Convo With A Chiro

The world has been turned topsy-turvy, upside down, and I don’t foresee us going back to “normal”, or at least the normal we knew it, any time soon. So I wanted to get a podcast episode to you about how to make the most of your existing work from home situation. I have been working part-time from home ever since I started my practice here in Toronto. When I am not seeing patients, I am working from home. I don’t love coffee shops or libraries because I think people watching is the most entertaining thing on the planet. So I need the alone time. But, I won’t lie to you: working from home is not easy. Especially when you have a partner doing things around the house, or children running around, or a partner who is taking work calls and you need to sync Google Calendars. Trust me: I get it. Which is why I wanted to give you this episode. So let’s get into it!   [Tip No. 01] Desk & Chair Setup To me, this is the single most important part of working from home. If your desk is not set up properly you are going to be less efficient, less motivated & in more pain than you need to be. All of these are no bueno in my books. So what should your desk setup look like? Well that my friend is what I am here to tell you! My very first (& I think most important suggestion) is your monitor height. Because you are at home, I am guessing that you are working off a laptop and not a desktop. While I love the flexibility of the #laptoplifestyle, it is not helpful to our bodies. So how do we combat this? Well, raise that sucker up. You’ll want to get a laptop stand. They are made to raise your laptop up so that it is at the right height. And they are adjustable so you can use them at any surface. But what is the right height? Well that is partially dependent on you. You want the top line of text to be at eye level. This means that when you are scrolling through that dreaded Google doc you are working on for a project, the top line of text should be at eye level. I will let you in on a pro tip. I don’t actually use a laptop stand. My desk in my office is two tiered, so when I am at work, I just put my laptop on the top tier. But when I am at home, I use old chiro school textbooks to raise my computer up so that it is at the right height. Use what you have available. So now that your laptop is at the right height, you probably don’t want to be typing and using the trackpad at that angle. So my second recommendation here is to get an external mouse & keyboard. These don’t have to be anything fancy nor do they have to be wireless. A simple mouse & keyboard is going to make all the difference when it comes to your set up. Your back & neck will thank me. So we’ve talked about your laptop, mouse & keyboard, but we’re still not done with your desk setup. We now need to chat about your chair. This is a second crucial portion of your work from home success. There are a couple things to talk about when it comes to your chair, but first thing’s first. Use it. What do I mean by that? Well for some reason, people like to sit at the edge of their chair with a good 6-8 inches between them and the back of the chair. This is not doing anything for you. The back of your chair is there for a reason, and that reason is to support you. You are not doing yourself any favours by being on the edge of your seat all the time. Sit back and let the chair do its job. A second point to add to your chair is it’s height as well. And for this, you need to consider 2 things: The first is the angle of your knees. You want the chair to be at a height that your knees form a 90 degree angle. Now you don’t have to go out and get a protractor, but you want to observe to see if your knees are too bent, or not bent enough. If you feel like your feet aren’t touching the floor enough, you might want to consider placing a couple of books under your feet to help with this. You also want your chair height to help with your elbow angle. This should be close to 90 degrees as well. If you can adjust the height of your chair, do so to get this angle, if not, sitting on some pillows will help as well. Why does this elbow angle matter? Well if the elbow is too bent, it will cause excess pressure on the wrists, and if they aren’t bent enough, it can cause you to lean forward more than you need to. Neither one of these are ideal options. [Tip No. 02] Environment So that is your desk setup, but that isn’t all I have to help with your work from home. Tip number two is your environment. Now I know that this seems super woo-hoo, but there is tons of research saying that a negative environment negatively affects our productivity and vise versa. Before I give you tips on environment and what my overall workspace looks like, I do want to tell you one environment that you should not work in, and that is your bed. This is for a couple of reasons: It is just too comfortable. The urge to take a nap is overwhelming and you’ve got to have willpower of steel to resist the nap. Not worth your energy & brainwaves. Your posture can’t really be optimal here. You can prop your laptop up on a pillow or sit cross legged and that will probably be comfortable for a half an hour, but eventually a slump will happen. It is not good for your sleep. Research has shown time and time again that if you work where you sleep, you simply won’t get as restful of a night’s sleep. Your bed is meant for sleep and sex. That’s how our brain recognizes it. Make your workspace somewhere that you want to be. For me, I like to make sure the room is tidy because I cannot work in a messy room. I also like to light a candle and have a plant next to me? Why? Well I like plants, and I like the flickering flame. I also hate being cold, so I usually have my slippers on and a big knitted Afghan made by my grandmother. I am sure that all that was way more information on my day-to-day than you bargained for, but they have all helped me be more productive than just chilling on my couch. Another really great tip to improve your working from home productivity is to switch it up, if you can. The more different my surroundings are the more productive I will be. I know that it’s more difficult to switch things up while we are all physically distant from one another, but it is still possible. Now that it is warming up a wee bit in Toronto, I have been taking some time to work outside. I find that I am more creative and ideas come to me easier when the sun is shining and I am outside.  If you don’t have the ability to get outside, or the day is gross, even switching up where you sit can help. I see all of you Toronto condo dwellers who are doing your work from your kitchen table. You’re doing great! Even moving your setup from one end of the table to the other can make a really big difference. [Tip No. 03] Boundaries Boundaries play a massive role in our success when working from home. The pressure to be constantly working is something that I have felt, and I am sure you have felt. You need to create boundaries that work for you. No one can tell you what those boundaries are, but I can tell you what my boundaries are to maybe give you some ideas. No working lunch. I do not eat lunch and work at the same time. So what do I do instead? Well I am lucky enough to have a partner who lives with me, so we often eat lunch together, but if not, I’ll throw on an episode of my favourite show as I eat & truly take the time to separate myself and not do any work while I am eating lunch. This one is aimed at entrepreneurs & people who make their own schedules. Schedule at least one no work day during the week. Mine is Sundays, and always has been. Taking Sundays off works best for me & my lifestyle and it allows me to have some resemblance to a weekend. On that note, I will say that I have started to work in a more intuitive way. What do I mean by that? Well, if on a random Tuesday I don’t want to work in the afternoon, that is okay. I have found that I get more done when I work when I want to work and not when I “should” be working. [Tip No. 04] Movement Movement is so important, I can’t stress it to you enough. It is so important to take the time to move your body. And no, I do not mean doing 6 HIIT workouts a week or starting to run 10km. If those are things that you want to do, then go for it, but they are not essential. In fact, they can be detrimental. If you are extra stressed during these times or have never been one to do intense workouts before, starting now would not be my go-to for two reasons. The first being that it can actually increase your stress levels, and the second being because the likelihood of you getting hurt is much higher. So what should you do instead? First thing’s first: get up every 45 minutes. Take the dog for a walk, do 10 jumping jacks, do the dishes from lunch, just do something that is not sitting. Second: try doing something that is not going to be too taxing on your body but is still going to get you moving. Some ideas to get you going: YouTube yoga: there are tons of great teachers out there giving great classes (and have been since pre-pandemic). If you have never done yoga before, you will be surprised as to how much work it actually is, especially if you are like me and have done zero balance work in the past. A simple bodyweight workout: think pushups, air squats, jumping jacks, lunges, burpees, etc. The key to this: start slow and work up from there. If you have any questions on how to start here, reach out. I would be happy to help or point you in the right direction. Therapeutic  exercise: you are probably thinking: what the heck is that? Therapeutic exercise refers to specific exercises aimed at treating a condition or diagnosis. The healing of any injury should involve exercises at some point in the process. Now, just to be very clear, I am not diagnosing anyone via this podcast.  But, my guess is that if you have been working from home & listening to this podcast, you are struggling just a bit with your posture. You’re feeling a bit hunchback-y and you’d like some additional help. That is exactly why I have created a free resource for you that goes along with this podcast. Inside this resource are three exercises that I love to use when I start working to help someone improve their posture. Now there is nothing saying that these three exercises are the best first three you should be doing. There is no such accolade (as much as I wish there were). But these three are really easy, can be done anywhere and they are super effective. How do you get these exercises? Simple: head on over to www.drdonaldlittlewood.com/posture-exercises to get your copy today. Well that’s it, that’s all from me. Hoping you have a great day, however you spend it. This has been the Convo with a Chiro podcast, episode 14!

Disclaimer: Before I continue along, I want to make a disclaimer. Any recommendations in this episode do not replace medical advice. Please consult a healthcare provider before beginning any supplementation. This episode of the Convo with a Chiro Podcast is all about magnesium. Magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in our bodies and plays a massive role in how we function. Over 300 chemical reactions in our body require magnesium to function: blood glucose regulation, blood pressure regulation, muscle contraction/relaxation, energy production, synthesis of RNA & DNA, etc. The list goes on. In this episode, I am going to talk generally about magnesium, its forms, and some reasons as to why you might want to supplement. Get ready to learn! Magnesium can be found in our diet through all the things that you would generally think of as being good for you: leafy greens, legumes, lean meats, nuts, etc. But just because it is so easy to find does not mean that we as a population consume enough of it. Research shows us that 75% of the population simply doesn’t get enough magnesium through our diets. So we need to supplement it. But besides general health, there are reasons why we want to supplement with magnesium further (and even further than the FDA recommends we have in a day).   Sleep. This is where I see a major benefit of magnesium. Magnesium interacts with the GABA receptors in our brains which down-regulates the nervous system and helps us fall asleep. Migraines. High doses of magnesium taken orally have been shown to be incredibly effective in decreasing the frequency of migraines.   Energy production & athletic performance. Magnesium is a required co-factor in the production of energy and the contraction of muscle tissue. Without magnesium, we literally would not be able to move our bodies.

In this time of increased stress (read: COVID-19), I know that I am more aware of my jaw and the pain it is causing in my head & neck. The jaw joint itself is fairly complicated and made up of three structures: the mandibular fossa (a depression on the temporal bone), the mandibular condyle (on the lower bone of the jaw), and the articular disc (between the two bones). The articular disc actually separates the joint into two compartments. One compartment does the opening and closing, and the other compartment does gliding & translation, which are the acts of sliding your lower jaw forward & back, side to side. In order to adequately open the jaw more than a few centimetres, we need to have both depression (opening) and gliding. Therefore we need both compartments of the jaw to work together. So what causes jaw pain? Well, like a lot of things in the medical & science world, we don't have one cause and the causes are not entirely understood. One cause that we do know is the muscular component. Stats are saying that 80% of jaw pain primarily comes from the musculature. In my experience, the most commonly aggravated muscles are the masseter and the temporalis. So this is where I generally begin my treatment. When I treat TMD, I go directly to the musculature. Generally I do this with manual trigger point therapy, but sometimes acupuncture is needed. In these cases, I stick needles directly into the belly of the masseter & temporalis muscles, and then I also do headache & stress relief points. The top of the head, in between the eyebrows, in between the thumb and first finger are all really good starting points. I also do some manual mobilizations in the jaw. What does that look like? Well I literally put my gloved hand inside the mouth and pull downwards to gap the temporomandibular joint to relieve some pressure.

This episode actually comes hot off of a request from IG. And if we are being totally transparent, I was slightly hesitant to do this episode because I already have a free resource that is related to this. BUT I decided to give this to you on the podcast and level up that free resource. So, once you are done with this episode, head on over to www.drdonaldlittlewood.com/headache where you will be able to get the three exercises that I give to every headache patient that walks into my office. These exercises are so simple that it is hard to imagine how they can be effective. But they are. Water Magnesium supplementation Sleep Caffeine Meditation Stress reduction Therapeutic exercise (Bonus): Chiropractic care Implementing these 7(+1) tips will help decrease your day-to-day migraine & headache symptoms and help you take back the control of your life that you so desperately wanted! And again - if you want the three exercises that everyone with a headache should be doing, head on over to www.drdonaldlittlewood.com/headache to download your copy today!   Mentioned in this episode: Stress reduction Migraines Meditation

A good night’s sleep is something we all desperately want and need equally, but so millions of people around the world just simply aren’t able to get adequate zzz’s. This episode covers a little bit of sleep anatomy, the different sleep stages, why we sleep, and finally some details on the different sleeping positions and how to make them more comfortable. Sleep is something we know we all need, but is really poorly understood. We know how sleep happens, but we are pretty much totally in the dark when it comes to why, and there really isn’t even one common theory that scientists think is happening. There are several. Inactivity theory - simply put, the theory states that if we are quiet and still during hours of vulnerability (aka: darkness) then we are more likely to survive the night. Energy conservation theory - we need to conserve the energy we have (and regain some) and therefore sleep is necessary to do this. Restorative theory - sleep has been shown to boost the immune system, help muscles grow and tissues heal, secrete human growth hormone, etc. Sleep has been shown to not only be restorative, but also necessary. When we deprive a rat of their sleep, it will die within a few weeks. A similar phenomenon is thought to occur in humans. Brain plasticity - this theory states that sleep is required for the structural organization and neural connections of the brain. This is supported by the fact that we need less and less sleep as we get older. As we do get older, this brain plasticity theory morphs into how we learn & retain memories. Memory retention is a big reason (we think) for sleep. There are three functions of memory: acquisition, consolidation & recall. Acquisition is the physical act of absorbing new information. This can only be done while you are awake. Consolidation is the process of taking the information we have acquired throughout the day and forming them into memories. This is the portion that can only be done during sleep. Recall is the ability to actually access the memories you have made, whether you want to or not. This episode also talks about sleep positions. I talk about this all the time in my office, partially because I ask every patient, and partially because people are so curious as to how they should be sleeping. There is a lot of information on sleeping positions out there, so let’s get to the bottom of it. Back sleeping Sleeping on your back gets a bad rap. It actually has a ton of positives to it and, if you do it right, is pretty healthy for your spine. Sleeping on your back allows for a pretty even weight distribution across the entire body. This is good because if any one body part is sore, having the weight spread elsewhere will help decrease the amount of pain you are feeling at night. Sleeping on your back also allows us to keep our neck in a relatively neutral position meaning that we aren’t going to be in any funny positions during the night. But - back sleeping does not come without its problems. It is not super supportive for the low back because laying completely flat actually flattens out the natural & healthy curves of your lumbar spine. My fix: put a pillow underneath your knees. This is going to give the natural curve back to your lumbar spine and make sleeping a whole lot more comfortable and a whole lot healthier for your spine.   Stomach sleeping This is the worst position to sleep in and, for the sake of transparency, this is also the position I sleep in. I know, I know. Do as I say, not as I do! There are two main reasons sleeping on your stomach is bad for you: Your neck - sleeping on your stomach forces you to turn your head to one side so that you don’t suffocate yourself. This puts a lot of strain on the joints and muscles of the upper back and neck which leads to pain. Your shoulder - sleeping on your stomach also forces you to throw one shoulder above the head. Now not everyone does this, so maybe force was a bit of a strong word, but most people do. This is going to put extra strain on the muscles of the shoulder & rotator cuff. If you work out or play any sort of shoulder-intensive sports, this is likely going to be painful for you at some point. Now that I have told you all that I sleep like a monster, let’s talk about how to transition from sleeping on your stomach to sleeping on your side or back, which is a process I am currently doing. And let me tell you… it is hard. One way that I have found to be particularly helpful when sleeping is to lay on my side with my bottom leg straight and my other leg bent on top of a pillow. I have found that this has given me the deep touch pressure that I find I need to fall asleep (which is why I fall asleep on my stomach in the first place). You might be wondering what deep touch pressure is… don’t worry, there is a podcast episode coming on that; stay tuned! Another way that is common is to sleep on your back (with that pillow under your legs) while also hugging a pillow. Again, this is for that deep touch pressure that helps so many people relax. Alternatively to a pillow, you can also use a weighted blanket. Now I am a big fan of my weighted blanket, and although I don’t use it to sleep, I think it might be time to try! Side sleeping A lot of patients tell me that this is the position that they have heard is the best. My opinion - a tie between side sleeping & back sleeping, and here is why. Side sleeping can be painful. It distributes your weight across the least amount of body mass therefore providing a lot of pressure to the points that do touch the mattress. The other reason: too many people sleep with their arm above their head. I know that this seems like the most natural position for that arm, and it likely is, but there is a better way. Hug a pillow. When you hug that pillow when you sleep it forces you to bring that arm down relieving some of the tension in your shoulder & arm. If you have ever injured your rotator cuff and struggled to sleep, this tip could be a game changer for you. But, my tips are not over… you’ll need a second pillow for this one.  The most important part of sleeping on your side is putting a pillow in between your legs. This stops your low back from rotating and keeps your spine in the right alignment. Plus, it is more comfortable not to have your knees knocking together in the middle of the night.  Before I wrap things up, I want to tell you about a really great resource that I have made for you all. It is a guide called 5 Tips for Getting a Good Night’s Sleep. It is full of really great, research-backed & actionable things you can do to get a good night’s sleep. Head to www.drdonaldlittlewood.com/sleep to get yours… you won’t regret it. Trust me on this!

RICE is outdated… there I said it. There have been some major changes in the past bit on the protocol surrounding the management of a soft tissue injury, most often a sprained ankle. So what should you be doing instead? Well, my friend, it is time to introduce you to PEACE & LOVE. PEACE & LOVE is the new standard on rehabilitating a sprained ankle, or any soft tissue injury. It may take a little bit more effort to remember what this acronym stands for, but trust me, using it will help you heal faster and better, and your likelihood for reinjury will be much lower. This is a must listen to episode for any active people out there cause I hate to break it to you, but injuries are bound to happen! References: https://sci-hub.tw/10.1136/bjsports-2019-101253 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5820392/

Acupuncture is such a hot topic in the alternative medical world, and for good reason. I get asked about it by patients and people on social media all the time, so I thought that a podcast episode on it would fit in and answer some questions. In this episode, I am going to talk a bit about the history of acupuncture, how it is traditionally used, and then how I use it. Stick around - this is going to be a good one! Acupuncture has been used for some 3000 years to treat a whole host of different conditions & diagnoses. Traditionally acupuncture is all about the flow of qi, or energy, in one’s body. It is when this qi is interrupted that we experience disease & discomfort. This episode focuses on medical acupuncture which takes these same points but adds a neuroanatomical aspect to it. So that means that not only are we using traditional acupuncture points to treat headaches (for example), but we are also searching out trigger points and nerves that are not functioning optimally. On top of all this, in this episode I will be chatting about how I use acupuncture in my clinic and some common conditions that I treat using acupuncture. This is not to be missed!

Cervicogenic headaches are, by definition, headaches that come from the structures of the neck, mainly the joints, muscles, nerves & ligaments. These headaches are almost always accompanied by neck pain. This doesn’t have to be the case, but it is the nature of the beast. These headaches are not super common, only about 0.5-2.5% of the population gets them, but in chronic pain settings, we see ~20% of patients with cervicogenic headaches. When comparing cervicogenic headaches to migraines and tension-type headaches (which are the main ones I treat), those suffering from cervicogenic headaches actually report the lowest quality of life score. In this episode, I also talk a little bit on pain physiology & convergence. Without getting into too much detail about it here, I’ll just say that the same nerves innervate different structures in the body, and though your brain can tell which nerves the pain sensation is coming from, it cannot tell exactly which structures are involved. This episode also gives you a full rundown of a treatment plan on cervicogenic headaches. Kids, it is not to be missed. If you suffer from headaches, I have created a really great free resource for you on common exercises I give patients suffering from headaches. The exercises are really simple, but they are also really effective; what more could you want! Head over to www.drdonaldlittlewood.com/headache to get your copy.

Meditation has been shown time and time again to be incredibly beneficial. Evidence is telling us that meditation can help with mood, sleep, stress, and improve focus at work. There is even some preliminary evidence stating that it can help with anxiety & depression. People have been practicing meditation for thousands and thousands of years and there can only be one reason for that: it works. Up until a few months ago, I thought that meditation was the act of wiping your mind of all thoughts. I now realize that this isn’t the case. For me, RuPaul puts it best. Meditation is about focusing on your breath. When a thought comes to mind, acknowledge it, thank it for its presence and then move on.  While there are a TON of benefits to meditation, this episode focuses on three: stress, sleep & focus. This is where I have seen the most bang for my buck in the short while that I have been meditating, especially in the sleep department. If you want to know more on this meditation front, I have created a really great free resource to help those who want to start meditating. You can grab it at: drdonaldlittlewood.com/meditation. Stay tuned for next week's episode! References: Headspace website Zeidan, F., et al. Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: Evidence of brief mental training. Consciousness and Cognition (2010), doi:10.1016/j.concog.2010.03.014

Tension-type headaches are incredibly common. Studies quote that anywhere between 30-78% of people. Now this is a ridiculously wide range, and my guess that the real number of people is on the lower end, probably closer to 40-45%. Regardless, even if 40-45% of people get tension headaches, that creates a massive socioeconomic burden on society. There are a few different types of tension-type headaches. I outline the details of all of them in the episode itself, but I wanted to just give you the bullet points here. They are: Infrequent episodic tension-type headaches Frequent episodic tension-type headaches Chronic tension-type headaches As with most diagnoses in healthcare, we don’t fully understand how these headaches come about, but we do know that their most common trigger is, you guessed it, stress. Another great reason to keep that stress at a manageable level. This episode also talks about ways that I treat tension-type headaches as well as how different types of exercise can play a massive role in your headache journey.  Now if you have listened to this podcast before, you’ll know that I have done an episode on stress. If you haven’t listened to it I HIGHLY suggest you do; it’s a good one. I also wanted to provide you with my Top 3 Stress Busting Techniques. These are awesome ways to manage your stress and, if you are a tension-type headache sufferer, these will help with your headaches as well. Links: Episode 01: https://www.drdonaldlittlewood.com/podcast/episode/209946a7/01-everything-you-need-to-know-about-stress Stress Busting Techniques 

If you have ever been to a chiropractor, physiotherapist, or massage therapist, you will likely have experienced them finding a muscle “knot”, pressing on it, and you’ve had pain. That muscle knot is actually referred to as a trigger point. Everyone has trigger points. Like literally everyone. You may not have one right now, but I can GUARANTEE you have had them in the past, and that you will have one again. Trigger points come in two different types: active points and latent points, the only real difference being is that the active points are sore all the time (or most of the time), and the latent points are tender only to the touch. Now everyone has a bit of a different approach to treating trigger points, and I can only speak of my own, but my approach looks a little something like this: Lots of soft tissue work Acupuncture Adjustments Exercise homework I also promised a little photo of that levator scapula stretch, because I know it can be hard to visualize while simply listening to a podcast. To stretch out your right levator scapula, you are going to sit on your left hand to keep your shoulder down. Then you are going to grab your head right behind your right ear and pull down, trying to smell your left armpit. Hold this for a few seconds and then come back up to the starting position.

I was recording & outlining episodes for the podcast, and I realized that I hadn't really done an overview of what a chiropractor is and how I treat patients in my clinic. So, here you go! In this episode of the Convo with a Chiro podcast we're talking about my go-to techniques for treatment. It is important to keep in mind that this is by no means an exhaustive list of what chiropractors do across the world, but this is how I treat my patients. We're talking: Soft tissue therapy Mobilizations & adjustments Acupuncture Therapeutic exercise Would love to hear your thoughts & questions on this if you have any!

This first episode of the Convo with a Chiro Podcast is all about stress, a topic that literally anyone on the planet can relate to. There is not a single person on this earth that does not experience SOME level of stress at some point in their life. Facts are facts. In episode 01 of the podcast, we’re chatting about: The difference between eustress & distress (did you know there were two types of stress?!) The infamous fight or flight response (and a third variation you may not know about) Cortisol: the stress hormone Two great exercises you can do to self-manage your stress I may be biased, but I think it is an information-packed episode. But, if you’re like me, you always want more. So I’ve created a free resource for you with my three Stress Busting Techniques that you can do in your everyday life that will really help your stress levels.

If you are someone who suffers from migraines, you will probably do anything to relieve them. While I personally do not get migraines often, I do get headaches, so I definitely feel you. Migraines are just one (well two) of over 200 different types of headaches outlined by the International Headache Society. Migraines have been shown to have a massive burden on not only the individual’s life in terms of work and family, but also on society as a whole. A fun fact (or maybe it’s not so fun depending on how you look at it), is that the International Headache Society has ranked chronic migraines as the seventh most common disability worldwide. In this second episode of the Convo with a Chiro podcast, we’re talking about: The difference between a migraine without aura and a migraine with an aura The signs and symptoms that make a migraine, a migraine Some common migraine triggers How I treat migraines in my office One really great take-home exercise you can do to help with your migraine (or headache) symptoms And speaking of that exercise, I promised an image here so that you can get a better picture of just how to do the infamous chin tuck. The entire point of this exercise is simply to give yourself a double chin. You should feel this one working right where your head attaches to your neck. I have also made a really great resource for you all on my 5 headache relief strategies. It is super actionable, and research based; so if you are a migraine sufferer, you’re going to want this! You can find it here! Mentioned in this episode: Episode 01