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Gardening Pain-free from Pursuit Physiotherapy

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Follow these basic body mechanics tips for gardening safely!

Gardening season is here! We want you to enjoy the outdoors without injuring yourself. It’s easy to get overzealous and spend hours in the garden without noticing an aching back or neck until it’s too late. But don’t worry, just because you have a long ‘to do’ list doesn’t mean you have to suffer the consequences. By planning ahead and being smart about your body mechanics you can help prevent soreness and injuries.

Follow these easy tips for staying healthy throughout the gardening season:

Lift properly to protect your back.

Remember to bend your knees and engage your core muscles; use your leg muscles to squat and don’t bend with your back.

  • Avoid lifting and twisting through your back – instead keep the load close to your body and pivot your feet and trunk together
  • Avoid carrying heavy loads on 1 side of your body – balance it out on both sides or lighten up the load and take more trips. Also consider getting help for heavy lifting – you can’t do it all!

Maintain good posture.

Position yourself close to the task at hand to avoid awkward reaching and twisting. Try to keep your back straight and head in a neutral position so that you are not looking up or down for extended periods of time.

  •  Use stools, chairs, or knee pads whenever possible to help maintain good neck and back posture.
  •  When pushing a wheelbarrow or lawnmower keep your back tall and head up. Also bend your knees and engage your core muscles to optimize your power and protect your spine.
  •  Take mini-breaks to stretch and correct your posture – try squeezing your shoulder blades together, or contracting your deep abdominal (TA) muscles.

Use Proper Tools to Reduce Strain

  • Use knee pads for kneeling and avoid sustained squatting. This will give your knees, hips, ankles and back a break.
  • Use a step stool or tools with extended handles to make overhead work easier. Bring yourself closer to your task to avoid awkward reaching and reduce neck and shoulder strain.
  • Use tools with good grips or ergonomic handles to reduce fatigue on your hand and forearm muscles. Ensure they are a comfortable fit for your hand size.

Prevent Repetitive Strain Injuries

Doing the same task over and over will put excessive strain on certain body parts and muscle groups, leading to pain and injury. Here are some self-management tips to help avoid RSI’s:

  • Change positions frequently to avoid stiffness and strain on certain body parts. For example try raking on both sides.
  • Alternate tasks to add variety to your body movements and avoid static postures or repetitive lifting. For example do 10 minutes of weeding followed by 10 minutes of pruning.
  • Take breaks to stretch and hydrate. It is important to give your body some time to recover, and adding these mini-breaks can help improve your work endurance and efficiency.
  • Don’t overdo it! Create a realistic plan ahead of time so that you aren’t trying to get all your tasks done in a single day or weekend. Plan to spread your workload out over several days or weeks to avoid overuse injuries.
  • Never work through pain. Listen to your body and stop when you are getting tired or sore. The task will still be there the next day or week!

Keep your body limber

  • Warm-up before gardening with some light walking or gently swinging your arms and legs. This helps increase your heart rate and gets blood flowing to the muscles so they are ready to work.
  • Take stretch breaks.  Do some of your favourites and try to target all your major body parts – neck, shoulders, back, and legs. This will keep you feeling loose and flexible and prevent muscle tension from building up. Move slowly and hold each position for approximately 10-15 seconds.
  • Cool-down. An easy walk around the yard and some gentle stretching will help relieve tension after your work and prevent muscle stiffness.

We hope these tips help keep you active, healthy, and pain-free throughout the spring and summer. If you have any lingering pain or specific concerns please do not hesitate to book an appointment for a one-on-one session with one of our physiotherapists. We will be able to assess and diagnose your injury, as well as provide hands on treatment and a therapeutic exercise program to address your specific needs.

Click for more information about Pursuit Physiotherapy.

 

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Red Deer

2024 Hospital Lottery presents major prizes

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Officials from the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation have presented the top prize for the 2024 Red Deer Hospital Lottery.

The Grand Prize Dream Home package is valued at $1,072,624, including furnishings by Urban Barn. The key was presented to the winner, Maxine Rumohr of Sylvan Lake.

When informed that she was the grand prize winner, Rumohr said winning the home is a “dream come true.”

“This is a nice dream that I hope I don’t wake up from,” said Rumohr when she heard the news.

The bungalow by Sorento Custom Homes features 2,796 sq ft of finished living space and has four bedrooms, two and a half baths, and a large, covered deck with vaulted ceilings. Among its features are a large primary suite with ensuite and soaking tub, a basement entertainment area, a walk-in butler’s pantry, main floor laundry, and a stone clad gas
fireplace.

Manon Therriault, Foundation CEO, expressed appreciation at the prize presentation. “We are incredibly grateful to the hardworking team at Sorento Custom Homes for bringing us a truly breathtaking Dream Home again this year,” Therriault said, speaking of the Red Deer Hospital Lottery’s biggest supporter. “Enormous thanks as well to our dedicated volunteers. All of Central Alberta benefits from the dedication of this tireless group of individuals who give so generously of their time each year.”

This year’s proceeds from the Hospital Lottery and Mega Bucks 50 will provide funding for critically needed equipment for several units at Red Deer Hospital.

Other prize winners present included Carolyn Pelerine of Cochrane, Alberta, who walked away with the $303,600 Mega Bucks 50 prize, as well as the winner of the Tree Hugger Tiny Home prize package valued at $163,798, Mary Vincent of Red Deer.

Red Deer Hospital Lottery 2024 Winners Fact Sheet

– 26th year of the lottery
– Built by award-winning Sorento Custom Homes
– Valued at $1,072,624
– Located at 16 Emmett Crescent, Red Deer
– Bungalow with 2,796 square feet of finished living space, four bedrooms, 2.5 baths
– Winner: Maxine Rumohr of Sylvan Lake, Alberta

Tree Hugger Tiny Home Prize – (includes accessories from Urban Barn)
– Valued at $163,798
– Winner: Mary Vincent of Red Deer, Alberta

Mega Bucks 50
– 50/50 raffle – Total jackpot of $607,200
– Winner of $303,600: Carolyn Pelerine of Cochrane, Alberta

Early Bird Prize
– $20,000 CASH
– Drawn May 16, 2024 at 2:00 pm
– Winner: Frieda Doz of Edmonton, Alberta

Second Chance Early Bird Draw
– $10,000 CASH
– Drawn June 6, 2024 at 2:00 pm
– Winner: Wendy Howe of Castor, Alberta

Additional Prizes
– Total value of all prizes was over $1.29 million, including dream home and tiny home
– Prizes included
o Cuisinart air fryer and Barista coffee maker (6), GoPro HERO 12 (5), Asus Vivobook Flip 14” laptop (10), DJI Mini 2SE Drone Flycam (4), Dyson V8 cordless stick vacuum (10), Goal Zero Sherpa 100AC power bank (5)

Proceeds
– Proceeds from Red Deer Hospital Lottery and Mega Bucks 50 contribute to acquiring critically needed, state-of-the-art equipment in several units at the Red Deer Hospital. This year’s lottery will fund equipment like a phototherapy system to allow parents to hold and soothe their infant while undergoing phototherapy, a cardiology case cart to monitor cardiac rhythms during stress testing, and other equipment to provide excellent care for patients at the Red Deer Hospital.

About Red Deer Regional Health Foundation

The Red Deer Regional Health Foundation is a fundraising organization for Alberta Health Services Central Zone, with a mandate to raise and disburse funds for programs, services, and the purchase of medical equipment.

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Alberta

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith promises bill protecting rights to refuse vaccines is coming

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

The plan is to introduce an amended Bill of Rights this fall that includes protections for individuals’ personal medical decisions.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has promised that the province’s Bill of Rights will be amended this fall so that there are protections added for people’s personal medical decisions that most likely will include one having the right to refuse a vaccine.

Smith’s promise to add protections for personal choice on vaccinations comes because of the COVID jab mandates put in place for a time in Alberta under former Premier Jason Kenney.

Speaking to Albertans at a recent town hall in Bonnyville, Smith said that the COVID crisis resulted in many people being discriminated against for their own medical decisions and that “it shouldn’t have happened.”

Smith, who leads the United Conservative Party (UCP), said that she believes “every person has to be able to do their own assessment, their own health assessment, to be able to make those decisions.”

The original plan by Smith was to add protections for one’s vaccine status directly Alberta Human Rights Act (AHRA). However, this plan was nixed after she was advised by Public Health Emergencies Governance Review Panel chair Preston Manning that this was not the right legislation for an additional protection.

Instead, Smith promised that a better “law” dealing directly with vaccine status will be forthcoming.

On Monday, Smith confirmed on X that an updated version of the Bill of Rights is coming.

“It’s time. Let’s get this done,” she wrote.

Last year, Smith, as reported by LifeSiteNews, promised to enshrine into “law” protections for people in her province who choose not to be vaccinated as well as strengthen gun rights and safeguard free speech by beefing up the provincial Bill of Rights.

On Smith’s first day on the job and only minutes after being sworn in, she said that during the COVID years the “unvaccinated” were the “most discriminated against” group of people in her lifetime.

She took over from Kenney as leader of the UCP on October 11, 2022, after winning the party leadership. The UCP then won a general election in May 2023. Kenney was ousted due to low approval ratings and for reneging on promises not to lock Alberta down during COVID.

Smith promptly fired the province’s top doctor, Deena Hinshaw, and the entire Alberta Health Services board of directors, all of whom oversaw the implementation of COVID mandates.

Under Kenney, thousands of nurses, doctors, and other healthcare and government workers lost their jobs for choosing to not get the jabs.

While Smith has not said much regarding the COVID shots since taking office, she has allowed her caucus members to have broad views when it comes to known safety issues related to the jabs.

UCP MLA Eric Bouchard hosted a sold-out event titled “An Injection of Truth” that featured prominent doctors and experts speaking out against COVID vaccines and mandates.

“Injection of Truth” included well-known speakers critical of COVID mandates and the shots, including Dr. Byram BridleDr. William Makis, canceled doctor Mark Trozzi and pediatric neurologist Eric Payne.

The COVID shots were heavily promoted by the federal government and all provincial governments in Canada, with the Alberta government under Kenney being no exception.

The mRNA shots have been linked to a multitude of negative and often severe side effects in children.

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