Wednesday, August 10, 2011

How to Eat Healthy

Discover How to Eat Healthy with The Hourglass Diet


Have just finished writing the Hourglass Diet, how to eat healthy with a healthy eating plan designed to nourish the cells of your body while maintain an ideal weight.

What's unique about it is that it has 7 food zones and 22 food groups. It tips the pyramid base over apex and the wipes the floor with the new My Plate model.

It give the Tick program the cross of disapproval and consigns the Glycemic Index concept to the side show alley.

You'll find it makes uncommon sense. It's simple and easy to read. Stick with it and you'll feel better and your trousers will be looser.

Click on this link to take a look at it.

http://www.hourglassdiet.com.

And now I'm off to the gym.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and learn How to Eat Healthy by eating from the top of the Hourglass.

Regards

John Miller

How to Eat Healthy

Labels: , , ,

posted by John Miller at 11:24 PM 0 Comments

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Knee Strengthening Exercises

How to strengthen knees

A lot of people are searching the internet looking for Knee Strengthening Exercises.

Well they’ll have to search a long way because you can’t strengthen your knees, only the muscles around them.

I can tell you one thing though; the exercise that helped restore better function to my knees was the leg extension exercise.

A few years ago, every time I walked up stairs my knees would ’give’ a bit. I’m thinking, ’John, you’re getting old - blame old age.’

I discussed it with Harry, master trainer at my gym and he said it wasn’t age it was a lack of strength and recommended squats, but done with this particular machine.
He specifically recommended the squat machine rather than the seated leg press.

He suggested 3 sets of 12 repetitions, starting off with a lightweight for the first set and then moving higher for the next two sets.

I’m mighty pleased with the results. All fixed, but I have to keep doing them. I go to the gym three times a week.

I recommend you do the same.

I do this exercise with the leg curl, three sets of 10, gradually increasing the weights for each set.

Some people will definitely benefit from calf raises.

Some will benefit from exercises to keep the legs in alignment.

You can get these exercises from www.globalbackcare.com/knee-pain-relief - along with exercises for a number of other musculo-skeletal dysfunctions.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and get a regular and systematic routine to strengthen the muscles around your legs.

John Miller

Labels: , , ,

posted by John Miller at 5:01 AM 0 Comments

Thursday, March 10, 2011

What Is Sciatica And How Is It Treated

Are You Looking for relief from sciatica?

You’re experiencing pain or ‘deadness’ on a part of your leg.

You’ve got and electrical interference problem.

Call an electrician!

You’ve got sciatica.

The cause of your problem is that your sciatic nerve is being trapped.

If the bones of your lower back are out of alignment and a disc has herniated then it may be the case that the disc is pressing on your sciatic nerve and causing the electrical interference.

On the other hand it could be the case that the sciatic nerve is being trapped by some of the muscles it passes through on the way from your spine down to your leg. It’s usually the piraformis muscle that’s the culprit.


If the entrapment of the nerve is occurring somewhere in your lower back you can have an operation to slice off a bit of the disc. It’s a quick surgical fix. You’ll be in pain for a while. It could cost you anywhere between $5,000 and $50,000 depending on where you have it done.

If it’s a last resort the go for it. However you’d want to move heaven and earth to avoid it. That means a regular and systematic flexibility training program designed to get your body back in alignment.

The better solution is to take the exercise option with a view to getting the bones of your lower back into alignment so pressure is taken off the disc and it stops hitting the sciatic nerve.

With exercises it could take days, weeks or months depending on the severity of the problem. Keep in mind though that it didn’t happen over night and you can’t expect someone to wave a magic wand and have it disappear in a couple of minutes.

If the sciatic nerve is being trapped by the piraformis muscle you’ll need to untrap it and the best way to do this is with a set of stretching exercises.

In a good proportion of cases the exercises will do the trick, but don’t bet on it.

You could get relief, but not total relief. However if could relieve the pain by 80% you’d probably be happy with that and just put up the inconvenience of the odd twinge or dull ache now and then.

Exercises for sciatica

There are a number of exercises to relieve sciatica, some aimed at getting your pelvis and the bones above it back in better alignment and others to loosen off the piraformis muscle.

Surgery for sciatica pain

If the sciatica is caused by the entrapment of the sciatic nerve by the piraformis muscle there is the surgical option. For some people it will be as a first resort; believe it or not there are people either too lazy, too busy or too rich to do the exercises. For others it will be the last resort. After doing the exercises religiously for six months they’re still in acute pain.

I recall watching a hip surgery operation on TV a couple of years ago and just before the patient was sewn up the surgeon checked to see whether the sciatic nerve had a clear passage through the sciatic nerve. How thoughtful and at no extra cost!

I’d be optimistic that with the right set of sciatica exercises to relieve pain you should soon be on the way to recovery.

Regards and best wishes for a pain free life.

John Miller

Labels: , ,

posted by John Miller at 1:09 AM 0 Comments

Monday, May 31, 2010

Low Back Pain Relief

For Low Back Pain Relief Andy signed up for the back pain diagnostic service. This meant going to the www.globalbackcare.com website and sending me some photos of himself in various postures. He's not in bad shape actually, strong, close to his ideal wight and trains regularly at the gym.

His back started hurting after he started a sit down job five years ago.

He's a bit tight in calf, hamstring and buttock muscles, more so on the right side than the left. He's now got the exercises and I think the prognosis is good.

In view of the fact that he said sitting down might be contributing to the problem I penned this article and sent him a copy.

SEVEN SECRETS OF SITTING DOWN PAINLESSLY

Here are seven secrets for sitting down painlessly that will provide you with low back pain relief.

First secret for sitting at the desk:
Your abdomen must be pressing in to the desk and the back of the chair upright and pressing in up under your shoulder blades. You're locked in, sitting up straight, hollow in lumbar spine.


Second secret:
Spend some time each day standing up. Put a box on your desk big enough to fit your keyboard and your mouse.


Third secret:
Get yourself a Balans Chair.
Spend some time each day on it. The reason these chairs work to provide low back pain relief is because they eliminate the effect that tight hamstrings and buttock muscles have in stopping you from sitting up straight with the 'S" shaped curve in your spine.

'They' say not to spend all your time on it as it may impact on your knees. Some of the day is good - as it sitting with stomach against desk and standing up.

Fourth secret:
Sit on the floor with legs straight out - particularly if all you're doing is reading.

Secret five:
Do supine groin stretch, and a few hip crossovers at lunch time.Secret six:
Build up your situps, feet held to 40, on the trot.

Secret seven:
Build up your pressups to 40, on the trot. Pressups not only strengthen arms and shoulders but also your trunk muscles, front, back and core. Do Superman and cobra for a minute a day.


In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and sit up straight.

John Miller
www.globalbackcare.com

Labels: , , , ,

posted by John Miller at 4:06 AM 0 Comments

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Lower Back Pain Sleeping

Lower Back Pain Sleeping,
You're not alone if you have back pain while you're lying in your bed trying to get to sleep.

You can't sneeze or cough without it feeling like there's a red hot poker in your back.

You can't turn over without experiencing the same sensation.

You blame your bed. You get a new one. The pain doesn't go away. You've done your dough.

What few people realize is that the pain is a symptom of bones that are out of alignment. Get the bones back into alignment and the pain should go away. It's not as tough an assignment as you might think. All you have to do is spend a couple of hours a night working on it doing a few simple exercises. Most of those exercises don't involve any effort, just you lying on the floor relaxing off.

Your lower back pain sleeping is not going to go away over night. There is no magic wand you can wave over it, though some of the concoctions your chemist might dispense could go part of the way to giving you a better night's sleep. However lower back pain is not caused by a lack of Panadeine Forte or Celebrex.

You can ice and heat the area. The will settle it down a little. Ice and heat work together to relieve inflammation. Especially don't overlook ice. Wrap a piece of cloth around your body and stick an ice pack down it. Get two or three ice packs so you can keep replacing them as they warm up.

Lower back pain sleeping isn't caused by a lack of ice or heat either. This treatment is palliative. You'll be more comfortable but you're not getting better; yet!

Before you go to bed spend as much time as you can lying on your back with both legs on a chair, knees bent at 90% and the lower leg resting on the chair. This will help the soft tissues of your back settle down.

In bed, lying on your back with your legs on a couple of pillow will give you the same relief.

BUT, your lower back pain sleeping is not caused by a lack of pillows under your legs.

Cause Of Back Pain
The main cause of back pain is vertebrae that are out of alignment.

The main cause of vertebrae being out of alignment is a pelvis that is out of alignment.

The main cause of a pelvis that is out of alignment is tight hamstring and buttock muscles.

Fix Back Pain
So if you want to fix back pain you're going to have to loosen some of these muscles.

In the Fix Back Pain ebook I show you how to do that. It's not rocket science. All if takes is a couple of hours on the floor every night for a couple of months, loosening tight muscles and strengthening weak muscles.

Crack The Fat Code
If you're more than 15Kg over weight there's a high likelihood you're setting yourself up for lower back pain sleeping.

Stronger Not Weaker
If you can't do 20 situps, 20 pressups and 20 squats you're not fair dinkum about keeping your pelvis and vertebrae in good alignment. 20 of each is a minimum. When you can do 40 of each report back.

So there you have it. If you want a good, pain free night's sleep you've got to be strong, flexible and thin.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and remember, it's what you do on the floor before you go to bed and what you do in the gym that gives you a good night's sleep.

John Miller
Fix Back Pain: www.globalbackcare.com

Labels: , ,

posted by John Miller at 11:35 PM 0 Comments

CURE BACK PAIN

Is is possible to cure back pain?

It's hard to be definitive about it, but my rule of thumb says that there's an 80% chance that for 80% of people they they can get their back back to 80% of good shape if they're diligent.

80% of that fix will come from what they do for themselves. They may be able to speed up the rehab process with various physical therapies, but the prime consideration is improving their own strength and flexibility.

This of course is not something you can sub-contract out.

So if you want to cure back pain get cracking.

In the Fix Back Pain ebook I show you where to look for clues as to what's caused your problem. I can tell you one thing. It's highly unlikely that the cause of the pain is at the site of the pain.

80% of people with lower back pain are suffering from a dysfunction not an injury. It is their own muscles - usually tight hamstring and buttock muscles that are the cause of the problem.

Not only can I tell you why this has happened but I can give you the exercises you need to do to restore poor function to good - to cure back pain.

It won't happen overnight; how can it? It's taken years for tight and weak muscles to draw first your pelvis and then the bones above it out of alignment.

But doing a series of exercises, on the floor in front of TV, every night for a couple of months should see a dramatic improvement in your condition. Gradually, fractions of a millimetre at a time your bones will gradually get back into better alignment.

When that happens the pressure will be released on the muscles, tendons, ligaments and discs in your lower back.

You'll be able to stand up straight, you'll be able to bend over and pout on your socks, you'll be able to sneeze without it feeling like there's a red hot poker in your back. You'll be jumping out of your skin.

So, there you have it. I reckon there's a good chance you can cure back pain. It all depends on what you to do yourself.

You can find out what you need to do by going to www.globalbackcare.com.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and spend time each night loosening off tight muscles and strengthening those that are weak.

John Miller

Labels: , ,

posted by John Miller at 11:15 PM 0 Comments

Achilles Tendon Pain

The Achilles tendon is a very strange animal. Just when you think it's coming good it snaps back at you.

There are (at least) three keys to solving the problem of Achilles tendon pain.

1. You'll get small bit of relief from a number of strategies, it all adds up.

2. There are lot of things you can do.

3. Persistence. If you think you're getting better, don't slack off on what you've been doing.

A couple of principles
There are a few other things to take note of.

Finding the cause of your Achilles tendon pain problem likely to be more difficult than finding the cause of lower back pain.

Having said that there are two places to look

- below the tendon

- above the tendon.

Below the tendon it could be your foot strike and whether you excessively pronate or supinate. You need to go and see a good sports podiatrist to find out whether that is the case or not. You may come away with wedges for your shoes or an orthotic.

You might blanch at the cost of the orthotic - but it if does the trick then it will be worth every penny. It could save you months of angst, frustration and money on physiotherapy treatment and massage.

It could be the way you land. The experts say you need to run more on the balls of your foot than your heels.

The experts are also starting to say you need less cushioning in your shoes, that you don't need expensive Nike running shoes, where most of the money ends up in the pockets of people like that rascals Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan! However, they also say that if you're going to adopt this strategy you need to start working ogradually on the beach or on grass.

Above the tendon it could be tight calves. In fact this is probably a certainty. The best thing I know to relieve tight calves is The Stick which you can get from http://www.thestick.com/

You can use it on yourself four or five times a day or get a partner to give your legs a really good rub down at least once a day.

How do I know? I've had Achilles pain and The Stick seemed to make a big difference.

Then there are strength and flexibility exercises you need to do to strengthen and loosen your calves. You've just got to keep doing them.

And, more than any other musculo-skeletal complaint, ice seems to be a very effective way to reduce the inflammation and pain. I found extended periods of icing, hours at a time with an ice pack stuck down the back of a neoprene anklet, to be effective. If you've got a couple of small ice packs, (the packs that you stick in lunch boxes) you can rotate them through your freezer and have one on the go for most of the day and night.

Let's face it, if you've got Achilles tendon pain you're dealing with a monster. I'd hate to put the mockers on you but if you fail to do anything about it and it could last for years.

It would be an exceedingly brave man who said they have all the answers. However, I think I have some of them in the ebook, Fix Achilles Tendon, Calf and Shin Pain which you can get from the www.globalbackcare.com/achilles-tendon-pain/ website.

Hippocrates said that the physician speaks with more authority if he's had the disease. Well I'm no physician, just a humble physical educator, and Achilles tendon pain is not a disease, but I've had Achilles tendonitis and gradually, bit by bit it's gone.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and tread softly.

John Miller

Labels: , ,

posted by John Miller at 3:35 PM 0 Comments