Obviously, I haven’t blogged in quite awhile. I went back to school, full time, in September to learn how to build a business plan. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to use this business for my plan, as it is already in existence and I had to use a new business. So, I went for graphic design – my other passion.

I graduated from school on March 2 and have been working on applying the knowledge to this fledgling business. In conversation, the subject of the Dragon’s Den came up – a national tv show where entrepreneurs get to pitch their product in hopes of receiving investors and investment in their company. It was mentioned, yet again, that I should audition for it.

I looked when the dates were for auditions on Wednesday, March 21st. Holy cow! Auditions were for the following Monday, March 26 – and I’d better get my ducks in a row if I was going to audition. Five days ensued of being buried in statistics and research and practicing my ‘pitch’.

Monday, the 26th dawned, grey and drizzling. I got to the auditions about 10:45 and was #12. I sat with the other auditioners, waiting for my number to be called.

Finally, it was my turn. Although nervous, I presented to the producers and was requested to use the product on two of the five panelists. Once the questions started, my nervousness was eliminated, and I answered all their questions with confidence. There is no indication of whether you are going to be chosen or not, but they did ask me if I was chosen, how would I present it. I have to admit that question stumped me for a few minutes.

‘Tune’ in tomorrow for the next step in my journey!

Have a pain conquered day!

Andrea
Pain Conqueror

Obesity and asthma linked

After being diagnosed with asthma, and knowing I need to lose a significant amount of weight, including belly fat (ugh – how’d that happen?), I decided to research the correlation between asthma and obesity. Recent studies have shown that overweight and specifically, obese people are more likely to develop asthma than thinner folks.

The studies were done on both central obesity (belly fat) and overall obesity. The centrally obese group were found to be 1.44 times more likely to develop asthma and overall obese people were 1.81 times more likely to develop the disease. The studies found that both central and overall obesity not only has an individual effect, but also an additive effect when they are combined.

Central obesity is closely related with insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, although the studies were unclear how all of this related to asthma. I also found other research that suggested that many times pulmonary hypertension was misdiagnosed as asthma as it presents many of the same symptoms.

Obviously, whatever the correlation between asthma and obesity is, being obese is unhealthy and leads to all kinds of  disease and health issues. Although, from my research, it’s not obesity that causes the issues, but body inflammation that causes the problems, including obesity.  Not being one that likes to take drugs, including inhalers, I decided that a weight elimination program was in order, along with a fitness program to increase my lung capacity and reduce the stress on my body.

I’m finding that even just taking a 2km walk a day, which takes less than half an hour, is helping to increase my lung capacity and reduce the shortness of breath symptoms. I also notice, and this is a very bad habit of mine, that eating while sitting on the couch, with my feet on the ottoman and knees up, watching tv leaves me feeling short of breath with asthma like symptoms.

Today  is as good as any to change those things that are not promoting good health. If I don’t change something, nothing will change. And quite honestly, I’m tired of feeling tired, lugging around excess ‘baggage’, not having enough air in my lungs, and treating my body so poorly.

Today, I start my journey to eliminate my own weight issues and obesity and eliminate the asthma I’ve been diagnosed with. I know I can do it. Care to join me?

Have a pain conquered day!
The Pain Conqueror

It’s amazing how our beliefs can limit us. In so many instances, people that have been diagnosed with an illness have refused to believe that they will not be able to do the things they could before. And by just sheer will-power they have succeeded in overcoming their challenges.

What are your beliefs in regards to your body? Your age? Your ability or disability? Do you believe that it limits you? Do you spend more time focusing on what you can’t do than on what you can do? I realized not so long ago that I was focusing on how restricted my leg was with my sciatica. Last week, as I walked around the lake, I noticed I was limping again, and focusing on how sore my knee was.

Immediately, I changed my focus. Amazingly, I stopped limping. I loosened my hips as I walked, swinging my pelvis to encourage blood flow and joint flexibility. Within a few steps I had stopped limping and was striding out. I still felt a slight twinge in my knee from it not tracking properly, but nothing like it had been at the start of the walk.

The key to being flexible and healthy is staying active, no matter what. Our bodies are not meant to be sedentary, and the more we sit in one place, the more harm we do to ourselves. Not just from a movement point of view, but also mentally. The more we move our joints, the more we lubricate them, and the more flexibility we have. Painful joints are usually caused by inflammation. Treat the inflammation, reduce the pain, increase mobility and flexibility. Royal Relief does that. It treats the inflammation almost immediately, so that you can get on with being active – now.

I’ve found, that with a good topical anti-inflammatory and moving every hour, even if it’s just to stand up and walk around the office, that my mobility and flexibility has increased considerably. But then, I believe that I’m only limited by my beliefs. How about you?

Andrea Chapman
The Pain Conqueror

I mentioned in an earlier blog that doctors had advised me that I had osteoarthritis in my left knee and to have surgery. Aside from recent studies that said surgery for many patients did not help, I knew that what they termed as osteoarthritis was not. I’m a firm believer that we know our bodies best, and just because a doctor tells you that it’s such and such, does not necessarily make it so.

In fact, my chiropractor at the time also took x-rays and advised me that there was not enough deterioration to be causing the discomfort I had, or where the issue was showing up – below my knee to the inside of my calf. It turns out that it is tendonitis from my knee not tracking properly.

Regardless of whether you have osteoarthritis or the issue I have, exercise and being active is key to staying mobile and flexible. The leading cause of disability in adults is knee arthritis. Recent studies have found that even if you can’t walk very fast, that by maintaining any level of activity increases your ability to walk faster. The study showed that walking speed increased regardless of whether one was in the top activity group or not.

I have taken to walking 5 days a week, and find my speed and stamina has greatly improved. I’m walking 6,000 steps per day, and looking to increase that to 9,000. My goal is to walk three times around the lake in 45 minutes. Currently, twice around is taking me 50 minutes.  Two and half hours per week is all they recommend to improve your mobility. That’s only 1/2 hour walk, five times a week. You know you can do it!

Of course, I use Royal Relief before and after the walk to keep any inflammation down

Enjoy a pain conquered day!

Andrea
The Pain Conqueror

I believe that we each know our bodies better than anyone else. Although there is no diabetes in my family, for some reason, it is a concern to me. I do have an incredible sweet tooth, and find that sugar affects my mood and my metabolism quite significantly.

On an earlier blog, I mentioned that walking 3,000 steps 5 days a week is an easily attainable goal to maintain fitness, health and for weight loss. A recent study yesterday confirmed that walking 3,000 steps per day does, in fact, help prevent diabetes. Adult onset diabetes has been proven to be caused by poor diet, and a sedentary lifestyle.

The study, done over a five year period, found those that walked 3,000 steps per day, were more likely to increase those steps to the popular 10,000 steps per day. Those that increased their steps to the recommended 10,000 steps per day were found to have their insulin sensitivity levels improve 3 times over those that only walked 3,000 steps per day, five days a week. To read more about this study, you can find it here: http://bit.ly/fVsnyY.

As I’m determined this year to attain my fitness goals, starting off with once or twice around the lake is a good goal for the first couple of weeks. I’ll increase that as my stamina and pace increases.

Do you have a favorite place to walk? Come on out and join me!

Enjoy a pain conquered day!

Andrea Chapman
The Pain Conqueror

I’ve been managing my knee pain for a couple of years now, fairly successfully. Like most people, there are days that it seems to be worse than others. And no, it isn’t arthritis.

For the past couple of years, I’ve talked to a myriad of doctors and health professionals, including, chiropractors, massage therapists, medical doctors, naturopathic doctors, specialists and surgeons. And yes, they all say, yup, you have knee pain. And all of them seemed to be stumped as to why I had swelling below my knee to the inside of my calf.

My current chiropractor had advised me quite some time ago that my knee wasn’t tracking properly and had given me some exercises to strengthen the left leg. He said my left quad was quite weak (from limping and favoring that knee/leg). So I did the exercises, although sporadically. And still, the knee pain persisted, and at times, extremely painful and swollen.

My chiropractor would adjust my knee carefully with the activator and it would be fine for a while. So last week, frustrated with why it would swell and be so painful with seemingly no aggravation, I asked him why and what was the cause of it.

He advised me that because the knee wasn’t tracking properly, that there’s a tendon that runs from my knee to the spot where it attaches to the muscle. Essentially, what I have in my knee is tendonitis. He said that because the knee doesn’t track properly, it’s putting stress on the tendon and aggravating it. Of course, the more out of alignment my knee is, the more the stress on the tendon.

Aha! So now I have an answer and a definitive reason for doing my knee squats. The best way to start and easiest is to hang on to a door frame and squat down as far as you can go, and rise up again. Five a day. That’s it. I’ve already noticed a difference.

Have a pain conquered day!

The Pain Conqueror
Andrea

Finally! Tai Chi classes started on Monday. I’ve been waiting since last January to take these classes. Sometimes life gets in our way, so we put off doing things that we want to do. Anyway, the time is right and I’m in class now.

I’m so glad I joined. We started off learning some very relaxing moves – and nothing that strains the joints. Interestingly enough, even though there were no moves that particularly strained anything, I was quite surprised that the back of my legs was a little stiff yesterday.

The movements are very fluid and relaxing, and I think it’s holding the positions that may have caused the slight stiffness. One in particular, I could feel in my lower back, right where I have the issue with my sciatic nerve.

It’s simply an exercise of bending your knees, bending over and letting your arms hang. You do hang for a while before lifting yourself back up – with your shoulders, not your lower back. It’s amazing what a difference that makes. According to the instructor, this move is excellent for people with low back pain.

I’m looking forward to next week, and learning more moves. In the meantime, I will practice what I have learned so far, and enjoy the release of stress and subsequent good feelings!

Have a pain conquered day!

Andrea
The Pain Conqueror

http://www.royal-relief.com

A number of weeks ago I wrote about Tai Chi and it’s benefits and how I was looking forward to the summer sessions. Unfortunately, the summer sessions never began due to a lack of interest. How disappointing! I had been looking forward to learning Tai Chi, and especially to be exercising outdoors.

The fall sessions start tonight, and I’m looking forward to learning this gentle but effective exercise. When I was living in Langley, I used to walk the Rotary Trail, and remember seeing the classes. It would be early morning, just at sunrise, and the classes would be held on the grass, overlooking the river. The sun would be peeking through the leaves and dappling the ground, while the Tai Chi class would move ever so gracefully.

They all looked so graceful, calm and peaceful – and even way back then I wanted to learn Tai Chi. Funny how we put things off that are good for us – and something we’d probably enjoy. But I’ve started a new regimen today, and began the day doing my 10 minutes of yoga exercises, and 50 minutes of brisk walking.

And now, I’m determined to eliminate my weight, and I am focusing on doing just that. I understand that Tai Chi will help with stress reduction, among other things.

I’ll let you know how the first lesson goes – I’m looking forward to it!

While attending the Lynden Fair the other day, I stopped by a booth that had some sort of electrical impulse gadget that the gentleman swore would take any pain away. Well certainly I had to try it as I experience shoulder pain, just above my rib cage and around my shoulder blade.

He clicked this machine all over my back, and around my shoulder blade where I had the shoulder pain – and yes, it did give me a slight electrical shock, but nothing extraordinary. And yes, the pain did go away for a few minutes, but as I walked away, the pain returned.

The only reason I can think that my shoulder blade/ribs hurt, is from a chiropractic adjustment gone wrong. It happened last year at an appointment (not with the activator), and left me in excruciating pain. Although I no longer live in that area, I’ve been left with a majorly uncomfortable issue.

I find that at certain times, my shoulder blade is quite swollen, along with the shoulder pain. Without a doubt, the Royal Relief helps bring the swelling down and eases the shoulder pain, but almost always, a chiropractic adjustment is required.

In dealing with this painful issue though, I realized the other day, that by lying on my back and stretching out my arms, it relieves the shoulder pain  almost immediately. Putting my hands under my head, I can feel the pull in the muscles under my arm, in my neck, and down my back to my shoulder blade.

My chiropractor had suggested lying on an exercise ball and stretch my arms out to alleviate my shoulder pain. I’ve found that isn’t the most effective, but certainly laying on the ground with my hands under my head extremely helpful in stretching my muscles and relieving my shoulder pain.

Enjoy a pain conquered day!

Andrea
The Pain Conqueror

Ever wonder why you don’t do something that makes you feel good? I know yoga helps my back/knee issues, and yet, I seem to have had difficulty in actually making myself get up in the morning and actually do my yoga.

And that’s just silly. When I do my morning stretches, then go for a walk, it sets the day off perfectly! I feel good, energized and ready for anything. I have found the yoga a tremendous benefit in easing my sciatica and knee. What amazed me was how tight my left leg is. In other words how restricted I am in that one leg. With certain moves of yoga, I can really feel it where my sciatica gives me a problem. My theory is, if I can feel it, then it’s a good thing and to keep at it to stretch out those areas.

So last week, I went on a 4 hour drive to visit my Mom for her birthday. Normally, sitting that long tightens my leg up considerably, so that when I get out of the car, I can barely walk. It usually takes a bit of stretching and walking around to loosen up my knee and lower back.

Well this trip, I’d done my yoga/walk in the morning, and had purchased a massaging seat cushion for my car. I can only tell you that I had absolutely no problem with stiffness or pain when I got out of the car. Between the yoga and massaging seat cushion, I’m sure they both helped to alleviate the problem of stiffness in my back and leg!

Enjoy a pain conquered day!

Andrea
The Pain Conqueror