With temporary desk setups, couch and dining table options, our posture has taken a beating over the Corona lock down period.

Feeling like your head is falling forward, your shoulders rounding and your neck and upper back aching?

These are all signs that you have a spinal problem. 

Lockdown Posture

Yes, sitting up straight will help but if those postures are cemented in, chances are you need an adjustment to help unlock those stuck patterns.

Here’s a couple of links to help you out - my favourite exercise HERE AND for more super important things you can do to stay healthy, CLICK HERE

Remember I’m here to help - if you have any questions / concerns, please reach out.

I have opened up more hours to help you get in easier...

New Hours:

Monday: 2.30pm - 6pm

Tuesday: 7.30am - 11am  &  2.30pm - 6pm

Thursday: 7.30am - 11am  &  2.30pm - 6pm

Friday: 8.45am - 2pm

Appointments can be made via the website HERE or by calling (03) 7005 7672

Dr Tony - Your local Hawthorn Chiropractor

This is probably the one most missed area when it comes to using the massage ball. If you're suffering from any sort of low back pain or low back stiffness, this is the one that's often missed - it's the front of the hip here, the hip flexor.

I often see people doing the glutes and the piriformis, even up into the lower back with the ball, which is great, but we're often missing the front here. So here's how I do it.

Place the ball when you're on your side, at the front of the hip, roll over onto the ball so you are more on your tummy than you are on your back. Then we come through those hip flexors into the top part of the quads here and you'll often feel that radiate down into the leg, give you that dead leg feeling. Get stuck into this, holding the spot for 10 15 seconds.

Move to the next one, roll around and it will really open up the hips, give you more mobility through the hips, and I reckon it will help that lower back pain and stiffness. Give it a go. Let me know what you think.

Over the past few weeks, with lockdowns, social distancing and associated changes to the way we live, I have been interested in the contradictions that are so deeply seeded in our Australian way of life. No more obvious to me than the following examples...

• I can't visit my parents but I can go and purchase any amount of alcohol that I want.

• I can't go for a walk in the beautiful Botanic Gardens but I can go and purchase cigarettes from the local supermarket.

And these restriction are all in the name of "keeping us healthy" Really? 

Let's look at some stats: 

1. Over 4000 deaths in Australia were either caused by or contributed by Alcohol in 2017.

2. Alcohol  causes 40% of liver cancer.

3. 22% of our national road toll is caused by Alcohol.

4. Smoking causes 41% of the burden of reparatory disease.

5. Smoking costs our country at least $136.9 billion every year.

So we can stay at home, drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, increase our risk of cancer, heart disease and mental health problems, yet can’t get outside in nature and be proactive about our health. Hmmm something doesn’t make sense.

All the above stats are because of our choices, all in our control of what we put into our bodies,

A big problem?

In my opinion, a big issue here is the prevalence of unhealthy habits passed off as societal norms. This is leading to the chronic decline in our health, and then wondering why we “get” sick.

We don’t “get” sick, we “create” sick. Here’s how I look at it. In 95% of the population (approx 5% have true genetic determining factors) there is a “magical age” - it’s around 50. For some it’s a bit more and for some it’s a bit less.

50 years is long enough for our habits to have taken effect AND enough time for the cumulative effect of the body not coping with what we’ve been doing to it. The result?

WE GET THE BODIES AND HEALTH WE DESERVE

If you’ve eaten poorly for 50 years, you’ll most likely be overweight, inflamed and have bowel problems.

If you haven’t stretched or looked after your mobility for 50 years, you’ll be struggling with basic daily activities such as getting up and down off the floor, tying your shoe laces etc.

If you haven’t prioritised the relationships in your life, you’ll more than likely be lonely.

You get my point.

My ask: Let’s all take a higher level of responsibility for the relationship between our daily habits and our long term health status. Remember - it all adds up.

Let’s take our head out of the sand and start BEING a better person for ourselves, for our health, for our families and love ones and for the greater good of the planet and humanity. With me?

Tony.

Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Health: It has become one of the most confusing issues today.

Depending who you listen to, the opposite can be true. Eat this but not that, do this exercise but not this one etc. It can be overwhelming. Who should we trust?

Because of the overwhelming confusion (especially with all the internet “experts”) out there in the world, I have divided our HEALTH into the following 4 categories. Is this the whole picture? No - but if you get these 4 things right you will find yourself with exceptional health and overall kicking butt.

1. Eat for HEALTH.

   What should I eat? How should I fuel my body? Here’s my rule.

   Instead of eating to lose weight, or eating to help you diabetes, or inflmaortory condition etc - EAT FOR HEALTH.

   Will this food make me more healthy? YES or NO. It’s pretty simple. Eat foods from nature and you cant really go wrong.

2. Move for HEALTH.

   There are 2 main types of movement. Large whole body movements and Small joint movements. A healthy body is one that had regular large movements, is strong and flexible. It also has healthy joint movements (especially the spine) The health of the joints of your spine directly influence the health of your central nervous system - this is what runs the rest of your body. A chiropractor will be able to help you with this. Chiropractic adjustments have been shown to improve spinal function AND improve brain function. See this blog post.

3. Think for HEALTH. The people we surged ourselves with, the relationships we value, the inner dialogue we entertain all have a huge impact on our health. Make good choices in these areas.

4. Rest for HEALTH. In our fast paced world it is easy to forget about rest. It needs to be a priority for us to be healthy. Adequate sleep is important, recovery from periods of exertion is vital and to rest the mind through meditation can have a massively positive impact on our wellbeing.

Let’s start with these 4 areas. Once you master these, you can move on to more intricate levels of health. Most of us don’t even have the basics nailed. Stop looking for the magic bullet and do the basics.

Be well.

Tony.

Here’s a flashback to a Yoga cruise I went on, sailing around the beautiful waters of Indonesia with Kula Yoga. Beautiful yoga sessions, swimming, plenty of R&R and also time to lean new skills as you can see in the video.

Learning new skills is a great way to keep our nervous system adapting and growing, allowing us to stay youthful.

Is there a skill you’d love to master? A handstand? Painting? Archery? Skipping? Whatever it is, now is a good time to dedicate some time to it.

As the saying goes…..The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago, the next best time is NOW.

Start today - you’ll be glad you did. Go for it.

Hi, Tony here. A quick update. Obviously things are changing very, very quickly, almost hourly, but certainly as of today, being Tuesday, I'm still open. I'm still here as a service to you, to keep you healthy, to keep you moving. It's times like this - it's never been more important to keep yourself healthy and the link between how the body works and our immune systems, stress levels, et cetera.

I know a lot of you are working from home. Maybe you're bent over the kitchen table with a makeshift desk set up, causing strain, causing extra stress on the body. I would encourage you if you can, to get in and get adjusted.

I know that some of you and not leaving home and are in lockdown, and that's understandable. I'm also offering that if you can't leave home and you would like me to come and adjust you, I can do home visits. 

Things are changing. I just wanted to give you an update as to what we're doing here.

• Obviously at the table has been wiped down after every visit.

• I'm spacing out appointments. So there's only ever one person in the office at any one time.

• We've got hand sanitizer at the desk.

• I'm washing my hands, obviously.

• keeping everything, clean, all the surfaces here, getting regular wipe downs as well.

So I'm doing everything I can to stay open, to help, to help you stay healthy and do what you can in this time. So please give me a call if you have any questions.

If you have any other needs I'm here. Um, yup. Need a dog walked? Need some shopping done? let me know. I'm also going to put my mobile phone number down so that if the office is closed or if I'm not here, you can still contact me, which is zero four one three eight zero three four zero three. Don't hesitate. Send me a message or give me a call and I'd love to, I'd love to chat anyway.

I hope you're all doing well. Hope you staying safe and look, maybe try and make the most out of this downtime, to try and chill out and spend some time with the family.

Be well.

It's an interesting time to say the least. I know having seen some people this week, it's a mixed bag for sure. There's, some of you I know are freaking out. I know that there's a lot of information. It's quite overwhelming. A lot of you that are staying home, having to work from home in different conditions than you normally would be. There's all sorts of hearsay as to where the schools are being shut down. Some are closing. There's a lot going on at the moment. This is what I'm referring to as the Coronathon a marathon of new information and new situations. There's concern about economics. There's concern of health. . Unprecedented - That is for sure.

Focus. What I want you to try and do is rather than focusing on this problem, the fear, the information, the bombardment that seems to be coming. In my 45 years, what I've noticed is that what you focus on tends to bring more of, so let's not focus too much on the problem, the fear. Let's try and focus on things that we can control and what effect this has on our health.

Let me tell you, what I'm doing is five major things that I'm doing to make sure that I'm looking after my health so that I am the healthiest version of that I can be and therefore have the highest resistance or the best immune response that's going to be able to handle whatever is thrown at it. So first one, what we know is that a body of that is rested. Well-rested with a good amount of sleep, has a better immune response, a better response to what's happening from the external world. So your resistance is higher if you get good sleep. Number two, what we know is that our body that he's hydrated is going to have a better resistance than one that is dehydrated. So just up the water, pretty simple. 

We know that a body that is in good alignment, that is in good balance, that is has good mobility, freedom move, feeling good, feeling nice, has better resistance. It has a better immune response because a body that's stiff, tired, achy, has a decreased immune response. So I'm getting adjusted more during this time to make sure that I am in good shape. So maybe it's time for an adjustment or maybe it's time for an extra adjustment.

What I'm also doing is making sure that my nutrition is kept up because we know that a body that’s lacking certain nutrients is not going to respond as well. Not going to have the immune response that we should and maybe some extra vitamin C and maybe some extra vitamin D might just give you a little boost as well, which will be very nice. I know that I'm doing that for myself.

And the fifth component of what I'm doing is to try and reduce my stress levels. Stress has been shown to be the biggest player in our immune response. What does that mean? Well, it means that the more stressed you are, the lower your immunity, the lower your body, the less your body can deal with things from the outside, such as viruses, bacteria, and things of that nature. So what are you doing to try and reduce your stress levels? Are you taking some time out? Are you listening to beautiful music? Are you taking a nice walk? And adjustments. Chiropractic adjustments have been shown to also decrease stress levels. So maybe an extra adjustment as well.

Look at those five things, and let's really take control of our own health at this time when we need it the most. As always, I'm here to help. I'd love to know your thoughts.

That's what I'm doing anyway. And if you want to follow suit, Hey, awesome. Just let me know. Are there any limitations? I'm here to help jump on aschiro. com or give me a call, 7005 7672 - as always,

Be well.

With all the information readily accessible to anyone with an internet connection about HEALTH, you would think that as a society we should be getting healthier year on year. Well, the stats tell a different story. Chronic disease is continuously on the rise. This is LIFESTYLE disease. Disease we get from not eating, moving and thinking in ways we are designed to.

One of the big reasons for this continual rise in chronic disease is that there is a reward system in place for it.

1. We get SICK days off work not WELL days.

2. We get SICK pay not WELL pay

3. We get chicken soup made for us when we are SICK but how often does tat happen when we are WELL?

4. We get extra cuddles and attention the new are SICK not WELL.

5. Companies make BILLIONS of dollars the you’re SICK , with no commercial interest in getting you WELL.

6. Conversations are endless when we’re SICK - just sit and listen to conversation happening around you - “I’ve got this…” “My ____ is playing up” “I’ve got an appointment with the specialist ……” and on it goes.

Our whole society is set up for us to be SICK, and to be REWARDED for it. At the extreme it can become someone’s whole identity - without the illness / sickness / complaint, they would have nothing important in their life - so the rewards for keeping the status quo are huge.

So what can we do about it? Is it all doom and gloom?

We can start rewarding people’s HEALTHY behaviours. Give your kids a wellness day off school (when they can actually enjoy a day off), teach and be a role model for our kids that being HEALTHY is rewarding.

High five someone for going for that run, for riding to work, for eating clean, for saying no to the after work drink. You’ll also feel better for it.

Be well.

Dr Tony.

I’ve been helping athletes, whether professional or weekend warriors for over 20 years. Over that time I’ve noticed a few things that makes all the difference in both performance and longevity of these athletes.

Here’s the 5 things every athlete should know about their bodies.

1. Your body is constantly breaking down and building up. As we train, we stress our body - causing damage and strain. The body is constantly attempting to repair that damage and become stronger and fitter.

2. Your body will give you what you ask of it, on one condition : If it has the resources available.

3. The most overlooked resource is NEUROLOGICAL. If you ask you body to give 100% effort yet it doesn’t have 100% neurological control (brain - body communication) it will lead to poor performance and injury.

4. Your spine is your suit of amour for your spinal cord. It’s essential your spine is healthy to maintain BRAIN - BODY communication. A problem with your spine will lead to less than 100% power to your body. Chiropractors address weaknesses, imbalances and misalignment of the spine to keep t healthy. This is why having a chiropractor on your team is essential for optimal performance, reduced injury and faster recovery.

5. Your body won’t go forever - but it will go longer and better if it’s in tune.

Maybe it’s time for an adjustment.