Back Pain During Pregnancy

Back pain in pregnancy is very common among women. Studies show that back pain usually occurs between 5^th to 7^th month of pregnancy. Women with pre-existing back pain are at higher risk to have back pain especially in the early stage of pregnancy.

What are the causes of back pain in pregnancy?

There are several causes of back pain in pregnancy, which are:

• Posture. Commonly pregnant women will have lordotic posture because of growing baby will make the uterus to expand. Then, it shifts the center of gravity and stretches out the abdominal muscles, which may putting strain on the back.
  

• Weight gain. During pregnancy, women will gain between 25-35 pounds. Thus, the spine has to support that weight means more work for the back muscles and increased stress on your joints. That is why women may feel worse at the end of the day.

• Hormone changes. A hormone called Relaxin will be activated during pregnancy, which loosen all joints and relax the ligaments attached in pelvic bone and spine in preparation for birth process. This make pregnant women less stable and cause pain when walking, standing, sitting for long hours, rolling in bed, bending or lifting.
• Stress. Emotional stress can cause muscle tension at the back, and the pain will increases during stressful period of pregnancy.

Ways to reduce the back pain:

• 
  Practice good posture. Slouching will strain the spine. When sitting, place a roll of towel behind your back for support and always keep these principles of good posture during standing and walking:
  - stand up straight
  - keep shoulders back and relaxed
  - hold chest high
• Footwear. Wear low heeled, but not flat shoes, and avoid high heels which can may
  
  further shift your posture and caused you to fall down.
  
• Heat and cold. By applying heat and cold pack to the painful back for 20 minutes every day will also help to reduce the pain. Start by putting cold pack, then switch to heat after 2 or 3 days. Be careful not to apply to abdomen during pregnancy.
• Stretching exercise. This will increase the muscles flexibility that support the back and legs. Be careful to stretch gently to prevent over-strain.
  
  
  
• Swimming. It is the great exercise to strengthen the abdominal and lower back muscles, because the water reduce the stress on your joints and ligaments.

Prepared by,

Afiqah Najihah binti Kamali

Lecturer, Diploma in Physiotherapy

Vision College

Road to Success

"It Always Seems Impossible Until It's Done"  - Nelson Mandela

A Master journey has not always been an easy path for me. I spent my precious time for 2 years and a half to complete my Master study in University of Malaya. The years passed with sleepless nights, tears and laughter; indeed, those moments have led me to the tunnel of light. Therefore, I would fervently say that this journey has taught me several important values, if not all, to pursue success in life: independence, risk taking, knowledge seeking.

Being independent is vital for anyone regardless of what they are doing – working or studying. As a Master student, I had to be extremely independent in a process of conducting research. Both success and failure are all at our own risks. In other words, delaying your works means that you are delaying your success. This powerful reminder has always rang a bell on me whenever I tended to give up. There were many times when I was lost in this journey. For instance, I was having hard time to analyze my data using the adapted framework. I did not know where to begin; everything seemed blurry to me. So I just headed up to library and mulled over everything again and again. I then decided to show my drafts to my friends who were in the same field as me (Pragmatics) to seek their helps to comment on my drafts. Their constructive feedback on my drafts had greatly impacted me to keep going. So, the value of independence really shaped me to who I am now.  

Apart from being independent, the Master journey has also taught me to become a risk taker. Beginning with a small step, all my big dreams lie ahead; in fact, it is beyond my expectation. This is the most appealing value I learned throughout my study life because I never ever expected that we, ourselves, could do beyond what we could imagine. It helped us to become more confident and well-prepared for anything follows ahead. For instance, I took a big risk when I decided to submit my final thesis for examination without having my thesis fully checked by my supervisor due to time constraint. In fact, I was still indulging myself in the library checking all the references for the last 2 hours before the printing process. At that time, what really moved me forward were two things: to waive off the study fee for next semester and to graduate on October, 2016. Of course, I was given a chance to extend the deadline, but I realized that all the outcomes grow tomorrow could only be planted today. It is definitely worth taking the risk.

Lessons in Vision College

I have learned a great deal of lessons in Vision College in the past two years on how to run activities, how to manage hostels and how to give lectures. Yet, lessons that help to build character are the most invaluable lessons to me. These lessons or values are not quick-fixes to success, but they have guided me well on a conscientious path. Here are a few lessons that are worth sharing:

1. Always do the right thing. Never ever cheat, especially issue revolve around money. Getting caught cheating will put your reputation, integrity, credibility at stake. At the end of the day, leave the office with a conscientious mind and peaceful heart knowing that you've done the right thing.

2. No shortcuts. The accommodation work over the weekend is the most grueling. Sometimes, carrying 20kg metal lockers up several floors is just a warm up for me, while most people would avoid the staircase altogether. At times like these, the temptation of calling in sick or simply just walk away would be the easiest way out. But at the end of the day, the job has to be done. Endure the hardship and you will grow stronger (literally).

3. Create a positive working environment. By having a pleasant vibe in the office, you'll be more productive. The responsibility of creating a positive working environment starts with yourself. Stay away from spreading malicious rumours and keep your mind away from the office issues during break time. I owe it much to the group of friends who have been keeping my lunch hour delightful, especially Liew, whose topics ranging from “How to fry the perfect sunny side up” to “Why F1 should not go green” were informative and entertaining.

Always aim high. You will be rewarded for the time spent on improving yourself. By improving yourself, you will be able to contribute more to the organization and you will become generally a better person.

Prepared by,

Ho Khee Hong, Daniel

Former Lecturer/Counselor

Vision College

T.E.A.M.W.O.R.K

Science has progressed tremendously and have affected our lifestyles. Today, the system of change has affected every sector not withstanding be it the legal or illegal avenues.

The parallels of righteousness and evil has advanced in time and to cope with the situation, one has to be prudent, vigil and very objective in life.

In the circumstances, it appears that success will be achieved only if one is focused and have a good vision for life and that is the reason we are in Vision College.

Being in Vision College, we are like a family. Therefore, working closely together as a team or a family is crucial.

5 simple ways we can work together as a team

Being under an organization or a company means being under a particular group of people working together under same the goals.

A group, a team, an organization or a company is created to achieve a vision (or visions), a goal (or goals) or a purpose (or purposes!), mainly for the goodness of all. Perceiving each other as members, teammates should join hand-in-hand in order to achieve the particular objectives. To have an objective, there has got to be deadlines and deadlines are a little less impossible to achieve alone. Therefore, working together as a team is a foremost.

Here are the 5 simple ways we can do to work together as a team:

1) Help one another

Everyone in a group has his/her own particular tasks to do. If a member is disable at the moment due to what-so-ever valid reasons, we should lend a helping hand to carry his/her task, so that things are kept up to par. Reminding a teammate about a particular tasks, or covering duty whenever we can is another example of helping on another.

2) Trust each other

Trust is important. As we have heard before, everyone has their own ways of doing things. We should not expect teammates to do their work like how we do. Trust them and allow them some time on handling issues or somethings. If something isn't right, talk to them – do not assumed. Distrusting a teammate could seriously jeopardize a team as it could lead to down grading, and perhaps a loss for our team.

3) Respect each other

Don't we want people to appreciate our hard work and dedications? We should respect the unique ways our teammates carry their jobs.

4) Discuss

Anything disagreeable should be discussed upon and come to solutions.

5) Compliment one another

“Very good”, “Well done”, “That's awesome”,“We are lucky to have you” are a few ways we compliment and support each other. Don't we want to create much positivity atmosphere in our group? Don't we wish someone sees our hard work and dedications with very much appreciations?

Working as team is beneficial in terms of deadlines and productivity. If we do not work as a team how are we to reach to our visions?

Prepared by,

Munisha A/P Janardhanan

Tutor, Postgraduate Diploma of Medical Ultrasonography

Vision College

A Better Choice

“When you make a choice, you change the future.” 

― Deepak Chopra

I would like to share the most important things we must consider before choosing a programme/course any in University or College. As we all know, getting ourselves a job is tough nowadays. This is due to the fact that many employers are seeking for more experienced candidates. But not to worry, some of the employers prefer fresh graduates because they want to enhance the learning process rather than giving “hands-on” tasks.  

Malaysians today believe that students who graduated from public institutions have a better future ahead. This is not true. Graduates need to understand that finding a job is not easy and quite challenging at times. Therefore, it is very important to choose a programme that you intend to study wisely including the market aspects. 

         Potential employers also seek graduates who possessed the top five qualities and skills such as:

• Communication skills (verbal and written)
• Strong work ethic
• Teamwork skills (work well with others)
• Initiative, and
• Analytical skills

         As a conclusion, I concur that choosing courses wisely and having the fundamental drive to portray a positive image can determine our road to success.

Prepared by,

Cyprian Taimin

Course Counselor

Vision College

Advise for the Eyes

Time flies as fast as a blink; I have been working in Vision College for more than a year now. Still remember for the first two months when I was based in the office (Yes! the same office that you are sitting and reading this) that was when eye care is still under renovation, and I experienced being an office lady. During those days, I saw everyone staring at their laptop and committed to their work.

At the same time, I also noticed staffs looking at the screen closely; almost kissing the screen and some will lift up the laptop using books to adjust their eye level. 

As an optometrist, I am happy to share some tips for an ideal computer use or you will have Computer Vision Syndrome later. Oops!

Computer Vision Syndrome, also referred to as Digital Eye Strain, describes a group of eye and vision-related problems that result from prolonged computer, tablet, e-reader and cell phone use. Many individuals experience eye discomfort and vision problems when viewing digital screens for extended periods. The level of discomfort appears to increase with the amount of digital screen use.

The most common symptoms associated with Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) or Digital Eye Strain are:

·        eyestrain

·        headaches

·        blurred vision

·        dry eyes

·        neck and shoulder pain

These symptoms may be caused by:

1. poor lighting
2. glare on a digital screen
3. improper viewing distances
4. poor seating posture
5. uncorrected vision problems
6. a combination of these factors

How can this treated?

Solutions to digital screen-related vision problems are varied. However, they can usually be alleviated by obtaining regular eye care and making changes in how you view the screen.

Eye Care

In some cases, individuals who do not require the use of eyeglasses for other daily activities may benefit from glasses prescribed specifically for computer use. In addition, persons already wearing glasses may find their current prescription does not provide optimal vision for viewing a computer.

Eyeglasses or contact lenses prescribed for general use may not be adequate for computer work. Lenses prescribed to meet the unique visual demands of computer viewing may be needed. Special lens designs, lens powers or lens tints or coatings may help to maximize visual abilities and comfort.

Blue filter lens help to filter out harmful blue light. It help to avoid damages to macular and relieve eye fatigue by reduce transmission of blue light.

Some computer users experience problems with eye focusing or eye coordination that can't be adequately corrected with eyeglasses or contact lenses. A program of vision therapy may be needed to treat these specific problems. Vision therapy, also called visual training, is a structured program of visual activities prescribed to improve visual abilities. It trains the eyes and brain to work together more effectively. These eye exercises help re-mediate deficiencies in eye movement, eye focusing and eye teaming and reinforce the eye-brain connection. Treatment may include office-based as well as home training procedures.

Viewing the Computer

Proper body positioning for computer use.

Some important factors in preventing or reducing the symptoms of CVS have to do with the computer and how it is used. This includes lighting conditions, chair comfort, location of reference materials, position of the monitor, and the use of rest breaks.

Location of computer screen- Most people find it more comfortable to view a computer when the eyes are looking downward. Optimally, the computer screen should be 15 to 20 degrees below eye level (about 4 or 5 inches) as measured from the center of the screen and 20 to 28 inches from the eyes.

Reference materials- These materials should be located above the keyboard and below the monitor. If this is not possible, a document holder can be used beside the monitor. The goal is to position the documents so you do not need to move your head to look from the document to the screen.

 

Seating position- Chairs should be comfortably padded and conform to the body. Chair height should be adjusted so your feet rest flat on the floor. If your chair has arms, they should be adjusted to provide arm support while you are typing. Your wrists shouldn't rest on the keyboard when typing.

Lighting- Position the computer screen to avoid glare, particularly from overhead lighting or windows. Use blinds or drapes on windows and replace the light bulbs in desk lamps with bulbs of lower wattage.

Anti-glare screens- If there is no way to minimize glare from light sources, consider using a screen glare filter. These filters decrease the amount of light reflected from the screen.

Rest breaks- To prevent eyestrain, try to rest your eyes when using the computer for long periods. Rest your eyes for 15 minutes after two hours of continuous computer use. Also, for every 20 minutes of computer viewing, look into the distance for 20 seconds to allow your eyes a chance to refocus.

Blinking- To minimize your chances of developing dry eye when using a computer, make an effort to blink frequently. Blinking keeps the front surface of your eye moist. 

After reading this, I hope it helps improving on your pc-looking style. Let’s make work more fun!

Reference:

1. American Optometric Association:

http://www.aoa.org/patients-and-public/caring-for-your-vision/protecting-your-vision/computer-vision-syndrome

Prepared by,

Zoey Tee Ru Fang

Optometrist/Lecturer

Vision College

Food Hunting

‘’Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like’’ – Mark Twain

     Food is the essence of life. No one in this world can live without food. Some people are even willing to travel around in order to get good food. I myself love to go food hunting especially during the weekend.

     Food hunting has been part of me since 8 years ago. During weekend and public holiday, my husband and I would travel around KL and sometimes even out of the city to hunt for good food. Before I decide on where to go, usually I would read reviews and get comments from those who had gone to that place. Allow me to share some of the nice places to eat around the country. Who knows maybe some of you would want to try it out.

1.  Sin Kok Thye, Klang

     Sin Kok Thye is an old school cafe situated at in Klang. Usually, on Saturday, my husband and I will drive all the way from Taman Melawati to Port Klang that takes about 1-hour drive just to have lunch at this shop. Known to serve good authentic Hainanese cuisine, it has always attracted the attention of the local community as well as people from outside the state. Because it was kept free and easy for all, it is a norm to see people from all walks of life and beliefs coming to sample the cuisine from this quaint Chinese coffee shop. The shop is located at Jalan Kem, Port Klang and has been in operation for almost a century. Currently, the shop is being managed by the third generation of the family.

     Those marble tables, wooden chairs, and mosaic-tiled floors, with quaint decorations adorning the walls, and an antique grandfather clock are an amazing view to look at in the shop. When you are inside, you will feel like as if you are living in the year of 1950s. Good food is one thing but pair that with fast service and you’ll have a shop worth going all the time. However, the parking here can be quite a nuisance as the shop is right in front of a main road but try your luck at the back of the shop.  Sin Kok Thye is famous for its Hainanese Chicken Chop and Hainanese Beef Steak. Another popular dish in the shop is Hailam Mee. The food and drinks in the shop are being prepared in a traditional way. A simple tip for everyone: order one set of each of their signature dish then ask for small plates so that you can try all the dishes.

Check this place out if you happen to be nearby.

Sin Kok Thye ( Pork Free )

23, Jalan Kem,

Port Klang, Selangor

Opens from 6:30am-6:00pm

Close on Sunday

 2. Hameed Pata Mee Sotong, Penang

     The Padang Kota Lama aka Esplanade is next to the famous Fort Cornwallis in Penang. On one end is this food court, aptly named Padang Kota Lama as well. As with all food courts there are many stalls sharing the business and dining space. In the afternoon, Hameed ‘Pata’ Mee Sotong reign supreme as almost 90% of the people in the food court are his customers. It has been operated since 1978. The cook doesn’t prepare each order individually but dishes out the noodles quicker by cooking in large quantities.

     Your option here is either the wet Mee Rebus that comes with gravy or the dry Mee Goreng. Both would be heaped with a generous helping of ‘sambal sotong’ just prior to serving and you would need to mix it up as you eat. A small plate is RM4 while the large plate is RM6. To top it off, just beside Hameed is the beverage stall where the staple order is either the Coconut Shake or Cendol. The famous Coconut Shake is a refreshing concoction of coconut water, sweet coconut flesh with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on top. Do take note that during public holiday, you may have to queue up for about 30 minutes to order your food.

If you happen to be around Penang, do come and try out their Mee Sotong.

Hameed Pata Mee Sotong

6, Padang Kota Lama Food Court (next to Fort Cornwallis)

Jalan Padang Kota Lama

10200, Penang

Close on Sunday

3. Hai Thien Restaurant, Perlis

     Kuala Perlis, a place full of natural port and seaside scene we found an amazing Chinese Thai Muslim seafood restaurant “Hai Thien” that serves authentic menus since year 1986. At first, they successfully established their very first and owned seafood restaurant named “Restoran Hai Thien” along Jalan Kampung Perak, Kuala Perlis introducing their Thai Muslim seafood selections, running for 28 years. While in year 2014, with the great response from the public allowed them to expose further and moved to wider and more strategic location at Jalan Jeti Baru. They continued their exposure in the business famously known as “Hai Thien Seafood”, which is the recent location.

    

     In Hai Thien, the founder’s top recommended dish will be their Siamese Steamed Fish which is the best signature seen on almost every single table.  Local “Siakap” fish commonly selected, steamed 15 minutes and poured onto their in-house soup sauce which is prepared in more than 10 recipes, then served above charcoal flames brings sour & spicy taste you must try.

     Nonetheless, their daily top order is Salad Batenkor or locally known as Deep Fried “Char Kueh”.  Deep fried stuffed dough sticks filled with generous squid paste, topped with homemade mayonnaise surely you cannot resist!

Do check them out.

Restoran Hai Thien

Jalan Jeti Baru,

02000 Kuala Perlis,

Perlis.

Business Hours: 5:30pm to 12:00am (Daily)

     Thus, nothing beats the feeling of having good food. No matter how stressed or choosy you are, when you eat good food, you will have a sense of relief. That’s all from me.

 Hope you enjoy reading!

Prepared by,

Fazlieza Merican

Lecturer, English Department

Vision College

My Life with DBT

1^st March 2016

The date I first step into Vision College as an employee.

2^nd March 2016

The date I first entered class as a lecturer to teach my new students.

My first thought when I walked into my first class was like…..

”Sikitnya student aku..”

Therefore, with that my journey as a lecturer begins at Vision College.

Besides being a lecturer, I am also a Programme Coordinator (PC) for my programme, which is Diploma In Biomedical Technology or known as DBT. This course is a new course in this college. So, that explains why the number of students are lesser compared to the other programmes.

I would like to share with all of you a little bit about DBT programme,

Biomedical Technology is one of the raising courses specifically in Malaysia. The students learn about handling medical equipments that are used at hospitals or clinics. This scope of study emerged since there is a large number of hospitals that are equipped with high-tech medical equipment, but they are lack of trained personal or manpower to carry out the maintenance, upgrade and troubleshoot of the equipments. This has resulted in downtime and shorter lifespan on the equipment.. So, that is the reason why we really need the expertise in this area.

Therefore, in order to fulfill what is required in the market, the students will need to study on the Biology, Anatomy & Physiology, Biochemistry, Biomedical Electronics, Biomedical Devices, Biomedical In Engineering Physics and etc. This programme takes three (3) years to complete.

After about 5 months working here, I can say that I enjoy the working environment at Vision College. The staff over here are friendly and helpful and most importantly, I am able to attain formal working experience at Vision College after graduating from my postgraduate degree at International Islamic University in November 2015.

I think this first official job for me is like a sustenance before I get married as I am now a happy wife to my dearest husband and a caring lecturer to my dear students.

Although I am married, my students still call me Miss Sha ... hehehe ... Forever 'Miss' instead of 'Mrs'.

My messy table

Prepared by,

Irmanisha Ibrahim

Lecturer, Diploma in Biomedical Technology,
Vision College