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6 Ways to Make it Through Calgary Stampede Healthy

Fun Health & Wellness YYC Community No Comments

WOW, Stampede is here – or should I say Yee Haw! It’s the first week of July, which means everyone’s  stampede attire is getting ironed and ready to go. Staying healthy and getting exercise can be hard during holidays and festivals, especially when there are free pancakes at every other corner.

Below are my top 6 tips to stay healthy and keep moving throughout the Calgary Stampede.

 

1. Have a plan:

This will help you adhere to your normal routine and not throw you off from your usual work, exercise, sleep and/or dietary habits. This doesn’t mean you have to have every minute scheduled, just don’t cram too many things into your week that go against your norm. If you are planning to attend a couple of pancake breakfasts, try to spread them out throughout the week, or search for the healthier options: at Talisman Centre for example, or a slightly more elaborate breakfast put on by Amber Approved.  Stay on track with your exercise; don’t skip out on your walks, runs, spin classes or yoga, just schedule them in before you head to the party!

 

2. Bring water and pack healthy snacks:

To not go off the rails completely, it helps to bring some of your own food with you to Stampede events.  Healthy snacks – such as dried fruit, vegetables, and nuts – are easy to pack and a great side to fair food. Whole fruit doesn’t bruise as easily – think apples, oranges, or bananas. Because of the hot summer days and all of the walking around, I always bring a water bottle that I can refill at the grounds. Also make sure you drink enough water after your alcoholic beverages to stay properly hydrated throughout the day. The heat can be strong out there and you wouldn’t want to end the day with heat exhaustion or heat stroke. If you notice any signs of heat exhaustion, promptly go to the nearest medical tent or health centre.

 

3. Keep the fair foods to a minimum.

This year the stampede is featuring 44 new and unique foods (see the full list here), just focus on 1-2 must-have food treats. Each year I treat myself to a mini corn dog and one new dessert treat (last year was the deep fried oreos, this year I’m thinking the decadent milk shake). When you limit the day to 1-2 treats it makes you savour every bite. This goes for the pancake breakfasts as well: don’t douse the pancakes with too much syrup and try to limit yourself to 2 cakes.

 

4. Share your tasty stampede treats:

Not only does sharing your treats allow you to try a wider variety of foods, but also cuts back on the serving sizes. For example, the small bag of mini donuts is a perfect treat to share. There is a ton of sugar and processed ingredients in those donuts, so see how you feel just after a couple. If you can’t share with someone, decide beforehand how much you are going to eat and then leave the rest on your plate. It’s highly likely that you will be completely satisfied and won’t feel ‘deprived’ by the time you have consumed that pre-set amount of food, versus finishing it off and not feeling well from the overly large serving you just consumed.  

 

5. Apply sunscreen and wear your cowboy hat:

If you plan on being out on the grounds all day, definitely bring some sunscreen with you and remember to  reapply mid day.  Often we don’t realize how much sun exposure we receive out on the grounds until it’s too late. Also, your cowboy hat is not just a stampede attire necessity but also provides great sun protection. For the kids, get the hats with a string attached to go around the chin – this is helpful to ensure that they don’t lose them on the rides.  

 

6. Break in the cowboy boots:

If you plan on wearing your boots over the week, try breaking them in for a few short walks before hand. This will prevent blisters and get your body a little more adjusted to the heel raise in the boots. As a backup plan when packing for the day, a light pair of shoes or sandals may be good to have incase your feet get sore.

Well that’s all folks. Happy Healthy Stampeding to all you Cowboys and Cowgirls!

 

Written by Dr. Shereen Kangarloo, BSc. DC

Do I need an X-Ray?

Health & Wellness Injuries No Comments

Do I need an x-ray??? Nine times out of ten the answer is NO!!!

 

This is easily one of the most common questions I have encountered in my practice. Over time, we have been lead to believe that an x-ray is an important and vital tool when it comes to the diagnosis of injuries. What we have learned is that this is not necessarily the case for the majority of injuries.

 

X-Rays primary goal is to assess your bones and do not/rarely show any soft-tissue findings. They also tend to show signs of joint degeneration, which can be completely normal considering age and in most cases asymptomatic. Research shows that the majority of people >40-years old show multiple signs of degeneration in joints of their body but lead healthy, pain-free lives.

 

What this means is that just because your x-ray might show some degeneration/arthritic changes that it is rare that this is a significant finding that will affect your pain and/or overall health.

 

Generally, these are the people who might (depending on a carefully history and physical examination) need an x-ray:

Trauma (ie. fall, hit, bump)

Not getting better after being monitored/treated

Injury/pain getting worse over time

Acute (recent onset) swelling/redness of known or unknown origin

Visual/physical deformity

 

As you can now tell, most people do not fall into those above categories. Clinical practice guidelines and evidence-based medicine suggest clinicians show restraint and caution when sending their patients for an x-ray as they are grossly over-prescribed and unnecessary in vast majority of cases.  The Ottawa Ankle and Knee rules are great examples of how the research is influencing clinicians to make better decisions on when to prescribe x-rays to their patients.

 

In my personal experience, even when people fall into the above mentioned categories it is still rare that the x-rays show any significant findings that change the treatment plan. In most cases they are used to rule out certain things (rather than rule them in).

 

My advice, be wary of practitioners who are quick to x-ray (especially if you do not fall into one of the above mentioned categories); the radiation dose from the x-ray, although safe and minimal, is still unnecessary and as detailed above, rarely contributes to the plan of management. Be even more careful if words like “degeneration” or “arthritis” are being used to intimidate/scare you, especially when it is coupled with the request of needing multiple treatments to fix.

 

A good practitioner will carefully assess (with a through history and examination) and educate you on whether you actually need to get an x-ray or not. In addition to this, they will responsibly go over the x-ray findings with you to ensure you can make the most informed and educated decisions regarding your care to ensure a true patient-centered doctor/patient relationship.

 

Written by Dr. Alim Kara BSc, DC

Vitamin D: The Sun & Supplementing

Health & Wellness Nutrition No Comments

The importance of vitamin D is a hot topic, especially now as we are getting warmer weather. Vitamin D is a crucial vitamin that helps with bone health, immune function, brain health, muscle function and even protects against diseases such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

 

How We Get Vitamin D:
There are three ways to obtain vitamin D. The best and most natural source is from skin exposure to sunlight, secondly from vitamin D supplements and lastly from food. However, it is quite difficult to get the appropriate amounts from food.

 

Let’s Talk Sun Exposure:
Exposing bare skin to sunlight, specifically the ultraviolet B rays (UVB) allows the body to naturally produce vitamin D for the body. It is important to know that you don’t need to tan or burn to get the appropriate amounts of Vitamin D. Receiving vitamin D from UVB rays depends on the time of day, where you are in the world, the colour of your skin and the amount of skin exposed.
The best time of day to get vitamin D is in the mid-day, between 12-2pm, when the sun rays are at the best angle to pass through the earth’s atmosphere (for those science geeks who want to learn more about the sun check this book out). The further away you live from the equator, the less UVB rays available. Living here in Calgary means that we don’t get much for UVB rays from approximately October to April. This timeframe is when it is most important to supplement with vitamin D.

The colour of our skin and amount of skin exposed plays a large role in vitamin production as well. The darker your skin, the harder it is for your body to absorb the UVB rays. This is due to higher melanin content in darker skin, which protects against the harmful effects of sun exposure. Remember, I am not saying that those with darker skin need to tan or burn, but may need a little more time in the sun than someone with fair skin in order to receive an adequate amount of UVB rays for vitamin D production. Also, the larger the amount of skin exposed to the sun, the faster the vitamin D production. I know it can get complicated with all these factors. According to the Vitamin D Council, they suggest to “get half the sun exposure it takes for your skin to turn pink, and expose as much skin as possible”. The time taken to achieve this amount of exposure generally ranges between 10-30 minutes during peak hours of sunshine. After this amount of time it is suggested to stay in the shade, wear sun-protective clothing and use UVA and UVB protectant sunscreens to reduce the risk of burning and skin damage.

 

Supplementing with Vitamin D:
We are very fortunate to live in Calgary, one of the sunniest cities in Canada, however many of us aren’t ready to expose large areas of skin in the winter. This is where supplementing becomes important. Supplements are found in the forms of vitamin D2 and D3. Vitamin D3 is the vitamin D that is produced in our bodies so is the best option when buying a supplement. The supplements can be found in capsule, tablet or even liquid drops. It doesn’t really matter what form you take as vitamin D is usually easily absorbed, especially when eaten with a healthy fat (as vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin).

The recommended dosage ranges between 600-10000 IU a day for an adult. What I recommend to make it simple, is between 2000-6000 IU/day. You may think this is high, but considering someone with fair skin produces 1000 IU’s of vitamin D in perfect conditions in just 5 minutes (according to the Norwegian Institute for Air Research and their Vitamin D/UVB Calculator) this isn’t too much. Personally, I use vitamin D drops with each drop being 1000IU, and I get between 2-6 drops a day based on how many drops fall on the spoon. You can also get your vitamin D levels checked from your medical doctor and they can evaluate whether you are low or need to adjust your levels. Vitamin D supplements are usually very safe, but if you are on certain medications, or have certain medical conditions I recommend asking your family doctor whether there may be any interactions or contraindications to supplementing.

 

Food Sources of Vitamin D:
As mentioned before, food isn’t the best source for us to get the right amounts of vitamin D so I am keeping this section short. You can find vitamin D in fatty fish (like wild salmon, mackerel and tuna fish), fish oil supplements, fortified milk and milk alternatives. Recent studies have shown that a palm size serving of wild salmon will give you a little under 1000 IU of vitamin D, compared to farmed salmon supplying ~250 IU. Unless you plan on eating 2-6 pieces of wild salmon a day during the winter, I definitely recommend taking a supplement and going outside in the summer.

Now let’s go outside and get some sunshine!

 

Written by, Dr. Shereen Kangarloo BSc. DC

What does my pain mean?

Health & Wellness Injuries No Comments

Most people develop pain the same way; like constant sitting, lifting, silly mistake or by maybe trying to ‘keep up with the Kardashians’ too much. When, where and why someone has pain is usually a strong indicator as to what caused the pain. In most cases pain is predictable which can make it easier to identify and predict injuries, especially if you are observant!

As a disclaimer, the below statements just provide general information on types of pain, which DOES NOT replace the careful, educated assessment from a trained health care professional.

 

Dull/Achy/Sore:

Non-specific pain is typically of muscular in origin and likely due to a repetitive strain injury. Usually there is no good reason as to why someone has this pain (no clear mechanism of injury).  Think about how your shoulders feel right now to get an idea of what I am talking about. This can lead to sharp pain if an activity that aggravates this pain is done repetitively.

You can typically train through without this type of pain without immediate/serious consequence. Stretching and exercise can help this type of pain as long as it is the right type of stretch/exercise (like these wonderful suggestions from Dr. Kangarloo), otherwise it can also progress or aggravate your pain if done incorrectly.

Sharp/Stabbing:      

Usually means stop doing the activity that causes the pain, duh! Something has been pinched/compressed or has become injured. Sharp pain is usually directly correlated to inflammation. Tissues involved can be muscle, nerve or joint. Commonly has a defined mechanism of injury or is the active symptomatic stage of a repetitive strain injury.

Ice, compression and temporary rest (avoiding activities that cause the pain) help as does getting an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan. Stretching does not usually help (think about it, does it make sense to stretch something that is inflamed). Personally, I see many people in this stage of injury who just waited for their pain to go away but it never really does; kind of like how Kimmy Gibbler tormented members of the Tanner family over the years.

Numb/Tingly/Prickly:

Usually a sign of nerve injury, most commonly nerve compression/impingement. In most cases these sensations tend to be on/off (non-constant). Avoid stretching (as nerves do not like being stretched when they causing sensations like this) and find the root cause by getting treatment under the supervision of a trained professional. If left untreated this can lead to long-term damage/dysfunction.

Shooting/Searing/Burning:

Ahhh! This is an indicator of a more serious tissue (muscle, nerve and/or joint) injury. Usually occurs when a muscle is torn or severely strained with signs of substantial inflammation and possible nerve involvement. Activity should be stopped immediately and you should make a point to solicit a medical consultation as soon as you can as leaving issues like this could result in serious injury/surgery.

 

With all types of pain, the gold standard of relief is consulting a properly trained health professional (the link is a shameless CCST plug) who can accurate diagnose and provide result-oriented hands-on therapy with accompanying advice on self/home care. It is important to note that if the right diagnosis is made and coupled with the right treatment, results can be expected even within one treatment!

Keep in mind that surgery or invasive therapies are rarely needed so be careful when consulting Dr. Google who tends to provide the scariest and/or worst possible injury/pain diagnoses.

 

Written by Dr. Alim Kara BSc, DC

Top 3 predictors for developing a injury

Health & Wellness Injuries No Comments

Why do we get injured? Are there steps we can take to avoid injury? Will I ever get better? Well to answer these questions: depends, yes and kind of. Thanks for reading! Bye.

As if that is it! Although it seems as most injuries are either of random origin (ie. Drunkenly lifting up your buddy at the bar while trying to imitate the infamous Dirty Dancing scene) or seem to arise out of the blue, there are some common trends as to why people seem to get injured.

I do not have a crystal ball but I can tell you the three most common predictors of injury that I know/treat so you can put on your Miss Cleo turban, shuffle your deck of tarot cards and shine up your crystal ball to figure out for yourself of whether you are at risk of developing a new and/or aggravating an old injury.

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#1 – Repetitive Strain
This is usually the root cause for 90% of the issues I treat (in some form or another) and directly contributes to #2 on my list! Repetitive strain means doing something of low or high force repetitively; and when I say repetitively I mean like thousands of times over long periods of time (like decades even).

The number one cause of repetitive strain is sitting! Think about it, you sit for hours upon hours per day for years upon years. As your body adapts/degrades from this repetitive activity it slowly strains over time (see my blog post on postural deconditioning). This slow strain essentially weakens you from everything that is not sitting and that is how you become injured.

If you have pain somewhere and you don’t know why it is there (nothing happened to injure it) it is likely because of repetitive strain.

#2 – Old Injury
The old adage goes ‘you break it you buy it.’ This is true for your body, if you break it then you own that…forever. Just think about it, once something breaks it will always be weakest in the place it broke; especially if you do nothing about it.

Sorry to be all doom and gloom but this is the unfortunate reality of how injuries work in most cases. Why in most cases? Because we are lazy and think everything will fix itself over time. This is kind of true but what actually happens if you leave an injury without treating it is that the injured tissue becomes remodeled and the surrounding tissue starts to compensate. We then develop weird habits and muscle firing patterns as a result of changes/dysfunctional tissue and over time we re-injure this area.

However, if you get a proper assessment and/or treatment for a new injury in the early stages, preventative steps can be taken to help the body fix this issue faster without developing the compensation and dysfunction that normally follows.

#3 – New Activity
Let’s continue to harp on this old adage theme and throw out another one, ‘practice makes perfect’. So referencing back to #1 we can confirm we have all practiced being good perfect at sitting so when we introduce a new activity the body can be slow to respond. Now starting a new activity doesn’t directly correlate to developing a new injury but considering most of us go all-in and over do it when we try something new, it becomes a common way to develop a new injury.

You should always ease into a new activity the same way you ease into a cold lake; after time, once fully immersed you should have nothing to worry about (other than shrinkage).

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So to wrap things up here are my suggestions to avoid injuries:

1.) Don’t get injured!
2.) Take care of your body by investing time/treatment/therapy into by working with professionals trained to prevent injuries.
3.) Three, move around more! Don’t allow repetitive strain the opportunity to ruin your body.

Remember, “nobody puts baby in a corner” so get out there and move around!

Written by Dr. Alim Kara BSc, DC