Understanding Migraine Patterns During Holiday Stress

It’s meant to feel like a breather, but the festive season and the new year can come with its own kind of pressure. While holidays bring time off, family gatherings, and a break from routine, they also tend to stir up more noise, more rushing around, and less time to rest properly. For those of us who experience migraines, this mix of physical and emotional stress might make symptoms show up more often than usual. We hear it each December: more tension, more changes in sleep, and more people wondering why headaches seem to flare up just when they want to feel their best.

When things start to feel tight in the neck, shoulders, or jaw, it’s often the body telling us something isn’t sitting right. That’s where a migraine chiropractor comes into the picture, not to take over your holiday health, but to help take a clearer look at how your body is coping with the season.

How Stress Affects Migraine Patterns

Stress hits more than just our mood. It tends to shift how we hold ourselves, how deeply we breathe, and how much our muscles stay switched on. In busy or emotional times, we often carry feelings in the body without even noticing. It might show up as a clenched jaw in the car, tight shoulders at the dinner table, or a stiff neck after a day of errands.

End-of-year stress can build in small, ongoing ways:

• Work pressure trying to wrap things up before the break

• Family events that are joyful but emotionally draining

• Being pulled in different directions with travel or planning

All of these can lead the body to feel tight and overloaded, which may stir up more frequent migraines. It’s not usually the stress alone but how the body responds. Muscle strain near the base of the skull or tension in the temple area can quietly increase over days. When the body holds this tension for too long without support, it becomes harder for it to relax, even when the holiday is meant to be a break.

The Physical Load of the Holiday Season

It’s easy to overlook how physical this time of year can be. Extra chores, longer drives, crowded shops, and sleep in unfamiliar beds can take a larger toll than expected. It's not just what we do, but how we move through it.

• Wrapping gifts can mean hunching over for long periods

• Lifting shopping bags or luggage can strain the lower back and neck

• Decorating may lead to overreaching or awkward twisting

• Falling asleep on the couch or in a spare bed can misalign the neck

Even small changes in habit can be enough to shift posture out of balance. A body that’s not moving the way it usually does might respond with tension-related headaches or more scattered pain. That unpredictability can be frustrating, especially when you’re just trying to enjoy the holidays.

Over the holidays, familiar routines may be replaced by new ones. Maybe you’re waking up later, carrying more, or sitting for longer meals than at other times of the year. There’s also a tendency to let posture slide while chatting with relatives or sitting on unfamiliar furniture, like folding chairs or squishy sofas at a family gathering. These little shifts can add up and put pressure on the body, especially in parts that are already sensitive from past tension.

Combined with travel, these factors become even more relevant. Whether it's a short drive or a long flight, sitting for stretches without good support often leaves your head, neck, and shoulders feeling tighter than usual. Even the way you pack a suitcase or lift out presents from the boot can spark a chain reaction that feeds back into headache patterns.

Common Areas of Discomfort Linked to Headaches

We often notice the same patterns from one end of the year to the next. When migraines get worse in December, it tends to involve a few key parts of the body.

• The upper neck, particularly near the base of the skull, can build pressure when posture slips or travel adds strain

• The jaw might feel tight from clenching during stressful conversations or busy days

• The area behind the eyes or temples may throb when tension grows slowly from stiff shoulders or awkward sleep positions

These areas are all connected more than we usually realise. When one starts to tighten, it can quickly affect the others. A migraine chiropractor looks at how these parts work together and what patterns might be forming as the season changes.

The way discomfort spreads can vary from person to person. For some, it starts at the base of the skull and radiates forward. For others, headaches might first be felt behind the eyes, especially after a day spent in bright shops or bustling environments. Muscle tension in the neck and shoulders may not be obvious at first, gradually building and then lingering as the days go by. Recognising where you feel this tightness can help you understand how the body handles strain at this time of year.

Taking Notice of Patterns Before They Build

Pain doesn’t usually arrive all at once. It comes in small signs that are easy to miss until they get louder. Paying attention to when headaches tend to appear might offer a few clues.

• After long car rides or flights, when neck posture hasn’t felt supported

• After busy social events, when crowd noise and lighting add to sensory load

• After nights of scattered or low-quality sleep

If you’ve noticed these issues in past holiday seasons, they may be showing up again for a reason. It helps to track what seems to lead into migraine symptoms rather than waiting until they fully kick in. Catching patterns early could make a big difference in how your body feels the rest of the month.

Sometimes, triggers overlap, making it hard to spot what's doing the most harm. It could be the combination of loud gatherings, rich foods, and too little downtime. Other times, it’s simply the change in sleep or the break in routine that tips things over the edge. Noting what activities or events seem to tie in with those first warning signs can make it easier to manage symptoms as the holidays go on.

A Calmer Season Starts With Listening In

When we tell ourselves headaches are just part of the holidays, we sometimes miss the body’s early warnings. There’s more going on than stress alone. The way we carry tension, shift posture, or respond to daily changes all plays a part in how migraines show up.

If your neck feels tight, your jaw sore, or your upper back heavier than usual, it’s probably time to check in. Noticing these changes and giving them space for attention can help the season feel smoother. When we stay in tune with what our body is telling us, we’re better equipped to enjoy what the holidays are meant to be.

At Align Chiropractic in South Melbourne, Dr. Martin Harvey and Dr. Kieran Whelan have expertise in treating headaches and migraines by assessing not just symptoms but also movement patterns, posture, and sources of tension in the spine and jaw. As the holiday season brings new stresses and you’re noticing changes in your migraine patterns, it’s worth exploring how neck and jaw tension might be impacting your wellbeing. At Align Chiropractic, we take a personalised approach, checking in with what your body experiences throughout these busy months. We offer support and insights for those seeking help from a migraine chiropractor. Reach out to discuss what you’ve been experiencing and how we can help.

How a Chiropractor Can Support Recovery Over Summer

Summer in Melbourne brings longer days and (hopefully) warmer weather, and for many of us, that means more time outdoors.

Whether it’s casual jogs along the bay, walking or playing with the kids at the park, or simply getting back into a more active rhythm, this time of year tends to invite movement. But going from a slower pace to full-swing activity can sometimes bring a few aches along with it.

Even lightweight efforts like gardening or long walks can wake up old stiffness or leave us feeling tighter than expected. That’s where checking in with our chiropractors can help ease the transition. Paying attention to how the body’s handling the change in season matters, especially if those little twinges start showing up more often than we'd like.

Getting Back Into Activity After a Break

When we move less through winter and spring, it’s normal for the body to feel a bit sluggish come summer. Muscles haven’t had the same use, and joints might be a little less fluid. Even the most familiar activities can hit differently if we haven’t done them in a while.

We often notice the same patterns come up during this seasonal shift:

• Tight hips or hamstrings after returning to running or cycling

• Lower back stiffness from unexpected lifting or uneven surfaces

• Shoulder or neck tension after jumping back into tennis, golf, or gym workouts

It’s not just about soreness. When movement isn’t smooth, it can affect how you walk, sit, or recover at night.

A gentle review of posture and movement habits can offer insight into what’s going on under the surface. Sometimes those little misalignments or hidden strains stick around until we give them attention.

Supporting Common Areas of Discomfort

Whether you're heading out for a round of golf, dealing with post-gym tightness, or feeling the effects of sitting differently during an outdoor event, it’s often the same key areas that show wear and tear. The lower back, neck, and jaw tend to carry hidden tension, especially when we return to more regular activity.

That tension doesn’t always arrive suddenly. It might start as a dull ache or a tight spot that only shows up some days. Over time, these small imbalances can build. From repetitive swings to holding a child on one hip, the body absorbs impacts and postures in a way that often goes unnoticed, until it doesn’t.

By checking how each of these areas is responding to new or returning activity, we can better support movement and ease the kind of strain that might otherwise stick around into autumn.

How Movement Changes Through the Warmer Months

Summer brings a whole different rhythm. Swim laps in the morning, bike rides after dinner, spontaneous barefoot walks on grass, our habits change, and the body notices. Even those who keep a regular routine often tweak how or where they move during these months.

It’s common for subtle shifts in routine to have a bigger physical effect than we expect:

• Thinner-soled shoes or sandals offer less support

• Walking on sand or uneven lawns can change stride length

• Heat fatigue can influence posture during the day or how we sleep at night

Our chiropractors can help look at how joints and muscles are adjusting to these seasonal shifts. Movement might need small tweaks to feel smoother, and tuning in early can help keep activity comfortable all summer long.

At Align Chiropractic in South Melbourne, Dr. Martin Harvey and Dr. Kieran Whelan see a wide range of patients returning to sport and activity through the warmer months. We focus on checking and improving movement patterns so that tension in the back, neck, or jaw does not become a barrier to enjoying your summer activities.

Recovery Isn’t Just for Athletes

We sometimes think that recovery applies only to those in training or sport, but that’s not really the case. Summer encourages more movement for just about everyone, whether it’s playing with your kids, doing laps in the local pool, or walking more while on holidays.

Even everyday routines can start to feel off when they’ve changed dramatically:

• Lifting grocery bags differently after skipping the car park

• Trying outdoor yoga for the first time

• Sleeping in new positions due to the heat

You don’t need to be in sport to experience soreness or fatigue. When something doesn’t feel quite right, it’s okay to take note. Catching those small signs early can help you stay active without discomfort growing over time.

A Steadier Summer Starts with Comfortable Movement

Movement should feel easy, especially at a time of year when so many of us are enjoying more freedom in our schedules. Whether it’s squeezing in walks between commitments or playing backyard cricket with family, it helps when the body works with you instead of against you.

Checking in after a change in routine can be a smart way to stay ahead of any lingering tightness.

• An achy neck after road trips

• Shoulder strain from carrying things across festivals

• Back fatigue from longer afternoons out and about

We often see these patterns return each summer. By recognising them early, it’s easier to stay active, enjoy your time, and avoid letting small discomforts grow into something that limits movement later. Summer should feel light, not loaded down, and being in tune with your body makes all the difference.

At Align Chiropractic, we believe that summer is a great opportunity to tune in to what your body is telling you, especially if you notice new tension or discomfort in your back, neck, or jaw. Changes in activity can have lasting effects, so a quick assessment with a sports chiropractor can offer clarity on how you’re coping with the season. At Align Chiropractic, we focus on understanding where tension builds and what steps can help you feel your best. Reach out to book your appointment.

What to Know Before Seeing a Prenatal Chiropractor in Melbourne

Pregnancy often changes how people move, rest, and carry themselves day to day. That can mean new kinds of tension in the lower back, hips, neck, or shoulders. 

For those looking for gentle support through these changes, many expectant parents in bayside and South Melbourne consider in a visit to a chiropractor with a special interest in prenatal care. 

A lot of mothers find that especially during the second and third trimesters, when the baby is growing fast and the body is adapting just as quickly, even small discomforts can start to add up.

It’s important that you know what to expect before walking through the door for your first visit. 

Whether you’re feeling tight through the lower back or just want to check how your body is holding up as it shifts, it can help to hear how this kind of care fits into pregnancy. 

Understanding Chiropractic Care During Pregnancy

Pregnancy care isn’t the same as general chiropractic. 

The body’s doing a lot of work, and the approach needs to be gentle, informed, and adapted. 

Someone further along in their pregnancy may lie on the table differently, and certain movements or adjustments might need to be skipped or done another way.

We often hear people mention the same kind of pressure points:

• Lower back tightness, especially after long walks or sitting for too long

• Pelvic strain, sometimes on one side more than the other

• Subtle shifts in posture that seem to affect the neck, shoulders, or even jaw, 

• Tension type headaches, or ones that feel like they are coming from your neck (cervicogenic headaches).

Postural changes often begin to cause issues as your body changes. 

A growing belly changes balance and can tip the pelvis forward. This may shift weight through the spine and cause extra work for the muscles keeping everything upright. That’s why care with gentle, specific, chiropractic techniques are often used during pregnancy. 

The goal is always to support how the body is moving and functioning, not to push it past where it’s comfortable going.

What You Might Notice In Your Body as Things Shift

As pregnancy moves through different stages, the spine and joints tend to do a lot behind the scenes. Movement changes, sleeping positions adjust, and day-to-day tasks like walking up stairs or bending to put on shoes can feel different from one week to the next.

Some physical patterns we often hear about include:

• Neck tightness or pressure that’s new or more persistent

• Achy or sore lower backs, especially by the end of the day

• A change in walking or standing that leads to stiffness in the hips

The nervous system ties into this too, as it helps control how joints and muscles work together. When posture starts to tilt or shift, that can affect how things move in the spine and pelvis, which in turn may show up as soreness or tension across other parts of the body. 

These small changes are all part of adapting, but when they build over time, they might need a bit more help to settle down.

You may also become more aware of how simple activities impact how you feel. Tasks like standing up from a chair, taking a long walk, or sleeping in a new position might feel a little different than usual. 

Some people describe a general sense of tiredness in the muscles. Others might feel that their balance is a bit off, especially as their centre of gravity shifts. 

All these little adjustments are normal parts of pregnancy, but it is okay to be surprised by how quickly they come and it’s normal to seek help to manage them! 

What to know Before Booking Your Appointment

Before booking a visit, it’s important to know that Align, our chiropractors are experienced at seeing people from preconception, through all trimesters and even in providing post partum care. 

Like you and your pregnancy, our approach is unique to you, tailored to each individual different depending on how far along in your pregnancy you are as well as your own comfort and preferences for care. 

You are always in the driver’s seat..

Why Align Can Make a Difference

It’s the same every year!

Being in Melbourne during December brings its own mix of habits and routines. The weather starts getting warmer, holidays are being planned, and rest habits often shift. These little seasonal changes often lead to new posture patterns, sitting in folding chairs at parties, spending longer in the car on warm afternoons, or toggling between fans and air-conditioning during the night.

All that can affect how the body feels day to day. For those carrying extra weight from pregnancy, these shifts may feel even more noticeable!

For this reason, our care takes into into account what’s actually happening around you, so we offer a range of availability for appointments from morning into the evenings 6 days a week. 

We are here to fit care around you, not the other way around!

Align Chiropractic uses gentle and personalised techniques, taking into account each patient's stage of pregnancy and unique health history. As noted on our "What to Expect" page, we offer modifications for pregnancy, and every assessment is tailored to the individual. Our experienced chiropractors in South Melbourne provide support for common pregnancy-related concerns like back, hip, and pelvic discomfort.

A Smoother Path Into the Season Ahead

Pregnancy brings all sorts of change, and sometimes it’s the small, steady things that help most. Visiting a prenatal chiropractor may offer that kind of support, quiet, ongoing check-ins with how the body is moving and feeling as it adapts.

We understand pregnancy brings unexpected changes, and having the right support can make a real difference. To help you feel prepared, we've outlined what to expect during a visit with a prenatal chiropractor and how your body may adapt, taking into account common movement patterns and what’s happening in your world at the time of your visit.  

At Align Chiropractic, we're ready to answer your questions or help you book an appointment whenever you're ready.

How Posture Correction Can Help with Jaw Pressure Build-Up

Jaw tension can sneak up when life picks up pace. Whether it's long hours at the desk, late nights, or just keeping up with the rush as we enter the festive season, many people start to feel that pressure building along the sides of the face or under the ears. This tightness might feel like a dull ache, a clicking sensation, or pressure that doesn’t ease even after rest.

Often, when the focus is on the jaw, posture gets overlooked. But how we hold our body, especially through the head, neck, and shoulders, can play a big part in how the jaw feels throughout the day. Poor habits like slouching or craning the neck forward may change the way our muscles and joints are working across this whole area. Over time, that can add up to extra stress through the jaw.

Support from a posture correction chiropractor can help in looking at how alignment and daily patterns are affecting comfort levels. During stressful patches or seasons where we’re more sedentary, paying attention to posture may offer more relief than we expect.

How Posture Connects to Jaw Pressure

The link between posture and jaw tension often starts in the upper spine. When the head shifts forward, something that often happens when we’re using phones or typing on a laptop, it puts more load on the neck. That extra load needs to be carried somewhere, and it often travels through the shoulders and jaw area.

When muscles work overtime to keep us upright in a hunched position, they can become tight or fatigued. If that tension builds near the back of the jaw or around where the neck meets the skull, it may create uncomfortable pressure that lingers.

We hear signs like:

• Pressing or clenching the jaw without realising it

• Fatigue while chewing or talking for long periods

• Uneven tension between one side of the jaw and the other

When the neck and shoulders are already tight, movements like talking or eating can feel more strained than usual. The jaw, being closely connected to those areas, often ends up doing more work than it should.

Small Postural Habits That Can Build Pressure Over Time

Daily patterns shape how we carry our body. And often, the most common habits are the ones we don’t think twice about. Checking messages with the head tilted down, holding tablets close to the chest, or leaning into a screen during long meetings can all shift the spine out of its usual alignment.

These habits, repeated day after day, may slowly lead to issues like:

• Persistent forward head posture from screen time

• Long stretches in seated positions, especially without neck support

• Looking down frequently, which can tighten muscles around the jaw and neck

As we move through late spring and begin spending more time seated near fans or in cooler indoor spaces, it’s easy to remain inactive for longer. That often means more time looking at screens, reading on the lounge, or staying in one spot while working, especially during warmer afternoons. Without noticing, posture shifts to make these tasks more comfortable in the short term but less helpful in the long term.

What to Expect When Seeing a Chiropractor for Posture Support

When someone comes in with jaw pressure and neck tension, we often begin by learning more about how they hold their body during everyday tasks. The way the spine, shoulders, and head move as a unit can give helpful clues about what might be contributing to discomfort further up near the jaw.

Seeing a posture correction chiropractor is not about a quick fix. Instead, it’s about taking a closer look at how postural habits may relate to strain across the upper body.

During visits, people might experience:

• An assessment of spinal alignment and joint movement

• Gentle techniques to support better function through the neck, shoulders, and upper back

• Advice on movement habits or sitting patterns that could be adding extra tension

Rather than focus just on the jaw, this approach steps back and asks where the pressure might be starting. Often, improving movement in the upper spine helps ease tension in places that seem unrelated at first.

At Align Chiropractic in South Melbourne, experienced chiropractors Dr. Martin Harvey and Dr. Kieran Whelan offer support tailored to address underlying posture habits that may contribute to jaw, neck, and shoulder tension. Our thorough assessments are designed to uncover how lifestyle and spinal alignment may be influencing ongoing discomfort.

Supporting Better Posture During Warmer Months

As the weather turns warmer, routines tend to shift again. People might find themselves in the car more for weekend trips or working from varied locations like garden tables or outdoors under shade. These small changes in setup can affect posture in ways we might not expect.

There are a few simple things we often notice that make a difference:

• Bringing screens to eye level during work or rest can prevent forward tilting of the neck

• Taking breaks during long hours seated in cars or at a desk can reduce stiffness across the shoulders and upper spine

• Choosing seating with back support during outdoor events or holidays helps avoid slouching

This time of year also means reconnecting with social plans, more movement, and sometimes a shift in sleep patterns. All of these can nudge our posture slightly off-centre. When little adjustments at home don’t seem to ease the discomfort, having help looking at the bigger picture can be useful.

Easing Jaw Pressure Through Better Habits

It’s often surprising how connected everything feels when we take a step back. Jaw pressure rarely starts only at the jaw. The way we sit, move, and carry ourselves each day gently shapes how muscles and joints behave over time.

When we support better posture through our daily routines, we sometimes find that other areas, like the jaw, begin to ease without effort. Looking after spine alignment and movement patterns may give the body more room to relax, especially through the head, neck, and face.

Paying attention to posture isn't about being perfect. It’s about noticing which movements help us feel more comfortable and which ones might be adding tension. As we move through the warmer months, adjusting how we sit, move, and hold our head may be one way to find some relief from the pressure we didn’t realise we were holding on to.

At Align Chiropractic, we know how much your posture habits can affect the comfort of your jaw, neck, and shoulders each day. When ongoing tension or discomfort is getting in the way and at-home adjustments aren’t making enough difference, it could be time to look deeper into the underlying cause. Working with a posture correction chiropractor can help you understand what your body is signalling and support you in moving with greater ease. Let’s talk about your needs and discover what could help you feel your best.

Chiropractic Adjustment or Rest: What's Better for Sciatica?

Sciatica can stop you in your tracks. That sharp, shooting pain that moves from the lower back down through the hips and legs can make the simplest movements feel hard. 

When you're in the middle of a flare-up, it's common to wonder what will help most. 

Is rest enough, or would something like a chiropractic adjustment give your body the support it needs? 

With warmer months ahead across much of Australia, many people become more active, making it a good time to talk about how rest, movement, and spinal care each play a role when sciatica shows up.

Understanding Sciatica and Why It Hurts

Sciatica refers to irritation of the sciatic nerve, the thickest nerve in the body. It starts in the lower back, travels through the hips and buttocks, and runs down each leg. When this nerve gets pinched or inflamed, pain can appear suddenly or build up over time.

• People often describe sciatica as a sharp, burning, or tingling feeling, usually on one side of the body

• Long hours sitting, suddenly bending, lifting awkwardly, or staying inactive too long can all put added pressure on the lower spine

• Sometimes, the nerve gets compressed by spinal joints or tight muscles deep in the pelvis

Pain isn’t always constant. For some, it comes and goes based on how they sit or move. Others may feel it most when standing up or sleeping. Understanding what actions might trigger it is often the first step toward feeling better.

Does Rest Help or Make Things Worse?

When sciatica hits hard, it's normal to want to lie still. In the early stages of pain, short periods of rest can give the body a breather. Especially during those first hours or days of sharper discomfort, being gentle with movement may help reduce stress.

• Resting in a supportive position, like lying on your back with pillows under your knees, may feel more comfortable

• Avoid curling up or sinking too far into a lounge, which can push your pelvis into a shape that strains the lower back

• Short breaks throughout the day are often better than staying in one place for hours at a time

Having said this, too much time lying down can work against you. Muscles tighten when held too long in one position, blood flow slows, and joints can stiffen. 

The key for many people is to balance short, helpful rest with small movements that keep the body from tightening up more.

How Movement Supports Healing

Even small movements can play a helpful role when you're working through sciatica. Unless the pain is too sharp to walk, gentle activity tends to help the body recover more steadily than lying still all day.

• Short walks, even around the house, can support nerve and blood flow

• Light stretching or gentle core support movements (done in line with what feels comfortable) may take pressure off the lower spine

• Keeping good posture when sitting or standing helps reduce extra strain on the irritated nerve

Moving more doesn't mean pushing through pain. It means listening to what your body will allow and avoiding heavy or jerky motions.

Can Chiropractic help sciatic pain?

When pain feels stuck, or movement doesn’t change much, it's natural to want another path. 

A chiropractic adjustment is a hands-on way to improve how joints in the spine move. It involves gentle and specific movements applied to joints that may be restricted or not moving well, especially in the lower back or pelvis.

• By improving spinal motion, a chiropractic adjustment may help take pressure off areas irritating the sciatic nerve

• Smoother joint movement can lead to better muscle balance, which often helps the body move more freely

• For some, this type of care feels helpful when their regular habits haven’t made much difference

At Align Chiropractic, Dr. Martin Harvey and Dr. Kieran Whelan use our extensive experience to focus on relieving pressure in the spine, pelvis, and related muscles. 

The care we provide is specific and individualised, with thorough assessments to identify the underlying factors contributing to pain. This patient-centred approach is designed to help people in South Melbourne and surrounding areas move more freely and recover from sciatica flare-ups with confidence.

It's not about cracking or forcing the spine. It's about looking at how things are moving and helping the body work in a more balanced way. Anything that reduces the everyday pressure on the lower nerves may shift how sciatica feels.

Finding Your Best Path Forward

Every body is different. What helps one person’s sciatica feel better might not be the same for someone else, which is why it makes sense to pay close attention. Being too still or too active can both stir things up. Figuring out that middle ground takes time, and some trial and error.

• Gentle movement, well-timed rest, and support from trusted health providers each play a part

• Summer usually means more plans, more travel, and more time outside, which many find puts new stresses on the spine

• Catching early signs of back or leg discomfort can help avoid longer flare-ups

When sciatica strikes, the goal isn’t just to get through the pain but to understand what your body needs to move and feel better long-term. Watching those patterns and adjusting your habits often makes a bigger difference than doing just one thing.

At Align Chiropractic, we understand how disruptive sciatica can be, especially during busy times of the year. Not sure whether movement, rest, or extra support is right for you? Discover how a well-timed chiropractic adjustment can support your spine and help relieve tension in your lower back and pelvis. We’re here to help you find what works for you. For guidance tailored to your needs, contact us to book a visit.

What Makes Neck Pain Feel Worse in Late Spring

Introduction

As the days grow warmer and Melbourne shifts into late spring, many of us start to feel the stirrings of summer. Longer daylight hours, changing routines, and bursts of outdoor activity can be uplifting after the winter stretch. But for some, this shift also brings a familiar ache in the neck and shoulders that seems to come out of nowhere.

We often hear clients mention that their neck pain feels sharper or more persistent this time of year. These are not isolated complaints. A chiropractor for neck pain will often notice seasonal patterns in discomfort. The way our environment changes in late spring can have more of an impact on our muscles and posture than we realise. Small shifts in daily habits can sneak up on your body and may lead to increased strain in your neck.

How Seasonal Changes Can Affect Your Neck

Late spring doesn’t just bring warmer air, it invites us outdoors and often asks more from our bodies. As we transition away from cooler, slower months, some muscle reactions can take us by surprise.

• Sudden changes in temperature, especially in the mornings and evenings, can cause neck muscles to tighten or stiffen

• Extra outdoor activity, such as weekend sports or walks, can involve new or repetitive movements in the upper back and neck

• Air conditioning becomes more common, especially indoors and in cars. Cold air blowing directly across the shoulders and neck can lead to tension building up without us noticing

Even something as simple as shifting from layering up in winter clothing to lighter garments can affect how our neck and shoulders respond throughout the day. The body adapts quickly in some ways and slowly in others. If our lifestyle speeds up but our spine or muscles haven’t caught up, it’s easy to understand why pain gets worse, rather than better.

Springtime Posture Triggers in Everyday Life

As late spring rolls in, our habits and surroundings change, sometimes in unexpected ways. And these changes can directly influence how we carry ourselves.

• Many of us move our home workspace to lighter spots like verandas, patios, or cafés. These more casual setups often lack proper support, which can put the neck in awkward positions

• Gardening becomes a common springtime activity. Weeding, planting, and digging often involve hunching forward, twisting, or looking down for long periods

• With sports restarting or events becoming more frequent, we're often lifting bags, supplies, or children without thinking much about it. All of these actions can place extra load on the neck and upper back

Posture isn't just about standing up straight. It's about how everyday movements add up over time. If we're consistently craning, slouching, or rotating without balance, the body eventually lets us know.

Stress Patterns and Sleep Shifts Around Spring

It’s not just our physical movements that affect the neck. Our thinking, sleeping, and daily rhythms play big roles too. Spring can be uplifting, but it’s also busy.

• Social calendars often fill up. With more outings, tasks, or travel plans, stress levels can rise, and that tension usually lands right between the shoulders

• Allergies tend to flare in spring. Along with discomfort, congestion may change how we sleep or breathe, leading some people to clench their jaw or hold their neck stiff

• Longer days and earlier sunrises can change sleep timing. Less restful sleep means muscles don’t recover properly overnight, leaving the neck more prone to discomfort the next day

Stress doesn’t always look like worry or anxiety. Some people feel it as extra tightness in the top of the shoulders or an ache that shows up when trying to relax. These clues are often overlooked but can be very telling.

How a Chiropractor for Neck Pain May Offer Support

If spring shifts are bringing more than just flowers and sunshine, it might be time to check in with how your body’s adapting. We often see how these seasonal shifts show up in the spine and surrounding muscles.

• By looking at posture, movement habits, and muscle function, we can help figure out what's contributing to increased neck pain

• Chiropractic adjustments may offer relief by addressing tension, improving joint movement, and reducing any areas that feel extra tight or restricted

• The most important part of support is often planning ahead, especially if neck tension seems to come back each year around the same time

All care at Align Chiropractic is delivered by highly experienced practitioners, Dr. Martin Harvey and Dr. Kieran Whelan, have decades of expertise in addressing neck pain, headaches, and posture-related issues. We take a personalised approach, assessing both spinal alignment and how individual lifestyle factors in South Melbourne can influence recurring neck discomfort.

Rather than chasing symptoms, it may be helpful to understand patterns. Spring routines don’t have to be painful. Sometimes it's just about giving the body a chance to reset and move in healthier ways.

Late Spring, Lasting Relief

Late spring brings a lot of change, most of it welcome. But if you’ve been noticing your neck feeling more achy than usual, there could be a reason behind it. Whether it's small shifts in daily posture, disrupted sleep, or more time running around, the neck often picks up the slack.

Take this time of year as a reminder to check in on your daily posture and movement habits. If tension or discomfort persists, working with experienced chiropractors in South Melbourne could help you move comfortably through the season and beyond.

As spring brings changes in temperature, activity, and sleep, subtle tension in your neck and shoulders can build up before you even notice. We help people uncover these patterns and support ongoing wellbeing with gentle, personalised care. When you need a chiropractor for neck pain who understands the impact of seasonal shifts, Align Chiropractic is here to help you feel your best. Reach out today to book a time that works for you.

Why Neck Pain Can Hit Harder in Late Spring

As the days grow warmer and Melbourne shifts into late spring, many of us start to feel the stirrings of summer. Longer daylight hours, changing routines, and bursts of outdoor activity can be uplifting after the winter stretch. But for some, this shift also brings a familiar ache in the neck and shoulders that seems to come out of nowhere.

We often hear clients mention that their neck pain feels sharper or more persistent this time of year. These are not isolated complaints. A chiropractor for neck pain will often notice seasonal patterns in discomfort. The way our environment changes in late spring can have more of an impact on our muscles and posture than we realise. Small shifts in daily habits can sneak up on your body and may lead to increased strain in your neck.

How Seasonal Changes Can Affect Your Neck

Late spring doesn’t just bring warmer air, it invites us outdoors and often asks more from our bodies. As we transition away from cooler, slower months, some muscle reactions can take us by surprise.

• Sudden changes in temperature, especially in the mornings and evenings, can cause neck muscles to tighten or stiffen

• Extra outdoor activity, such as weekend sports or walks, can involve new or repetitive movements in the upper back and neck

• Air conditioning becomes more common, especially indoors and in cars. Cold air blowing directly across the shoulders and neck can lead to tension building up without us noticing

Even something as simple as shifting from layering up in winter clothing to lighter garments can affect how our neck and shoulders respond throughout the day. The body adapts quickly in some ways and slowly in others. If our lifestyle speeds up but our spine or muscles haven’t caught up, it’s easy to understand why pain gets worse, rather than better.

Springtime Posture Triggers in Everyday Life

As late spring rolls in, our habits and surroundings change, sometimes in unexpected ways. And these changes can directly influence how we carry ourselves.

• Many of us move our home workspace to lighter spots like verandas, patios, or cafés. These more casual setups often lack proper support, which can put the neck in awkward positions

• Gardening becomes a common springtime activity. Weeding, planting, and digging often involve hunching forward, twisting, or looking down for long periods

• With sports restarting or events becoming more frequent, we're often lifting bags, supplies, or children without thinking much about it. All of these actions can place extra load on the neck and upper back

Posture isn't just about standing up straight. It's about how everyday movements add up over time. If we're consistently craning, slouching, or rotating without balance, the body eventually lets us know.

Stress Patterns and Sleep Shifts Around Spring

It’s not just our physical movements that affect the neck. Our thinking, sleeping, and daily rhythms play big roles too. Spring can be uplifting, but it’s also busy.

• Social calendars often fill up. With more outings, tasks, or travel plans, stress levels can rise, and that tension usually lands right between the shoulders

• Allergies tend to flare in spring. Along with discomfort, congestion may change how we sleep or breathe, leading some people to clench their jaw or hold their neck stiff

• Longer days and earlier sunrises can change sleep timing. Less restful sleep means muscles don’t recover properly overnight, leaving the neck more prone to discomfort the next day

Stress doesn’t always look like worry or anxiety. Some people feel it as extra tightness in the top of the shoulders or an ache that shows up when trying to relax. These clues are often overlooked but can be very telling.

How a Chiropractor for Neck Pain May Offer Support

If spring shifts are bringing more than just flowers and sunshine, it might be time to check in with how your body’s adapting. We often see how these seasonal shifts show up in the spine and surrounding muscles.

• By looking at posture, movement habits, and muscle function, we can help figure out what's contributing to increased neck pain

• Chiropractic adjustments may offer relief by addressing tension, improving joint movement, and reducing any areas that feel extra tight or restricted

• The most important part of support is often planning ahead, especially if neck tension seems to come back each year around the same time

All care at Align Chiropractic is delivered by highly experienced practitioners, Dr. Martin Harvey and Dr. Kieran Whelan, have decades of expertise in addressing neck pain, headaches, and posture-related issues. We take a personalised approach, assessing both spinal alignment and how individual lifestyle factors in South Melbourne can influence recurring neck discomfort.

Rather than chasing symptoms, it may be helpful to understand patterns. Spring routines don’t have to be painful. Sometimes it's just about giving the body a chance to reset and move in healthier ways.

Late Spring, Lasting Relief

Late spring brings a lot of change, most of it welcome. But if you’ve been noticing your neck feeling more achy than usual, there could be a reason behind it. Whether it's small shifts in daily posture, disrupted sleep, or more time running around, the neck often picks up the slack.

Take this time of year as a reminder to check in on your daily posture and movement habits. If tension or discomfort persists, working with experienced chiropractors in South Melbourne could help you move comfortably through the season and beyond.

As spring brings changes in temperature, activity, and sleep, subtle tension in your neck and shoulders can build up before you even notice. We help people uncover these patterns and support ongoing wellbeing with gentle, personalised care. When you need a chiropractor for neck pain who understands the impact of seasonal shifts, Align Chiropractic is here to help you feel your best. Reach out today to book a time that works for you.

How Neck Issues Might Be Linked to Jaw Discomfort

Small posture habits can lead to discomfort. Learn how the jaw pain in the neck connection could be affecting your daily comfort and movement.

When people think about jaw pain, they usually do not think of their neck, but for many, the two can be more connected than you might expect. The link can be easy to miss, especially if the pain has crept in over time. You might feel it when you yawn, chew, or sit at your desk for too long. The jaw pain neck connection can be tricky. It is not always sharp or sudden. It might start off as a bit of tension or discomfort that slowly builds and spreads.

Paying closer attention to the way your neck lines up with the rest of your body could make a difference. Let us look at how the jaw and neck work together, and why posture might play a bigger role than you realise.

How the Jaw and Neck Are Physically Connected

The jaw and neck operate as a team. They share a group of muscles and joints that help us move our heads, chew food, speak, and maintain a steady posture. So when one area feels off, the other often tries to pick up the slack.

• The muscles that move the jaw, like the ones used for chewing, are closely tied to muscles that support the neck and shoulders.

• When you have poor posture, especially a forward head position, it can place more strain on these areas. That strain can pull on muscles around the jaw, creating pressure or tightness.

• If the neck is restricted or out of balance, it might also change the way the jaw opens and closes. That can lead to uneven movement or added stress to one side.

So even if the pain feels like it is only in the jaw, part of the trouble could be coming from somewhere else.

Common Signs Your Jaw Pain Might Be Linked to Your Neck

It can be tricky to figure out where pain is really coming from, especially when symptoms overlap.

There are a few signs that might point to a connection between the jaw and neck.

• You notice pain that travels from the neck to the jaw, or the other way around.

• Your neck feels stiff, or it is hard to turn your head comfortably.

• Holding your head up for long stretches (like working at a desk or scrolling on your phone) brings on more discomfort.

• You feel a tight, dull ache in your temples, around your ears, or near your jaw joints when you clench.

• There is a sense of pressure on the teeth or face, but not always any dental cause.

If these sound familiar, the discomfort might not be just about the jaw. Our bodies often work in

patterns, and noticing those patterns can help make sense of what you are feeling.

Everyday Habits That Might Be Affecting Your Neck Posture

Sometimes it is not just an injury or strain that causes pain. Habits throughout the day may

slowly nudge our posture out of alignment, putting stress on areas like the neck and jaw without us even realising it.

• Looking down at phones or laptops for long periods can train your neck into a forward-leaning position.

• Sitting with rounded shoulders or poor back support can shift your entire head forward, adding weight and pulling on your neck.

• Sleeping on your stomach or with the wrong kind of pillow can push your neck into awkward angles for hours at a time.

One or two of these habits here and there will not usually cause big problems. But day after day, they can add up and put pressure on the muscles you rely on most.

What Support Might Look Like for Jaw and Neck Issues

When these kinds of problems show up, assessing posture and how the body moves can be a helpful first step. Every person is different, so it helps to focus on your own patterns and needs.

• As chiropractors we start with a check of how your neck, shoulders, and jaw move and feel.

• You might be shown small posture changes or gentle movements that aim to ease tension.

• Instead of a quick fix, steady changes over time, like better desk habits or changes in sleeping positions, can bring more daily comfort.

At Align Chiropractic in South Melbourne, Dr Martin Harvey and Dr Kieran Whelan have over four decades of combined experience working with patients dealing with neck pain, jaw

discomfort, headaches, and posture-related issues. Their approach involves careful assessment and understanding of how these areas interact, with patients from Albert Park, Port Melbourne, St Kilda, and nearby suburbs seeking help for similar conditions.

Support often looks different from one person to the next. By learning what may be affecting you and making small shifts, your day-to-day comfort might improve bit by bit.

A Healthier, More Aligned You

We do not always think about how things like posture or screen time might affect other parts of the body. But the connection between the jaw and the neck is one that can make a real difference in how we feel from morning to night. Noticing patterns, listening to your body, and making small changes can sometimes help ease pain or tension. With a bit of awareness and the right kind of support, we believe many people can find more ease in how they sit, move, and rest.

Wondering why jaw pain seems to stick around with neck tension or stiffness? The way our muscles and joints interact means discomfort can often move or build across different areas. We often notice this in the jaw pain in the neck connection, which can sometimes go unnoticed. At Align Chiropractic, we focus on noticing these patterns to help guide the right kind of support. If some of these signs are sounding familiar, get in touch so we can chat about what might be happening and how we may help.

The Aligned Life Podcast: Episode 3

How Daylight Savings Can Wreck Your Week

Ever notice how one lost hour can throw everything off? You feel fine, but you’re not!

Focus slips. Energy crashes. You reach for more coffee and think it’s just a busy week - when it’s actually sleep debt.

This week, Martin and Kieran unpack what daylight savings really teaches us about sleep.

It’s not just about feeling tired, it’s about how even mild sleep loss messes with your brain, hormones, and mood.

They break down why your body treats sleep like oxygen, it’s not a luxury, and how to reset your rhythm when life (or the clock) knocks it out of sync.

🎧 Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else you listen to your new favourite podcasts!

Heres to better health and more restful days,

Dr Martin Harvey & Dr Kieran Whelan

P.S. Got a question for the show? Reply with “Podcast Q:” in the subject and we’ll queue it up. If this episode helps, hit reply and tell us what landed—or share it with a friend who needs a reset.

The aligned life podcast: Episode 2

 Why meditation fails when you’re most stressed (and what actually helps)

This, the newest episode of the Aligned Life podcast is a simple “bottom-up” reset to calm your body first—so your mind can follow.

 Hi there!

Ever been told to “just meditate”… when your brain is doing cartwheels?

Same. When stress is high, “top-down” tools (think: meditation, reframing, CBT) can feel impossible.

In today’s new episode of The Aligned Life, we flip the script:

The Stress Reset: Calm Your Body Before Your Mind

Martin and Kieran break down a bottom-up approach with simple body-led tactics that signal safety to your nervous system so your mind finally has space to exhale.

In 25 minutes, you’ll learn:

• Why top-down tools fail when you’re overloaded (it’s not your fault - your frontal cortex is offline)!

• The walk + breath combo we use to lower physiological arousal in minutes.

• A 60-second posture reset that breaks the “shoulders-up, jaw-tight” loop.

• When HIIT exercise can help and when it secretly fuels burnout.

• How chiropractic adjustments may support nervous system adaptability (hello HRV!).

PLUS, as usual, Martin and Kieran discuss their local picks of the week, Halcyon Days and Italian Artisans in Albert Park because life’s more than stress!

 Coming up: don’t forget The Stress Reset Challenge

We’re launching a 5-day, 5–20 min/day challenge to help you test what works in real life—walking, breathwork, micro-breaks, posture, and more. It’s open to everyone, not just patients. Details in the next episode.

To more calm days,
Dr Martin Harvey & Dr Kieran Whelan

P.S. Got a question for the show? Reply with “Podcast Q:” in the subject and we’ll queue it up. If this episode helps, hit reply and tell us what landed—or share it with a friend who needs a reset.

🎧 Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else you listen to your new favorite podcasts!

The aligned life podcast: Episode one

We’re thrilled to announce the very first episode of The Aligned Life Podcast, hosted by Dr. Martin Harvey and Dr. Kieran Whelan, chiropractors at Align Chiropractic in South Melbourne.

This podcast is all about helping you live a healthier, happier, more active life — with simple, natural, science-backed ways to boost your energy, improve your posture, sleep better, manage stress, and feel your best.

Episode 1: Stuck on Stress -
In this episode, Martin and Kieran dive into one of the biggest health challenges of our time: stress. They unpack why stress levels are on the rise, how it impacts your body and mind, and most importantly, what you can do about it.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Why nearly half of Australians report high stress levels — and why it’s worse in cities.

• How stress shows up physically (neck pain, headaches, posture changes, jaw clenching) and mentally (brain fog, anxiety, low mood).

• The difference between “good stress” that helps us grow and “bad stress” that wears us down.

• Top-down vs bottom-up strategies for managing stress — from meditation and journaling to chiropractic care, posture, exercise, breath-work, and even time in nature.

• Sneak peek of the upcoming 5-Day Stress Reset Challenge, designed to help you move from theory to practice with easy, bite-sized tools you can try at home.

Takeaway: Stress isn’t just “in your head”, it’s in your body too but with the right strategies, you can break the cycle and reclaim calm, focus, and energy.

Tune in now to the first episode of The Aligned Life Podcast and start your journey to a more aligned, resilient life.

Give it a listen: on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Dive into the Chilly World of Cold Exposure: Unlocking the Benefits of Cold Water Immersion

The photo above is of Martin taking his very first ice bath. It was in September last year and he has been embracing the cold ever since. Martin started because he had heard that regular cold exposure was good for your health (more on that below) but have kept going because I feel great after every ice bath and cold shower.

Have you ever considered taking the plunge into cold water or braving a refreshing cold shower? You might think it sounds crazy, but let me tell you, the rewards are worth it! Cold exposure has some incredible benefits for your body and mind. So, let's chat about why embracing the cold can be a game-changer in your quest for overall well-being.

First off, when you expose yourself to the cold, something magical happens. Your brain and body release adrenaline and noradrenaline, which amp up your alertness and energy levels. It's like a natural boost that makes you feel alive and focused. As well, those effects last even after you've dried off!

So, if you've been feeling a little sluggish or struggling to concentrate, a cold shower or a dip in icy water might just be the jolt you need to kickstart your day.

Cold exposure isn't just about waking you up—it's also about building resilience and grit.

When you willingly subject yourself to the discomfort of the cold, you're training your mind to handle stress better. It's like a mental boot camp. By challenging yourself and pushing through the initial shock, you strengthen your ability to stay calm and composed when faced with real-life challenges. It's a skill that extends far beyond the cold showers. It's a superpower that helps you tackle whatever life throws your way.

Now, let's talk about mood enhancement. Who doesn't want a little extra happiness in their life? Cold exposure has got your back. When you expose yourself to the cold, your body releases dopamine—a neurotransmitter responsible for pleasure and motivation. And let me tell you, dopamine is a game-changer. It lifts your mood, boosts your energy, and enhances your focus and productivity. So, the next time you're feeling a bit down or lacking motivation, why not take a dip in cold water and let the dopamine work its magic?

Oh, and here's an interesting tidbit: cold exposure can actually rev up your metabolism. When your body is exposed to cold temperatures, it has to work harder to keep you warm. That extra effort translates into burning more calories. But the real kicker is the transformation of white fat into beige or brown fat. Unlike white fat, these metabolically active fats keep your body humming, giving you that extra edge in your weight management journey.

So, it's time to embrace the cold and reap the rewards. Start with shorter cold showers and work your way up to longer durations or even try an invigorating ice bath. Listen to your body, take it one step at a time, and enjoy the benefits of increased energy, resilience, enhanced mood, and a revved-up metabolism. Trust me, your body and mind will thank you for taking the plunge into the chilly world of cold exposure. It's time to make waves and dive into a whole new level of well-being.

If you’re keen to take the plunge we have arranged an ice bath event for Align Clients at The Recovery Lab, Windsor. It’s on Saturday June 17th from 7am- 8am. The ice baths will be at around 8 degrees and we suggest that you aim to do around 3 minutes. Martin will do a brief talk about strategies you can use to do the ice bath (and enjoy the experience) and then you will get a chance to take the plunge! Tickets are available here.

Are you tired of headaches holding you back?

Tired of being held back by headaches?

Spinal Health Week 2023 was 22-28 May and it is here to help!

It's a national campaign by the Australian Chiropractors Association (ACA) that focuses on improving spinal health for all Australians.

This year, Spinal Health Week highlighted the impact of headaches and providing solutions to relieve your pain. Did you know that over 7 million Australians suffer from tension headaches and more than 4.9 million have chronic migraines?

The cost to the country is a whopping $35.7 billion every year. But the real cost is immeasurable—headaches affect 46% of Australians daily, causing pain, disrupting work and study, and stealing quality time with loved ones.

Headaches come in different types and have various triggers. Some are mild inconveniences, while others can be severe and chronic, severely impacting daily life. Research shows that spinal health, especially in the neck, is closely connected to headaches. That's why it's important for headache sufferers to have their spines checked and consider drug-free chiropractic care. Along with some simple lifestyle changes, this approach can go a long way in reducing pain, preventing headaches, and helping you regain control of your life.

Studies have shown that chiropractic care is effective for the most common headaches: tension headaches, cervicogenic headaches (neck-related), and migraines. In fact, chiropractic adjustments have been shown to reduce migraines in 72% of people surveyed, decreasing their duration and severity. While pain medications may provide temporary relief, they only treat the symptoms and not the underlying cause. Lifestyle factors, like diet and sedentary habits, can also contribute to headaches. Chiropractors can identify these factors and help you make changes to manage or even avoid headaches, improving your overall well-being.

At Align Chiropractic, our team of ACA-accredited chiropractors are trained to find the causes of headaches and provide safe, drug-free care for people of all ages. If you or someone you know is among the 11.9 million Australians suffering from headaches or migraines, it's time to take action.

Contact us today at 03 9696 1057 or book online at alignchiropractic.com.au to schedule an appointment and regain control of your life.

For more information on the importance of spinal health and how it affects you and your family, visit spinalhealthweek.org.au. Join the #SpinalHealthWeek movement and say goodbye to headaches holding you back!

#SpinalHealthWeek #ConsultAChiro #Headache #HeadacheConsultAChiro #southmelbourne #albertpark

What are the benefits of NOT eating?

Intermittent fasting has been gaining popularity in recent years as a way to improve health and lose weight. But what exactly is intermittent fasting and why should you consider incorporating it into your lifestyle?

Through February, the team at Align Chiropractic will be doing a 28-day "Fast Start" Intermittent Fasting Program based on the approach from "Fast, Feast, Repeat," and we would love for you to join us. It will be a great way to give your health a kickstart and maybe even lose weight.

We will be hosting a 1-hour "Intermittent Fasting" info session.

On Zoom at 12:30 on Thursday, January 25th. It’s free and you can register here.

The "Feb Fast" challenge will kick off on February 1st.

Intermittent fasting is a pattern of eating that involves regular periods of fasting, followed by periods of eating. There are several different methods of intermittent fasting, including the 16/8 method, the 5:2 diet, and alternate day fasting.

One of the main benefits of intermittent fasting is weight loss. When you fast, your body is forced to use stored fat as energy, which can lead to weight loss. In addition, intermittent fasting may help to regulate appetite and reduce cravings for unhealthy foods. A review of intermittent fasting studies found that it was an effective way to lose weight and improve metabolic health markers.

But weight loss is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the benefits of intermittent fasting. Studies have shown that intermittent fasting can have a number of other health benefits, including:

• Improved insulin sensitivity: A study in people with type 2 diabetes found that intermittent fasting led to improvements in insulin sensitivity and blood sugar control.

• Decreased inflammation: A review of studies found that intermittent fasting may reduce inflammation in the body.

• Increased lifespan: Some animal studies have suggested that intermittent fasting may increase lifespan by promoting cellular repair and reducing oxidative stress.

• Improved mental clarity: Many people report increased mental clarity and focus while fasting, which may be due to the increased production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).

Intermittent fasting is not for everyone. However, for those who are able to incorporate it into their lifestyle, the benefits of intermittent fasting can be numerous and significant. So why not join the team at Align Chiropractic and give it a try? You might just find that it works for you.

Research Exposure Therapy 1. A Case study on mood.

OK so this one might be a little different.

I thought that this year I would do something I have never done here before and actually use this blog space more like an ongoing blog.

To remain registered as a chiropractor, Martin and I have to meet certain standards, and part of those standards is ongoing education.

Often Martin and I will find ourselves reading research papers or hear about new research that changes how we practice, or has us excited about how we practice that has significant impact for the clients that we are lucky enough to see.

As always, we meet weekly, discuss the information and then try to implement it into our practice as we constantly strive to improve our care, but there might be a lot of you who are actually keen to learn along with us.

Which leads me to this post, I am not sure what form this will take eventually, but what I was wanting to do with them is not to just present the information like a summary of the research, but I would love for people to see what information is out there and then understand why it is significant to us at Align and you as a client.

I’m not intending to explain the methods etc, though I will always provide the citation for you. My goal is to outline what is some interesting research I have come across, and hopefully encourage people to understand more, perhaps it will be relevant to them or to a loved one, but we would like to encourage you to discuss it with Martin or myself if it does pique your interest.

So without further preamble. The research:

Hughes F. (2020) “Reduction of cortisol levels and perceived anxiety in a patient undergoing Chiropracticmanagement for neck pain and headache: a caseReport and review of the literature,” Journal of Contemporary Chiropractic, https://journal.parker.edu/index.php/jcc/article/view/95

Now to start with, a disclaimer, this is a case study only and as such is a starting point for further research, NOT a definitive research answer. Individual results of care may vary. If you have any questions about research design and why some are more highly valued compared to others, please ask Martin or myself.

In this case study, a chiropractor was managing the care of a lady suffering from neck pain and headaches.

As part of the care provided, the chiropractor had the client complete surveys regarding her mental state as well as for pain etc. and the client also had her cortisol (or stress chemical) levels measured at the outset and as reassessment points in her care.

What was discovered was that through ongoing chiropractic care including adjustment and home advice, not only did her neck pain and headaches improve, but the client’s cortisol levels decreased significantly as well as the client herself feeling less anxious in her day to day life.

This particularly stood out to us as anxiety was NOT what the client was intending to have managed by the chiropractor, nor was it the focus of the chiropractor’s care plan for the client, yet areas outside the initial complaint significantly improved, creating a better quality of life for the client.

This was significant to me as it certainly reflects what we often see in practice with out clients. Often we will have clients state how much more relaxed they feel after an adjustment, or that they can breathe easier, or a “weight has been lifted from their shoulders”.

This has been particularly common throughout the last 2 years as we have had…lets say more stress than is normal in our day to day lives because of the pandemic.

The main reason I was inspired to write something here though is because often when we are busy or when people have significant injuries etc that we are managing, as a practitioner it is easy for us to focus on just the issue clients might present with and in doing so, we might be missing significant contributing elements.

For clients this might be more important, as imagine if there was another issue you were putting up with and even though myself or Martin were in a position to help, we are not aware that we could be working with you to get on top of other issues at the same time.

At Align we use specific surveys to get a snap shot of where a client will be in regard to mood, energy, concentration and attempt to track these over time, but going forward, I want to make sure I am encouraging our clients to make sure they are getting the most out of their care.

If there is something else bothering you or you aren’t sure we could help with, then we would love for you to feel free to ask us. Hopefully we are in a position to help you, but even if we are not, I am confident that we will be able to find the right person who CAN help you with whatever issue you might have.

The advantage of being a practice that is over 30 years old is that we have contacts in many fields to help clients get where they need to go, because sometimes chiropractic, as wonderful as it is not the answer. But I bet we can find someone for you who is.

So next time you get adjusted, pay attention to how you feel, do you feel more relaxed? More alert? Sharper? Freer? We’d love to hear about what you find.

Still working from home? How to keep your Neck and shoulders moving

Even though Melbourne will be thawing out of Lock down 4.0, we are aware that a lot of our clients will still be working from home again for a while.

If this is you, Its very important that you keep on top of your spinal health while you re adjust to working from home for the foreseeable future.

Fortunately, during Lockdown 2.0, Martin made this comprehensive video outlining everything you can do to keep yourself moving stay on top of your posture, and free up a lot of the tension you have felt building, especially over the last few weeks of lock downs.

Avid readers of this blog will note that we posted this video in September last year, but given recent events, I feel like Martin’s video couldn’t be more poignant so I am reposting for your convenience.

If you have a specific issue please do not hesitate to contact the practice so we can see how we can keep you going.

As usual with our videos, the transcript is available below, but I strongly recommend you have a watch as Martin runs through some excellent tips, stretches, exercises and muscle releases that will have you feeling a lot more yourself during this period.

The video has a few sections so if you REALLY felt like it you can skip to a section you find most relevant, however the way that Martin has filmed it the segments build on each other to get the most out of each one.

Enjoy!

2:00 Todays video is about...

3:52- Where to begin?

4:15 Rotational Movements of the Neck

5:32 Lateral Flexion of the Neck

7:12 Flexion/ Extension of the Neck

8:07 Shoulder Exercise

9:28- 3 exercises to open shoulders

13:48- Overhead position for shoulders

14:54- Focus on Alignment

17:23- Intro Spikey Ball Exercise

18:27 Beginning of Spikey Ball Exercise

23:27 Conclusion

Hi, Martin here from Align Chiropractic. Today's video is a follow along video, meaning I'm going to be taking you through some things that you can do, and you can more or less just watch the video and follow on. 

So, the purpose of this video, it's really about moving your upper spine, your neck, your shoulders, your middle back to get mobility in those areas but also to soothe those areas.

It's really based on the clinical model that we use in our practice where we see that there's a real benefit in looking at the spine in kind of a sequential way, that spinal problems generally what's happening is that segments of the spine rather than having the ability to move through their full range of motion and kind of jammed up from either trauma, or long periods of time in particular postures, or stress tightening up the muscles around it. 

And then as the joints jam up that changes the way the nerves and muscles and all the other soft tissues work, which then changes the alignment of your spine, and this change in movement and alignment of the vertebra causes misfiring of nerves which has a whole range of effects on your body, but specifically it can affect your ability to kind of balance the whole system. 

If you're not balancing the whole system then your spine's going to be less stable. It's much more common for you to have problems with your back, your neck and the rest of your body if things aren't stable. So, if we look at that it goes movement, then alignment, then balance, then stability and so a common thing that I’ll see is people talking about ‘I need to do stability work or core stability work’. 

I actually think it's really important that we do the basics first we've got to get movement happening first, and then once we've got movement, then we want to have a proper alignment so that when we're stabilizing first of all it's more effective, but we're also locking in a good movement pattern and a good alignment pattern rather than locking in poor ones.

2:00 TODAYS VIDEO IS ABOUT...

So this one specifically, today's video is really about dealing with this upper part of the spine because many of us are locked into these postures working at a desk or the effect of stress tightens up our neck and shoulder muscles and pushes our head posture forward and so this is really about restoring movement to those areas and then getting our alignment back into that nice upright posture. 

I'm also going to be combining some approaches that come from new research into the interplay between how we breathe and our stress response and in particular if you want to dive deeper into this, there's a neuroscientist called Andrew Hubermann who's based at University of California, sorry based at Stanford and we're going to be using a couple of different approaches to breathing that we're combining with the movement approach and using a ball-  spikey ball, or a tennis ball, or a lacrosse ball that we'll be using to just release muscle tension and some of that will be just I'll be cueing you to breathe in through your nose, and then we'll also be using an approach called a physiological sigh, which is really where you just take in a deep breath through your nose and then another deep breath through your nose before

letting it out and the emerging evidence is that this is a really quick and easy way of us helping to unwind some of the neurological effects of stress which we know can have really significant impacts on how we feel and how healthy we are. So, let's dive straight into this follow along routine to help release tension in neck, shoulders, upper back, and get movement into those areas so that you can have a healthier, happier, more active body

3:52- WHERE TO BEGIN?

Well the first thing that we want to do is we want to encourage movement back into the neck, so with the postures that we've been in and the lack of movement and there's a tendency for our neck to kind of stiffen up, and there's a segmental part of that which is what wewould address in office with an adjustment, then there's kind of an overall regional movement that we can address with exercise.

4:15 ROTATIONAL MOVEMENTS OF THE NECK

So first movement we're going to do is we're going to be doing rotational movements. With this I just want you to be taking nice slow breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth. 

So first of all just turn your head all the way to the left, and then go all the way to the right. I'm going to go through this five times each way, and we're not pushing we're just holding at that end range- nice and gently. 

Let's see it just easing into it letting your shoulders drop, just letting that tension, that sort of habitual tension ease away. That's it. I think that's four, probably need a better way to count to be able to do this. Okay, I'm going to say that's five.

5:32 LATERAL FLEXION OF THE NECK

So next we're going be moving into lateral flexion so we just need to be cautious with this, if you get any pinching, any sort of sharp sensation that says you don't want to go that far, you want to stop before that point. 

All of these mobility things are done within what feels just you're touching that point of tension or restriction. So sideways it's going all the way over there. 

I'm just pausing at that end range, maybe a count of three. Just working our way into that range, just getting every vertebrae in our neck and even into our upper back starting to move. 

This is our third one. Maybe just pause a little bit longer there, any sort of knotty points you can just almost sort of focus on it, just get that movement happening, just nodding a little bit back and forward. Okay that's four. So one more to go. 

Last round for lateral flexion. Lateral flexion's actually a really important movement there's not many day-to-day activities that we do to encourage this range of motion, so it's often an exercise that we'll have people do because getting lateral flexion actually encourages movement in the other range.

7:12 FLEXION/ EXTENSION OF THE NECK

So now we're going to go flexion/ Extension. Flexion I'm going to get you to go nice and gently on, because we all tend to spend a lot more time in flexion than we do an extension. With extension which is the one going back, again just be really mindful that you don'twant to be getting any pinching sensation with that. With this one I'm doing it up against the wall. If you feel any dizziness with this then back off, maybe skip this part of it. This is our last one, our fifth repetition. Okay. 

8:07 SHOULDER EXERCISE

Now functionally interlinked with your neck is your shoulders, and so again all this time spent like this, there's an alignment component of that, but before we can really address the alignment we've got to get the ability for these joints to move, so first up I’m going to do a stretch across the body, trying not to mess up my mic here. 

So come all the way across, and we're just going to breathe in through the nose, and out. I'm going to do this one for three breaths. Just going to go a little bit further on this third one. Okay and then we're going to swap our arms. Bringing the arm across, the other arm just hooks in next to the elbow there. Breathe in, out. Breathe in, and out.

9:28- 3 EXERCISES TO OPEN SHOULDERS

So, it started to get some mobility, but really if we want to be able to bring our shoulders back which is what most of us need because so much of our activity is in front of us, we want to be opening up and restoring that movement that way. 

So what we're going to do here is spend sort of three exercises bringing and opening up this in the front of our shoulder. 

The first one what we're going to do here is we're going to put our hand up on the wall above horizontal, so if that's horizontal first one we want is up here, and then i've got my body sort of facing away there my elbow is straight, and then i'm turning out this way, and then i'm going to do three breaths there. So in through the nose, and out. That’s two. I can just rotate a little bit more, and three. 

I'm just going to take that tension off, and now i'm going to that horizontal level, and it'll feel a little bit different, it's going to hit a slightly different part of the shoulder. 

So again in through the nose, and out through the mouth. And three. Now we're just going to do just below horizontal to again getslightly different part of the shoulder. 

We're going to come across. One, Two, that’s three. Okay, so now we're going to repeat exactly the same thing but on the opposite side. So first one, if that's horizontal we're going up maybe 30 degrees above horizontal, rotating away feeling the stretch at the front of the shoulder maybe a little bit into the arm. One, Two, That's three. 

Then we're going to a horizontal point now, taking that stretch back up, and then in through the nose, out through the mouth. That's three. So, I'm going to get out just below horizontal one there, take that stretch up. And then in through the nose, and out. Then that's it, just move your shoulders around enjoy that extra mobility there.

13:48- OVERHEAD POSITION FOR SHOULDERS

So next what we're going to be working on is bringing up into flexion or sort of like an overhead position for our shoulders. So, with this I'm standing sort of basically like arm length away from a wall, and I reach out, I put my hands down keeping my elbows straight and then what i'm doing from here is keeping my arms straight and dropping my body all the way down. 

I'm not rounding my back, I'm keeping my back quite straight, and then getting that movement back into the shoulders giving them that full range. We're just going to do three breaths here, so in through the nose and then out. 

14:54- FOCUS ON ALIGNMENT

So next what we're going to do is move on from looking at movement and we're going to focus instead on alignment. What we're really wanting to do is to reverse that tendency that we all have to have this sort of position, and so what we're going to do is do an exercise called a W exercise, which is where you make your arms into a W shape with the thumbs facing backward. 

I always like to sort of correct the head posture so pull your head back, and I also like to look up slightly because that helps just release the activation here. What we're really wanting to do is use these muscles down here in between our shoulder blades. So, make the W shape look up slightly and then what we're doing is trying to not use these muscles but use those ones in between your shoulder blades. 

We're squeezing back one two three. Relaxing one, two, three. One, two, three. One two, three. We're going to go for ten so that's four, three. One, two, three, so I'm going to say that one's four, and five

Six. If it's getting uncomfortable, if things are starting to burn just take a little break, six and seven. 

So it's kind of this back and down movement that we're after- just caught myself looking down too much. Nine and last one. Good. 

What we've done there is really kind of reset our alignment, and that'll mean that rather than when your heads forward everything through has to be working overtime just to stop your head from going forward with gravity. So we're going to use that we've gotmovement, we've got alignment.

SPIKEY BALL: 17:23

Now what I want to do is just kind of soothe this area. We're all doing a lot of this, let's just work through with some pressure on those areas, and for this i'm going to suggest that you use a ball, a spiky ball. In this case this is a lacrosse ball, and what we're going to start with is we're going to be doing three individual spots. We're going to be doing one right in between the spine and the shoulder blade here, then we're going to be doing one that's up, almost on the meaty bit above your shoulder blade, and then we're going to be doing this little corner in here where your arm joins onto your shoulder blade there. 

We're going to do that on each side. We're going to use that slightly different breathing where rather than just breathing in through your nose and then out through your mouth, if you want to experiment with it, this is a really good place to use that physiological sigh, which just helps reset our nervous system from a stress sort of state, into what they call a parasympathetic state, which is putting your nervous system in a state to promote rest and relaxation and kind of de-stressing.

18:27 BEGINNING OF SPIKEY BALL EXERCISE

So let's start off. You put the ball against the wall, and then just drop it down a little bit so you can get into that spot and rather than rolling around, what I like to do for this is just find a tender spot, hold pressure there. And then we're going to go breathe in through the nose, and then second breath, and then out. So just moving into a slightly different spot there. 

Breathe in, second breath, and out. Breathe in. 

Now we're going to move to the top of the shoulder. So, for this one you almost need to angle back a little bit. I'm just going to find that fleshy bit there. All right so I’m going to breathe in. Okay, so that's our three breaths there. Now for this one, I've got a really a choice of going on the actual arm here, or for most people this area in the side of the shoulder blades the spot that you want to hit, so I'm going to hit that one. 

If you're doing this by yourself you could maybe do an extra round where you go to the other one if you're feeling tender in both, but I'm on the side of the shoulder blade. 

The easiest way of getting there is having your body sort of on a 45-degree angle there, just finding that tender spot- okay that's definitely it. And so I'm going to breathe in through my nose, that's number two, let's go for number three- that's a really tender one. 

Okay, so now what we're going to do- oops dropped my ball. And i'm back. All right so same sequence, we're just going to do the opposite side. So again, ball against the wall, I'm just going to roll into that spot just next to my shoulder blade there. All right that's it, I've got the right spot, so I'm going to breathe in through my nose. Second breath. 

So now I'm just going to reposition that ball. I'm getting ready from the top of that shoulder blade there. First breath, double breath. Second breath, that's our third breath there. 

Now we're just going to move to the outside of the shoulder there. So again, looking for either on the shoulder blade or the back of the arm. So I'm going to keep it consistent that 45 degree angle here. I’m going for that spot on the shoulder blade just breathing in I'm just moving up a little bit, finding that real epicenter of tension there. All right that's it, so breathe in at that spot...really relax into it. One more, breathe in through the nose.

CONCLUSION: 23:27

So there we have it, we've got movement through shoulders, neck, sort of upper back as well, then we've reset our alignment so thatwe're in a nice upright position and then we've kind of reset the tension, reset the nervous system giving you the best chance of having ahealthier, happier more active body. Thanks for following along.

8 of our best stress busters!

This post is for anyone who feels they are holding onto the stress of 2020 or are struggling to feel up to speed in 2021, who could use a quick circuit breaker to manage their stress and feel more themselves.

As our live become “normal” again, with nearly everything being back at full capacity, very few places requiring face masks and your social lives (or at least your family’s social lives) picking up pace, many of our clients have been finding themselves more fatigued, worn out and just generally more stressed than they were back in the before times (aka pre March 2020).

It’s almost as if consciously we WANT to be back to normal, but our bodies haven’t decided to go along with us yet.

There are many possible reasons as to why this is, but the main themes I am hearing is that people are just waiting for the next round of lock downs to hit us at any moment, and the other is that a lot of people actually LOVED the slow down in the pace of their lives.

A lot of us are struggling to return to the glorification of being busy and the constant social demands on our attention and time.

Especially in Melbourne, we spent more of the last year being afraid of too much direct human contact than we did out in society. Now we are headed back to office and not only do we have to retrain our brain to be OK with having people around, but we have to be “on” all day, not just for the Zoom meetings we had!

It really takes a toll on us and has left a lot of our clients drained.

We know you don’t have time to research the best steps you can take to get back to feeling you, if only someone would accumulate years worth of stress related blogs in one easy to locate place and post it on their website amirite??

As always, we’ve got you covered!

May I present, here, for the first time in one place, the best of 6 years of stress specific blogs to get you back on track!

And No, one of the steps won’t be “Get adjusted”. If you’re on this blog you already know how relaxed and good you feel when you’re adjusted. This list is about what YOU can do, from the comfort of your own home to take control.

So without further waffle from me….

8 of our best Stress Busters

1. Make Stress your friend.

   As you know, just saying “don’t let it get to you” is about as useful as a passport in a pandemic, but did you know you possess a huge power over how your body FEELS like it responds to it?

   There is no making stress disappear but as I discussed in 2015, there may be a simple way to have lasting impact on what your body physically DOES with the stress and therefore changes how you feel about it.

   when you have 15 minutes, watch the video as Kelly McGonigal explains it much better than I can.

2. The importance of saying ‘NO’.

   Not just for little kids to annoy your parents, ‘no’ can be a powerful stress reliever.

   You’ll heave heard of FOMO, the Fear Of Missing Out?

   Well let me introduce JOMO, the Joy Of Missing Out.

   If you have ever had a social event coming up and been wishing that it would get cancelled, then you need to connect with JOMO and embrace saying ‘NO’ more often.

   Look at your upcoming weekends and recognise, its OK if we don’t do multiple things every day, I won’t say yes to dinner with ‘X’ or breakfast at ‘Y’s house. It’s OK to have enjoyed a few quiet weekends over lock down, to not always be available to everyone. After all, if your friends and family needed down time, you’d understand…and I hate to sound like your mother but if they DON’T understand your need to have some time to yourself then maybe they weren’t very good friends in the first place.

3. Improve your sleep!

   As discussed at length on many occasions on this blog (most recently HERE) getting a good night of sleep is potentially the most important thing you can do for yourself.

   For an explanation as to what sleep DOES to us to keep us healthy and reduce sleep, read the blog here about an interview with a sleep expert, but for Martin’s hottest tips on how to GET good sleep, watch the video.

4. Exercise your demons.

   “I really regret that exercise I did and now I feel more stressed out” - Literally no one. Ever

   This might seem really obvious but it is worth remembering. Pick an exercise you love to do and give yourself time to do it.

5. (Foam) Roll your way to relaxation.

   Again, this one will seem a little too simple, but as Martin explains in this post, using a foam roller to help get rid of your tight stress shoulders and gert your body breathing again isn’t only easy to do but hugely effective as well!

6. Screen your screen time.

   Think about what you’re doing on your screens and when.

   Research shows that if the very first thing you do when you wake up is check your email, subconsciously you’re starting your day on someone ELSE’S agenda, and this increases the stress chemicals in our blood from the beginning of your day, and things cascade from there.

   Try getting out of bed, setting a routine, even if its a short one like “I will have a shower and then open my email once I have made breakfast”, that way you open them on YOUR terms.

   Also, while thinking about screen time, your devices will all have night modes for their screens, TURN THEM ON. Have them come on as the sun sets and timed to come back to normal as your day starts.

   Theres a lot to this but basically, the orange/red of a night mode screen doesn’t wake your brain up the same way the blue/white light of a normal screen does. You’’ll fall asleep faster and better.

7. Meditate.

   This one is obvious and yet feels like it will be impossible to fit into your day and even harder to stick with. There is some good news though, research shows that meditation is like exercise, the more you do it the easier it gets and SOME IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN NONE.

   In fact, research shows you can start to get the benefits of meditation even from very short periods of doing it, the song “Someone like you” by Adel or “Strawberry swing” by Coldplay have been shown to start you in the right direction (personally, I’m an Enya man).

   Why not try challenging yourself to listening to a song that relaxes you quietly while you take a minute to yourself for a week? Then after you prove you have 3-4 minutes to do that, the jump to a 5 minute guided meditation in an app like ‘smiling mind’ doesn’t seem like such a giant leap!

8. Try, Try again

   Read our 3 simple steps to help keep a healthy change going.

   No one expects you to be perfect or to do all 8 of these recommendations at once! Give yourself a break, you deserve to find out which of these tips suit you and only YOU can find out how they fit into your life.

As always, if there is anything we can do to help, any extra info we can provide, then please do not hesitate to get in contact with us!

Move & Soothe - Express Neck, Shoulders, Low Back & Hips

Welcome to 2021, the year where everything could, but so far, usually nothing has had a chance yet to change!

All jokes aside, it feels to Martin and I that our clients are sitting more than ever, and it can be really hard as a lot of you and your loved ones are still having to work from home.

Outside of Melbourne’s Lockdown 3.0 (for those of you unfamiliar, it was like 2.0 but thankfully shorter and for some reason there was tennis), we have found a lot of people are still struggling with their home work set ups, or even struggling to transition between home and office work spaces as working in the office becomes a possibility again.

As always, Align is here. in this, our newest title in our ‘Move and Soothe’ series, Martin has made an express version to help you free up your neck, shoulders, hips and low back.

As always, the transcript can be found below.

Hi, Martin here from Align Chiropractic and this is another in our series of ‘Move and Sooth’ videos today's video is designed to be a super fast one that you can do and it's specifically aimed at people who are having to spend a lot of time stuck at their desk, which then tends to cause a lot of pressure, a lot of stiffness, a lot of tension in our neck and down into our shoulders, but also down into around your hips and lower back. 

So we're going to run through a little routine that we can do.

Ideally all you will need is a ball you can use, this a lacrosse ball, you can use this or a spiky ball or a tennis ball and that's all the equipment you'll need to be able to really take a lot of that tension out of neck shoulders and back.

Neck ROM exercise

So first up what we're going to do is get some movement and encourage full range of motion of our neck. 

Our joints in our spine work at their best when they can move through their full range of motion and the challenge for us in our daily, sort of more sedentary lifestyles is that we really don't use that range of motion, so taking our joints through the full range of motion really helps to free things up and helps all the tissues around your spine be healthier and happier. 

First up we're just going to introduce rotation, so we're just going to turn all the way gently to the left. We’re never forcing anything, we're just going to that comfortable range, just waiting there for a moment and then we'll go all the way over to the right. 

For this express version, we're just going to do three times through each of these movements. 

So that's the second time to the left second time to the right, just that little pause at the end there, just being aware that your shoulders are holding tension, that’s the third time to the right.

Next, we're going to go into lateral flexion. 

Left side just bending all the way over to the left and all the way over to the right. 

Lateral flex is such an important but often neglected aspect of our range of motion because there's not that many things that we're doing in day-to-day life where we use it but the movement that your spinal joints do when you're doing this movement

translates into healthier movement in every other range…so that's three times each way, that's the third to the left, to the right, we're really recovering lots of that range of motion.

One little variation you can do if you're aware of a lot of tension at the top here is rather than thinking ‘ear towards your shoulder’ you can do that one as thinking of the ‘opposite ear going up towards the sky’, it just focuses a lot of that lateral flexion in the very top part of our neck so again just going gently from side to side.

Thats it, nice and easy, never forcing anything, just going within the comfortable range. 

One more…okay. 

So that's the end of our initial mobilising sort of routine getting range of motion back into the joints, next we're going to grab our ball against the wall, we're going to use some pressure to release or soothe built up tension.

With this what we want to do is use the ball across all this muscle, from near your shoulder blade and in between your shoulder blade and your spine and your neck.

The easiest way of doing it is raise your, arm up just pin the ball just next to your shoulder blade and then just roll across to get into this little bit between spine and shoulder blade and then again, I’m just going to move up and down and when I find this, oh that's a really tight spot there, just going to hold pressure, I can move my arm, I can move my neck just get some movement, as well as some pressure, to just dissipate tension in there. 

I’m just going to move up a little bit higher, I’m just going to work all through this area, this fleshy part of the levator sap and trapezius muscle, all through the rhomboid muscle.

Just working my way through there you might spend 30 or 40 seconds working through there and then really it's as simple as taking the ball and popping it on the other side.

Just do this, you don’t need to necessarily see that but you get the idea, just 30 to 40 seconds of applying some pressure there.

There we go, let’s see that's releasing nicely. You can spend longer or if you can come back to that.

We're going to move on now to the lower back. 

Low Back Exercise

So now we're going to move on to movement, but this time in the lower part of our spine. 

And so, first up what we're going to do here is go through lateral flexion again

I don't use that that often but it’s super important in terms of how all the soft tissues in our lower back and hips work. 

So, really as simple as just running your hand down the side of your leg, I mean if you follow the seam on a pair of trousers or shorts in this case, the second time, that's the second time to the left, just pausing, never forcing, nice and gently, shouldn’t be any pain, just touch that end point where you feel a little bit of resistance and then just hold there a little brief pause and that's three each side. 

And now what we're going to do is move on to rotation, but to do rotation we need to be on the ground.

So next what we're going to do is introduce some rotation into the lower back so just lie on your back, nice and gently let the hips both roll, rather, let your both hips roll that way so you're getting nice rotation through the lower back. 

We're just pausing at that end point. It’s really critical with this one to just work within the comfortable range of motion. 

Just a little pause there, last one, and then from there we can use our ball to just gently, gently release a little bit of the tension.

So, on the back just on the area, just above where your belt line might be, up into the upper glute area there, that tends to get really tight, and again just rolling 30 degrees, 45 degrees onto my side, working through any tight areas there, oh that's a tight one, just applying a little bit of pressure there. 

If I find a really spicy one I can just move my leg up and down and once I've done some work through there, it's really nice to just move right onto your side this is the gluteus medius muscle, which is the main muscle that stabilises your hip, but it tends to get really really short if we're sitting a lot, so just applying some nice pressure there, just holding that tender spot, letting the weight of gravity just gently push down on there, release that tension, swap over to the other side and do that 45 degree.

Another way you can use it is just to gently move your leg up and down like that and then move on to the side get that gluteus medius.

I'm showing a fairly short version, you can spend as long as you want and doing this. 

Generally you're going to get a really nice improvement with as little as a minute or so.

So there we have it the express version of ‘Move and Soothe’ covering neck, shoulders, hips and back. 

See you next time

Our 3 tips for keeping a Healthy change going

If you’re looking for some pointers to keep up your new years resolutions, then this post is for you.

No need for a massive post this time, the best and longest lasting changes are almost always small, its doing them for the long haul that makes them worthwhile!

Our 3 tips for keeping a healthy change on track are:

1. Avoid all or nothing!

Lots of people start with the intention of achieving 100% of their goals - no sugar ever, exercising every day, or meditating every morning etc.

The problem with committing to 100% is that life doesn’t always allow for 100%. So often it feels like once you have gone off track then there is no point getting back on!

You tell yourself that it will never work and you fail back into your pre-resolution pattern. Getting off track is normal! The secret is to accept that it’s going to happen and get straight back on.

After a tiring day at work it’s easy to feel the urge to skip your exercise. Exercising before work means that you have prioritised the important (your long term health) over the urgent.

2. If exercise is your resolution, consider doing it in the morning.

If you're one of the people heading back to work this week, you probably already know that it’s harder to fit a workout in when work takes up so much of the day.

After a tiring day at work it’s easy to feel the urge to skip your exercise. Exercising before work means that you have prioritised the important (your long term health) over the urgent.

3. Listen to your body.

Changing can be tough on your body. If regular exercise is new to you, taking a rest day is super important and can help you avoid an injury.

Getting a checkup to see if everything is working the way it should is also a great idea.

As always, we wish you the best of luck with your new goals, please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you achieve them!

Sleep Better

If you or some one you love isn’t getting enough sleep, is struggling to get to sleep or you’re waking up feeling tired and worn out, this post is for you.

As stated in previous post on this blog: Sleep is super important.

So important that we really need to think of it as a pillar of health the same way we do diet, exercise and stress management.

What happens when we don’t get enough sleep?

One of the major areas impacted by sleep issues is our cardiovascular health.

Impacts of sleep on cardiovascular health include:

• Increases chance of both developing and dying of CV disease by 45%

• Heart attack - leading cause of death in Australia and stroke is a leading cause of disability.

• Main mechanism - increases BP

Often people can think of sleep as wasting time, but the reality is that your brain doesn’t work as well without it.

• in an Australian study, no sleep for 19 hours was shown to have equivalent impact on concentration as being over .05 blood alcohol

• As well, less than 5 hours sleep can lead to a 500% increase in risk of car accident

Once again, Martin has come through with the goods with a video that will have you catching some of the best quality Z’s of your life in no time!

As always, the video is transcribed below. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to get you back on track!

Intro: 0.00

Hi, Martin Harvey here from Align Chiropractic, and today’s video is all about sleep, why you need to get more of it, why it’s important for both your health, and also how easy it is to get the things you need to do done. So, timing this video, I’ve decided to do this video partly because I think sleep is super important, but also because this Saturday is when we go to daylight savings. Daylight savings is kind of like this mini experiment that we have each year where we all get like a tiny little bit of sleep deprivation and all feel mildly excited that it’s a step closer to summer. It’s interesting how many people are coming into the practice each year in this sort of period of time afterwards just not feeling as well as they normally will because they’ve missed out on one hour of sleep. 

Impact of not enough sleep: 0.51

So, what I want to do is share with you a little bit of information about why health is super important, and then I want you share with you a couple if really simple things you can do to help yourself sleep better, and in the context of transitioning to daylight savings, what you can do to kind of get past that little hiccup as quickly as possible. 

So, when we’re talking about sleep and impacts on health, there’s lots of things that it affects. It affects your risk of obesity, your risk of diabetes etc. One of the key things that I wanted to highlight was the impact of not enough sleep on cardiovascular health- your heart health, because the leading cause of death in Australia is cardiovascular issues, and also one of the leading causes of disability in Australia, Stroke, is also at an increased risk if you have sleep deprivation. So, interesting research in this area shows that you increase your risk of having cardiovascular disease by about 45% if you’re not getting enough sleep, and if you already have cardiovascular disease, increase the chance of dying from it by about 45% if you’re not getting enough sleep. So, it’s kind of important. 

Now, how does it work? What’s the link between not enough sleep and this impact of cardiovascular health? It’s probably a bunch of mechanisms, but what the research suggests is a lot of it is because it increases your blood pressure. Even one night of not enough sleep can have a measurable impact in terms of increasing your blood pressure. So, it’s not a tiny thing- it’s a really important thing. 

So, the information that I’m sharing with you is mainly from a really cool book by a neuroscientist called Matthew Walker. It’s kind of a world leader in the area of sleep and health. Another thing- and this is often one of the things that people notice, is that they just kind of feel a bit foggy and a bit out of it when they haven’t slept as much as they should, and the science in this area is really, really interesting.  You see, if you haven’t slept enough, it impacts your concentration. That not only mean that it’s harder to get the work that you want done, it’s harder for you to be as present for your family and friends, it’s harder for you to do everything. It’ll measurably increase the chance of you having a car accident. 

Experiment: 3:15

So, there was some research done in Australia where what they tried to quantify this. What they did was look at how well subjects in these studies did on a standardized concentration test, and the findings were really amazing where having the subjects be up for 19 hours- which isn’t a huge amount, like it’s not missing a complete night’s sleep, but just staying up a little bit later than you normally would. It meant that those subjects performed as badly on concentration tests as people who were over 0.05 blood alcohol level. So, not having enough sleep dulls down your brain to the level that you’re functioning almost as if you’re a little bit drunk.

Sleep better: 4:00

Now, what you can do to sleep better? If you’re one of those people who have trouble sleeping, or you just want to optimise your health and sleep better, there is a couple of really simple things to help yourself sleep better. 

It feels bad to say this because I’m such a coffee fan, but avoiding caffeine late in the day is an obvious, but really important one.  When Matthew Walker’s talking about this in his book, he talks about the half-life of caffeine. This means how long does it take for the amount of caffeine in your bloodstream to reduce by half- which is about 12 hours. So, what that means then is if you’re wanting to go to bed at 10 and you had a coffee at 10, you still have a significant portion of the caffeine in your blood. So making sure that if you are a coffee lover like I am, biasing that toward earlier in the day is going to help you sleep better later at night. 

Interestingly, a lot of people will say that they sleep better if they have a glass or two of alcohol, but the science says there’s a pretty fine balance there. Yes, a glass or maybe two glasses can help people relax and be in a better state to sleep, but it often reduces your ability to go into the deeper levels of sleep which are the ones that we need to really rest, repair, and wake up rejuvenated. It also puts you into a shallower state of sleep. Often if we’re having more than a couple of drinks, there’s a mechanism which will often wake up once your liver has finished dealing with the alcohol- so, you’ll often find that after having had a few drinks that you’re then waking up at 3 in the morning finding it very, very difficult to sleep. So, minimising alcohol is a really important thing. So, looking forward to this Saturday when we lose an hour of sleep, it’s probably a good night to go easy in terms of how many drinks you have. 

Exercise: 5:52

Exercise is a really powerful lever in terms of impacting our sleep. Exercising earlier in the day tends to create a biorhythm where we’re much more relaxed and drowsy for sleep later in the day. For a lot of people – particularly people who are in that night owl sort of group, exercising late in the day can often act as a stimulant, making it much harder to get to sleep. 

Sleeping Strategies: 6:15

There are a couple of things that you can do in your environment to help you sleep better. One is having a hot bath later in the day because the heat and then the drop in temperature when you get out of the bath, that drop in temperature will make it easier, and sort of allow you to become dozy. We’re very strongly triggered by cool temperatures that will tend to stimulate an appropriate melatonin response, which is the sleep hormone 

Related to that is having a cool room. They talk about wanting a room that’s under 20 degrees- ideally about 17/18 degrees Celsius, is sort of the sweet spot for most people to sleep better.

The last thing I want to share with you is the importance in terms of melatonin and getting sunlight into your eyes earlier in the day. So, getting outside and getting natural sunlight. Our melatonin production is stimulated by sunlight coming into our eyes, and then stimulating our pituitary to make melatonin.  That production earlier in the day is what helps us feel sleepy later in the day. It sort of sets that biorhythm, but it’s strongly stimulated by light that’s coming in at that low angle that is present earlier in the day. So, getting outside without sunglasses early in the day, particularly going for a walk can be really powerful way of setting your biorhythm so you’re better able to sleep later on in the day. 

Conclusion: 7:50

So, this is Martin Harvey from Align Chiropractic with a few tips to help you sleep better and get over the hump of the daylight savings.