March 11, 2017

Acupuncture for Iliotibial Band (ITB) Syndrome

ITB syndrome is one of the most common injuries among athletes.

The ITB is a large fibrous band spanning from the thigh to the tip of the tibia (shin bone). Whilst the ITB attaches to the knee and helps stabilise and move the joint, pain is generally felt on the outside of the knee, occasionally radiating inwards.

Causes of ITB Syndrome can include the following:

  • Uneven leg lengths – may affect hip abductor and pelvic bone position and functionality causing increased tension on the ITB’s
  • Over-pronating (curving inward) the feet when walking or running causes the tibia to rotate and increase tension on the ITB
  • Tight hip flexors and muscles supporting the hip and knee areas
  • Increased hip internal rotation and adduction causing stress on the ITB

A simple test to confirm if your knee pain is ITB related is to bend your knee at a 45-degree angle lifting slightly off the ground. If you feel pain on the outer side of the knee at any time it’s most likely ITB Syndrome

Acupuncture for ITB is performed at points around the hip area toward the knee. Other distal points around the body will be used in conjunction with Acupuncture theory and methods.  Cupping is a process where a vacuum is created in glass cups then applied to areas of tension.

This suction draws the skin, facia, blood and tissue to a superficial level primarily encouraging blood flow. The cups can also be slid along the muscle or tendon sheath, in this case along the ITB from knee to hip. 

Do you have stubborn knee pain that you’ve timelessly tried to seek treatment for?

We’ll look at alternate ways to assist in reducing pain. We’ll apply some simple emotional principles to see if it resonates with your life:

  • Depending on the knee affected, it can be related to not wanting to work with female or male energies – wanting to walk away.
  • Pain on the lateral side of the body is from external influences affecting the client emotionally, for example, your Mother puts pressure on you to do something you don’t want to do.
  • The pain can also can reflect hostility – not being enthusiastic about what’s going on in your life
  • We can explore the meaning of the pain type – dull, sharp, numbness, tingling etc.

If you’re suffering from knee pain then call us on 0406 688 832 to discuss your case further or book online now!

February 11, 2016

OMG I’ve just made THE BEST cake!!! (gluten free/ dairy free/ wheat free)

Yummy Chocolate Cake!!!

As a health practitioner I take my role very seriously in guiding you to make a full recovery.

Often your road to recovery will include dietary changes.

Studies show that changing your eating habits can be very confronting and tough at times, especially when your body is inflamed.

The times in my life when I’ve had to change my eating habits because i was suffering with chronic illness. I’ve found it hard to stick with it, because the food was tasteless.

So you don’t have to struggle, I’m sharing my secrets with you, my easy yummy recipes that anyone can make. These are the very same recipes I share in my clinic with my patients to help reduce the inflammation and pain in their bodies so they have a faster recovery.

Plus, these recipes are tried and tested in my own kitchen, and if you could see me in my kitchen (Nigella I am NOT!)  you’d understand that recipes have to be simple, easy to make AND taste good! You’ll find each recipe will help your body in some way, no matter if your illness is simple or complex. It’s my gift to you to help you on your healing journey.

When you make this, take a pic then pop on over to our Facebook page I’d love to see your version (or creation)!

Yummy Chocolate Cake

Nourishing Chocolate Butter Bean Cake

This super moist gluten free/ dairy free/ wheat free and low carb Cake is incredibly sweet and just plain addictive!

The chocolate butter bean cake has well-rounded source of nutrition, rich in protein, fiber, iron and B vitamins.

Cooking time 45 mins

Preparation 10mins Cooking/ Baking 35 mins

Ingredients

420g Butter Beans

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons cacao

1 teaspoon GF baking powder

½ teaspoon bicarbonate soda

Pinch of salt

1/3 cup coconut oil

5 eggs

2 handfuls of dates

Method

  1. Puree the beans, add water, 1 egg & vanilla into a bowl and mix until smooth. Set it aside.
  2. Without washing the bowl add the dates (finally chopped) and coconut oil.
  3. Add the remainder 4 eggs and beat for 20 seconds.
  4. Add the bean mixture, beat for 5 seconds
  5. Add the cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda & salt. Blend for 10 seconds.
  6. Pour into greased baking ring tin pan & bake MOD oven for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Hope you enjoy

June 3, 2015

June Astrology Update

mercury

June Astrology Update – 2015

Retrogrades, retrogrades and retrogrades ….

June brings with it lots of retrograde energy … so this is a month where we have to look backwards to go forwards!  Mercury and Saturn are already retrograde, and as Mercury turns forward mid-month Neptune turns backwards followed soon after by Chiron.  So, June looks like it’s going to be a time of internal seeking, but there will be some lightness with the playfulness of Venus joining Jupiter in Leo.

Before I begin the month’s emotional weather forecast, a word on ‘retrogrades’ …. planets don’t actually go backwards during a retrograde.  Astronomically, a retrograde is when, due to the elliptical nature of our orbits, a planet appears to be going backwards relative to the Earth. Astrologically, retrogrades are times when the planet’s energy is more inwardly oriented than outer-directed, when we subject our life to review, reflection, and re-thinking, before we move again with a renewed understanding when the planet turns forward.  The time at which a planet is in the process of (apparently) turning around is called the ‘Stationary’ point’, and at this time its energy is exacerbated.

We start the month with Mercury having just gone past the Sun in its retrograde motion.  This is when the impact of the Mercury retrograde period begins to reach its peak, so don’t forget to do all that double-checking for the next two weeks, and do give a bit of leeway to those Virgos and Geminis who’ll be having an especially challenging time!  The retrograde ends on 12th June, and then we’re in what’s called the ‘shadow period’ until the 27th June when the mercurial planet gets back to 13 degrees Gemini, the point at which it started the retrograde.  The shadow period at the end of a retrograde is all about integration, about taking on the learnings from the internal processing of the retrograde. What are the realisations you had during the retrograde?  What flashes of insight occurred?  This is the time to get them into action, to manifest that intuitive brilliance in your world.

On the 12th June Neptune begins its retrograde period, which goes through until 19th November. So, just as Mercury turns forward, and we might have been ready to welcome a bit of clarity back into our lives, Neptune turns backwards. Neptune is ethereal and otherworldly, it is spiritual and ideal, it blurs the boundaries of everything it touches, including the intellect and thought, and it both creates and shows that all is illusion.  So, this is a time when the subconscious mind takes over; a great time to take note of dreams and intuitive insights … they probably have something especially important to say at the moment, especially at the Stationary point when it is turning.  But, Neptune is quite nebulous, and the risk when it’s in retrograde is that we can get lost in vagueness and delusion.  It is especially important to stay grounded during this time.  This is really important … during Neptune retrograde, we have to do the work to keep our feet on the ground, otherwise we risk being lost in its dreamy clouds of elusiveness and self-delusion.

And then on the 24th June Chiron begins its retrograde period, which goes until 28th November.

Chiron’s energy is all about healing, and its purpose is to restore wholeness.  The way Chiron does this is that it reconnects things that have been hurt or broken, so that they can be repaired and reintegrated.  To do this, Chiron reminds us of the earlier time when the thing got broken, so the healing can happen.  While this energy often brings pain, the beauty is that, if you allow it rather than fight it, you come away more integrated, more whole in that area than you’ve ever been.  So, when Chiron stations and then retrogrades, this healing energy is accentuated.  This will be felt especially by those who have a planet that is at or in aspect to 21 degrees of Pisces (where Chiron is when it turns), but we will all be experiencing this one way or another.  Whether in our everyday life or our fantasy and dream world, old hurts will be being triggered, and the opportunity will be there to bring the pain to the surface in order to do the healing work.  But, it doesn’t happen on its own … we have to be prepared to do the work.

Saturn is still retrograding too (until 2nd August), and goes back into Scorpio on 15th June.  Saturn is the planet of sorting old stuff out, retrogrades are the time when old stuff gets sorted out, so a Saturn retro time is like a karmic washing machine! Scorpio is the energy of secrets, of desire, and of unconscious drives and urges, so as Saturn moves back into Scorpio, we have a chance to revisit any places where we may not have been completely honest with ourselves and others about what we want to build for our future. This is a time for greater awareness about what is really driving us, a time to remove the veils we have been hiding our desires behind.  As Saturn moves forward in early August, we can bring that new awareness and honesty to the world we are forming.

Mercury is square Neptune again on 24th June.  As it goes forward again, Mercury comes back into square with Neptune.  So the communicative, intellectual energies of Mercury being challenged by those imaginary and illusory energies of Neptune.  This is a time when it’s hard to be sure what is truth, and especially difficult to communicate our own truth.  Use this time to focus internally rather than expect that you’ll be able to communicate effectively.  And take time with anything that involves thinking or communicating, this is not a time for jumping to conclusions.

As I mentioned, the feminine, connected, indulgent Venus moves into Leo (6th June), where it’s as playful, romantic and dramatic as it gets.  It joins up with Jupiter and forms a Trine with Uranus at the end of the month, suggesting that we should go into July with a creative, playful and an ‘expect the unexpected’ festive vibe.  Until then, there’s lots of inward seeking to take care of!

But of course, remember that none of this is causal, it’s just a taste of the fundamental interconnectedness of all things …

– Michael Murphy

https://www.uranusrising.com/

February 16, 2015

Acupuncture For Shoulder Pain

Shoulder Pain Toowoomba

Shoulder pain is a condition we often see in our clinic.

Generally, shoulder pain Toowoomba is caused by inflammation (bursitis), physical injury or arthritis. In fact it is easy for practitioners to mistake bursitis for arthritis, especially if the condition in chronic.

Traditional Chinese Medicine theory is based on a flow of energy called ‘qi’ of which the body consists in different forms and layers. Understanding how ‘qi’ flows through the body allows us to treat shoulder pain according to illness (signs & symptoms), lifestyle and constitution.

Often the severity of shoulder pain is measurable by the limited range of motion when our clients attempt to move their shoulders. This is also a great way for us to measure the efficacy of our treatments after a typical session.

It is said that Acupuncture stimulates sensory receptors and nerves that transmit impulses into the pituitary gland and hypothalamus sections of our brain. As a result the neurotransmitters Serotonin and Endorphin are released, blocking the messages of pain in the shoulder sent from the brain.

If you suffer from the following signs and symptoms then make an appointment at our Toowoomba clinic today:

  • Pain in and around the entire shoulder
  • Radiating pain towards the elbow or wrist
  • Pain worse when lying on the affected shoulder
  • Pain worse when extending or moving your arm above shoulder height
  • Painful arc of movement – shoulder pain felt between 60 – 90° of arm moving up and outwards
  • Constant dull pain regardless of arm position
  • Pain with everyday activities such washing hair, brushing your teeth, or reaching for high items

For stubborn cases of shoulder pain Toowoomba we will begin to look at underlying emotional factors:

  • What shoulder is affected and what this means emotionally
  • Underlying resentment
  • Carrying life’s burdens on your shoulders (exploring reasons and solutions)
  • Linking fluid build-up and retention with emotion

If you’ve identified any of the pain signs and symptoms or other aspects of this article then don’t hesitate to book your Toowoomba Shoulder Pain treatment by calling us on 0406 688 832 to discuss your requirements.