So what causes it?

After you and your newborn come home from the hospital, there are a multitude of factors that can impact your risk of pain and injury.

Your body will be weaker following pregnancy and labour, especially in your stabilising muscles (i.e. core and pelvic floor). This often means that other muscles in your body will work to take up the slack, like using your arms and back muscles to do all your lifting. When this gets too much, it can lead to overloading, which leads to developing pain and injury.

Another factor to be aware of is sleep deprivation. It takes time to establish a regular sleep and feeding pattern for mother and newborn. During this time, mothers are much more at risk of developing an acute muscle or joint injury simply due to poor rest minimising recovery time for the body.

Lastly, having a newborn introduces many new and awkward postures in your life. Even as you adapt to these new demands, the strain on the body will only increase as the baby grows in size and weight.

So what can be done to prevent wrist pain and injury?

When you’ve got a lot on your plate, simple methods are best!

The main cause of strain on the wrists and hands comes from your posture when holding your newborn and while feeding your newborn. Optimising your technique with these activities will go a long way to reducing pain.

While holding your newborn, avoid rounding your shoulders or slouching forward, as this will build up strain and tension in the neck and shoulder muscles. You also want to ensure both of your wrists and hands remain in a neutral position.

It is common for people to curl their hands when holding babies to cradle them close. However, having your wrists in that curled position for long periods of time will put strain on the forearm muscles and nerves in the arms.

It’s better to maintain a neutral wrist posture wherever possible — this means not too much angle in flexion or extension, but a straighter position. This is a strong posture for the wrist and hand that allows the muscles of the forearm to do their job well.

The other common holding posture is to hold your newborn in one arm while doing another activity with your dominant hand. This can not only lead to overloading of the wrist and hand on the carrying side, but also an asymmetrical body posture.

Instead, try to change between sides as you are able to balance the forces on your body.

When feeding your newborn, trial different feeding positions to find what’s most comfortable for you and your baby. The Australian Breastfeeding Association has a great guide of different options, from semi-reclined feeding positions to even lying down on your side: https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/resources/positioning

Whenever possible, try to support the baby’s weight with pillows so you aren’t holding their full weight on your arms for the entire feed.

As above, avoid slouched postures as much as you can and keep your wrists in a neutral position to prevent build of strain and tension.

Try these posture changes to ensure that pain and injury are the least of your concerns when caring for your newborn. If you are still suffering from wrist and hand pain, we can help you reduce pain and get you on track. Call us at the clinic or book in online for a thorough assessment today.

Sleep takes up a significant portion of our lives, but it’s easy to underestimate its effect on our bodies and minds. We commonly sacrifice sleep to meet deadlines or in favour of getting things done — but this is far from serving us in the long term.

Our brains are constantly stimulated and working during the day. Sleep allows the brain to sort through everything we experience, refreshing our neural system to be in peak condition to do it all again the next day. Sleep essentially restores our brains, allowing us to better deal with the physical and mental stressors of life.

How much sleep you need varies at different stages of your life, however for the average adult, at least 7-7.5 hours per night is recommended. Anything less than that builds up sleep debt. The more sleep debt you have, the more you suffer the detriments of sleep deprivation on your body and mind.

Sleep Deprivation and How It Affects Us

Sleep helps regulate and bolster your immune system, which is particularly important around flu season. Being sleep deprived can make you three times as likely to get sick than if you sleep enough. It can also slow the body’s metabolism and affect our ability to burn fat to lose weight or build muscle to gain strength.

Recent studies also show that adolescent athletes who slept <8 hours on average were 1.7 times more likely to injury themselves than those who slept >8 hours. On the other end of the spectrum, elite athletes have been known to aim for up to 10 hours sleep to maximise their physical condition before competition!

Are you giving yourself the best chance to avoid future injury and illness? If not, what can you do to improve your chance of a good night’s sleep?

Tips To Get Better Sleep

Go outside during the day

Our bodies have a natural circadian rhythm — essentially our sleep/wake cycle. Typically we are awake during the day when it’s bright and we get tired during the night when it’s dark. By going outside and getting a dose of natural light during the day, you’re helping sync your body system to the proper cycle.

Dim the lights in your house before bed

By the same token, make the inside of your house darker by dimming or turning out lights in the evening. This prompts our bodies to produce a hormone called melatonin. This hormone is responsible for making us feel sleepy, so the more we have before bed, the better.

Block out blue light from devices before bed

The lighting of your phone, computer, and television emits a blue light which has been shown to reduce the production of the hormone melatonin. At least an hour before bed, turn on the blue light filter on your device which dims the brightness and warms the light from your screen (there are a plethora of apps available online for free). Better yet, turn off all electronics and let your brain get ready for sleep mode by doing a relaxing activity like reading a book.

Limit caffeine intake during the day (or better yet go without!)

We often use caffeine as a way of combating the effects of sleep deprivation, but ingesting too much can actually make our attempts to sleep at night much harder. Coffee, certain teas, chocolate, soft drinks — all have caffeine in them. Even decaf isn’t caffeine-free! Cutting caffeine out of your diet is a sure way to improve your sleep quality.

Keep your bedroom dark, cool, and quiet

Block out light completely when you are going to sleep — even the artificial light from your bedside clock. A sleep mask is a great way to ensure this. Room temperature can also affect how easily you fall asleep — aiming for around 18 – 21°C is best. Keep your room quiet with ear plugs or using a fan for white noise.

Light exercise 2-3 hours before bed

This can be an effective way of using up any extra energy you might have before you start winding down for the night. Just 15 minutes of stretching, yoga, pilates, or low impact exercise can do wonders.

Keep to a consistent bedtime

We are creatures of habit! Going to bed at a consistent time every night helps train our brain to get drowsy around the time we would normally go to sleep. Make sure you start your night routine at the same time every evening, so you’ll be in bed at the end of it without forgetting anything.

Relax!

Stress and strong emotions are a significant driver of disrupting sleep. Who hasn’t been kept awake by overthinking at one time or another? Managing these thoughts and emotions can be the most effective intervention you can do to improve your quality of sleep. This can be through meditation, writing a journal, stretching, or deep breathing exercises. Try a few options to see what works for you.

So why get a good night’s sleep?

Sleep is the lynchpin that affects numerous areas of our lives. If you’re not making gains in productivity, concentration, weight loss, you’re getting sick or injured more often, you name it — try to improve your sleep. You’ll be surprised at the effects it can have on your wellbeing.

We are pleased to announce that as part of our move to Fletcher St Essendon, and to celebrate our 26 year involvement with the local community, we are holding an open week, where we will be providing support to two local charities – Helping Hands Mission and Disability Sport & Recreation .Visit us at our new location and see our newly renovated clinic and facilities. The feedback from clients so far has been excellent!

We’re Donating 25% of Your Fee To Charity

During the week of the 8^th – 13^th August, 25% of all our clients’ consultation fees will go directly to the charity of their choice.  Simply nominate your preferred charity when arriving for your appointment and we will do the rest.

This is a great opportunity to get involved and provide support to charities that help so many within our community. At the same time, during your consultation we can address any areas of tightness and dysfunction to make sure you remain pain free and functioning at your best. It is a great way to also experience our new approach, the Ridgway Method, to see how it can benefit you.

Like with all charities, they rely heavily on the generosity of the community to help them provide the necessary support and assistance to those in need. 

Anyone who books an appointment within the opening week will also be eligible for 50% off their next long consultation.

We look forward to hopefully seeing you in the clinic for the opening week and expanding our support to the local community.

Yours in Health,
The team at Northwest Physiotherapy Group