Are You Dehydrated?
Many Shanghai residents suffer from regular dehydration. Not drinking enough water is quite common. Here in Shanghai, we tend to sweat a bit more due to the humid, crowded conditions. Coffee drinkers or those indulging in an occasional glass of wine or a cocktail suffer from further dehydration due to the diuretic effects of caffeine and alcohol. Patients sometimes remark that they don’t like to drink too much water when...
A Tune-Up for Your Body: Osteopathy and Prevention
Most people seek an osteopath when they have an injury or pain. However, osteopathy is most beneficial as a form of overall health maintenance. Osteopathy prevents worsening health and a variety of issues that come with restrictions in movement. Osteopathy is a form of holistic treatment which provides outstanding results when used preventatively as it optimizes the body’s natural healing mechanisms. It is harder to treat a problem once you have...
Addressing Back Pain
The majority of people getting physiotherapy treatments suffer from low back and cervical spine pain (and related conditions like sciatica, tinnitus, headaches), mostly due to a sedentary lifestyle. Sitting too long at the office and commuting, with little movement and exercise, causes many of them to have muscle imbalances. Almost everyone experiencing this type of pain has weak core muscles. Some things you can do every day to keep muscles balanced...
What’s Causing Your Pain?
In Shanghai, many of us live a high stress lifestyle. Expats tend to work hard and play hard. Many people deal with the stress by either engaging in a high level of sport/exercise or indulging in food and drink. There’s not always a great deal of balance.
Meet the Osteopath: Alessandro Ciullo
Alessandro has extensive experience working as a physiotherapist and osteopath in a wide range of settings. He’s worked with patients of all ages, from famous athletes and performers to people suffering from chronic pain and young people with scoliosis. What brought you to Shanghai? I’m from northern Italy, specifically Como. My best friend since the age of six has been living in Shanghai for over 12 years. In 2015, I came to...
More Effective, Efficient Relief for Back and Neck Pain
The McKenzie Method The McKenzie Method® of Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy® (MDT) offers solutions for the common problems of neck, back and extremity pain. Much of the musculoskeletal pain so many of us deal with has a mechanical nature. In other words, everyday movements and certain postures cause us pain. With stressful lifestyles and hours spent over computers and phones, more and more of us suffer needless pain. Through the methods of...
The Real Cause of Back Pain: It’s Not Back Strength
Often patients with back pain come in to see us and explain they’ve been working on strengthening their back with their trainer. Yet, their back pain isn’t getting better. The truth is that the back is usually the strongest part of the body. The abdominal, hamstring and back muscles work in unison. Often, there’s an imbalance causing them not to work in harmony in keeping the back stable. Often, the abdominals...
Physical Pain: The Emotional Connection
Any physical issue or pain you experience is a symptom of what is going on in the body and mind. It is all connected, so body and mind cannot be separated. TCM has long understood this wholeness. Focusing solely on symptom treatment has kept a lot of people in a cycle of masking what the body is saying and therefore continuing to suffer. BioNeuroEmotion (BNE) is a method that studies a...
Shoulder Pain?
Shoulder Impingement Syndrome SIS (shoulder or subacromial impingement syndrome) is also sometimes called swimmer’s or thrower’s syndrome. The tendons of the rotator cuff muscles become irritated and inflamed as they pass through the subacromial space. Common symptoms are pain, weakness and reduced range of movement for the affected shoulder. The pain typically feels worse at night when lying on the shoulder or when reaching/making overhead movements. Causes of SIS SIS is often related...
Shockwave Therapy: Effective Pain Relief and Healing
Shockwave therapy offers effective, long-lasting treatment for certain chronic soft tissue issues and pain. Shockwave is an acoustic wave which carries high energy to the affected spots. The energy promotes tissue regeneration and cell growth and helps reduce pain and increase mobility. It uses a direct transfer of energy around the area of inflammation or trigger point. Indications for Shockwave Therapy Radial/ulnar epicondylitis Calcific tendonitis of shoulder/general shoulder problems (frozen shoulders) ...