Category Archives: Low back

Extension exercise for the spine

This post is prepared by West 4th Physio associate Marj Belot Extension Exercises for Low Back Pain: When, why, how? Are you having low back pain? Have you heard that backward bending (extension) exercises are a good thing to do? Have you been told that backward bending and laying face down are bad for your back? It’s possible that you have read or heard both things and now you’re confused as to what exercises you should be doing? What is the purpose? To start, it’s important to consider the purpose … Read the rest of this post »

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Sitting on a ball

Many of our clients are office workers and find sitting to be a significant requirement of their work. Continuous sitting has been widely reported over the past few years to be negative for a wide variety of health metrics. As a result we get frequent questions in the clinic as to whether there might be benefit in sitting on an exercise ball instead of a regular chair. Most people are familiar with the ball in a gym setting where it is regularly used as a vehicle for enhancing core stability (more on this in … Read the rest of this post »

Posted in Avoiding Injury, Low back, Posture | 2 Comments

Recovering from Chronic Illness…. the PGAP can help.

Getting active again after chronic illness: PGAP (Progressive Goal Attainment Program) I will now be adding the PGAP program as a service at West 4th Physiotherapy Clinic.  The PGAP program consists of weekly one hour coaching sessions with respect to goal setting and problem solving regarding return to activity, for up to 10 weeks.  The program was designed by a team of health care practitioners and researchers at McGill University. Numerous research studies have shown it to be beneficial for preventing chronic disability and improving quality of life for people … Read the rest of this post »

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Computer posture – part 3

Ok, so you have done your stretches through the day and maybe a bit at the end of the day. No doubt you feel that they help for a while but that nagging ache around the shoulders and neck keeps coming back. You want more! These exercises will help build your shoulder blade and upper back strength so that you can keep decent posture throughout the day without feeling tired from the effort. They are three of my favourite tension busters and work very well when combined with the stretch … Read the rest of this post »

Posted in Avoiding Injury, Children's Health, Head and Neck, Low back, Men's Health, Posture, Senior's Health, Women's Health | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Computer posture

A common reason to see people in our clinic is aches and pains associated with working at the computer. Computer use invites you to sit in the same position for long periods. The problem is compounded too in that now it’s common to go home from a day of work and find recreation…on the computer! A combination of both poor positioning and too much time spent in that position can cause posture to change in ways that eventually become painful. What happens? muscles around the upper back and shoulder blades … Read the rest of this post »

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New Yoga Course with Dean Smith and Tracy Groshak

West 4th Physiotherapist Dean Smith will co-teach a yoga course with Tracy Groshak  at the end of November. Course details can be found here. Yoga Course

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Bike fitting in the clinic

I had a trip up to Kelowna this past weekend to participate in a professional seminar on bike fitting. The sport of road cycling continues to grow for various reasons. Always popular in the past, it is now attracting a large group of people who don’t feel inclined to do a lot of running anymore but want to continue to be physically active. Plus, you get to go really fast! With the success of  events such as the Grand Fondo, The Ride to Conquer Cancer and increasing membership in cycling clubs throughout … Read the rest of this post »

Posted in Avoiding Injury, Knee, Low back, Ride to Conquer Cancer 2010, Senior's Health, Sports | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Does your bike fit?

In early March my colleague Jen Mcpherson and I rolled on down to Seattle to attend an intensive 2 day workshop on bike fitting. Jen is an avid multisport athlete who has completed multiple Ironman competitions and marathons and I’m a keen recreational road cyclist so our interest  in learning the process of getting a rider to the best possible position for comfort and power comes from the heart. This was an excellent course with both days full of hands on fitting experience. Thanks to the volunteers who attended and … Read the rest of this post »

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Osteoporosis guidelines

Late in 2010 I came across an interesting article in the Canadian Medical Journal (CMA) in which new guidelines were outlined to help physicians deal with managing and preventing osteoporosis. According to the study’s lead author, Professor Alexandra Papaioannu, the goal is early identification of those most likely to develop full blown osteoporosis later in life. The approach recommended in the guidelines is quite different to that currently taken. Instead of relying on bone mineral density (BMD) testing  -read more about BMD and testing here- http://www.west4thphysio.com/archives/530 , and then using … Read the rest of this post »

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Dynamic Stretching

Following on form the last post on stretching   http://www.west4thphysio.com/seniors-health/thoughts-on-static-stretching/ this post will concentrate on alternatives to the static stretch. For a long time, flexibility has been considered a fundamental part of health and fitness and it has been the aim of all sorts of exercise programs to have as their primary goal an increase in flexibility. Unfortunately, after years of research, there has been no correlation shown between static stretching and a reduction in the frequency of athletic injury. So what to do? There has been a slow recognition … Read the rest of this post »

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Trouble in high heels…

  It’s summer on the west coast. Here in Vancouver, BC, the sun shines and most of us take vacation of some sort (hence the lack of posts over the past few weeks). But of course I’m not the only one who gets to take a break. Many of my fashionable clients (you know who you are) do the same thing, ditching their habitual high heels for something altogether flatter and more modest. For most people it’s a fairly easy transition with barely a whimper from their perpetually tight calf muscles. … Read the rest of this post »

Posted in Avoiding Injury, Knee, Low back, Women's Health | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Improving your golf game

It’s already tee time on the west coast and elsewhere in Canada regular golf is getting underway. So what can be done to improve your game this season? There has been some interesting work done by exercise physiologists and coaches in answering the question of what it takes to be a successful golfer. In an article which appeared in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research in Feb 2009, researchers took some detailed physical measures of  24 national team golfers. Specifically they looked at flexibility, strength and aerobic fitness. Some … Read the rest of this post »

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