Dr. Sonya Hamilton
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Sonya's Blog

Advice for office workers

3/4/2015

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A sedentary lifestyle can take a physical toll on those who spend their days sitting at a desk for hours on end. Recent research has demonstrated a link between the amount of time you spend sitting during the day with poorer health outcomes, and a greater risk of disease. In my practice, it is common for me to see patients who experience muscle strains, neck pain, and headaches, all related to computer use and long hours spent sitting without a break. The human body needs to move! The longer you spend in one position, the more stress and strain your muscles, ligaments, and joints must endure.

  Repetitive and long term strain on your back and neck can result in muscle imbalances, contributing to bad posture. A common condition that can be caused by long hours of computer use is known as Upper Cross Syndrome (UCS).  UCS results from a pattern of weakened muscles of the mid-back and neck, alongside overused and tightened muscles trying to counteract the steady pull of gravity. People with UCS often have forward slumped shoulders, rounding of their upper back and a forward jutting head. Sounds familiar? Besides perpetuating bad posture, UCS has a number of consequences for the body, both short and long term, that are important to consider. In the short term, you can experience discomfort and pain and may also have headaches associated with muscle strains. The muscle imbalance pattern of the upper back and neck may also put you at risk for arm pain and injury to the shoulders. In the long term, you may be at greater risk for degenerative joint disease of the upper back and neck, and osteoarthritis. 

So what can you do to help your body feel better? To counteract the effects of sedentary tasks, take a number of short breaks throughout your day to keep your body moving, and break up the time spent hunched over your desk. The Canadian Chiropractic Association has created a great free app called Straighten Up Canada to help motivate you to take posture breaks throughout the day (it’s free, and available for Apple and android mobile devices). Your plan should also include stretching your overworked muscles (pecs, and upper traps) and strengthening those that have become weak. Exercises for your mid back that involve drawing your shoulder blades down and together can help strengthen the key muscles that help you to sit up straighter and feel better. A little effort throughout the day can go a long way towards improving your posture and reducing the long term stress and strain put on the joints of your neck and back.


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Supplement your 2015 health goals with green tea

1/20/2015

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Green tea has been dubbed as the ‘healthiest beverage on the planet’ by some health magazines and bloggers, but how real are these claims? Can green tea help support your healthy lifestyle and goals for the new year? Surprisingly, green tea has four important health benefits that have been shown through research and clinical trials.

  • Green tea contains compounds that can help improve your health. These compounds or polyphenols are catechins and flavinoids. Polyphenols in green tea are powerful antioxidants, which help reduce the formation of free radicals in the body, thus protecting cells from damage. (8)
  • Green tea has been show to aid in weight loss efforts. Although some claim that green tea can increase your fat burning and boost your metabolism, a Cochrane Review found the evidence to support these large claims was not sufficient. It has been shown however that the combination of catechins and caffeine in green tea can support efforts of weight loss and can decrease the development of obesity. (3,6)
  •  Green tea can help with brain function. The presence of L-theanine along with caffeine has been shown to have mild anti-anxiety effects and improve your attention. Green tea has less caffeine than coffee (it has 25mg of caffeine per 8oz) but some report having energy and greater productivity when they drink green tea. It is recommended that your upper limit of caffeine intake in a day is approximately 300-400mg, which depends on your health condition and if you are taking any medications. (7)
  • The greatest claim and most studied health benefit of green tea is its ability to lower your risk of cancer. It has been noted that in countries where green tea consumption is high (such as Japan), the incidence and risk of cancer is decreased. Looking at the biology of cancer, oxidative damage to cells (caused by free radicals) contributes to cancer development. Antioxidants have a protective effect against oxidative change, and as mentioned above, green tea is full of antioxidants. (4) The evidence is strongest for lowering the risk of three types of cancers: breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colorectal cancer. Several studies on breast cancer have found that women who drank the most green tea had a decreased risk of developing breast cancer. (5) Green tea has also been found to be associated with a decreased risk of advanced prostate cancer and colorectal cancer.(2,9) It has been shown that regular consumption of green tea may reduce your risk of colorectal cancer. The amount of tea, and the duration in years of consumption, tend to be the most important factors for protective health effects.
Adding green tea into your diet can be a great way to support your healthy life choices. A few things to consider- you should try and aim for a green tea of good quality (a personal favourite is the organic Japanese Sencha sold by David’s Tea). Secondly, it is important to remember that green tea has caffeine in it, so if you are pregnant or are on certain medications you should take this into consideration and speak with a healthcare provider. Research has shown that 2-3 cups per day (227ml cup), up to a maximum of 10 cups per day can provide you with healthy benefits! (1)

References
  1. University of Maryland Medical Centre http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/green-tea
  2. Kurahashi N., Sasazuki S., Iwasaki M., Inoue M., and T. Shoichiro. Green Tea Consumption and Prostate Cancer Risk in Japanese Men: A Prospective Study. J. Epidemiol. (2008) 167  (1):  71-77.
  3. Jurgens TM, Whelan AM, Killian L, Doucette S, Kirk S, Foy E. Green tea for weight loss and weight maintenance in overweight or obese adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012 Dec 12;12:CD008650.
  4. Meschino Health. Green Tea: It’s role in cancer and heart disease prevention. http://www.meschinohealth.com/ArticleDirectory/Green_Tea_Cancer_and_Heart_Disease_Prevention
  5. Sun CL, Yuan JM, Koh WP, Yu MC. Green tea, black tea and breast cancer risk: a meta-analysis of epidemiological studies. Carcinogenesis. 2006 Jul;27(7):1310-5.
  6. Diepvens K., Westerterp KR., Westerterp-Plantenga MS.. Obesity and thermogenesis related to the consumption of caffeine, ephedrine, capsaicin, and green tea. American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. Published 1 January 2007 Vol. 292 no. 1,  R77-R85.
  7. Kelly SP, Gomez-Ramirez M, Montesi JL, Foxe JJ. L-theanine and caffeine in combination affect human cognition as evidenced by oscillatory alpha-band activity and attention task performance. J Nutr. 2008 Aug;138(8):1572S-1577S.
  8. Serafini M, Ghiselli A, Ferro-Luzzi A. In vivo antioxidant effect of green and black tea in man. Eur J Clin Nutr. 1996 Jan;50(1):28-32.
  9. Yang G, Shu XO, Li H, Chow WH, Ji BT, Zhang X, Gao YT, Zheng W. Prospective cohort study of green tea consumption and colorectal cancer risk in women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2007 Jun;16(6):1219-23.

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Strong Legs for a Safe Winter!

12/10/2014

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Every year approximately 1 in 3 Canadians over the age of 65 falls, and these numbers can go up significantly over the winter months. One of the key ways you can avoid slips and falls during the winter months (or any month!), is ensuring you exercise regularly and keep your legs strong. Strength and balance help you to recover more easily should you slip on the ice, and in turn you reduce your risk of injury. Here are 3 helpful exercises that you can do at home to maintain strong legs:


Wall squats


Standing with your back against the wall, place your feet in front of you so that your shoelaces are in front of your knees. Squat down bending your knees to a comfortable position or until they are at a 90 degree angle (do not exceed).if you are new to this exercise or are worried about being unsteady, ensure you have a chair to hang onto nearby or underneath you. Hold this squat position for 30-60 seconds, stand up and rest for 60 seconds and repeat 2 more times. Try to work up your endurance each day by challenging longer holds or more sets.

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Calf raises


Hold onto something solid for support and balance, such as a counter, chair, or wall. Push up onto the your tiptoes as high as possible and hold for 10 seconds, lower your heels to the floor very slowly. Repeat 10-15 times. When you are ready to make this more challenging try balancing on one leg while doing the raise, or increasing the amount of time you hold the position.




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Clamshell for glutes


Lay on your side with your knees bent and ankles and toes together. Slowly raise the top knee and rotate the hip out while keeping your toes together, and hold for 10 seconds. Keep your pelvis still and in line. Lower your knee back down slowly. Repeat 10 times, and switch to repeat on the other side. To make this more challenging, extend the leg our straight instead of bending it, or increase the reps.



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Gluten.. Friend and Foe

11/27/2014

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Gluten seems to be the big buzz word that is most certainly making its way to the most hated list of 2014. One thing that I have found however with this so-called “fad” is that people seem to forget that there are those out there who legitimately suffer from eating gluten, often in silence. Gluten-free is not necessarily healthier for you if you are not gluten intolerant, particularly if you buy the expensive and often calorie-laden products which replace gluten with other over-processed ingredients. However for those who have suffered with this uncomfortable allergy, gluten free is a way of life, which has now become a bit easier thanks to the mainstream market.

The key reason for this blog post, is that I myself have suffered from gluten intolerance for many years, but was only officially diagnosed 4 years ago. I wanted to take this blog post to discuss how it really feels to suffer from gluten intolerance, and what you can do about it.

My gluten intolerance has been with me mildly throughout my life (unbeknownst to me), but it came to rear its ugly head in my mid-20s. Often I dismissed my symptoms as simply stress-related or even something that ran in my family. Some of the early symptoms (which I now can attribute), included:

  • feeling overly tired after consuming gluten heavy meals, such as my morning bagel “food coma”
  • bloating of my belly, and inability to change it with a healthy lifestyle
  • embarrassing flatulence!
  • loose stools at least once a day
  • nausea after consuming beer, and other gluten heavy items
After speaking with my friend’s mom, who had recently solved her mystery allergies (surprise- it was gluten), I myself decided to investigate why I felt ill and bloated all the time. At first I thought it was perhaps soy, or yeast intolerance. I was diagnosed through a blood test with my naturopathic doctor, which assessed how my immune system markers responded to certain allergens. The day that the test came back was a huge surprise to me. The ND told me that I could no longer eat anything containing gluten, and shockingly I was also intolerant to dairy products. My world came crashing down around me, essentially most things I ate and enjoyed were now out of bounds. My most favourite snack at the time: brie and baguette…no more! Everything seemed so much more complicated to me, as I was facing a future of endless salads. I already had a very healthy diet, lunch often consisted of something like whole wheat pasta salad with yogurt and fruit. Believe it or not, there was a time when no one really knew what gluten was… it was still like that when I was diagnosed. I was handed a list of very expensive health-food brands that would help me out and was told to keep close watch on food labels from that point forward. Thankfully I did my research and avoided many of these replacement products which were expensive, not necessarily healthy, and on the most part- gross!

After my initial shock, I decided to take my diet very seriously and I embarked on a gluten free no tolerance diet for almost half a year. In that “detox” time, any time I accidentally ingested gluten my symptoms returned back with a vengeance. Something else I learned in that time after much research, gluten and dairy intolerances are often linked in the same person, and can be missed if you try to do your own elimination diet. Working with a nutrition professional (ND, DC, RD) is key in making sure you catch what ails you. Also, thankfully due to my chiropractic education and nutrition classes I learned the important benefits of supplements for people with digestive problems. From my personal experience the use of Omega 3, and probiotics have helped me recover from years of intestinal neglect. Following my complete abstinence from gluten, I was able to comfortably add some back into my diet without pain. This of course isn’t possible for everyone and should be explored carefully with the advice of your health and wellness team.

Unlike many people these days who bemoan the gluten-free lifestyle, I am so thankful to be able to order delicious baked goods that will not cause me an afternoon of pain without having to endure the nasty textures of the oldschool gluten free ‘goods’. I think we still have a long way to go with regards to gluten intolerance awareness, as discussing the symptoms still seem taboo to most – the dialogue has started at least! Pay attention to your belly and what it is telling you, and do not be afraid to see if going gluten-free helps you out!

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about living with gluten intolerance – chiropractors are educated in nutrition and nutritional supplementation- drhamilton@bloorwesthealthcentre.ca

Always discuss diet and lifestyle changes with your healthcare team, especially if you are considering eliminating certain foods as you may become predisposed to certain nutritional deficiencies.

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Welcome!

11/24/2014

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Welcome to my new website!

I am excited to be providing care to the Bloor West community of Toronto. To book an appointment or connect with me please visit the “Contact” section of my site.
-Sonya

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Dr. Sonya Hamilton
DrSonyaHamilton@gmail.com
905-997-6875- Mississauga


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  • Home
  • Meet Dr Hamilton
    • Services >
      • Orthotics
  • About Chiropractic
    • What do chiropractors treat?
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