Osteoarthritis is generally caused by progressive wear and tear on our joints that results in the breakdown of our joint cartilage. When cartilage breaks down, the bones start to grind against each other, creating inflammation in the joint. These changes are what cause you to experience painful symptoms. The degenerative process itself may not be painful, however the resulting inflammation and irritation to surrounding muscles, ligaments, and tendons usually cause you to experience uncomfortable and sometimes debilitating symptoms. Cold laser therapy offers an innovative treatment for a variety of acute and chronic, often painful, conditions like osteoarthritis.
Health Fun Facts
Laughing is good for the heart and can increase blood flow by 20 percent.
Exercise will give you more energy, even when you’re tired.
Always look on the bright side: being an optimist can help you live longer.
Community Profile – Crossmount Memory Café
The Crossmount Memory Café is a social and recreational community program for people living with dementia and their caregivers. It is hosted twice a month at Crossmount and provides a safe, supportive, and social outing for people who may otherwise have limited opportunities to engage with others experiencing similar dementia-related health and social barriers. Following refreshments and a light snack, participants engage in a wide variety of activities and experiences, including creative workshops, live entertainment, intergenerational activities, low-impact fitness activities, and more. Participating in the Memory Café provides opportunities for connection and belonging by decreasing social isolation and enhancing overall quality of life.
A New Sauna Experience
Back2Nature Wellness and Adventures is excited to announce a new experience with our mobile, wood-burning barrel sauna – an evening of glow paddle and sauna! A well-known Finnish tradition, the dry sauna offers passive heat that involves dry air and high temperatures, and more humidity can be added by pouring water on the sauna’s hot rocks. Immersing yourself in the sauna can have many benefits beyond relaxation and leisure, including improving your overall health and wellness, improving heart health, flushing toxins, improving brain health, relieving stress, inducing a deeper sleep, assisting with fighting illness, and simply allowing you to feel good!
Cleaning Products and Your Health
While it’s important to keep your home clean and tidy, some chemicals lurking in common household cleaning products are very harmful, especially for children and pets. People often use bleach, degreasers, disinfectants, thinking they’re safe, but studies show that some of their chemical ingredients can be linked to many diseases, including cancer. When these are absorbed through your skin or inhaled, they can potentially cause issues with the eyes, skin, kidneys, liver, respiratory system and central nervous system. Choosing cleaning products with natural ingredients, like Orange TKO, can help ensure that your home is clean and safe for yourself and others.
Reiki Really Works
Reiki is an energy healing treatment that works holistically on the whole body, mind, and spirit. Natural healing vibrations are transmitted through the hands of a Reiki practitioner to the body of the recipient. Reiki treatment can relieve stress and pain, induce relaxation, release emotional blockages, accelerate natural healing, balance subtle energies, and support other medical modalities, including traditional therapies. Reputable medical facilities are now offering patients alternative healing programs such as Reiki and are analyzing the benefits and submitting them for review and compilation. Look at your options on how you can learn Reiki to experience personal healing and to help others.
Stay Active to Maintain Health
Being physically active can help with injury prevention, maintain health and improve mobility. If we don’t use our muscles or move our joints, we can “rust” just like a piece of machinery that is left to sit idle. Being active does not necessarily mean lifting heavy weights or running a marathon. It can be as simple as performing gentle prescribed exercises, mobility drills, and active release stretches that can help us maintain mobility and prevent injury. Making small changes in our routine can have huge impacts on whole-body health, the healing process and general well-being. Contact us – we can help you get started.
Book Club
Living Well with Arthritis: A Sourcebook for Understanding and Managing Your Arthritis Living Well with Arthritis is written by Canadian doctors for Canadians. Its authors, all respected experts in the field, focus not only on medications and complementary treatments, but also on management of the many aspects of life that arthritis can affect. Topics such as dealing with chronic pain and fatigue, developing emotional and social coping strategies, and managing relationships are all explored, taking readers through the steps of how the body is affected, and ways to manage the disease.
Words to Live By
“Energy and persistence conquer all things.” Benjamin Franklin
Words to Live By
“The difficult is what takes a little time; the impossible is what takes a little longer.” – Fridtjof Nansen
Words to Live By
“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.” Harvey Fierstein.


