The Importance of Staying Active During Quarantine

Written by Dr. Melissa Cutler, Chiropractor and Tennis Pro, Mayfair West

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all well! While it can be a challenge to get motivated to stay active under these new conditions, I wanted to take a moment to stress how important it is for both your physical and mental well-being. I’ve had a few clients send me emails with questions on how to best manage aches and pains. To help, I thought I would reach out with some advice on how to keep yourself in your best shape, while we patiently await Mayfair’s reopening.

Working From Home Making You Sore?

For those of us who are working from home or not able to work at the moment, it is easy to get stuck in a rut of sitting or lying down in front of the television and computer all day. This is a sure-fire way to bring on back pain. Sitting puts pressure on the discs, and the best, no-treatment required relief for this is walking. In addition, many of us do not have ergonomic chairs at our makeshift home offices which can further add stress to back joints.

Walking might be the most under-rated form of activity. However, a daily walk of just 30 minutes offers the following benefits:

• Cardiovascular and pulmonary (heart and lung) fitness
• Reduced risk of heart disease and stroke
• Improved management of conditions such as hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol, joint & muscular pain or stiffness, and diabetes
• Stronger bones and improved balance
• Increased metabolism

With the need to keep our immune systems up during quarantine, a socially-distanced walk is the best way to do this, as well as ward off back-pain from too much sitting. Thankfully, spring weather has finally arrived, so there is no better time than now to find a socially-distanced route and commit to a daily 30-45 minute walk.

Free Online Workouts

For strength training and yoga, Mayfair Clubs has a great schedule of daily workouts each week, that I myself have been doing, with no equipment required; a space where you can throw down a yoga mat or towel is really all you need.

Resources include:

• Live Classes streamed on Facebook Live
• Facebook Video Library of Live Sessions
• YouTube Video Library

Click here to learn more about the weekly online schedules and to view the video library.

The Interconnection Between Physical Inactivity & Mental Well-Being

The mind-body connection is real. Emotional stress has been proven to manifest physically. With so many stressors in abundance these days coupled with the abrupt change in our daily routines, taking control of your mind is crucial for your physical well-being.

This article helps to further explain why you might be feeling sore, even though you’re less active than you’ve ever been. Walking, yoga, baking, listening to music, meditating, reading, a warm bath, even using a heating pad – are just a few of the many ways to refocus your mind and break the negative feedback loop.

I hope you will find these suggestions helpful. We will get through this quarantine together. In the meantime, stay strong, keep active and stay healthy. Should you have any questions or just want to say hi – please don’t hesitate to contact me: drmelissacutler@gmail.com.

Can’t wait to see you all back at Mayfair very soon!

About Melissa Cutler

Dr. Melissa Cutler graduated from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College following her Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and biology from Saint Louis University, where she attended on a full tennis scholarship. She then went on to become certified in Contemporary Medical Acupuncture at McMaster University, as well as Active Release Techniques, and is a Certified Running Specialist through the Running Clinic. She is also a contributing medical writer for the Ontario Tennis Association Magazine.

As a nationally ranked tennis player at the junior and collegiate level, she experienced numerous injuries and was exposed to various forms of therapies; all of which helped her appreciate the benefit of treating not only the symptom of a condition, but the biomechanical source of the dysfunction. Coaching tennis for the last 20 years to players of all levels from novice to competitive, Dr. Cutler realized the importance of teaching proper mechanics to not only improve skills, but to prevent injuries.

Her treatments are aimed at optimizing patients ’physical well-being, and consists of a variety of soft tissue techniques, such as Active Release Therapy (A.R.T.), muscle stripping, and trigger point therapy, chiropractic manipulation of the spine and extremities, acupuncture, as well as rehabilitation and strengthening exercises.