improving her physical abilities enough to have a heart operation to repair some damage and thus be in a position to have a kidney transplant.
Regular exercise mixed with Linda’s determination was a recipe for success, and the change in her physical abilities became evident. At this point the Renal Clinic introduced her to an amazing organization called “Alive to Strive”, which provides fitness grants to people suffering from kidney diseases. Linda immediately signed up for the “Let’s Get Moving” class, which is focused on providing a positive and comfortable environment to start exercising for people with chronic kidney diseases.
This is where I met Linda. Over the past year I have had the great pleasure and honour of working with this phenomenal woman. When we first met she was apprehensive of walking without her Nordic poles and unsure about doing some of the exercises I was introducing. Since that first class we have worked together at least twice week (and sometimes up to five days a week!) to work on balance, strength, flexibility, coordination and relaxation. We worked hardest on improving her muscular and cardiovascular strength, so that she would be able to withstand the physical demands and limitations that come with having heart surgery.
The improvements in Linda’s health over the past year provided her the opportunity to undergo the heart operation she had been working towards, and this past September she successfully had open heart surgery. After completing some post-surgery rehabilitation at the Heart Institute, Linda and I are back to regular workouts to get her stronger in order to have a kidney transplant. With these repairs, Linda’s heart is now better-suited to handle the stress of a kidney transplant - all that’s left now is to rebuild her cardiovascular system and strength prior to the next surgery. If all goes according to plan, Linda will be going for a kidney transplant in 2017.
Linda is a true testament to what positivity and determination can achieve!
-DW
David Witiluk, R.Kin
Registered Kinesiologist
To learn more about how Kinesiology can help you be your best self, visit our website, or send an email to David directly: David@Ottawaosteopath.com. |
Managing headaches
By Pauline Costa, D.O.M.P.
Do you have recurrent headaches that interfere with work, family and activities?
People suffer from different types of headaches. Some range from being infrequent and mild to frequent and severe. Tension type headaches are the most common. They are more likely to originate from the neck due to bad posture, muscle tension and or vertebral malalignement. They are most often felt like tightness and pressure on both sides of the head/neck and can last for an hour to a few days. Most tension-type headaches respond well to over-the-counter medication so this could explain why few seek treatment for them. However the most debilitating types of headaches are migraines: throbbing , pulsating pain that generally gets worse with physical activity and movement and often associated with nausea, vomiting, light and/or noise sensitivity and/or muscle tightness of scalp and neck. Tension-type headaches can become migraines. They have similar characteristics.
Did you know that headaches can originate from different problems/ areas in the body?
- Poor head and upper back posture
- Arteries/ nerves being compressed in the head/neck: pressure in the head
- Muscle/fascia tightness in the neck
- Vertebral/ rib misalignment
- Respiratory problems
- Cardiovascular problems
- Digestive issues
- Hormonal influences
Here is where we can help you:
Our goal as an osteopathic manual practitioner is to determine where the headaches are coming from with a thorough palpatory (hands-on) evaluation. Often an osteopathic manual practitioner will start off by releasing fascia in the base of the skull, cranial sutures (joints between bones of the skull) and by association reduce tensions on structures surrounding the brain. For some headache sufferers, we treat areas that diminish tension on the envelope that covers the brain and spinal cord called the meninges and duramater.
It's important to promote adequate movement of the cranial system. This includes working on cranial bones and fascia, and vertebrae in the neck, which helps to normalize intracranial pressure and blood and lymphatic flow in the brain. Many  patients also benefit from treatments to the upper back which reduces postural strain.
Osteopathy uses a global approach which is important as the body in intimately and inherently interconnected. In this approach we address the need for proper movement locally and we will also observe distally if there is a restriction at the pelvis. The duramater, a deep fascia surrounding the spinal cord, links the cranium to the pelvis. So misalignment of the pelvis could generate a pull all the way to the skull and therefore possibly create headaches. This can happen with both males and females but is more common in women who experience unusually painful menstrual cycles. This type of treatment is called cranial-sacral therapy which takes years of study to become proficient in. Futhermore, in my professional experience, releasing mysofascial tension of tissues surrounding the lungs or heart could decrease pressure in other cavities and thus help with the headache.
Have questions about headaches, migraines or my practice? Email me at Pauline@ottawaosteopath.com or call (613)521-3222 to book an appointment. |
Did you know TMJ/Jaw pain is treatable?
By Christian Albrecht, D.O.M.P.
Our jaw has an incredibly unique design that allows us to exert over 250 lbs of pressure to chew food with our molars. Combine this with the fact that the average person speaks 1600 words a day and it's not hard to imagine that there are a lot of people who suffer from pain in their jaw. Vocalists and musicians who play wind instruments commonly get their TMJ treated as it makes speaking and singing easier.
The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain can be affected by many factors such as:
- bite misalignment
- bite correction
- stress, causing clenching or grinding (bruxism)
- wearing of the joint (osteo-arthritis)
The TMJ is linked with the cranium and face which can be a source of headaches. It can also cause local pain just in front of the ear with chewing, yawning or talking. The jaw is inherently linked to our emotional stress as we clench our teeth subconsciously in certain circumstances. Are you clenching your teeth right now?
As the mandible has a paired joint on each side of the face, in osteopathy, we balance the tension by working on both the left and the right sides in a treatment. Using manual therapy, we can release the muscles on the outside of the jaw called masseters. We also carefully release the TMJ ligament located just behind the last molar. It's a sensitive area so just a tiny pressure is needed here.
Depending on the history we may also treat the bones of the face and cranium. This is common if there is a history of a broken nose, trauma to the mouth or teeth, history of braces (orthodontics) or a history of concussion, headaches or migraines. The end result is that after treatment the jaw moves more freely and there is less pain and tension felt in the area.
Treatments are often coordinated with a dental appliance if prescribed by a dentist. Many dentists recommend osteopathy in conjunction with TMJ pain, bite misalignment or surgical corrections of the bite. Though these treatments are often combined, it's not necessary to see a dentist first. If we feel you would benefit from seeing a dentist, we'll certainly discuss this with you.
If you want to address TMJ/jaw pain, give us a call at (613) 521-3222 and we'll book your appointment. |
Have your say!
Is there something you'd love to learn more about? A topic you were hoping to see in our next newsletter?! Let us know! Send us an email with your article or topic suggestions, and you may end up seeing it in our next newsletter! |
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