Your nose is your first line of defense to allergens, pollens, viruses and the cold air. As air flows through your nose it goes to work filtering, warming and adding moisture to the air so by the time it reaches your lungs it’s clean and at body temperature. The moisture ensures the lungs function and can clear debris that does get through and inflate and function optimally.
The other amazing factor is the production of nitric oxide (NO) in our sinuses (laughing gas!). It doesn’t make you giggle but its effects are widespread and definitely promote wellness. NO works as a sterilizer (anti-fungal, antiviral and antibacterial), it promotes the beating of cilia – the cells that work like a Mexican wave to move your mucus around, reducing snotty noses and postnasal drip. It acts as a vasodilator (opens the blood vessels) and breathing against the increased resistance of small breathing tubes (compared to the mouth) opens up your air scass – this leads to an overall increase in the amount of oxygen you can absorb – up to 17-20% than through your mouth! NO also has anti-inflammatory effects.
This is all missed when you breathe through your mouth! You are more likely to feel calmer as you slow your breath down and tell your body it’s safe believe it or not breathing through your nose also improves your memory!! My favorite saying is it’s as silly to breathe through your mouth as it is to eat through your nose. People often tell me they can’t get enough air through their nose – this can be due to issues within your nasal structure and sinuses but often is actually due to chronic mouth breathing. The disuse leads to nasal stuffiness and a sensation of being blocked, so you continue to mouth breathe worsening the situation.
So….. tuck your chin in, close your lips, let your teeth sit slightly apart, your tongue floats to the roof of your mouth so it’s creating a small amount of suction, and is docked behind the top teeth. Breathe silently and feel your head, neck and shoulders relax and enjoy the calm and wellness.
It’s always tricky to find the motivation to dust off your sporting gear or rugby boots weeks before the season kicks off for pre-season training. Most sports are played seasonally so there is a lot of the year where players aren’t training or playing regular games.
During the off season it is common for muscular strength, endurance and general conditioning for the sport declines. When the new sport season begins, there are massive physical demands on players. Going from nothing to full training and competitive games can lead to injury, due to lack of conditioning over the off season and the sudden high demand on the body. It would be like running a full marathon after doing no training for 3 months, this would be especially hard on the body and most likely lead to injury.
Why is pre-season training beneficial?
Pre-season is set to take place before the competitive season begins to allow time for players to progressively work on their fitness, strength and game specific skills.
Pre-season training gives players time to condition their bodies to the physical demands of their sport. This will not only help with the players ability to reduce injury during the competitive season but also help improve technical skills of the game. Having a good training schedule weeks before the competition begins means your player will be able to hit the first games performing well, and not feeling as exhausted afterwards.
The impact a team has when they start the season fit and conditioned to the sport is massive, compared to starting unfit and having done no skills for months. This can be the difference between a successful season and a season full of lost games and player injuries.
Along with building the physical aspect of sport, pre-season training is great for team building. It is important for players to spend time with each other, getting to know each other, how they play and interact in order to have a cohesive team.
Tips for Pre-Season training;
Start off easy. Give yourself time to increase your physicality and intensity of your training sessions. This will allow time for your body to adjust to the increase in load on the body.
Recovery is just as important as training. An easy way to target this is to add cooling down and stretching into each training session. This will help reduce tightness in your muscles which can help to reduce injuries.
Have a good mix of exercises and drills. There are many aspects to training that are beneficial to making pre-season training worthwhile. Cardiovascular training is great to help increase your fitness. Resistance training helps to reduce muscle imbalance and builds strength. Speed and agility training is great and be sure to add in sport specific skills and drills, so you are ready for the demands of your sport. Stretching is important too. This will help muscle recovery and increase flexibility.
Add in fun games and activities. It doesn’t all have to be sport focused. In order to build sportsmanship and increase team bonding, try some activities that push your players out of there comfort zone or away from the sporting context. For example, taking your team to mini golf, or day tramping or even a movie night.
Where we can help:
We can help with our expert physiotherapists. Our physiotherapists are trained to sport muscle imbalances, biomechanical issues and can test range of motion, flexibility and muscle strength and function. Identifying these can be key in avoiding injury.
We can also help by tailoring individualized exercise program, warms up or drills to ensure you are correctly loading your muscles and optimizing your training load.
Our podiatrist can also offer expert advice. They are trained in assisting with shoe selection. This can be helpful to people who are new to sport or people who will be spending a lot of time in the shoes they have chosen for their sport as it can be a good way of reducing injury or muscle soreness.
Podiatrist can also do gait analysis. This is extremely helpful to analyze your walking and running style to see if you need any assistance with exercise to improve the way you walk or run. This can be hugely beneficial in injury reduction.
Childbirth is such an exciting time for so many reasons. Women’s bodies have a tremendous capacity to adapt and accommodate during childbirth, but sometimes injuries to pelvic structures can occur and these are called Maternal Birth Injuries. These injuries can have long-lasting effects on pelvic function so it’s important to get treatment and support early on. This will help women recover faster and reduce the impact of related injuries and symptoms in the future. Pelvic floor physiotherapy plays an important part in the assessment, treatment and support of these birth injuries. More information on postnatal physiotherapy can be found in our previous post/article.
New ACC Coverage;
As of October 1st 2022, ACC is expanding their personal injury coverage to include some of these specific injuries that occur during childbirth. This means that women who have birth injuries that happen during labour or delivery on or after 1 October 2022 will be eligible to submit a claim to ACC for coverage of their injury. Midwives, doctors, nurses, pelvic health physios and some other healthcare providers can lodge these claims on behalf of their patients within their area of practice. This might be straight away after the birth of a baby while in the hospital, or sometime after birth when it’s been identified further support and care is needed for recovery from the injury.
The specific injuries that will be covered are listed here;
Anterior wall prolapse, posterior wall prolapse, or uterine prolapse
Coccyx fracture or dislocation
Levator avulsion
Obstetric anal sphincter injury tears or tears to the perineum, labia, vagina, vulva, clitoris, cervix, rectum, anus, or urethra
Obstetric fistula (including vesicovaginal, colovaginal, and ureterovaginal)
Obstetric haematoma of pelvis
Post-partum uterine inversion
Pubic ramus fracture
Pudendal neuropathy
Ruptured uterus during labour
Symphysis pubis capsule or ligament tear
Pelvic health physiotherapists (including our team at Active Health) are able to treat all of the conditions listed above, however are only able to lodge the initial claim for some of the covered injuries. If this pertains to your situation your physio will advise you to see your medical provider (GP or specialist) to have the claim lodged, if this has not already been completed. You will still be able to access pelvic health physiotherapy using ACC Maternal Birth Injury coverage as long as your injury fits ACC’s criteria.
What happens next?
Once the ACC Maternal Birth Injury claim is approved, women can get the support they need from ACC, just like others with musculoskeletal injuries can. This support might include pelvic health physiotherapy, specialist treatment, support at home, or help with other costs. ACC are also offering traditional rongoā Māori healing services as a rehabilitation option. These services include mirimiri (bodywork), whitiwhiti korero (support and advice) and karakia (prayer).
ACC Maternal Birth Injury coverage does not cover any of the listed injuries that occurred prior to 1 October 2022, episiotomies, pregnancy-related injuries or illness, maternal birth injuries not listed, or injury to the baby, although they may be eligible for treatment injury cover. They acknowledge this is difficult for those excluded by this change and encourage mothers who may have experienced a maternal birth injury that is not listed or which occurred before 1 October 2022, to please talk to their midwife, doctor or primary care provider about support available.
As Melissa Davison (Pelvic Health Specialist Physiotherapist) reported in her interview with RadioNZ “This is life changing for these women. The more we talk about it, the more the taboo will get lifted and the more women will seek treatment. And while some of these injuries are common, they are not normal and they are treatable. So the more words we get out there to say ‘hey, we can help, it’s effective’, the better it is for women.”
More information on this Maternal Birth Injury coverage may be found HERE on the ACC website.
Our team of Pelvic Health Physiotherapists at Active Health are ready to help all women recover, rehabilitate and be their best. If you are unsure whether your injury is covered or would like to chat about your situation or book an appointment you may contact our team at Active Health 03-383-6290.
Physiotherapy following childbirth is designed to assist with recovery of the pelvic floor and core, along with the rest of the body and health in general. The initial 3 months following childbirth is referred to as the ‘4th trimester’, and during this time it is essential to allow the body to recover from pregnancy and childbirth.
During pregnancy posture must change to accommodate for the beautiful wee baby growing inside. The ribs widen as the heart increases by 50% of its normal size and the ligaments soften to allow the body to stretch. The muscle activity around the pelvis changes as the pelvic position changes. This is a normal process and a clever way the body adapts to have a child. The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that sit like a trampoline in the base of the pelvis. With the increased weight of the baby resting on the pelvic floor it also undergoes some stretch throughout pregnancy.
Changes to the pelvic floor during birth.
During a vaginal delivery, or attempted vaginal delivery, the muscles and nerves stretch significantly to allow the passage of the baby from the inside to the outside. The pelvic floor is designed to stretch to 250% of its resting length, much more stretch than any other muscle of the body. However, depending on the circumstances of the delivery, that stretch to the tissues may be temporary but sometimes if there is a greater degree of stretch, a longer duration of stretch or the need to use instruments such as forceps, the tissues may be injured and not be able to return to their predelivery state. Due to the constantly changing circumstances of each mother’s labour and delivery it is possible to injure other structures around the pelvis during vaginal deliveries such as the pelvic bones, the tailbone, the nerves and the tissues that hold the pelvic organs inside the body.
For those who have a caesarean section delivery the pelvic floor has undergone the stress of the pregnancy. There may have been stress to the vaginal and pelvic floor tissues and muscles if a vaginal delivery was initially attempted, and then in order to access the baby for delivery the abdominal wall tissues and muscles are injured as they are cut to access the baby therefore also need time to heal and recover. We know the scar takes at least 3 months to heal to a reasonable strength when it can then start tolerating more stress and loading.
Due to these significant effects on the structures around the pelvic floor and pelvis it is very important to allow time for these injured tissues to recover follow childbirth, and to rehabilitate them in a safe manner. Pelvic health physios can help to guide women in this recovery, as well as check if there has been injury to the pelvic floor muscles or other structures during childbirth. Allowing the appropriate time to recover and rehabilitate from the normal adaptions from pregnancy, childbirth and the potential injuries that may have occurred is beneficial to optimize recovery and to address any symptoms or difficulties women may be having in the 4th trimester, but also to reduce the risk of pelvic health problems later in life. Pelvic floor physical therapy has been proven to reduce the risk of pelvic organ prolapse, urinary, bowel, and sexual dysfunction and pelvic pain.
When to begin Pelvic Health Physiotherapy;
It is highly recommended to start pelvic floor physiotherapy around 6 weeks following delivery. This is to screen for any potential injuries, and to help to guide recovery including exercise and return to sports and fitness whether your goal is circus performing, running 5km or 50km. Having said that, it is never too late to see a pelvic floor physio. Many pelvic health symptoms that occur after having children and are often thought to be a ‘normal’ consequence are in fact common but not normal. They are a sign of pelvic floor dysfunction and often respond very well to pelvic health physiotherapy. A good example of this is leaking when you cough, sneeze or jump on a trampoline- this is common but not normal!
Postpartum physio can also help with:
Difficulty peeing or emptying the bladder, leakage of urine, and bladder urgency or frequency
Constipation, difficulty with bowel movements, and leakage of bowels
Painful sex, diminished or absent orgasm
Separation of the abdominal muscles
Restoring core function and strength of the abdominals and pelvic floor
Pelvic floor and pelvic girdle, low back, and hip pain
Caesarean section and episiotomy scar tissue and pain
Pelvic organ prolapse prevention and/or treatment
Eliminate pain from trauma to the pelvic floor and muscles
Reduce pain from nerve damage in the pelvic and pelvic floor
Postnatal physiotherapy helps with this and really should be a standard part of our healthcare as it is in France! As a profession we are excited that the upcoming ACC Maternal Birth Injury coverage will improve access for many new mothers to undergo postnatal rehabilitation- more on that in our next post.
Our Pelvic Health Physiotherapy team at Active Health are here to help you recover and live your best life! Call us at 03-383-6290 to see one of our team.
Now that winter is behind us, I am sure everyone is more eager to get out and enjoy the sunshine. Have you been thinking about getting back to some of your favorite hiking tracks or maybe set yourself some new running goals for spring. Well, there are some things you should consider before jumping up and getting into things.
Getting prepared!
If you have been more sedentary over winter or your schedule hasn’t allowed, you to be as active it is important to have a think about anything that may restrict you getting back out there.
There may be some underlying niggles that you haven’t thought of for a while. Prior to getting started think about your history of injuries and addressing ongoing problems before they impact on your function or get worse.
It is important to get a second opinion if you feel like you aren’t improving or need some advice. Working with one of our physios or podiatrists to assess any ongoing aches and pain, looking at your form and function or giving you some stretches/exercise to target those weaknesses.
Think about any specific braces or supports that you may need or feel more confident with. This may include ankle or knee supports.
If you have an old pair of sneakers, think about getting them updated and also making sure they are appropriate for the terrain. (Hiking – sturdy boots with good ankle support, thicker tread. Long distance running – cushioned footwear with good arch support).
If you are having ongoing foot/ankle/leg pain it would be worth getting a podiatry opinion and possible orthotic fitting.
New Zealand Hiking
Pace yourself!
It is important to ease back into things – depending on what you’ve been up to over winter you may need to start with lighter activity and progressively build your strength and endurance.
Start with smaller goals to then build up from. If you need to lower your pace then gradually progress things like your speed, intervals, distance, terrain.
Make sure to give yourself rest periods in between activity. It is important that your body recover from intense exercise.
Plan ahead!
Before you get going you should give yourself the best opportunity to succeed. This means not only preparing your gear but also your body. Thinking about fueling your body with nutritious food and hydration that will help you get through those longer journeys. Make sure you are well rested and giving enough time between when you were last active. You may want to include an active warm up/stretching before hand to get your muscles engaging. Check out and plan your route too, click here to find some good walking tracks to suit your level of fitness and experience.
Bring a pack!
There may be some things that you bring with you on longer hikes or runs. This important to keep you fuelled through this activity like more water or food. In case of an injury occurring while you are out it is important you have some way of contacting someone for help. You should also think about having some basic first aid supplies and possibly pain relief depending on the length of your hike/run.
Have fun hitting the hiking and running trails this spring.
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