Nutrition
Sleep
Track with sleep cycle, try to average 8hrs
Less sleep increases sensitivity to painful stimuli and is associated with the onset of chronic pain problems.
Most people start to move towards a more “pro-inflammatory” state at less than 7hrs sleep
Aim for a 1g of protein a day for each kg of healthy body weight.
100g of meat, fish or nuts will give you approx 20g of protein as a rough guide.
Look to get this from animal sources where possible. Nuts are an acceptable substitute for 1 portion a day.
3 eggs will provide approx 21grams
Ideally you would split this...
Highlights
Psychosocial symptoms are important predictors of those that do worse with chronic low back pain.
Currently the prevailing view is that psychosocial symptoms drive systemic inflammation.
Psychosocial problems increase inflammation, and inflammation increases psychosocial symptoms.
Psychosocial treatments decrease inflammation and reducing inflammation improves psychosocial symptoms.
The relationship is bidirectional and we should remember this when dealing with patients with psychosocial symptoms.
Explaining this relationship to patients may reduce the stigma associated with psychosocial...
In part 1 we discussed the importance of body fat to flattening your lower abdominals. In this part we will discuss the importance of gut health to flat abdominals.
As the abdominals lie on top of large parts of intestinal tract a blockage, swelling or inflammation within the intestinal tract will cause an expansion in the intestine and mechanically stretch out the overlying abdominals. Alternatively pain signals from the intestines (and other organs) can refer pain signals in to the abdominal muscles that are fed by the nerves at the same level.
Constipation based blockages are most prevalent...