To better serve my patients and as part of my commitment to continually myself professionally, I took leave from my office from 17 November 2011 to 22 November 2011 to attend the Koren Specific Technique (KST) in Melbourne. I had the honour to meet Dr Tedd Koren, the founder of KST and had the first hand experience of KST, i.e. I got adjusted using KST. I was surprised at its effectiveness, despite it being so gentle, and equally impressed with the specificity of the technique. For those of you who are familiar with Chiropractic jargons, KST is derived mainly from Directional Non-Force Technique (DNFT) and Spinal Coloumn Stressology, and the adjustment is done using an adjusting instrument called the Arthrostim. Using a binary feedback through the detection of slight change at the back of one’s skull during a mental challenge (I know this sounds complicated), called the Occipital Drop, KST allows the practitioner the ability to analyse the location of a misalignment (subluxation) and accurately correct it using the Arthrostim adjusting instrument. This technique does not involve any cracking or popping of the joints and can be done in any positions, particularly in positions that produce pain. The Arthrostim is an automatic toggle machine that can introduce a controlled tap as fast as 12 times per second. In line with our office’s philosophy of providing customized care to each individual, I will be incorporating KST into my patients’ treatment accordingly. Apart from learning some great chiropractic stuff, I also had a great time meeting many chiropractors from Australia, Malaysia and USA. Joanne, Jay Ler and I took time to explore the city of Melbourne and also visited the Philip Island to see penguins and visit the chocolate factory, winery and koala conservation. All in all, it was a very fruitful trip.
Hi, my name is spine and I am an important part of you, yes you! I am the reason that you are able to maintain the position that you are in now and also to bend forward, backwards, sideways and rotate your body.
I am made up of 24 bones called vertebrae stacked together and separated by a jelly like substance called discs. 7 of these bones are found in the neck, 12 in the upper back and 5 in the lower back. I protect a very soft tissue called the spinal cord. The spinal cord connects the brain to the rest of your body. You have muscles, ligaments and organs in your body and all these are controlled by the brain. The spinal cord and its fine extensions called nerves form the information highway between the brain and these structures. My job is to protect the spinal cord and the brain. So, you can see that I have a very important job to do. Inbetween the vertebrae, there are small holes that allow the spinal cord to branch out as nerves to reach the muscles, ligaments and organs.
When I am healthy and sitting in good position, the nerves will be happy. When I get knocked out of position, I can step or impinge on the nerves. Strong I may be, I can get knocked out of position quite easily, such as poor sitting posture, sleeping posture, emotional stress, or even the birthing process. When I am out of position, I can cause a lot of discomforts, such as aches, numbness, tingling sensations, degenerations, dis-eases etc. Most people think when they are in pain, it is because of the muscles and other things. They don’t think of me first. They SHOULD! You have to understand this: All muscles attach to bones. When I am out of position, I can cause muscle strains as well, in addition to nerve impingements. Me being out of position can also cause dis-ease and organ dysfunctions and this can lead to a lot of health problems. If I am the cause of the discomforts and dis-eases, as with most cases, will the medications that people take solve the problem? Or the massage, plasters, etc? Most of the time, I am THE CAUSE. So, seeing a chiropractor to get me aligned is the best way to help yourself. When I am lined up properly, discomforts fade away, health improves, and you live longer.
Wait no longer, see my chiropractor, Dr Kelvin Ng today. Call 6336 7714.
Have you heard of the word “Forward Head Carriage (FHC)”? If you haven’t, look around you. Do you see people sitting or standing with their head in front of their shoulder? That is what is it. Our head, when in neutral position, weighs only 12 pounds. Every inch that you move your head forward adds 10 pounds to the weight of your head, ie. if instead of sitting upright, you slouch forward, your head can become heavier by 30 pounds to 42 pounds. It then becomes commonsensical for your neck muscles to become fatigued after sitting in this position all day because it is supporting an additional 30 pounds of weight. Long term sitting posture like that can cause many problems, such as neck strains, tightness, aches, headaches, upper back pain, lower back pain, shoulder pain, etc, in short, misalignments in the spine. Misalignments as such can cause some of these bones to become locked in a wrong position. Over time, it becomes more difficult to sit in an ideal position and this soon becomes a habit, which will be difficult to break. This can then lead to more misalignments and ultimately, poor posture or FHC. This can further lead to degenerations in the spine. When someone has FHC, the best way to deal with it is through chiropractic care. Chiropractors are trained to look for such misalignments and correct them. When the spine is well aligned, not only with one’s posture become better, but the accompanying discomforts will fade away. Degeneration in the spine can also be prevented. If you haven’t been to a chiropractor, you are likely to have misalignments in your spine and there is a high chance that your spine may need some work. To find out how we can help, give us a call at 6336 7714.
When your precious little bundle of joy comes along, your world is changed in an instant. Suddenly, you have a rapidly growing load to carry around with you wherever you go. Whether it’s from the changing table or the floor, you bend over and lift your child more times than you can count every day. As you cradle your baby and marvel at your miracle, you put your neck into flexion for hours at a time. Poor posture and bad lifting habits contribute to the wearing down of your spine. In this article we will explore healthier spinal habits for parents. Your spine is made up of twenty-four movable individual bones called vertebrae. These allow you to twist, turn, and bend in varying directions and degrees, while at the same time protecting your precious spinal cord within. Between each vertebrae is an inter-vertebral disc designed to absorb shock and facilitate movement.
The ideal shape of the spine is an “S-shaped” curve from front to back. You may be thinking, “aren’t curves in the spine bad?” Side to side curves are called scoliosis, and this condition can be a problem if not dealt with. The S-curve from front to back is the norm, and it is the other way that our bodies absorb shock every time we take a step. It takes work to maintain our curves. The first step in spinal degeneration is the loss of curve. If we allow our bodies to follow the path of least resistance, we begin to slouch, roll our shoulders forward, and display forward head carriage. Every inch forward your head sits adds ten pounds to the weight of your head; your posterior neck muscles must work that much harder to hold your head up. Proper posture maintains that if we drop an imaginary line from our ears down when looking at our bodies from the side, this line should pass through points at the top of the shoulder, the middle of the hip bone, the side of your knees and the outer bony bump of the ankle. If this is not the case with you, it may be a sign that the curves in your spine have begun to change.
We’ve all gone to furniture stores and seen the display of the big mechanical hammer pounding into a chair to demonstrate shock absorption. What most of us don’t realize is that our spines are taking hits like this every day in the normal activities of daily living. Every time we bend forward to pick up the baby or twist awkwardly to make the bed, we are compressing the disc and pushing it backwards. Raising a child requires bending and lifting hundreds of times per day. Combine this with poor posture habits which change the spinal curves. Multiply this by years, and you have the recipe for vertebrae and disc degeneration which manifests as back and neck pain.
So what can you do to help maintain your spine? - Avoid sitting hunched over baby with your shoulders rolled forward and chin down. If you notice you have been in this position for an extended period, take a few minutes to drape your body over a yoga ball face up with your arms out at your sides, palms up, and neck back. This will stretch your anterior chest muscles and help the curve in your neck.
- Don’t hold the phone against your shoulder with your head, especially when your arms are full with the baby. Use a hands free headset or speaker phone.
- Switch arms when breast or bottle feeding your baby, even if it feels weird. This is also good for the baby in that it avoids the baby only ever turning it’s head to one side.
- Be aware of your posture when holding your child. Women have wider hips than men, and this can make a very comfortable seat for the child. However, this position usually leads to leaning toward the side the child is on and thrusting the opposite hip out for balance. This can throw the pelvis out of alignment, which is the foundation for our spine. As we all know, if the foundation is tilted, the house will be crooked! Men tend to use the brute strength of their arms to hold a child. Over time, this can stress the shoulders and can cause upper back and neck pain.
- When handing the baby over to someone else, avoid twisting at the waist. Make sure the receiver is standing directly in front of you.
- Use your legs when picking up your child! Don’t bend at the waist. Introduce squats and lunges into your daily routine. For squats, keep feet side by side with an upright upper body. Make sure both heels are planted on the floor. Keep your knees over your ankles as you sink down. For lunges, slide one foot back and keep both feet pointed forward. Bend both knees, but don’t let your front knee come forward; make sure the knee is directly over the foot. Avoid leaning back.
Ultimately, the only way to know how your curves look is to visit a qualified health professional such as a chiropractor. A chiropractor can analyze your spine, correct misalignments, and give you stretches and exercises based on how far your curves have strayed from normal.
If you don’t remember to take care of yourself, then you won’t be able to take care of the people around you! Don’t forget about yourself!
I recently came back from a holiday in Krabi, Thailand and found out that I had gum disease. My gums bleed whenever I brush my teeth and I thought something was probably not quite right. Before and after my 4 year trip to USA, I had seen a dentist and each time I brought the subject of gum bleed up, my then dentist would say, “Looks good, nothing wrong”. I thought since the pro said so, it must be fine. Bleeding becomes often, gums didn’t look right and I started to have foul smell in my mouth due to the bleeding and each day, I would pop mentos to try to hide the smell. At the back of my mind, something must be wrong. So, I left for my vacation and when I got there, my right gum started to swell and pus started to form. In a day, my gum swelled up till it looked like I had a gum tumor. It was very painful. I have no doubts that the lobsters and seafood that we ordered in Krabi would have tasted much nicer had it not been the gum problem.
When I got back, I went to my neighbour, Dr Chua (dentist) at Park Mall. At one glance, she knew something was not right. She immediately took some Xrays of my teeth and true enough, I had gum disease. The next four days were horrible as I had to put up with anesthetics and pain so that she can salvage the damage and pick up the slack of my previous dentist! Following the intensive treatment, my gums are now doing awesome, though the some of the damage are already irreversible.
This episode reminds me of something that I encounter everyday: Patients who suffer from degenerative diseases in the spine. It is very common to see degenerations on Xrays but it is not normal. Degenerations (commonly seen as bone spurs and decays in discs) are the results of long standing subluxations or misalignments in the spine. These degenerations are permanent and irreversible. Almost every patient who walks through our door has it – a sign that they have walked in to our office a little later than they should. Although degenerations need not be accompanied by pain or discomforts (such as numbness, tingling sensations), they can be. People who experience pain or discomforts often turn to painkillers but most do not realize that this is no different from me popping mentos to hide the cause of my bad breath. It is true that adjustments can be done without Xrays but at our clinic, we exercise extra caution by using Xrays, when necessary, to rule out degenerations that can interfere or modify our treatment.
It takes as little as 2 weeks for degeneration to occur if a spine has been subjected to stresses such as falls, knocks, accidents, just to name a few. Unlike medication (that addresses symptoms), chiropractic looks at and deals with the cause of health problems. With regular chiropractic care, degeneration and further degeneration can be prevented. One lesson that I can take home from my episode of the gum disease, which I can apply to any one reading this is : Don’t wait for pain or discomforts to see a chiropractor to have your spines checked. The best time to do it is when you have not experienced any pain or discomfort yet because prevention is better than cure. Of course, those who are experiencing discomforts, you definitely should not wait any further. Pick up the phone and give us a call today (63367714).
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Our Doctor
Dr. Kelvin Ng Say Koon
Doctor of Chiropractic
(USA, Summa Cum Laude)
Member of The Chiropractic Association (Singapore) & The International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA)
Opening Hours
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Mon & Wed |
2.00pm to 7.00pm |
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Tues & Fri |
8.30am to 1.00pm
2.00pm to 5.00pm |
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Thurs & Sat |
8.30am to 1.00pm |
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Office |
+65 6336 7714 |
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Fax |
+65 6337 6390 |
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Email |
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Singapore 238459
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