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11:00:47 pm on July 1, 2011 |
Happy Birthday Canada. Today is the 1st of July, but it’s the 144th for Canada. So on this special day, I take pride as a Canadian in all things Canadian- the Winter Olympics, ice hockey, Tim Horton’s and now Osteopathy.
In Canada, there are two streams of Osteopathy: American-trained Osteopathic Physicians with full surgical and prescription rights, and International and Canadian-trained Osteopathic Practitioners. Although this may cause some confusion, I believe we have more similarities than differences. For example, even though as an Osteopathic Physician, they can treat like other doctors by prescribing drugs, I think the reason they took additional training to specialize as an Osteopath is to treat patients more holistically and use the same techniques our founder A.T. Still passed on over 100 years ago. As an International-trained Osteopath, we specialize in these hands-on techniques, without prescribing drugs or surgery.
As Osteopaths, we all look at our patients similarly- as a unit of body, mind and spirit. As Osteopaths, we all believe the body has a self-healing mechanism as long as we can guide it on the right path. And as Osteopaths, we diagnose and treat our patients with this rational application of Osteopathic principles.
So thank you Canada for bringing this international talent of Osteopaths from the U.S., the U.K., Australia and right here in Canada together. We have a multi-culture of Osteopaths like the many cultures in Canada.
Happy Canada everyone, and if you want to try Osteopathy, just call your nearest Osteopathic Practitioner and ask “Osteopathy, eh?”
Dickson Wong
Osteopathic Practitioner
http://www.Holistic-Medizen.com
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06:43:05 pm on May 22, 2011 |
Poker and Osteopathy
As an Osteopathic Practitioner and a poker player, I think I am uniquely qualified to write this new blog about the similarities between Poker and Osteopathy. First of all, I want to say never gamble (poker) with your health (Osteopathy), but it’s ok to talk about gambling and your health. Now, to imagine my talk with our founder A.T. Still if we were playing a game of Texas Hold ‘Em together.
In Osteopathy, we are taught to treat what we find. Thus, the uniqueness of each treatment because each patient is different, coming in with similar symptoms and complaints but finding different compensation patterns in their muscles, tissues, joints, posture and patient history. In poker, we also have to adopt a holistic approach and play with what we find. To win more often, we need to look at more than the cards in our hands. Before we decide to hold or to fold, we should look at things like how we’ve been playing, how others have been playing and even the last hand. For example, if another player has been on a lucky streak, chances are he might get lucky again this hand. Or if the last hand had a club flush, and you have 2 clubs, chances are of you getting a club flush are not so good.
In poker, there are two types of players: one who likes to play with the best odds of success. They are fast with numbers and can calculate their odds depending on their cards, the other players’ cards and the dealer’s cards. Another poker player likes to play by their intuition, betting on how they feel. In Osteopathy, we are like both players. Literally, we treat by feel, feeling the tissues and listening to the body. But we also base our diagnosis on the most likely cause, betting it’s a horse when we hear hoof beats and not a zebra. That is, based on our applied anatomy, we can calculate the odds between our differential diagnoses and base our treatment on the most likely one.
So, it is not enough to just look at our hand- to only look at the cards we have is like only to look at the neck muscles of a patient complaining of chronic headaches. Just like it is important to not only play the cards, but to play the players, in Osteopathy it is just as important to look at not just the neck, but also the shoulders, upper back and posture to find the real cause of a chronic headache. And this is true for hand after hand, patient after patient. No matter if it is headaches, back pain or other aches and pains, a holistic approach from head to toe is like sitting at the poker table and making a note of each player. By getting a holistic view of the table, you will get a better idea if your pair of Kings will beat a possible straight on the table.
Thus, if you have any questions or have an old injury that won’t go away, skip the casino and go see your local Osteopath. To learn more about Osteopathy, go to my clinic website at http://www.Holistic-Medizen.com. As for the big pot between Still and me, we decided to chop it.
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05:02:18 am on March 4, 2011 |
Dreaming about Osteopathy
To loosely paraphrase a great man (Martin Luther King Jr.), “I had a dream.” Specifically, I had a dream last week. In my dream, I saw an old classmate from high school. He was one of my best friends in high school, but I don’t think I’ve seen him the day after we graduated, almost 20 years ago. We were at like a dinner party or a prom, and I saw new friends I’ve made in the last few years, and so here in my dream, old and new friends, almost 20 years apart, were partying together with me. I woke up with a smile because it was such a nice dream, a nice time to see some old faces.
But since then, it has got me thinking about the role of dreams and its benefits. For example, it is a nice escape, almost like a holiday or getaway. Unlike real holidays we can plan, dreams are like a random chance to go somewhere we didn’t expect. So since then, I have thought about dreams more often and its effect on our health.
If dreams are just an escape, then it makes me think of how we can increase the chance to dream so we can enjoy a nice getaway every night. In disorders like epilepsy and Parkinson’s Disease, where medical treatment includes neuro-stimulation to reactivate parts of the brain, it made me wonder if we can stimulate the part of our brain for dreaming in other ways. This is because I read that dreaming can be a way for our brain to consolidate new information to become more permanent in our memory. Thus, if it has a useful function then I do not want to use artificial means like neuro-stimulation to interfere with a natural process.
However, if dreaming is a result of a deeper sleep, then it makes me think of how we can achieve that more naturally. As an Osteopath, the answer may be right in front of me- literally, my hands are in front of me as I am typing these thoughts. I remember when I used to treat my partner before bed and I had her head in my hands, and she would fall asleep as I was treating her. She always said she slept better, and it makes me wonder now if she also dreamt more. So it makes me think if the chance to dream can be increased by relaxing the tension in our shoulders and neck, thereby increasing bloodflow more easily to our brains, allowing it to be bathed in this nutrient rich blood which may stimulate the dreaming part of our brains.
This makes me think if the opposite may be true, that for patients or people who have headaches or increased muscle tension in the neck, if they dream less. For example, when we are tensed before bed, we tend to have restless sleep. This leads me to think of the different quality of sleep, because even when we are tensed, we may still dream but it may be an anxious dream or even a bad nightmare. This makes me wonder if the nervous system is irritated due to a psycho-somatic, or body-mind connection, then it affects the quality of our dream. Thus, if we can reduce that tension through Osteopathy or other therapies, then the brain can more quietly give us something pleasant to dream about, a consolidation or retrieval of new and old information and memories.
This brings me back to think about the benefits of dreams because if dreams are a result of less tension in our bodies, especially our shoulders and neck, then it makes me think about other benefits this reduced tension and increased bloodflow has. For example, it is cold in Vancouver now and last week, I felt the onset of a cold, with associated congestion and sneezing. But after a good night’s sleep, I could feel my body was better from the rest, very relaxed like we feel after a good treatment ourselves. Thus, if dreaming is a result of a deeper sleep, then a stronger immune system may also result from a good night’s sleep. Of course, there are many benefits of decreased muscle tension in our neck, for example less headaches and a new study from the University of BC I read that linked a decreased chance of multiple sclerosis with increased bloodflow through our neck.
As Osteopaths and other manual practitioners, we have the ability to reduce muscle tension in a very natural and holistic way, without artificially neuro-stimulating or prescribing drugs to our patients. Thus, last week I had a dream. But now, I also have a dream. And that is a future where we can have healthier lives and have more choices for our health, where traditional medicine, governments and insurance companies will accept more openly the complementary benefits of other therapies like Osteopathy and alternative manual medicine. This is a dream I would like to enjoy with my eyes open. Slowly, I can see progress with more insurance companies like Sunlife and Manulife accepting both streams of Osteopathy patients. Despite the slowness in the wheels of change, I am happy to see patients who will take their health in their hands and choose to try Osteopathy. Thank you to these patients, and to my old high school friend Sam, “Hey buddy, hope you are doing well.”
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06:00:34 am on February 22, 2011 |
Coughing, sneezing, runny nose… and a rib strain?
It is cold season. That means not only is winter extra cold this season, but this is the season for colds. So I take cold comfort in knowing I’m not alone in catching a cold already. So of course I mind all the coughing, sneezing and runny nose but the straw that broke the camel’s back (or rib) is this morning, after a couple of coughs, I think I pulled a rib. Murphy’s Law- oh how I hate thee.
From an Osteopathic point of view, I like to put things in perspective and take a holistic view of my condition. So I first want to diagnose my pain on the left side, under my arms but above the bottom of my rib cage. There’s some difficulty with breathing in, but feels easier when I hold my abdominal muscles with my hand to breathe. So my self-diagnosis is a rib strain, a strain in the muscles between my ribs on my left side, possibly the internal intercostals. These muscles are important to help us exhale. Coughing is like exhaling, but faster and more forceful. My logic, and as a warning to others, is all the coughing in the last few days caused my rib muscles to contract or shorten repeatedly, just like if I was doing arm curls with a dumbbell over and over, then my biceps would contract and get bigger and tighter. In the case of my rib muscles, they didn’t get bigger but the constant coughing caused them to get tighter. Then during this last case of coughing, when they were already tight, the last cough was enough to cause the rib strain.
So the lesson I have learned the hard way is not to let tension build up, either in our ribs, but also in our neck, shoulders, back or lower legs because this can lead to headaches, back pain, a pulled hamstring, an Achilles tendon tear or foot pain. The good news is musculo-skeletal injuries are what Osteopaths specialise in. The good news is muscles are easier to treat than an injury to the bone or ligaments, but the bad news is with over 600 muscles in our body, they get hurt more often.
Thus, a great man (Luke 4:23) once said “Physician, heal thyself”. So as most therapists might do, we apply our professional knowledge to ourselves. So using a combination of Osteopathic techniques like gentle counterstrain, fascial release and massage, I am trying to fix my rib strain and breathe easier that it wasn’t worse. So although there are different therapies that can help, I believe all therapies can be preventive medicine. Thus, this cold season, if you are suffering from coughing, sneezing or a runny nose, go see your local Osteopath or health practitioner to release muscle tension, improve your lymphatics and reduce congestion to speed up healing and circulation, and possibly save yourself from writing about your injury.
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07:55:33 am on January 15, 2011 |
Hoarding and Our Health
Recently, a new art exhibit opened at the Vancouver Art Gallery. It is from the artist Song Dong, who’s newest exhibit “Waste Not” comes from an idea he had of what to do with his mother’s years of hoarding things in her home. The theme for his creation I think is “10,000 items, 50 years, 1 person”. In her defense, like many Chinese born in the early 1900’s, she came from a humble home and did not grow up rich, so she learned to save- saving money, soap, food, all these little things that add up.
So her son, a contemporary artist, has now displayed and expressed his mother’s lifetime of saving things into an expression or reflection of her life. I’m looking forward to seeing this new exhibit, not only by myself but with my parents, who also like to hoard things for years as well, especially my father.
But this art exhibit is more than a reflection of one person, but a chance to reflect on ourselves. As much as all the things his mother saved is a reflection of herself, and all these things make her the person she is today. Similarly, we are also a reflection of all the things we save, inside or out, good and bad. All the challenges and pain we felt in our past makes us the person we are today.
Our health is a culmination of all things, physical and mental, that has happened to us. Our muscles have a memory, so that is why when we exercise, we get stronger. But also, in contrast, our body can store the stresses in our life, whether it is the bad posture we have everyday from work to sudden trauma from sports. For example, working everyday at a desk can lead to tension build-up in our shoulders and neck. Repetitive little shocks from sports like riding horses to working by driving a truck can add stress to our back. Sports with a lot of running like soccer or football can unknowing to us build tension in our lower leg muscles until we feel foot pain or suffer an Achilles tendon tear.
Thus, hoarding and health are related because our health is affected by the stresses our bodies hoard everyday. Osteopathy and other therapies can serve like pressure release valves for this build up of tension in our muscles and prevent future injuries. Therefore, rather than wait 1 year or 50 years, it is better to see your artist, also known as your local Osteopath or health practitioner, to see how you can feel better or learn holistically how your body is expressing itself.
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08:40:22 pm on December 14, 2010 |
Art and Osteopathy = OsteopARThy
Last month, for the first time, I went to the Eastside Culture Crawl. I would soon find out that I had missed 13 of these yearly events showcasing over 300 local artists this year all over Vancouver. During that weekend, I must have seen more art in 2 days than I have seen all year. It is amazing to be amazed, inspiring to be inspired, and impressed by the impressive collections and the depth of human creativity. It truly is amazing what you can do with a blank canvas.
Since that artful weekend, I have been thinking more about art. I think it is one of the things that separates us from different species, a privilege to express our minds through artistic expression and different media. For example, although I am still impressed by how an artist can use the same pencils and oil that I can buy at an art store and use them to turn a blank canvas into something inspiring, I think there is an artist in all of us. Because if art is our individuality expressed physically, then it doesn’t have to be only on canvas. It can be in a sculpture, jewelry, and pottery.
But recently, I realized that art can be expressed as friendship. During this festive season and happy holidays, it is a special time to share with family and friends. For those who can’t be with family, I hope you will share happy times with good friends. To me, expressing our friendship is an art form. We may know what we want in a friend and we might know what kind of friend we want to be. But it is the expression of those wants toward those close and dear to you that is the art of friendship. Because similar to the way a beautiful painting can be seen on a studio canvas, the way you treat others is your way to paint a picture. Similar to a work of art, your friendship can amaze, inspire and impress others.
This leads me to think how art is like Osteopathy. For those of us who trained in Osteopathy, we know it is an art, science and philosophy. But for the public, our patients, and the majority, how is art like Osteopathy- what is OsteopARThy? First of all, I just made up that new word, I am not branching out like Cranial Osteopathy. As Osteopaths, I think the art is in the way we treat our patients. Our techniques are the brushes, pencils and oils we use to paint a picture of health. Unfortunately, we are not starting with a blank canvas. Our patients come to us with a multitude of colors, a combination of aches and pains, muscle imbalances and joint restrictions. Our goal then is to simplify, to turn that multitude of colors known as our patient into a blank canvas like when they were in good health, before daily stresses and work, injuries and illness added their cumulative strokes into the painting known as our patient.
Thus, the reason Osteopaths may treat a patient differently, or all therapists in general, is because we may all have trained to use the same techniques, but like an artist using the same pencils or oils that Leonardo Da Vinci used, we will express the artist in us differently. To me, the best part of this profession is being able to use these simple techniques with our hands to help a patient feel better, just like how simple charcoal helped Da Vinci draw “The Mechanics of Man” and other works of art.
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10:02:41 am on November 23, 2010 |
Banana Pancakes and Osteopathy
I was recently perusing the delicious menu at a restaurant with a friend. And like those times when your eyes are bigger than your stomach, everything looked good. My friend noticed they offered banana pancakes, but in the end, we decided to share a chocolate cake. But this would not be the end for the banana pancakes. The next day, I was thinking of what to cook for a snack and the idea of banana pancakes came back to me. So, I quickly looked up a recipe on the Internet and after some flour, baking powder, milk, eggs, a little oil and bananas, I was enjoying restaurant-like banana pancakes at home.
So, this made me think of how banana pancakes is like our health. In this case, I was at a restaurant one day wanting banana pancakes, and the next day, because of choices I made and action I took, I was eating banana pancakes. It is like our health, when we are in pain, perhaps due to a headache, back pain, old sports injury or an accident, we want to feel better. Good health can be only a decision or one action away. Just as you can decide what to eat, you can choose to try a new therapy like Osteopathy or another treatment, and it may be the answer to your pain. Or, at least you can gain a new or different perspective on your pain and its cause.
In some ways, maybe my Osteopathic clinic is like a kitchen because I think my patients enjoy coming sometimes, I treat you like you are in my own home, and after your treatment I hope you feel better like you just had some banana pancakes. The choice is yours, try something new, if you have any questions, give me a call or email today. http://www.Holistic-MediZen.com
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09:59:07 am on May 10, 2010 |
G’day mates,
It’s May, so it’s that special time of year where we say thanks to that special lady in our lives- our mothers. And just in case you need one more reason why your mother deserves your love this month and the rest of the year, I found an old article published by Reuters on just how over-worked and under-paid moms are. After reading it, I hope you’ll give your mom a call. Happy Mother’s Day, mom.
“If the typical stay-at-home mother in the United States were paid for her work as house-keeper, cook and psychologist among other roles, she would earn $138,095 a year, according to research released yesterday.
This reflected a three per cent raise from last year’s $134,121, according to Salary.com Inc., Waltham, Massachusetts-based compensation experts.
The 10 jobs listed as comprising a mother’s work were housekeeper, cook, day care centre teacher, laundry machine operator, van driver, facilities manager, janitor, computer operator, chief executive officer and psychologist, it said.
The typical mother puts in a 92-hour work week, it said, working 40 hours at base pay and 52 hours overtime.
A mother who holds a full-time job outside the home would earn an additional $85939 for the work she does at home.
Last year she would have earned $85,939 for the work she does at- home work, it said.
Salary.com compiled the online responses of 26,000 stay-at-home mothers and 14,000 mothers who also work outside the home.” (Reuters, May 3, 2007)
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09:20:56 pm on April 28, 2010 |
I was driving to my clinic today, and I was awed by the beauty of Vancouver with its sunny, blue sky on this windy Tuesday afternoon. It’s days like this that makes me appreciate living in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It also made me think of how the weather is like your health. With Spring in the air and allergy season coming early for many patients, I thought about how sinus congestion is related to decreased lymphatic flow and muscle tension around the neck and upper back.
For comparison, I’ll first talk about the weather. As I mentioned, it was a cool, windy Tuesday today, so windy it caused some power outages around Vancouver and hats flying off of heads. The good thing is the wind is part of a high pressure system, and blows the clouds away, leaving a clear blue sky. This made me think that this should be the natural weather for Vancouver, but when a low pressure system comes in, the clouds stick around and hence, we have rainy Vancouver.
Our health is like the weather; for example when we have congestion, either due to allergies or sinuses, the cold or the flu, our lymphatic flow gets backed up like traffic and our noses get runny like the falling rain. Common causes for this decrease in our normal lymphatic system are muscle imbalances. In many Osteopathic articles found by Google you will read how Osteopaths can improve your healing process by treating your rib cage, which is like the motor for your lymphatic system, as well as your diaphragm, such an important muscle in regulating the pressure gradient for your breathing and digestive system. Also, we will release tension in your neck and your upper back, allowing better fluid drainage from congested sinuses back into your heart via your veins.
Thus, these muscle imbalances act like a low pressure system and the congestion, muscle aches and assorted symptoms we feel when sick are like the clouds and rain. By improving your lymphatic drainage and boosting your immune system, Osteopathic treatment is like the wind that helps restore your body to its natural state, leaving your body feeling like a sunny day in Vancouver. Of course, many treatments aim to remove blockages, some use needles, machines or small doses of tinctures. As long as they help the healing process, patients can decide which therapy works best for them. For me, Osteopathy makes sense because we are using manual medicine and not adding anything to your body, just letting it get back to its normal state by removing the muscle and joint imbalances.
For more information or to book a Holistic diagnosis and treatment, please contact me anytime at my clinic website, Holistic MediZen.
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11:15:18 am on March 1, 2010 |
As of the day of writing this blog, only 8 months and 2 days to Christmas. Christmas is a time to share with friends and family, with people you care about. The problem is when people in this circle have a negative effect on your health. It could be unknowinlgly from the words they say or the way they act, but as a result, it causes hurt feelings and unhealthy thoughts in you.
So just as important as the food we eat and the exercise we do to stay healthy, we need to be aware of the effect people have on our health. In pop culture, they are called “haters”, people who bring you down when you should be up. You can hear about them in songs and see them on shows. It’s something everyone will feel, especially if you achieve success in something. Thus, my theory is that it stems partly from jealousy, which is expressed through veiled words and actions, which affects us emotionally.
In a previous blog, I talked about Disneyland and how it causes our brain to release happy hormones, which is why it’s called “the happiest place on Earth”. On the other hand, when people we care about don’t care about what they say to us, instead of happy hormones, it causes stress in our bodies. I am sure you are aware of how stress affects you, otherwise just Google for countless studies on stress and your health.
From an Osteopathic point of view, my theory is that stress is expressed through our muscles. The muscles in turn stimulate our central nervous system, which maintains tense muscles. If the feedback cycle continues over time, it affects our health as seen by chronic fatigue, loss of sleep, and headaches, among other symptoms.
It is up to us to decide how we deal with stress. If that stress is coming from people we spend Christmas and other holidays with, then ultimately we have to decide how much time we want to spend with them. It is much easier to change the way we interpret their hater ways than to wait for them to change.
Thus, for your health and well-being, take care of yourself and don’t care about what others may say. Your health is like your climb to fame: it’s not what you know, but who you know.
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