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| Interesting Snippets! |
Fit for Skiing?
(Joe Allnutt, Sports Therapist)
Ideally you have already started preparing for your 2007- 2008 ski trip, but if you haven’t you may want to in order to optimise your ski experience. Skiing and snowboarding is a demanding endurance and strength sport and whether you are in the snow park all day or just skiing the piste, you want to be safe, alert and not aching or in pain.
A fully qualified Sports Therapist can assess and treat any previous injuries you have experienced before and a full biomechanical assessment will help to identify any other weaknesses that need attention. This will give you peace of mind on the slopes and will also allow you to deal with the injury before you leave for the mountains.
An individually designed gym and home exercise regime will be put together, firstly to address any of the identified weaknesses and secondly to strengthen the muscles of the legs and upper body that are needed most when carving the snow.
Make the most of your winter holiday and get Fit for skiing!
Sports Massage
(Miranda Robinson, Sports Masseuse)
Sports massage detects areas of tightness and overuse and is unique in that it identifies, treats and also prevents further injury, as a stretched muscle with good circulation is less likely to get damaged. Tight muscles, caused by injury, compensation, incorrect technique or poor posture, go unnoticed until the strain they put on the body’s balanced structure start generating painful symptoms – often away from the area where the tightness exists and usually without any apparent cause. We have all heard someone say “ My back just went and I wasn’t doing anything!”.
When a muscle is used repeatedly the muscle fibres experience microtrauma and the elasticity of the muscle decreases, leaving it more vulnerable to further microtrauma and ultimately leading to overuse syndrome. In my work I use deep tissue massage, accompanied by isolated stretching, directing the stretch into the specific area of tissue tightness, otherwise difficult to reach. The muscles are stretched to their full extent, circulation is stimulated and recovery is accelerated.
The Bowen Technique .. Accelerates a healing response…..
(Kim Layzell, Bowen Therapist)
Studies show that when the body is locked in a hyperactive state of ‘survival mode’ due to stress or trauma, our innate healing system is impaired. This makes us more vulnerable to colds and flu, injuries, and muscle or joint pains. With the possibility of a flu’ epidemic this winter, our body and mind need the best resources we can provide to boost our immunity, and perk up our vital energies.
Bowen is a very gentle but powerful technique that works by balancing the autonomic nervous system (ANS) which controls over 80% of our bodily functions. Patients relax during and after treatment, and the body is sent a message that the ‘emergency’ is over, allowing us to balance and regulate all our body systems. Quite simply, a Bowen treatment ‘resets’ the body, so that it can heal itself.
Many conditions may respond well to Bowen including back pain, joint and muscle pains, stress, chronic fatigue, insomnia, frozen shoulder, migraine, whiplash, asthma, anxiety, depression and chronic pain syndrome
“If you stop doing the wrong thing, the right thing will do itself”
(Julie Bushell, Alexander Technique)
The above is a quote from FM Alexander, the man who developed the Alexander Technique, and it gives us an insight as to what the technique is about. Over the years all of us develop habits of posture and movement, some of which may be harmful and lead to stress and pain. However because they are our habit and therefore feel right to us, we don’t recognise that what we are doing may be the cause of this pain. Using gentle hands-on and verbal guidance, an Alexander Technique teacher will help you to find ease of movement in simple, everyday activities. As your awareness increases, you will learn to release tension, prevent harmful postural habits and rediscover balance of body and mind.
Yoga posture of the month: Tadasana, the Mountain posture
(Julie Bushell, Dru Yoga Instructor)
This posture encourages the correct alignment of all joints of the body and allows postural muscles to maintain an upright position without unnecessary strain or tension. Can be practised in Christmas shopping queues as well as in yoga classes!!
Stand with feet parallel, hip-width apart and be aware of your weight evenly distributed over the feet. Ensure your knees are not locked and all joints are soft. Draw the abdomen in slightly, allow the chest to be open, shoulders relaxed/down and your arms hanging freely by your sides. Relax the neck and allow the crown of the head to be drawn upwards. Feel as if the spine is being lengthened with each inhalation and focus on the qualities of strength and stillness.
Active Trigger Points cause pain!
(Sue Simpson, Chiropractor)
“A highly irritable localised spot of exquisite tenderness in a nodule in a palpable taught band of (skeletal) muscle” (Travell & Simons, 1993)
Trigger points were discovered in 1957 by Dr Janet Travell. The ‘spot’ of pain referred to above can range in size from a ‘tiny lump’ to ‘little peas’ to ‘large lumps’, and can be felt beneath the surface embedded within the muscle fibres. If they are tender to pressure they may well be trigger points. They can be so tender that when they are pressed the patient often winces from the pain (jump sign).
There are two basic types of trigger points: active and latent. Active trigger points cause muscular pain and will refer pain and tenderness to another area of the body when pressure is applied. Latent trigger points only exhibit pain when compressed, they do not refer pain to other areas of the body. Latent trigger points are believed to be one of the causes of stiff joints and restricted range of motion of old age.
Trigger points differ from acupressure points. Acupressure points are concentrations of energy or blockages of the body's energy pathways. Trigger points are physical phenomena that can be felt by touch. Trigger points have several causes. Some common causes of trigger points are: birth trauma, an injury sustained in a fall or accident, poor posture, or overexertion.
The purpose of trigger point therapy is to eliminate pain and to re-educate the muscles into pain-free habits. After several treatments, the swelling and stiffness of neuromuscular pain is reduced, range of motion is increased, tension is relieved, and circulation, flexibility and coordination are improved.
Glucosamine Sulphate and Chondroitin
(Bernard Langmead, Deep Tissue & Sports Massage)
Through regular sports/ deep tissue massage I can help to keep you “fit for life”. But what can you do to help yourselves? Deterioration in joint cartilage causes many of us annoying aches and pains. However there are some excellent well tested supplements readily available that can stabilise or even reduce these symptoms. As an Osteoarthritis sufferer who has already had two hip replacements, I can personally recommend taking 1500mg Glucosamine and 1200mg Chondroitin on a daily basis. Being naturally produced in our bodies, they have no known side effects (but do check with your doctor if you are on a course of medication).
Glucosamine helps the body to repair damaged or eroded cartilage, through stimulating cartilage production and strengthening your body’s natural repair mechanisms. Chondroitin on the other hand attracts important fluid into the cartilage that acts as a spongy shock absorber, thus protecting the cartilage within our joints from breaking down or further deterioration. Together they make a great team, not only halting and in many cases reversing cartilage deterioration but also in reducing joint pain and inflammation. (For more information have a look at www.agestop.net or www.healthspan.co.uk )
Herbal Medicine
(Kate Parker, Medical Herbalist)
Herbal Medicine is the use of plants as remedies to restore health. It is an holistic therapy and the approach is to treat the individual rather than the condition, for example, for two people who have hayfever, the medicine will be different for both of them. It is a safe approach for everyone from children to the elderly to the pregnant ladies. So what is a herb? For some, it is the weed that will not go away! Think of Lemon Balm (Melissa Officinalis), it grows everywhere, including places that is has been removed from! Wonderful herb for relaxing, encouraging digestion after meals, uplifting for the spirits, calming before going to sleep.
A quick little home remedy that can be found in the kitchen is onion syrup to ward off those spring colds: 1 jar (any size), an onion, honey (local if you can get it) and possibly a couple cloves of garlic. Chop the onion (and garlic) up into rough sizes, fill the jar with the raw onion and pour the honey over the onion & garlic until if reaches the top. Leave for 48 hours, strain and throw away the onions and garlic. This leaves you with your onion syrup - take 1 tsp every morning to help ward off those colds. If you feel a cold coming on, increase the amount to 4tsps a day. Very simple, very easy and very effective!! For those of you who suffer from hayfever, now is the time to start building up your body's defences before the season starts.
Reflexology
(Carol Wade, Reflexology & Therapeutic Massage)
Reflexology is a relaxing, re-balancing therapy working on the feet (or sometimes hands). To a reflexologist the feet are like a map or guide to the body – for instance the top of your big toe is the reflex area for your head/brain! Using thumbs and fingers to look for signs of tenderness or grittiness in the reflexes of the feet, working these areas can stimulate and activate the body’s healing processes to keep the body balanced. Reflexology can be both revitalizing and relaxing and is rewarding for the client and practitioner.
Need some positivity?
Try this motivational NLP technique
(Loran Northey, Hypnotherapy & NLP)
We all have the seeds of motivation within us. If you won the lottery, would you procrastinate for a few weeks before you eventually got around to collecting your millions? This exercise will give you the power to unleash your motivation in any situation:
Think about something that you would love to be motivated to do. Now, remember a time when you felt really motivated in the past — when you took a positive action and made a difference in your life. Return to it now: see what you saw, hear what you heard and feel how good you felt. If you can’t remember such a time, imagine how good you would feel if you had all the confidence, power and determination that you could ever wish for. As you keep going through this memory, make the colours brighter, the sounds richer and the feelings stronger.
While you are feeling these good feelings, squeeze the thumb and middle finger of either hand together. From now on, each time that you squeeze your thumb and middle finger together you will begin to relive these good feelings. Repeat the above exercise several times, adding in new positive experiences of motivation each time, until squeezing your thumb and middle finger together has you raring to go. Still holding your thumb and finger together, think about that situation in which you want to feel more motivated. Imagine things going perfectly, exactly the way you want them to be. See what you’ll see, hear what you’ll hear and feel how good it feels to make things happen!
Core Stability
(Ruth Mills, Sports Therapist)
As a sports therapist, one of the main aims of treatment involves returning the patient to full functional fitness. Therefore rehabilitation exercise for the patient is a key area of sports therapy. This can include core stability training which is essential to sports performance and injury prevention.
The aim of core stability training is to effectively recruit the trunk musculature and then learn to control the position of the lumbar spine during dynamic movements. The muscles of the torso stabilize the spine and provide a solid foundation for movement in the extremities. Training these muscles also corrects postural imbalances that can lead to injuries. The biggest benefit of core training is to develop functional fitness - that is, fitness that is essential to both daily living and regular activities.
The main principles involved in stability training are:
- Awareness of correct body alignment during the exercise
- Awareness of good posture
- Keeping focused so as to activate the target muscles
- Movements are typically performed in a very slow and controlled manner
- Maintenance of smooth unstrained breathing throughout all exertions
Abdominal bracing is the main technique used during core exercise training. It refers to the contraction of the abdominal muscles. During treatment sessions with your sports therapist this technique will be explained and demonstrated to the patient, as it is a key factor to any core stability exercise. Other exercises that develop core strength include exercises on a stability ball, work with medicine balls, and wobble boards.
Bowen Technique Case Studies
(Kim Layzell, Bowen Therapist)
Bowen is a very effective treatment which promotes healing, pain relief and recovery of energy. It is not massage, but a unique method of precise moves made over the muscles and other soft tissue which is safe, very gentle, and relaxing to receive. Bowen prompts the body to realign itself, and rapid pain relief is common.
Frequent presentations are back and neck pain, frozen shoulder, sports injuries, Fibromyalgia, asthma, IBS, hay-fever, anxiety/depression. Bowen also addresses many other conditions. The results can be remarkable, even after the first treatment. Here are a few case studies:
Back and knee pain - Man age 23, 4 treatments
With constant pain, D’s work as a landscape gardener was miserable. Daily painkillers helped the pain, but not the source of the problem. Outcome: D’s pain reduced considerably during and after treatment 1. Now he is virtually pain- free. With increased energy, flexibility, and improved co-ordination he is now able to enjoy his work again, & help prevent further injuries.
Fibromyalgia - Woman age 49, series of treatments
Pain , fatigue, brain fog, IBS, headaches dominated S’s life, and she felt depressed. S responded quickly to Bowen,, with great pain relief, refreshing sleep, more energy , and her mood lifted. She now chooses to have regular treatments. S says “ I feel better than I have for years”
Asthma - Boy age 8, 3 treatments
B has daily puffers, but last year he had two acute attacks requiring hospital admission and oral steroids. Outcome: His peak flow has improved, and he sleeps through with no cough. Despite a heavy cold over Christmas, no further asthma attacks.
More Asthma info: www.Bowen-forAsthma.com
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