As our pets age, their health naturally begins to decline and there is a higher risk of developing certain age-related conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Some senior pets develop arthritis in the joints, reducing mobility and, if they’re suffering in pain, quality of life. Like humans, pets need us to pay increased attention to their health in order to help them feel good for as long as possible. Preventative checkups become very important as pets get older as they allow you to catch emerging conditions early and implement nutrition and exercise plans that will benefit your pet. Please call 604-560-8344 to schedule your evaluation.
Gaining the Mental Edge
Athletes are always looking to get into “the zone” – a balance of attention, concentration, and confidence. Quick thinking is crucial to making decisions that can be the difference between winning and losing a game. Neurofeedback is a tool that allows for identifying the areas of an athlete’s brain that are responsible for mental flexibility, task switching, and rapid decision-making. This allows an athlete to control how their brain reacts to stress, which in turn can help achieve peak performance. Neurofeedback training can help an athlete increase their cognitive abilities, while reducing the white noise of distractions around them.
Dealing with Dizziness
Input from the vestibular system (located in your inner ear and brain) is essential for equilibrium, and dizziness can occur when this system is impaired. Vestibular disorders can be caused by trauma to the head (whiplash), degeneration of the system itself, ear infections, ototoxicity (high dosage of certain drugs), acoustic neuroma, poor blood supply, or trauma induced by pressure to the ear. Treatment depends on the underlying cause of your dizziness and is highly individual. Working with a physiotherapist who is certified in vestibular rehabilitation can help you sort the cause and best treatment for your dizziness so that you can reduce and hopefully eliminate this very disturbing symptom.
Managing Weight with Laser Acupuncture
Excess weight can be due to a variety of underlying causes, such as hormonal imbalance, emotional eating, liver dysfunction, and malabsorption. Weight management programs require a tailored approach to help clients successfully lose weight. Laser acupuncture uses a non-invasive cold laser to stimulate various acupressure points on your body. Stimulating these points causes your body to release endorphins, which can help with suppressing your appetite, controlling hunger cravings, speeding up your metabolism, and enhancing your current diet and exercise program, all of which can help lead to weight loss and successful weight management.
Chiropractic Care for Seniors
Chiropractic care is beneficial for people of all ages, but it can be particularly helpful for our growing senior population. As we get older, we may experience chronic pain and losses in our mobility, which can dramatically affect everyday activities and quality of life. Chronic spinal misalignment and modern sedentary lifestyle is often the root cause of chronic neck and back pain. Chiropractic is a gentle way of improving joint function and reducing pain. Through regular visits for chiropractic adjustments and with a custom-designed program of stretching exercises that can be done at home, seniors are able to maximize health in those retirement years.
Gut Feeling
Poor gut health has been linked to fatigue, mood disorders like depression and anxiety, and a variety of conditions associated with nutrient deficiencies, such as anemia.
Fibre is a great way to keep things regular and increase the elimination of toxins and waste from your digestive tract. Eat a variety of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains and grasses. If reaching the recommended 10 servings of vegetables per day seems unattainable, consider adding a greens powder to your daily routine to make things easier. Look for a product that is gluten-free, contains probiotics, and is cold-pressed, as this maintains enzymes that improve the digestion and absorption of nutrients.
Physio for Lower Back Pain
There are numerous reasons people experience lower back pain—a sedentary lifestyle, poor posture, lifting things improperly, and weak stomach muscles are just a few of the causes of pain in this area. After a professional evaluation, a customized physiotherapy program can be created to help reduce and, ideally, eliminate lower back pain. Your program will include a combination of manual therapy, movement exercises, and strengthening exercises. While it can be tempting to avoid doing the exercises, they’re critical to healing the problem and ultimately ensuring the pain does not come back. By making changes at the causal level, you can heal lower back pain forever.
The Hearing Loss/Alzheimer’s Connection
Recent research suggests that improving hearing loss with hearing aids reduces the risk for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. In 2011, a team of Johns Hopkins medical school researchers discovered a significant association between hearing loss and the risk of developing these unwanted cognitive conditions. The worse someone’s hearing gets, the greater their risk of developing Alzheimer’s or dementia. The researchers believe their findings could have substantial implications for individuals and public health because hearing loss is treatable with hearing instruments. These findings underscore how important regular hearing tests are as part of preventative health care.
Manitoba’s Wellness Road Trips
Located just an hour’s drive from Winnipeg, the community of La Broquerie is home to a healing gem called Calder House. Take an easy road trip and experience all that Calder House has to offer, including solo and group retreats with yoga, meditation, spa therapies, detox programs, and spiritual teachings. Learn how to integrate your mind, body, and spirit for total wellness. Enjoy the journey as you leave the city behind and immerse yourself deeper into nature. Take in the sights, sounds, and smells while you travel to your wellness destination, and practice your deep breathing while you drive!
Releasing Guilt and Resentment
Our lives can feel like a big experiment with choices, options decisions and challenges that come our way to grow and learn from. Sometimes we are not always able to see the bigger picture and how our decisions might impact ourselves or others when making them. When we tightly hold onto guilt and resentment, it holds us hostage, punishes and keeps us entrenched. Once we can learn from our decisions, release the need to dwell negativity and gently begin to forgive ourselves, then and only then we can transform our feelings of guilt, disappointment and shame, giving ourselves permission to find a new-found calm and peacefulness inside. The power of healing work, allows us to forgive ourselves with compassion, then our energy begins to change, feel lighter and can allow ourselves the permission to live more freely and fully.
ADHD vs. Visual Dysfunction
Children diagnosed with Learning-Related Visual Dysfunction and children diagnosed with ADHD experience many of the same signs and symptoms:
• Failure to pay close attention to details or making careless mistakes
• Difficulty sustaining attention
• Failure to follow through on instructions or to finish work
• Easily distracted by extraneous stimuli
• Fidgeting in seat or having trouble staying seated. As a result, unfortunately, children can sometimes be misdiagnosed. A developmental eye evaluation can determine whether a Learning-Related Visual Dysfunction is causing behavior that may otherwise be attributed to ADHD.


