Bryce’s Health Adventure – The Wild Ones

In sharing my health adventure I hope that it allows for an insight into the power that strong beliefs in relation to health can provide. I have always followed my nose…torso, legs amongst others to reach these beliefs as our body is the best machine for diagnosing how we feel. Whilst this is the case I am always willing to hear from you; in particular your thoughts regarding all areas of health, medicine and fitness as this gives me more paths to possibly follow in my health adventure novel. So sit back, relax and scribble in the margins of the comment box while you read about what has brought me into your story.

Down & Dirty

Best way to Immunity if not on Survivor

One of the greatest things growing up in the rural area of Darwin was the space. While we rented the first few years living in the Top End, the parents eventually brought their own home which at the time was a brick house and a barren acre and a half of “garden”. Some of my fondest memories of those formative years were playing with Emma in the dirt piles mum had created while she was planting numerous trees. This ability to create our own fun led to many adventures of mischief however it bred a creativity when it came to entertaining ourselves. It also cultivated a love of the outdoors which continued to grow within us just like those trees mum planted all those years ago..

Barefoot Bushmen

Whether it was creating slip’n’slides with black tarp on rainy wet season days, coming home after school hitting six’s over the pool on the off side with our mates from the neighbourhood or playing AMAZING in the back shed we were always finding interesting experiences that incorporated the environment as our playground. In the days (only just) before the electronic babysitters known as Intern Et and Ex Boxx the worlds we were exploring weren’t a final fantasy – they were reality. We would be walking around barefoot in our underwear until sunset dreaming of travelling to far away lands – although the clothed part I swear was to save my Dad washing everyday. I have no doubt it was our parents insisting even when we had a Sega Megadrive to “get outside and play” that has meant activity is now apart of my everyday life in both a leisure and vocational capacity. Maybe I was lucky that my parent’s didn’t fly their help-copters in my space or that I just missed getting stuck in this generations bubble.

The Bubble-Generation

Does he look happy?

The current bubble generation has been blamed for a spike in obesity numbers in our youth, a reduction in generational immunity and whole communities that are vicariously living their lives online. All of these I believe I have seen first hand in clinic along with postural dysfunctions & classifications that had never been seen prior to the naughties. Whilst this is good for the profession with a whole new client base pushing a 2% growth in physiotherapist numbers over the next 5 years, its disappointing from the fact that these avoidable physical issues will reduce the quality of life of a lot of young people. Whilst it is the parents best intentions to protect their children from inherent dangers that are more prevalent in a seemingly more perverse world, it is to the detriment of their physical and emotional independence.

Burst the Bubble

My solution – lets get back to utilising outdoor spaces in community design to make playing outside safe & enjoyable again. Some of the most beautiful and most liveable cities in the world (New York, Melbourne) have some of the most famous parks. Possibly as new suburbs are built there needs to be a federal law that states for every piece of land that is developed for housing that a smaller parcel must be placed aside for community outdoor areas. This doesn’t necessarily need to be parks but maybe nature gyms, government supported outdoor adventure programs or, if e-tainment needs to be utilised to engage those in their impenetrable bubbles, shared outdoor virtual reality spaces that combine the internet and the environment. I would love to hear your suggestions as to what may help us burst societies bubble.

Help From the Bench

Embedded is a great article on theconversation.com regarding what is it that parents fear nowadays that leads to the bubble being applied to their children. Again all views as always are my own and are developed via seeing and feeling the state of the world.

Bryce’s Health Adventure – The Tao Of A Buddha

In sharing my health adventure I hope that it allows for an insight into the power that strong beliefs in relation to health can provide. I have always followed my nose…torso, legs amongst others to reach these beliefs as our body is the best machine for diagnosing how we feel. Whilst this is the case I am always willing to hear from you; in particular your thoughts regarding all areas of health, medicine and fitness as this gives me more paths to possibly follow in my health adventure novel. So sit back, relax and scribble in the margins of the comment box while you read about what has brought me into your story.

 

It’s just baby fat

 

I know what your thinking looking at the photo at the top of the post “Damn Bryce how have you been so lucky as to have always had a sensational head of hair!”. Whilst I do thank you for your kind thoughts this Demi-god of a child wasn’t me – I was this guy >>>>

May or May not be a true representation – But Great Hair!

 

 

 

Hair – Check, Cheeky Grin – Check, Belly – Big Big Check! This was the amazing physique that garnered me the nickname Buddha within my close family. Mum would always say that I would latch on like a tick (funnily enough that’s one of Emma’s nicknames), go for dear life, lay back down in front of the TV watching Fat Cat & Friends, fall asleep and start the process all over again. Ahh life was so much simpler back then – the ultimate dine in fast food restaurant. 

 

Honey I Shrunk The Kid

 

Alas this sedentary life couldn’t last and I slowly grew up and slimmed down apart from some awkward early teen years where silk boxers were fashion to be worn in public and again in my early 20’s when my actor’s diet consisted of beer, wings and more beer. It probably didn’t help that I thought that I needed to bulk up further for the leading man roles I was going to get leading me to guzzle copious amounts of protein. Looking back on these baby pictures now though in family albums I sometimes wonder – how is it that the excuse gets thrown around “it’s in my genes to be obese or overweight” when I was a hefty little critter with a wise fat shaming nickname to boot.

 

Fat Check – Isle 1

 

A study in 2011 published in the Journal of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine followed over 44,000 babies between 1980 and 2008 measuring their length and weight over the period of a decade and placing them on a graph in relation to all others which lead to a percentile system. Now while no correlation was found between the weight of most bubs and future obesity (The artist also known as Puppy Fat), those that were found to be in the top 5% of all babies in length and weight were considered to be overweight and were more likely to be obese at the age of 10. On top of this children that rose more than 2 percentile points on the growth chart in the first 2 years doubled their chance of being obese at 5 years old and increased to 75% by age 10.

 

Big Baby, You are Beautiful

Actually a Thing

 

Does this mean that all babies that show some excess skin should be placed on a toddler treadmill or embark on a strict diet…of course not. Toddlers require specific nutritional value that is gained via a whole variety of healthy foods that can be explained further by paediatricians and nutritionists. However this study should develop guideposts on when it’s appropriate to screen children for length & weight as a predictor of possible future obesity. As parents we should be aware that a large increase in adipose tissue in our youngsters isn’t necessarily a normal outcome of development & by not acting accordingly we could be contributing to our current weight epidemic. It’s only Babies Hearts and Minds that need to be Super Sized – not their bellies (Tao of Finck, 1/17)

 

Help from the Bench

 

Thanks to my parents for not just pointing and laughing while I was rolling around on the floor because I struggled getting to my feet. Due to your diligence in teaching me the benefit of varied diet I have discovered a love for food that transcends the nutritional pyramid (I heard a great TED talk recently with the speaker saying “We don’t eat of a Pyramid!”). If you would like to read more about the featured study the link is as follows: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2058546/Bigger-babies-ARE-likely-obese-Its-just-baby-fat.html  

Bryce’s Health Adventure – The Beginning

In sharing my health adventure I hope that it allows for an insight into the power that strong beliefs in relation to health can provide. I have always followed my nose…torso, legs amongst others to reach these beliefs as our body is the best machine for diagnosing how we feel. Whilst this is the case I am always willing to hear from you; in particular your thoughts regarding all areas of health, medicine and fitness as this gives me more paths to possibly follow in my health adventure novel. So sit back, relax and scribble in the margins of the comment box while you read about what has brought me into your story.

A Time before Stranger Danger

 

Like all good stories this one has a beginning. My health adventure started with a innocuous piece of advice given to me by my Dad when I was very young even though until very recently  hadn’t realised it had effected me as much as it had. Both mum and dad have always had very outgoing personalities, although if you were looking from the outside it was Dad who was & still is the more gregarious one…sometimes to a fault. They always encouraged both myself and my sister Emma (Who I’m sure you’ll hear plenty about as the story unfolds) to be open to others verbally. We were constantly introduced to any stranger that may have been sitting in the pub, at the greyhound track or more poignantly in my case those putting rubbish in the back of the rubbish truck. Some of my earliest memories meeting people would be at the end of a day helping dad in the wheelie bin truck (at 3 years old my definition of helping was pointing out the “snappies” at the Darwin Crocodile Farm so dad wouldn’t get frightened). He would take me to the Humpty Doo pub on the way home and while I waited for a “Cocka” we would mingle with the locals. It was here that he would constantly say to me Brycey:

“It’s Not What You Know in Life – But Who You Know”

 

Now to a 3 year old this saying probably holds as much water at the time as a cloth nappy but when you are constantly reminded of this notion day after day, month after month, year after year it begins to seep into your subconscious to the point where you relish hearing peoples stories. Now days people would probably look at you weird as a 8 year old if you came and sat with a bunch of strangers at the footy asking about their favourite players, but to me that was, is normal banter. I always wondered why it was that people loved hanging out with my Mum & Dad apart from the number of free beers Dad would give away at Mum’s disgust at our X-Mas eve parties. It wasn’t because they were any more special than other Mum’s and Dad’s (even though I thought they were) but because they listened, really listened to what those people had to say.

Foghorn Leghorn

 

Due to this upbringing I developed a knack for also talking the leg off a chair, quite loudly as per the Foghorn nickname, but I also developed an open ear. I always thought that I arrived in this place as a health care practitioner due to my time spent in the footy change rooms distinguishing alternative ligaments by smell (Again more on that later) and my wanting for a stable income. It’s now easier to see that it was more so because one of my individual strengths is a thirst for learning about people, their stories and what makes them tick. This was cultivated by my parents love & care for others and their knowledge that this was a trait that needed to be instilled within us. I for one am grateful that they did as it’s led me on an incredible journey so far within not only health care but also life.

Next Week…

– Monday – Identifying the Hierarchy that leads to long term health changes

– Wednesday – A look into what really leads to Practitioners to be running late

– Friday – An insight into the Chiro Farm and where profession definition is changing

– Sunday – Bryce’s Health Adventure Continues with the Tale of Budda

Until then keep writing the pages you were explore!