The Effect of Stress on Muscle Contraction

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Have you ever been so stressed that you just switch to survival mode? You do what you must do, or what is being asked of you, but you are acting almost subconsciously or even robotically and feeling less and less like yourself…

Stress Can Be a Debilitating Feeling

While some people may suggest that they work better in a stressful environment, stress gets old very quickly no matter the circumstances. Your body gets tired, your digestion may suffer, your sleep becomes interrupted, and you simply do not feel like taking on the day ahead.

This Stress Affects Your Muscles

You can actually feel the effect of stress on muscle contraction. Muscle function can also become strained or non-existent during stressful periods. Stress from any source, whether physical, emotional, or chemical, can shut down your muscles. This stress can result from the lack of sleep, too many deadlines at work, or an accident or personal injury. Regardless of the stimulus, stress has the effect of throwing our bodies “out of whack”.

Muscles do not function on their own; the brain and spinal cord are in charge. If the brain is not receiving the proper information, the muscle simply does not contract or it contracts sluggishly. This creates a problem when you want to play sports, pick up heavy loads, twist, bend or climb stairs. When muscles are not doing their job, the body must compensate around them and that creates problems like tightness, instability, pain, discomfort, and lack of motion.

MAT Removes Stress by Helping Your Muscles

When muscles are working properly, they help you feel lighter and more agile. They also help to stabilize your body and keep you moving fluidly. MAT removes stress from the body by helping your muscles do their job properly.

At Apana Bodywork, we can help. We can determine just the right combination of treatments to help you release or let go of your stress and allow your body to become balanced and strong again.

Everyone struggles with challenges at one time or another. Whether it is a health issue, a family issue or career/job stress, we can help lessen the burden. Our skilled specialist will listen and help you to pave the road back to feeling well again.

Call Apana Bodywork today at 647-801-2424 for your free, no obligation health consultation and make feeling better a priority.

~ Madeleine

Have You Lost Hope that You Will Ever Feel Better?

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Do you sometimes feel as if you have tried every possible remedy? Have you seen little in the way of results and each specialist/doctor seems to be telling you something different? After all this, have you begun to feel like you will not be able to find a solution to your issue and that you will “just have to live with it”?

Don’t give up, try something different!

Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT) is different! MAT specifically restores muscle function by jumpstarting the muscle. Just as jumpstarting a battery gets a car engine running, MAT gets your muscles firing. This will change the way you feel when you walk, climb stairs, or workout at the gym. There is a great deal of healing that you can do simply by getting the muscular system up and running.

Case in point: a client with bad knee pain had previously been told by a sports medicine doctor that she would have to avoid stairs for the rest of her life because this caused her severe pain and she was not being helped by physiotherapy. After treating her with MAT for four sessions, she was climbing stairs again without pain. This major breakthrough was due to getting her muscles working again so that she could create stability and alignment and take the stress and strain off her knee.

We are all unique!

Here is some helpful information that you may not have been told nor heard about previously:

  • just because a friend was greatly helped by her specialist, it does not mean that you will get the same results
  • exercise or even “rehab exercises” do not fix all problems; sometimes they make it worse
  • the painful area is not always the problem area i.e.: your foot pain could be caused by a hip or neck problem
  • any and all injuries sustained throughout your life stack up to create the body you have now
  • all of the stress in your life accumulates to create the body you have now
  • stretching may make you feel better for a short time but your nervous system is actually in charge of muscle length/tension and the muscle(s) will go back to feeling tight again
  • stretching could conceivably make some people feel worse

When you feel like you are a square peg trying to fit into a round hole call Apana Bodywork, as we understand what you are going through.

Get your free 30-minute consultation to discuss how Muscle Activation Techniques can help you get better. Call Apana Bodywork today at (647) 801-2424 to schedule a one-on-one assessment and treatment and discover how good you can feel!

Bend With Your Knees, Not With Your Back

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Are you a mother who has to lift your child countless times per day? This can create a situation for your back that can get quite ugly – constant pain and virtual immobility. In this short post, I will share some tips for moms (and dads) on how to properly lift your child so that you do not put undue strain on your back and potentially find yourself in traction or a body cast.

It took some time but I eventually determined that I was committing “lifting fraud”. After many months and hundreds of bad lifts, I finally came to the realization that this was the cause of my back pain. It dawned on me that I should be lifting with my knees and not my back! And I am in the rehab/personal training field!

Then it occurred to me that, if I am forgetting to do this, how many others are forgetting it too?

If you want to know how to lift your child so that you prevent injury and do not become crippled by back pain, follow these few simple steps:

  1. Bend your knees, not at your waist
  2. Stick your pretty butt out (yes, I mean you!)
  3. Keep your abs tight
  4. Inhale as you lift up (this expands your ribcage and acts to inflate your back and give it more stability and strength)

So simple yet so easy to forget when you are taking care of the cutest bundle of joy and love – not to mention an endless number of matters to think about inside and outside your household.

When you are a mom, especially a new mom, things can get complicated (like having groceries in one arm and a baby in the other and being determined to only make one trip from the car to the house!).

Mothers, please take care of your backs; these steps are preventative – and free of charge, too!

Moms (and dads), remember to bend with your knees, not your back (and keep your abs tight!)