Chiropractic Treatment

I hurt my back on Tuesday, on Wednesday, out of curiosity, I googled about Chiropractor, and found www.chiropracticmalaysia.com.my. The nearest clinic to my home is at Taman Maluri, Cheras.

On Friday, my back did not get better, called up my regular orthopaedic doctor at 3pm but the nurse told me he was in the Operation Theater performing operation. Decided to try my luck to find Chiropractic Healthcare Associates with the only keyword I remember "Kompleks Maluri". Thankfully that a friend of mine was with me and she was familiar with the area I mentioned. Managed to find it easily.

At 4pm, stepped into the clinic and to my suprise the number of patients waiting for their turn for treatment/consultation. The receptionist told me to wait till 6pm, which then I went to a nearby shopping mall to have a meal and went back there at 6pm. Even if they told me to wait till 10pm, I would, cos the sore on my back was bad that almost every bit of body movement caused pain.

To cut the long story short, I was introduced to Dr Moira Robertson.

She did assessments on my back and then explained VERY clearly to me what had happen to me and did some adjustment on my back. After going for just one session, All I can say is, I STRONGLY recommend Chiropractic treatment for back problems instead of taking pain killers. As I've mentioned before in my previous post, taking pain killer just "covers up" the pain, but the root of the problem is not fixed yet, which Dr Moira too do not agree with her patients taking pain killers.

Went for my second treatment after lunch today and again, it just got better after today's adjustment.

My next treatment will be on Tuesday.

Lower Back Pain

In the past 2 years, I've strained my lower back a few times because lifting things that are heavy with a wrong posture. Instead of bending my knees and squat to pick the items up, I bend over and lift instead. Besides that, If I can recall clearly, sometimes I even twist my body to look behind or talk to friends while lifting the heavy item.

Two days ago, I strained my back again while playing a game where we had to build a human pyramid structure. I was one of the few guys who act as the base of the pyramid, lifting our friends up. All of sudden I can feel my lower back 'gave way' or the feeling of being PULLED.

I try not to take any muscle relaxer or pain killers because it only 'covers' up the pain with the underlying problem still there. Whatever body movement that will strain the back more will cause pain, While taking drugs to 'cover' the pain, we tend to move our body over the limit that causes strain, but not being aware of it. So it's damaging it more without knowing it. Another way of saying this is It's important to know that the pain is there to know the limit of my body movement and posture.

Went to google-ed about "Lower Back Pain" and there are hundread over websites providing information on Lower Back Pain.

I personally found these two sites very beneficial to me.

What You Need to Know about Back Pain
Low Back Pain: Tips on Pain Relief and Prevention

Trainers conduct workshop for fitness professionals

This article was published in the Metro Section of the Star newspaper on (28 July 2007) so I thought I'd put a copy up here before its lost to the archives.

By NG WEI LOON
Photos by SAMUEL ONG

weiloon@thestar.com.my

LOCAL fitness professionals and buffs were given the opportunity to learn the tricks of the trade from two master fitness trainers - Robert Sherman and Abbie Appel - from the Reebok University based in the United States recently.

They were in town for the two-day Reebok Resolution Asia Premier Fitness Certification Tour.

Sherman said their role was to impart knowledge on the latest techniques and equipment to boost the local instructors' level of fitness education and arm the professionals with the skills to train their clients better.

“We are impressed with the high level of energy displayed by the participants. And they certainly have the desire to improve. Their willingness to learn indicates that they are passionate about their profession,” he added.

Energetic: Participants in action during the training programme using resistance bands.

Sherman, who has been in the industry for more than 20 years said the growth segments in the trade were on personal, yoga and strength training.

Meanwhile, Appel said she was delighted with the participants' excitement in accepting new ideas in her debut appearance here.

“I specialise in stability ball workouts that engage the core muscles to work inside out. I also choreograph dance movements and incorporate sports drills in my fitness programmes,” she said.

Malaysia's master trainer Irene Lee was also present.

The three led the eager participants through various vigorous physical regimes.

Besides Malaysia, the workshop was also held in Hong Kong, Korea, India, Indonesia and Thailand this season.

Show of strength: Appel (front) and Sherman at the workshop.

“The workshop has been a regular feature in our calendar. We have been hosting this event in Malaysia for about 10 years,” said RSH (M) Sdn Bhd advertising and promotions manager Jay Mee Chuah, adding that the event drew about 50 participants.

As the climax to the two-day event, the participants took part in the Reebok Rhythm Challenge conducted by Lee.

The contestants were evaluated based on their flair, speed, endurance, physical condition, control, execution, energy and attire throughout the one-hour Hi/Low aerobic master class.

The top three winners received prizes worth RM2,300.

The best dressed female and male participants also took home RM500 worth of prizes each.

The event's co-sponsor included 100-Plus, Aster Spring, Brand's, Dermalogica, GNC, Gym and Care, Nestle, Pathlab and TruDtox.

Other partners were Maskulin, Nona, Rapi and Shape.

From Left: Irene Lee, Robert Sherman, Abbie Appel and finally, me! :D

Have been slacking

Yes, that is what is currently happening to me.

I'm in week 10 of my 4th semester, 5 weeks away from Finals, but I've not touched most of my tutorial exercises and worst still, lecture notes are not complete as it should be.

I think I need to take a break from the gym for a while, Or else i'll end up keep skipping college lectures for the sake of attending my favorite RPM and Yoga classes that clashes with each other at the gym.

Because of skipping lectures, I've failed 2 of my mid terms.

NO! don't teach me or come telling me you have to manage your time properly. That's not for you to tell me, not until you REALLY know how tight my schedule is balancing a few commitments at a time.

Currently, I'm pursuing;

1. Diploma in Social Science (Counselling) - Tunku Abdul Rahman College, Malaysia ( Full time )
   
2. Certificate in Buddhist Studies - Nalanda Institute, Malaysia ( Weekend course for 6 months, until December 2007 )
   
3. Personal Trainer Certification - International Sport Sciences Assiciation ( Open book with a time frame of 2 years )
   

3 academic certifications at a time.
Hardly have time to breath, so hard until working out at the gym is a problem itself.

For the moment, Priority will be my college's stuffs. So with 5 weeks to go, it's not too late to work things out yet.

Vitamin Check

This article was published in the Main Page of the Star newspaper today
(14 July 2007) so I thought I'd put a copy up here before its lost to the archives.

Vitamin check: Ensuring health supplements are what they are claim to be

By AUDREY EDWARDS and PAUL CHOO

newsdesk@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry will conduct an exercise to verify the vitamin and mineral content in health supplements as claimed by manufacturers.

Its minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek told The Star that the assessment would take three months and would be carried out by its food quality and safety, and pharmaceutical services divisions.

“There are plenty of vitamins and minerals as claimed, but nobody knows whether this is true or not. It is a long-term continuous exercise,” he said.

He said that another reason for the study was because vitamins or minerals when consumed excessively can sometimes do “more harm than good.”

“A study indicates that 20% of Malaysians, mostly in urban areas, are fond of taking food supplements,” he said, adding that the ministry was increasingly concerned about food quality and safety.

According to the Malaysian Dietary Supplement Association, Malaysians spend between RM50 and RM100 a month on health supplements.

The association found that vitamins C, E, B complex, multivitamins, folic acid and calcium are among the more popular dietary supplements, while evening primrose oil, Omega 3 fish oil, gingko biloba, royal jelly and cod liver oil make up popular natural supplements.

In a report, the association stated that the health supplement and traditional medicine industry in the country was worth RM4.5bil, with an annual growth rate of 10% to 12%.

Dr Chua also disclosed that the World Health Organisation has selected Malaysia as its Global Service Centre where administrative and financial services for all WHO offices worldwide will be handled.

He said that Kuala Lumpur was chosen from a shortlist which included Chennai, New Delhi and Manila.

Renovations on the office would begin in October with training and competency operations. The initial workforce is expected to be between 15 and 20 WHO officers from Geneva, and 70 to 80 local employees.

Dr Chua said full operations were expected to begin next year while staff intake would be conducted in stages until the end of 2009 when the Global Service Centre should employ about 200 locals.

Being a user of various supplements myself, I really do hope the government will conduct the check and release a list of supplements that are really safe to be used.

What's the use of conducting the check and not letting to public know about it right?

Feeling The Stretch On Knee's Ligament

I started my first yoga class in May under Jazamine, however after 3 classes, I stopped for the whole month of June due to my tight schedule in various activities. I started again last week and train under two different instructors from Fitness First Leisure Mall branch.

Out of the two different instructors, I can't help but to say that I like MC's class. Yes, MC is a guy instructor (I'm straight, I date girls only). I really like the way he conduct his class.

Besides conducting classes like the other 2 instructors, MC has an extra edge for explaining to us anatomical terms. For instance, we were asked to perform Upavistha Konasana (Wide-Angle Seated Forward Bend), and I felt some stretch on my both knee's lateral ligament, and I think it's very common for beginners to do it wrongly and feel the stretch on the knee, which wasn't meant to be. And MC explained to us that we are NOT supposed to feel the stretch on the knee, which previously I thought it was okay. If we feel the stretch on the knee, all we need to do is to reduce the split and bend our knees a little.

Upavistha Konasana (Wide-Angle Seated Forward Bend), infact is the same to my Taekwondo warming up routine, "Split-forward-down",just different command. I'm starting to think weather my ACL Tear has anything to do with wrong guidance on warming up by our Taekwondo instructors ? If it's not totally related, but at least partially? I remember clearly on how we were forced to open up our split as big as possible and straighten legs, while being pushed from our back.

My Tears Rolled After Watching This

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots. Compared with Dick Hoyt, I fail.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.
Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.``He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an institution'

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain'

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want to do that.'' Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still,
he tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore for two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon. ``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time'? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' one doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.''

So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''

Watch the video at Youtube

Link: www.teamhoyt.com