The Weekly Times - TWT - 17th April 2019

16 THE WEEKLY TIMES Wednesday 17 April, 2019
Top Ryde Early
Learning wins
Ecology Grant
AWARD winning childcare centre Top Ryde Early Learning has one more
accolade to add to its list of achievements.
Educator Jacqui Dacey
has earned Top Ryde
Early Learning a $1000
grant.
The grant was presented
by Woolworths
Top Ryde City general
manager Harrison
Walker at a special
morning tea at the centre.
“My idea was to encourage
biodiversity
on the astroturf of the
General Manager of Woolworths Top Ryde City Harrison Walker presents educator Jacqui Dacey
with her certificate at Top Ryde Early Learning morning tea.
yard,” Jacqui said.
Passionate about nature
and sustainability,
Jaqui’s goal is “to
create a nature-filled
space where children
can develop their connection
to the earth.”
In addition to vegetable
gardens, the project
will include local
indigenous food plants
such as lillipilli and
lemon myrtle, offering
food and habitat for
native animals.
“We often take the
children on excursion
to the creek behind the
centre to see the water
dragons,” Jacqui said.
“We hope to encourage
water dragons –
and other creatures –
to visit.”
The plan also incorporates
compost bins,
reducing landfill waste
while also keeping the
garden fertile.
“We frequently run
working bees with parents
and local community,”
Jacqui said.
“The big tasks – preparing
and setting up
the garden spaces –
will be community activities.”
The children get to
muck in, too: “We have
kid-sized shovels and
watering cans for gardening,
and kid-sized
baskets for collecting
food,” Jacqui said.
“Last week, the children
helped prepare
the garden with sugarcane
mulch.”
The children already
help prepare meals;
now they will help
collect, save and dry
pumpkin and tomato
seeds to later plant,
and later still, harvest,
taking the process full
circle.
This grant is funded
from the sale of Woolworths
recyclable Bag
for good, introduced
in 2018 when the supermarket
stopped using
single-use plastic
bags.
If you want to know
more
Early
about Top
Learning,
Ryde
visit
www.toprydeearlylearning.com.au,
phone 9807 1619
or
to
book a tour.
Six golden rules of pain
By STEFAN SCHEUERMAIR
Physiotherapist
EVERYONE experiences physical pain at some point in time.
Suffering morning heel pain or
pain after activity?
P: 9809 4464
10 Pope Street, Ryde
onepointhealth.com.au
Podiatry | Physiotherapy | Massage Therapy
Although unwelcomed,
pain is an
extremely important
bodily function and
vital to our health.
There are a several
misconceptions regarding
pain and what
it actually means.
Here are six rules of
pain.
1. Pain is an output
of the brain:
Although we experience
the feeling of
pain in different regions
of the body,
pain is generated always
in the brain.
The brain is the control
and interpretation
centre of the body.
2. Pain experience
and damage to the
body are not equal:
Have you ever
banged your shin on
a coffee table?
Its excruciating for
the first two minutes
and then the pain
drops significantly.
The damage to your
shin is the same yet
the amount of pain
you experience drastically
changes.
3. Pain is influenced
by your moods and
thoughts:
Pain is less like a
thermometer and
more like a discussion
where parts of
your brain vote on
how much pain to express.
Regardless of the injury,
pain experience
can increase if the
injury has significant
implications.
Likewise, pain experience
can significantly
drop if in a present
environment such as
a social event.
4. New pain act as
natural protection
against danger or injury:
Pain is a good thing.
Without it there
would be significantly
less motivation to
avoid and address
potentially damaging
issues to the body.
It serves as our
body’s natural defence
mechanism.
5. Long term chronic
pain is a result of a
oversensitive nervous
system which no
longer warns against
damage:
Sometimes our detection
system malfunctions
where pain
still presents after the
initial injury is gone.
This type of pain
can be confusing as
listening to pain normally
is beneficial
6. Many modalities
of treatment including
physiotherapy are
able to address these
issues:
Pain is a complex
topic which has many
reasons for its presence,
physiotherapy
and other modalities
of health care at able
to asses why your
pain exists, help understand
what your
pain means, and help
you remove or reduce
the pain you are in.