Congestive Heart Failure, let's get your life 'pumping' again! - Natasha Eekhout (Paladin Biokineticists)

For most of those individuals diagnosed with congestive heart failure, it brings a sense of overall lifestyle deterioration, not only physically but mentally too. However, is it really a diagnosis that can negatively affect the way you live your life or in other words stop life in its tracks?

Ok, yes congestive heart failure isn’t the greatest condition to deal with, seeing as the hearts function to pump blood around the body isn’t able to keep up with all the demands. Even so, do you really believe that encasing yourself in a stagnant little bubble at home on the couch is the answer?

Let’s have a look at the definition, symptoms and causes of congestive heart failure, and come up with the best way to tackle this condition head on.

The inability of the heart to pump blood efficiently to the organs in the body is known as congestive heart failure. The associated symptoms include shortness of breath when at rest, lethargy, wheezing and possible coughing up of pink mucus, dizziness, palpitations and swelling around the ankles and feet. The causes of congestive heart failure can be attributed to many factors or conditions including coronary artery disease, heart attacks, possible viral infections, weakness of heart muscles, high blood pressure and hyperthyroidism. The diagnosis of congestive heart failure depends on the various symptoms experienced, the stages and the progression of heart failure.

Seeing as the hearts function deteriorates and battles to keep up with increases in bodily demands, surely being stationary would be the best solution? I think not. Most of the above conditions mentioned can be attributed to lack of physical activity, therefore completely cutting out physical activity from your lifestyle, even with congestive heart failure, cannot be put any simpler than this… being sedentary can kill you and it’s time to get moving!

Studies conducted by The American Heart Association and The European Heart Failure Training Group, found that small increases in exercise can aid in the following congestive heart failure benefits:

• ·         Prevent further deterioration in heart function
• ·         Decrease associated congestive heart failure symptoms
• ·         Strengthen the heart muscle and cardiovascular function
• ·         Increase circulation and delivery of blood to the organs
• ·         Improve exercise tolerance
• ·         Decrease the chances of associated cardiac events and cardiac risk factors
• ·         Improve the overall efficiency that the body can utilise oxygen (VO2)

So in short, being a couch potato and believing that this condition will get the better of you, will in fact get the better of you!

Consulting with your cardiologist before starting a cardiac rehabilitation program and obtaining exercise clearance, would be a good idea. As for the specialised and tailored program, we at Paladin and Associates Biokineticists handle that.

If you are keen to get your life ‘pumping’ again and improve your health and lifestyle, please feel free to contact us and have a look at our website:

Tel: 011 028 1128

e-mail: bio@kinetics.co.za

http://www.paladinbiokinetics.co.za/services/cardiac-diabetic-weightloss-programs

Natasha completed her BSc Sports Science undergraduate degree at The University of Johannesburg and her BHSc honours degree in Biokinetics at The University of the Witwatersrand. 

She has a passion for a variety of sports in particular soccer, tennis, running and kickboxing which have contributed to a strong interest in orthopaedic rehabilitation and working with athletes. Other areas of focus include diabetic and cardiac rehabilitation, as well as weight loss and a keen enthusiasm for working with children of all ages. 

Natasha can be contacted on 082 476 9727 or natashaeekhout@kinetics.co.za

Champions aren’t simply born or bred, they’re nurtured! - Bianca Bunge (Paladin Biokineticists)

Usain Bolt, Tiger Woods, Floyd Mayweather, Rafael Nadal, Lionel Messi, LeBron James, Mo Farah, what do all these world class athletes have in common besides lucrative salaries and huge sponsorships, oh, and the fact that they make whatever they do look so easy?! Is there some common genetic thread that ties all professional athletes together and make them destined for podium placements, gold medals and top rankings? Or is the road to Olympic gold and professional sports simply paved with thousands of hours of sport-specific practice and repetition or attributed to various inherent characteristics and attributes? Questions, questions, questions, but what is the answer here?! Every single coach, sports scout, and athlete, whether  you’re performing on the professional, collegial or school sport platform, is looking for that secret ingredient, special spice, and twist of something nice that make up that award-winning, everyone-wants-it recipe and mix ultimately producing the absolute perfect athlete!!

First of all, it can be said without question that many athletes have their parents to thank for their athletic success. Genetics shape us in many ways including our potential to excel in sports. Genetics have a large influence over strength, height, body type, muscle size, muscle fibre composition (fast or slow twitch), anaerobic threshold, lung capacity, flexibility, and to some extent, endurance, which is largely determined by cardiac capacity, or the heart’s ability to deliver enough oxygen (via the bloodstream) to the working skeletal muscles. These are all components that predispose you to being a superior athlete, one of the top in the world, all things that allow your name to be jotted down in the record books and remembered for centuries to come, all determined by genetics!

Does that mean athletes blessed with less-than-perfect genetics and born without the optimum combination of muscle fibres should rule out their chances of ever achieving Olympic glory and just give up? Absolutely not! Let’s be honest, we aren’t all created equal where our genes and abilities are concerned, so what can we do to fill in these blanks? Identifying potential professional athletes based only on their genetic and physiological make-up is short-sighted! It takes a hell of a lot more than just genetics to get you the title of being one of the best athletes in the world. I mean let’s look at Wayne Gretzky and Tiger Woods, sure, they're both gifted genetically and physically in unique ways, but they also spent hours and hours practicing from a very young age. The idea that athletes are bred and not born has become increasingly popular ever since Malcolm Gladwell introduced the 10,000-hour rule in his bestselling book The Outliers. This 10,000-hour rule is based on the idea that with the exception of genetic traits such as height and weight, exceptional performance in any given field is the result of 10,000 hours of what he terms “deliberate practice” – therefore any training or practice specifically related to your particular sport.

Furthermore, various technological advancements have made major contributions to athletic progress and have allowed athletes to be stronger, faster, bolder, and better than ever, whether they have that blessed gene pool to back them up or not. Let’s have a look at the winner of the 2012 Olympic marathon, Stephen Kiprotich, he completed the marathon in 2 hours and 8 minutes. If he had been racing against the winner of the 1904 Olympic marathon, he would have won by nearly an hour and a half. That sounds pretty crazy right? Let’s look at another example, if Usain Bolt, undoubtedly dubbed the fastest man in the world, ran against Jesse Owens, the 1936 100m world record holder, Owens would still have had 4,2672 meters to go when Bolt crossed the finish line – and although that doesn’t sound like a lot, believe me in sprinter world it is! This just opens up a whole range of questions and speculations. Are we just somehow getting better as a human race, inevitably progressing, but it's not like we've evolved into a new species in a century, come on now. So what's going on here? Well, technology and various advancements have had a massive impact! If we look at the Bolt, Owens example it can clearly be seen – Bolt propelled himself out of blocks down a specially fabricated carpet that is specifically designed to allow him to travel as fast as humanly possible. Owens however had to run on cinders, the ash from burnt wood. This soft surface stole far more energy from his legs than Bolt’s red carpet. And although this is a relatively simple example, technology has made a difference in all sports, from faster skis and lighter shoes to low-friction swimsuits and aerodynamic bicycles.

Okay, so let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of it – As with many things in life, being classified as a world-class sportsman or sportswoman or getting that all-glorious title of being a professional athlete, is both complicated and complex! Athletic success is more than only having the genetic potential, or simply putting in the hours of training on the field, track, ice, or court, neither is it solely achieved by perfect nutrition, technological advancements, having the right gadgets and gear, and pure love of the sport. So what on earth is the answer then, what allows you to be a professional athlete?? Well, it’s pretty simple actually, ALL OF IT! It’s a magical mix of having those predisposing athletic genes in your corner, putting in the work, time, and effort to the ultimate level, taking advantage of technological advancements, expertise and opportunities that are offered to you, as well as possessing valuable all important characteristics and attributes such as drive, unyielding passion, discipline, competitiveness, self-confidence, focus, adaptability, raw talent, perseverance, and pure-determination! More than that, it’s about having that ‘athlete mind-set’, that full-force, unwavering will to do whatever it takes to be the best, to put in absolutely everything you have, then to take a deep breath dig deeper and put in a little more, that is what it takes, that is what makes the difference! Having that unquenchable desire to win! Once all of this is added to a big golden pot of potential you have to nurture the hell out of that potential, care for it, invest time and effort into it – because potential is nothing if it’s not harnessed and developed – you can have all the potential in the world but if that potential is not nurtured but, rather wasted there is just no way you’ll ever be able to become the professional athlete you were destined to be.

So remember, champions aren’t born or bred, they’re nurtured!

Bianca completed both her BA in Human Movement Science as well as her Honours degree in Biokinetics at the University of Pretoria. 

Bianca has a keen interest in various sports, particularly Netball and Running. She loves working with individuals and athletes of all levels and assisting them in achieving their desired goals. It’s all about the comeback! 

She’s passionate about the human body, movement, and working with different people and has a special interest in Orthopaedic Rehabilitation, in particular knee, hip and back rehabilitation. 

Bianca can be contacted on 082 8297 438 or biancabunge@kinetics.co.za

“How sick is too sick to exercise?” - Michael Irvine

With flu season around the corner, many of you exercise “fanatics” are probably wondering “how sick is too sick to exercise?”

The general public commonly believes that if you are sick, exercise will boost your immune system and speed up the rate of recovery.  Yet, when speaking to medical professionals, they will disagree with this understanding. There is strong evidence to support that if you are experiencing flu like symptoms (fever, severe aches in joints and muscles, pain and tiredness around the eyes, weakness or fatigue, warm flushed skin, red watery eyes, head ache, dry cough, sore throat and runny nose), exercise will more than likely make you feel worse.

There is a fine line when it comes to exercise and your immune system. Research has discovered there to be a strong link between regular and moderate exercise’s to a strong immune system, and a link between too much intense exercises’ and decreased immunity. These links should be a guideline to the type of exercises’ one should be doing with flu season just around the corner. It is recommended that regular and moderate exercises’ should be performed as opposed to high intensity exercise.

There is a general rule to consider when you have the flu: “Neck up or neck down rule”.

If you are experiencing symptoms from the neck up (head aches, runny nose, and a mild cough), you can perform moderate exercise with caution.  While mild exercise can help boost your immune system, if you already have flu it is suggested to cut back on your workload. Physicians suggest that you cut back to one third of your normal work rate.

It is of the utmost importance to watch out for warning signs.

1.      If you are having difficulty breathing during or after exercise, cease what you are doing and take a couple days off to recover.  

2.      If you feel worse following the exercise bout, you should give yourself a couple days rest to recover.

If your symptoms are neck down (deep cough, fever and/or muscle and joint pain) you should cease to partake in exercise.

A fever is a warning sign from your body that you are battling a viral or bacterial infection, and exercise may put additional stress on your body resulting in dehydration. This will most likely prolong the length of the infection and delay your recovery process. When it comes down to making good life choices, sleep and rest is considered the best choice.

The bodies immune system functions best when it is not stressed or in overdrive. The best advice to give someone is to “rest your body when you have the flu”. This will speed up your recovery process, as you need to allow your body to adjust to the additional stress of the infection.

Michael completed his BSc Sports Science undergraduate degree at The University of Stellenbosch and his BHSc honours degree in Biokinetics at The University of the Stellenbosch. 

Michael has a passion for waterpolo and many other sports such as rugby, soccer, tennis and golf. 

Michael has an interest in orthopaedic rehabilitation, in particular the shoulder. As well as a keen interest in chronic disease management. 

Michael can be contacted on 072 929 1309 or mikeirvine@kinetics.co.za

Are you ready for Boot Camp?

Are you ready for Boot Camp? - Tony Paladin

Boot camp (or “break your booty” camp as we rehab guys facetiously like to call it), is an awesome, high intensity experience that promises to whip a woman’s saggy bits into great shape in a very short space of time!

Is Boot camp every woman’s answer to exercise? By combining good eating, hard training, mud and sun; surely we should all be singing “Kumbayah” and doing G.I. Jane pushups to celebrate!

As an Exercise Therapist, I usually urge all patients to carefully ruminate over their current physical status prior to setting their goals and respective exercise intensities in order to avoid injury.

By exercising some common sense (excuse the pun), and sticking to some basic guidelines, most injuries can be avoided.

Firstly, we need to figure out how hard we should be pushing ourselves during sessions?

My general rule of thumb is to take it easy for the first 2 sessions in order for the body to adapt to new movements. Try and limit any new exercise to between 2 and 3 sets of 5 to 10 repetitions. From an intensity perspective, you should be able to maintain good form for the entire duration of the session. Loss of form is indicative of fatigue and carries a risk of injury.

When it comes to avoiding injury and extreme stiffness, the bottom line is that we need to be strong enough to execute the movement. If you are in a class environment and feel uncomfortable doing an exercise, rather adjust it to something that you are more comfortable with and discuss it with your trainer afterwards; after all, we know our own bodies better than anyone else does. I advise most people to attend a few one on one sessions before starting classes in order to make sure that you are strong enough to cope with the cadence of a class.

When it comes to augmenting an exercise by using weights, we need to consider that extra resistance is merely there to make things more difficult. If we are not strong enough to do a conventional push up or a one legged squat, I would suggest considering our need for that extra resistance. When using an extra weight such as a dumbbell, barbell, kettlebell or theraband, choose a resistance where the form of the exercise is not compromised.

If you are uncertain as to what your physical limitations are, I would advise you to see your Biokineticist before starting a new exercise regime to ensure that you are fully equipped to enjoy and benefit from it.

Tony’s Primary areas of focus include: Orthopaedic rehabilitation (mainly backs and knees). He works with regaining function in ACL reconstructions and total knee replacement patients.

Tony also has an interest in sport specific testing and training (primarily rowing, cycling, running and triathlon).

Tony is the Chairman of the Biokinetics Association of Southern Africa (Gauteng division).

Tony can be contacted on 011 028 1128 or tonypaladin@kinetics.co.za. 

In case of an emergency, he can be contacted on 082 921 6776.