You Know You Have a Sunburn When……

The problem with a sun burn is that you don’t feel any symptoms until a few hours after the sun exposure; and depending on how severe the burn is, it can take a day or two to see the full extent of the skins’ damage.

Some of the symptoms of a sun burn are:

  • Pinkness or redness.
  • Skin feels hot to the touch
  • Pain, tenderness, and swelling
  • Blisters
  • Headache, fever, and fatigue

Once you have the sun burn there are a few things you can do to feel better and to help heal more quickly.

  1. Drink water – A sunburn is a burn.  With this type of burn the skin is dried out, and dehydrated. Keep a bottle of ice cold water on hand and keep yourself hydrated.
  2. Aloe vera gel – Aloe vera gel is soothing, and helps reduce the redness and sting of a sunburn.
  3. Pain medication – Topical over-the-counter hydrocortisone cream may help relieve sunburn symptoms like pain, itch, and swelling. Pain relievers such as ibuprofen can help relieve sunburn pain and inflammation.
  4. Bathing in cool/tepid water – Make sure that the bath is fairly quick as a long soak in the tub can dry out your skin. also make sure your bath is tepid, or slightly on the cooler side. Really cold water will close your pores and causing your body to trap the heat: a sunburn is hot enough that tepid water will feel cool/cold. When you have a sunburn, never bathe in soapy water such as a bubble bath; as soap will dry out and irritate your skin.

What can you add to the bath:

  • Vinegar – use pure unfiltered apple cider vinegar, soak a wash cloth in the vinegar and place on the sun burned area after a tepid shower or bath.
  • Oat meal – use about 2 cups of uncooked rolled oats and place in cheesecloth/gauze and let it soak for a few minutes before getting in the tub.  Squeeze the the gauze every few minutes, until the water becomes cloudy. Let yourself air dry, when  finished.
  •  Cool milk compress – A cool milk compress is one of the quickest, simplest ways to treat sunburn. The initial coolness of the milk will ease the heat, while it also creates a layer of protein to protect your skin. If the milk in the bowl becomes room temperature chill it before re-dunking your compress.
  • Cornstarch – Add cool water-not cold-to the cornstarch until it has reached a paste consistency. Place the paste  over the burned area and leave on until pain has let up some. Rinse off completely.
  • Plain yogurt – Live cultured plain yogurt contains an probiotics and enzymes that help heal our skin.  Apply cool yogurt directly to your burn, and let it sit for at least 5 minutes. When the pain has subsided, gently rinse it off with cool or tepid water.

Consult a doctor for sunburn treatment if the sunburn is severe, with blisters and covers a large portion of your body.  The sunburn is accompanied by a high fever, headache, severe pain, dehydration, confusion, nausea or chills and if the sunburn doesn’t respond to at-home care.

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Rehab for Frozen Shoulder

“Frozen shoulder” Frozen Shoulder Rehab victoria bcis a term that is used when the shoulder becomes painful and loses motion because of inflammation. The tissues around the joint stiffen, scar tissue forms, and shoulder movements become difficult and painful.

The joint capsule of the shoulder joint has ligaments that hold the shoulder bones to each other. When the capsule becomes inflamed, the shoulder bones are unable to move freely in the joint. This pain prevents you from moving your arm. The lack of movement leads to stiffness and then even less motion. Over time, you will struggle to perform activities such as reaching over your head.

Frozen shoulder most commonly affects patients between the ages of 40 to 60 years old, and it is twice as common in women than in men. Also, patients who sustain a shoulder injury, or undergo surgery on the shoulder can develop a frozen shoulder joint.

If you have shoulder pain and stiffness and suspect you may have a frozen shoulder, contact your health care provider for proper diagnosis and treatment.

At Diversified Health you health care practitioner will make the diagnosis based on your symptoms and an examination of your shoulder. The main symptoms are decreased motion of the shoulder, pain, and stiffness.

The goal of your practitioner is to release the scar tissue by bringing the shoulder through a full range of motion and to remove the scar tissue from the shoulder. Some of the therapies and modalities that will be used during your treatments are:  Graston Technique, Cold Laser, T.E.N.S and Shockwave Therapy , Dry Needling, as well as a set of specific exercises and some time in our Rehab Gym.

Stretching exercises for frozen shoulder serves two functions: first to increase the motion in the joint and secondly to minimize the loss of muscle on the affected arm (muscle atrophy). The importance of stretching and exercises cannot be overemphasized as these are the key to successful frozen shoulder treatment.

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Why see a chiropractor?

The answer to why see a chiropractor depends on you. If your life is disrupted due to back pain, neck pain, headaches, sprains or strains, or another problem involving your muscles, joints, and nervous system, chiropractic care can help you feel like yourself again. Injuries to the spine can happen at any stage of life and for various reasons including car crashes, workplace incidents and sports injuries. Even simple everyday tasks such as going for a walk or washing the dishes have the potential to cause pain or discomfort that many of us just decide to live with. Sometimes these aches and pains even prevent us from working or doing the things we love. You don’t have to live with the pain.

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What Can Protect Me From UV Rays Other Than Sunscreen?

You can be in the sun without sunscreen for up to 20 minutes a day.  This is extremely variable depending on your genetics. The darker and thicker your skin, the longer the sun exposure needed to start sun radiation damage. For freckling individuals, sun exposure may cause damage very quickly, even in less than 5 minutes. This is why it is very important to protect your skin with sunblock when you are outside.  But what if you don’t want to use sunscreen… What other protection can I use?

Wear Sunglasses

Sunglasses protect the sensitive skin around the eyes and also helps to prevent cataracts. The best sunglasses block 99 to 100% of UVA and UVB rays. Wrap-around sunglasses and styles that fit close to the eye are especially good because they prevent the sun’s rays from coming in through the sides.

Wear a Hat

A tightly woven hat with a 4-inch brim all the way around, helps shade your face, ears, and the back of your neck. Baseball caps leave your ears and neck exposed.

Wear Appropriate Clothing

This means long-sleeve shirts, and long pants. The colour of the fabric can also make a difference; as a general rule, lighter coloured fabrics let more UV rays through than darker coloured fabrics. Also the tighter the weave, and the thicker the fabric, and the better the clothing is at blocking  UV rays.

Fabric Matters in Regular Clothing

Nylon – highly effective protection, Watch out for “stretchy” fabric – clothing that the weave expands when the material stretches, will let in more UV rays, so the correct fit is very important in elastic clothing.

Wool – moderately effective

Silk – moderately effective

Cotton, rayon, and hemp – least effective (unless chemically treated)

Denim (heavy weight) – superior protection

Lightweight cotton jersey knit, typical of T-shirt fabrics: SPF 4 (white) / 18 (dyed blue).
Heavy cotton twill – 8 oz. denim: SPF 12 (white) / 100 (dyed blue). Blue jeans eliminate 100% UV rays

Buy dark coloured clothing with tight-knit weaves or clothing with UPF.

UPF Clothing

The UPF rating is to clothing what the SPF rating is to sunscreen. The UPF rating is applied to textiles that protect your skin from the sun.  SPF measures only how much UVB is blocked, but not UVA (unless it is labeled “broad spectrum”). UPF clothing blocks both types of damaging rays.

UPF clothing either blocks or absorbs UV radiation to protect your skin.  The UPF rating is based on a fabric’s content, weight, color, and construction.

UPF rating for clothing:

15 to 24 – Good
25 to 39 – Very Good
40 to 50 – Excellent
It’s best to choose clothing with a UPF rating of 30 or higher; UPF 50 blocks 98 percent of UV rays.

Whether you buy UPF clothing, or wear what you have in your closet, make sure that you are protected from the suns damaging rays.

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Allergies To Sunscreens and Oxybenzone

We all know that too much sun is bad for us…. but what happens if you have an allergic reaction to sunscreen? Many adults and children have allergic reactions to the chemical ingredients found in sunscreen.

Allergies to Sunscreen | health care victoriaHere is a list of what you don’t want in a sunscreen:  (courtesy of Environmental Working Group)

  • oxybenzone – One of the biggest culprits to making the sunscreens more of a toxin hazard.  The overall concerns with this ingredient is developmental/reproductive toxicity, Endocrine disruption, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Enhanced skin absorption, Biochemical or cellular level changes.
  • Vitamin A – The sunscreen industry often adds vitamin A to its products because it is an anti-oxidant that slows skin aging. That may be true for lotions and night creams used indoors, but the FDA study of vitamin A’s photocarcinogenic properties raises the possibility that it results in cancerous tumors when used on skin exposed to sunlight. Scientists have known for some time that vitamin A can spur excess skin growth (hyperplasia), and that in sunlight it can form free radicals that damage DNA.  It may also speed the development of skin tumors and lesions. This finding is quite troubling because the sunscreen production companies adds vitamin A to about 30 percent of all sunscreens.
  • benzophenone-3, homosalate, or octyl-methoxycinnamate – These ingredients not only behave like estrogen and are known to disrupt users’ endocrine systems, they are more readily absorbed through the skin.
  • Sprays or powders. They have a greater potential to be inhaled.  Choose cream based products instead. Make sure to reapply them often, because sunscreen chemicals break apart in the sun, wash off in pools and rub off on towels and clothing.

So now you know what you don’t want, what’s left?  Below are a few websites that will show you what types of natural and organic sunscreens are available.

Natural Living Ideas

Ewg.org

Organic Authority

There are many natural sunscreens on the market, but just like everything else make sure you do your homework.

Choosing the Right SPF for Your Skin Type

· Fair skin — can stay in the sun 10 minutes before burning
· Olive skin — can stay in the sun 15 minutes before burning
· Dark skin — can stay in the sun 20 minutes before burning

Multiply the SPF by the number of minutes you can stay in the sun before burning. For example: (SPF) 20 x 10 (Fair skin) = 200 minutes (amount of time you can stay in the sun before burning if you have Fair skin and use an SPF of 20).

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How To Increase Your Daily Physical Activity

We all know the benefits of exercise.  Yet many of use still find it difficult to incorporate physical activity into our daily lives. Most of use have good intentions, but do not seem to find the time to exercise.

Not enough time is the number one excuse for remaining inactive.  We believe that five or ten minutes isn’t going to effect anything.

Too tired is the second most common excuse. Sitting at a desk all day will make you feel tired and sluggish.

For any of the other excuses you come up with just remember, they are only that, acknowledge them for what they are and do it anyway. Remember it’s important for your well being to add physical activity into your lifestyle.

Stop thinking exercise and start thinking about fun recreational physical activities that you can do with friends.

What can you do at home?

Modern technology has taken most of the physical activity out of chores. You need to replace the lost physical activity with something else. For instance, when you are watching television, use the commercial breaks to, fold laundry or unload the dishwasher. When working at a your computer remember to take “physical breaks” every 40 minutes, for 5 minutes to tone your muscles with a few easy stretching and strengthening exercises.

What can you do at the office?

Next time you need to talk to a co-worker, why not hand-deliver a message instead of picking up the phone or texting. The simplest way to increase your physical activity at work is to walk during your lunch, and not to use the elevator or stairs.

Bring your runners to work and turn your coffee breaks into a “stress-reduction and revitalization break,”  you can also try biking to work a few days per week.

What can you do with our cars for short trips?

For most of us, it is just force of habit combined with very little time. If you stop to think about this, does an extra 10 minutes really make such a big difference to your schedule? Think of the saving of wear and tear on your car and think of the benefits a quick walk will do.

If you must drive, park in the farthest space in the parking lot, so you will have to walk for an extra few minutes – remember it all adds up!

Walking!

Walking is the easiest and most popular way to increase your level of physical activity. Try to incorporate walking every day… go window shopping, walk around your neighbourhood, remember if you make it fun, there is a greater chance that you will continue.

The key to success is variety; so change your routes, change your pace, change your stride.

Plan ahead

  • Get organized.
  • Planning helps to overcome the tendency to put off the activity when the time comes to actually “do it”.
  • Remember to place your runner and socks by the front door the night before so they are ready to leave with you to go to work.
  • If your family is going hiking on the week end, make sure that everyone’s out door gear is ready and near the door, also that all supplies including the food is ready to go. This will help you to overcome the “ I’m so comfortable and cozy let’s go next weekend” scenario.

Make this month, the month you make a commitment to increase your physical activity on a daily basis. You will soon find out that it is much easier than you thought and that the reward of feeling better and having more energy will motivate you to keep “up the pace” and to find more creative ways to fit fitness, into your daily schedule!

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Do’s & Don’ts of Pain Free Gardening

Here are some simple tips on the do’s and don’ts for pain free gardening, and how massage therapy can help  with pain relief if you overdo it.

1. Warm up with light movement or a brisk walk to loosen your muscles and increase your flexibility. The smooth coordination of your muscles and ligaments is an important part of safe exertion in gardening and avoiding aches and pains. Also set modest goals for each portion of the day and assess your progress and how you feel every couple of hours.

2. Know your strengths and limitations. Do not overexert, vary your activities, and take regular rest breaks. Every hour, give yourself 5 minutes to stretch, sit down, and drink to replenish the fluids lost from your exertion.

3. Avoid bending over repeatedly while standing upright when performing ground-level work like weeding. Get closer to the task by kneeling or sitting on the ground or a gardening bench, rather than bending and twisting from the waist.

4. Keep your back protected when you stand up from a sitting or crouching position. Rise up by straightening your legs at the knees, not by lifting your torso at the waist.

5. Lift dirt and plants by letting your arms, legs and thighs carry the load: bend and straighten at the knees instead of the hack and hips. You are most vulnerable to injury when you are bending at the waist and reaching, so lift the load close to the body’s torso and handle smaller, more manageable loads at a time.

6. Use long-handled tools to give you leverage and help avoid having to stoop down while raking or digging.

7. Switch hands frequently when doing prolonged raking, hoeing or digging actions. Repetitive motion on one side can bring on progressively serious joints imbalances and may produce postural mis-alignments and pain. Avoid repetitive-motion injuries by dividing up each task into sections that allow you to switch activities and posture often.

8. Don’t work too long in one position, especially one that is awkward or unusual. This can reduce circulation, restrict mobility, and promote strain injuries.

If you should find yourself with painful joints and muscle because of gardening, remember that massage therapy provides significant reduction in back pain, (including lower back pain), migraine headaches, neck aches, shoulder pain, joint pain, overused or sore muscles, arthritis, and muscle injuries.

At Diversified Health our Registered Massage Therapists tailor each session to your needs from a whole body massage to a quick half hour hand massage.

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