What is integrative care?
Our approach goes deeper
Health issues often have multifactorial causes and can have developed over a length of time. Just as physical activity and exercise, a balanced diet, managing stress and getting enough sleep are all important to good health, they are all key factors involved in any musculoskeletal pain and conditions. Sleep is a fundamental process our bodies need to build immunity, remove waste products, form memories and more.
Sleeping under 7-9 hours, which is the recommendation set out by the World Health Organization, has shown to cause a heightened sense of pain and increase the perception of pain despite the physical cause, even from one night of less sleep. We now know that when sleep is impaired or disrupted, it impacts us physically and on a cognitive level.
Our body’s movement and function can be weakened when pain develops and especially when the issue has been chronic. Take shoulder tightness and headache as an example, the shoulders and upper trapezius muscles overcontract as its complimentary stabilising muscles that are around the shoulder blade are weak. When muscles overcontract, they constantly turn on even on movements that should not involve it. Stabilising muscles are intrinsically challenging to train because of inactivity during adulthood, low physical activity levels during childhood, compensations from previous injuries-to name a few. Through functional exercise and training, these weak links can be identified and strengthened which reduces the recurrence of pain.
