Chart Clinic Back Care Tips - Newsletter December 2013

Seasons Greetings From All Of Us At Chart Clinic

We Wish You All A Very Merry Christmas And A Happy And Healthy New Year!

Please enjoy our Christmas Newsletter with some healthy ‘backs and bone’ tips amongst other useful lifestyle advice…

Best wishes, The Chart Clinic Team

Although this is quite a funny picture, most of the above observations can actually be applied to the complaints that we see in our day to day practice. So what are the implications of the above mentioned annotations for good old Saint Nick?

Read on to see what is wrong with the way he goes about his business...

Does a whole years work in one night…

How does he do it? Santa on his sleigh with Rudolph and Co, delivering presents and gifts to all the children around the world in one night?! A stressful job if you ask me!

How many of you work long hours, face stressful jobs or have to meet tough deadlines? You may find that this causes you some stress. Sometimes this stress can manifest in physical symptoms that affect your muscles and joints. This may be headaches, back, neck or shoulder pain and tension.

Christmas can be a stressful time on top of a hectic lifestyle. How do you manage your stress and deal with it? There are lots of techniques and self help resources online to help combat stress and aid relaxation, for example Mood juice has some really useful sections on stress http://www.moodjuice.scot.nhs.uk/stress.asp.

We highly recommend our patients to our trusted colleague, emotional health consultant Wendy Fry at Be Positive. Wendy offers a range of really helpful approaches including Life Coaching, NLP, Hypnotherapy and EFT. Wendy is excellent at helping people with stress and all other emotional health challenges. Wendy provides highly professional and very relaxing sessions that will help you to work toward solutions and form an action plan for the future. This can help you to overcome any obstacles that you may face in day to day life and ease your stresses away – you can find her website link on our Partners page http://chartclinic.co.uk/partners.htm

What can we do? – We regularly help our patients manage some of these physical symptoms with Osteopathic or Sports Massage treatment, to help unwind tight, knotted muscles or, gently release stiff joints in the neck that can cause headaches.

Carries a heavy sack and lots of boxes…

Lifting heavy loads with poor posture puts you at risk of injury, most commonly in the back. If you are rushing or not taking care to lift properly, this increases your risk.

With any lifting, plan what you are going to do, do you need an extra pair of hands? Is your route to carry the load clear and free of obstacles? Lift properly; Position yourself directly above the load with you legs staggered either side either in a squat or lunge position, keeping your back upright and straight, bend your hips and knees to get lower. Bring the load close to your body and lift up from your legs.  Avoid twisting or bending your back and if you need to change your position move your feet  and not just your spine.

Is constantly bending and straining…

The highest incidence of back injuries we see come from bending and straining, for example patients often report– “I was twisting into the car with my back bent lifting out my child/shopping and I felt  my back go” or “I was bending down to pick up a sack of damp leaves in the garden and as I twisted to put them in the wheel barrow I felt something painful and a click in my back” or “I was sitting in my chair in the office, bent down and twisted to pick up my hand bag and my low back went”.

All of the above are illustrations of what we refer to as, mechanisms of injury, involving lifting a load with temporary maintenance of a poor posture – a high risk activity, especially for your lower back. Bending and straining especially when seated, places a huge amount of pressure on your spine and particularly the intervertebral discs, which if stressed too much, may bulge or prolapse giving you a ‘slipped disc’.

Bending is often the most convenient way to get down to the floor to pick up something, but it is not the most economical for your back. Look at a young infant or toddler; they will always squat down, bending through their hips and knees to pick something up. They also sit with their back totally straight – where did we lose this ability over the years? It is simply just a bad habit we have developed. Use the postural information in the last section to ensure you are lifting properly, bending your hips and knees to get down and not just your back – even if you are just picking up something as light as a dropped pen!

Is definitely overweight…

Why is Father Christmas always pictured having a big belly? Well as a child I always left a couple of mince pies, a beer and not forgetting a carrot for Rudolph, multiply that by a few billion children doing the same thing… well thinking about it, Santa isn’t doing too badly with his figure considering!

In all seriousness, we all know gaining a few extra pounds over the Christmas period is often an inevitable consequence of the seasonal indulgences. We are not dieticians at Chart Clinic, but what we do know is there is a positive correlation between being overweight and an increased incidence of back pain, and injury to other weight bearing joints i.e. the knees, hips, ankles and feet.

So, with any type of aches and pains, if you are leading a sedentary lifestyle, kick start your metabolism with some exercise. This will not only help you shed a few pounds but also improve your general musculoskeletal health.

Has to squeeze down narrow chimneys…

There is a good reason why in Victorian ages children were sent up the chimneys to give them a sweep. Now things have advanced and aside from Santa using a little magic I am sure that squeezing down chimneys does not apply to the general population. However if you are a plumber or electrician, or are doing some home DIY, you probably have to squeeze in some tight and awkward spaces yourself. Sometimes things are stored away in a corner that is awkward to get into. Unless you are a circus contortionist you are probably going to struggle with this type of activity, so take care and don’t push yourself too hard. Get some help if needed to lift or pull anything heavy and think about your posture, if it feels awkward in all likelihood it’s not great for your back so proceed with caution.

Eats an unbalanced diet…

We all know we should eat 5-a-day of fruit and veg and drink 2 litres of water a everyday, but for many the reality is we are eating too much convenience food and drinking too many teas and coffees, this is the tough act that we have to follow in order to achieve a balanced diet. Santa is clearly eating too many of the wrong things and rushing them down on the go, another consequence of hectic modern day living that many of us are presented with.

It is very important to eat the right things as well as getting some support from nutritional supplements, such as a good quality multi-vitamin, as they can make a massive difference.

At Chart Clinic we love to support local businesses and we are very lucky to have a fantastic, independent nutrition store in Reigate. They stock a vast range of nutritional supplements, organic food products and more, where you can go to get good, sound, nutritional advice that can really help make a difference.

“Food is the most important source of nutrients.” says Kate Segal of Inside Out Health, Reigate. “However much of the food we eat these days has travelled long distances, sat on shop shelves for days under harsh lights which can lead to nutrient levels being depleted. Months may elapse between harvesting and eating. Food may also be picked before it has reached its full nutrient potential and the soil may also be depleted of nutrient levels due to intensive farming. A multi vitamin and mineral can cover the bases as a support to a healthy diet.”

For more information and to read some really great, informative newsletters visit the Inside Out Health Stores Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/chartclinic#!/IOHUK

Santa’s sleigh, does it have a lumbar support?

Well I have never seen a sleigh with one! If you are not familiar with the term lumbar support, it simply refers to a bolster or pad to support your Lumbar spine - the 5 vertebrae between the bottom or your ribs and top of your sacrum and coccyx that forms your lower back.

An adjustable lumbar support is available in some cars and office chairs and is useful to help maintain the natural curvature of your lower back, boosting support and aiding your spines correct shape for optimum shock absorbency. Maintaining this natural curve in your lower back improves your sitting posture and prevents excessive wear and tear to the discs in between the bones of your spine.

You can create a lumbar support very easily by rolling up a bath towel into a cylindrical roll and placing this in the small of your lower back between you and the back rest. You may have to adjust this to get comfortable and re-roll the towel to keep its support through the day. More importantly if you are seated for a long period of time, be it at a desk or in a car driving, take a regular hourly break, get up out of your seat and move about to get the heart pumping and stretch any areas of your body that feel tight.

 

Here’s to a pain free Christmas and a healthy new year!

 

Crippling; Back Pain Risk for 6.5 Million Unpaid Carers in the UK...

BackCare Awareness Week (7-11th Oct) 2013: Caring for Carers

 

 

The UK is home to 7 million unpaid carers. These are people who provide regular, ongoing support and assistance to an ailing or disabled family member, friend or neighbour on a voluntary basis.

They represent an unpaid and often invisible workforce that saves the Government a staggering £119 billion every year – more than the Government’s entire annual NHS expenditure.

Due to the nature of their role, unpaid carers are often exposed to higher than usual levels of physical and emotional stress which puts their own health at risk.

Many carers help the person they care for with physical tasks, such as getting in and out of the bed, bath or chairs. Without advice and training in safe technique, the carer may be putting undue ‘biomechanical’ stress on their own bodies.

In addition to this, the role of carer, especially when caring for a spouse or close family member, can create unique emotional stresses. Both parties can struggle with issues such as dependency and loss, as they try to adapt to the changing relationship.

Over 70% the UK’s unpaid carers now suffer from back pain, and are a greater risk of developing chronic pain, which is highly disabling in a third of cases and life-long for the majority.

BackCare is working to help the UK’s unpaid carers with the launch of a national campaign called ‘Caring for Carers’ during this year’s BackCare Awareness Week (7-11^th October 2013).

The week will kick off with a radio day of live interviews on regional and national stations to raise awareness of the key issues. BackCare will be distributing a campaign pack featuring educational materials, including the Carer’s Guide and DVD.

The campaign is being run in collaboration with several organisations, including Carer’s Trust, Arc Learning, Guideposts Trust, Carers of Epsom, Action for Carers and the White Lodge Centre.

BackCare members and partners will also be running local events up and down the country in clinics and carer centres to coordinate with the campaign. To learn more about BackCare please visit www.backcare.org.uk, email info@backcare.org.uk or call 020 8977 5474

 

For more information about BackCare visit www.backcare.org.uk

To find out how an Osteopath can help you visit www.chartclinic.co.uk

60% of Adults in the UK may suffer from Back Pain at some point in their life. Osteopathy can help...

Back problems are extremely common. Research has shown that back pain and related problems may affect in excess of 60% of people in the UK at some point in their lives. This is largely due to the fact that the lower back supports most of your body’s weight.

It is possible to suffer with a variety of symptoms. This may be a tingling or burning sensation, dull ache or sharp pain.

Back trouble does not necessarily make just your back hurt, you may get symptoms in more distant areas like your hip, buttocks, groin or legs (commonly referred to as sciatica).

Problems with your spine and neck can also cause symptoms, for example dizziness, headaches, pain in the arm or shoulder, pins and needle and much more!

It is not always the case that one sudden event causes your back pain. This can be a result of strain over a longer period of time. If you are doing things improperly, for example, standing or sitting for a long time with bad posture. It is then that unexpectedly one straightforward movement like reaching or bending for something that triggers your pain.

There are generally two types of back pain, acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term, continuous, ongoing). Acute low back pain is more common and it usually last for 1 month and can occur any number of times, whereas long-term back pain tends to last for longer than 3 months. Acute back pain can be resolved quite quickly especially with manual therapies and exercise, with good advice from a health professional you can take action to prevent a recurrence.

Osteopathy and Back Pain

Osteopaths are professionally trained individuals who are skilled in diagnosing problems, as well as those that may need further investigation if required.

Around 30,000 people currently consult osteopaths every working day with more than 7 million consultations carried out every year (General Osteopathic Council). NICE (the National Institute of Clinical Excellence) guidelines recommend manipulative therapies including osteopathy for the treatment of low back pain.

Treatment with an Osteopath

Osteopaths use a wide variety of gentle manipulations, depending on your age, health and diagnosis. Treatment is different for each patient but typically includes techniques such as different soft tissue massage and joint articulation to release tension, stretch muscles, help ease pain and mobilise your joints. Occasionally, when we move joints you may hear a ‘click’. This is just like the click people get when they crack their knuckles.

Keeping a healthy spine and joints

When we are young our body is a little more forgiving, easily adapting to the stress and strains it is subjected to. As we grow older the body begins to lose some of the suppleness which gives the body flexibility to get by and adapt. This especially applies to the discs between the vertebra and cartilage. Frequent movement is vital for these structures to allow maximum motion to increase local circulation and nutrition to the nearby fluids and tissues.

The British Osteopathic association suggest the following tips to keep a healthy back:

10 top tips for back care

1. Keep moving and stretching
2. Take regular exercise
3. Take frequent breaks between repetitive tasks and vary the rhythm
4. Change position – avoid ‘computer hump’
5. Pace yourself when the work is heavy e.g. gardening
6. Adjust car seats, and on long journeys, have breaks and stretch
7. Watch children’s posture – don’t let them carry bags on one shoulder
8. Avoid strain when lifting especially when shopping and with small children
9. Is your bed the right bed or is it getting old?
10. Seek osteopathic advice earlier rather than later

Source: osteopathy.org/back-pain 1/2/2012

If you or someone you know is suffering with back pain, why not get in contact with Chart Clinic to see how we can help, we will be happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have.

Running the Virgin Money London Marathon 2014? Here are a few last minute things to help you prepare...

 

It’s been a long, gruelling journey to get to this point, but it is finally hear. Some of our runners have already pounded the streets home successfully after completing to Brighton marathon last weekend, now for the biggie the Virgin London Marathon!

Runner’s, this week you should relax, you have been tapering for the past few weeks, now just enjoy this final week and look forward to the big day, the adrenaline and the uplifting support from the crowds, the experience alone will be amazing!

If you want to keep an eye on the weather visit the MET office website, this will help you prepare for what clothing you will need on the day, http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/events/london-marathon

In the next few days it’s worth doing a few things in final preparation:

• Rest and relax, you have done your training, now enjoy the rest and wait for race day.
• Consider a Sports Massage to help you physcially and mentally prepare.

• Eat sensibly this week; add an extra carb to your meals, such as jacket potato, rice or pasta.
• Trim your toenails before race day – to avoid any discomfort in your shoes.
• Pick your clothing for the appropriate weather.
• Check your running shoes – Remove any twigs, stones etc. from soles and check the laces are not fraying.
• Drink plenty of fluid the day before race day – your urine should be a pale straw colour.
• On race morning apply some petroleum jelly or similar lubricant to sensitive areas such as nipples, thighs and between arms and chest to avoid chafing.
• Eat something light on race morning bagel, toast, cereal or a banana are all good choices. Avoid eating too heavy a meal the evening before.

Good luck to all our marathon runners :-) - we will see you Monday for a well earned sports massage

"Why Weight?" A guest blog from Weight management consultant Wendy Fry

 

 

Many people already know that they are overweight and the majority of those that are have tried all kinds of diets only to drop some weight and then put it all back on.  It’s frustrating isn’t it! That loop of dieting and binging, exercising and then giving up. You know you want to reduce a few clothing sizes but it feels hopeless and you want the weight to stay off for good. 

Lower back pain, knee pain as well as other joint  and health problems are often a result of carrying too much weight around, not only does the weight physically weigh us down, emotionally it drags us down too and we feel as if we’re going round in circles.

 

 

Fear not...help is at hand:

IMAGINE THIS ……..

FREEDOM FROM THINKING ABOUT FOOD ALL THE TIME

EAT WHATEVER YOU WANT AND STILL LOSE WEIGHT

 

NO CALORIE COUNTING, LOW CARB OR LOW FAT

 

FEEL HAPPY ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK

 

POWERFUL MOTIVATION TO EXERCISE

 
NO NEED TO DIET ANYMORE

 

OVERCOME CRAVINGS

 

 

HypnoSlimmer is a 4 week programme utilising a combination of modern clinical hypnosis, NLP, EFT and Mind Management that addresses the most common reasons for weight gain. The focus is different to a normal slimming programme in that it allows you to eat what you want, when you want! If this sounds too good to be true, you’re probably wondering what the catch is. The “catch” is simply that you learn to eat only when you’re hungry, and stop eating when you’re full. Most of us have learned to ignore that signal from our body over years of conditioning.

 

 

Hypnotherapy will help you to tune into those signals once again. By allowing yourself to eat what you want, but stopping when you’re full, you remove the sense of deprivation you normally get on a diet, and you begin to see food as something that’s still enjoyable, but just not as important any more. Hypnotherapy can help you to become more conscious of your eating habits and to take control of them, rather than have them control you.

Most traditional dieting systems will programme your mind to think about food all the time, counting calories, planning meals, avoiding certain foods. As far as we are concerned, this approach is totally wrong. No wonder you end up being bigger than before you actually started the diet.

 

So why weight?

Contact Wendy Your Licensed Hypnoslimmer Consultant today and register for your

FREE CONSULTATION

 

Wendy Fry HYP Dip-NLP Dip-LCH Dip-MAAMET –MBIH

 

020 8641 4504 - 0793 0353 941

 

Info@bepositive.me.uk

 

 

Wendy Fry is an Emotional Health and Weight Management Consultant.

Her services include Hypnotherapy-Hypnoslimmer and Virtual Gastric Band

Life and Success Coaching-NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming)

EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and Matrix Reimprinting.    

www.bepositive.me.uk

www.hypnoslimmer.co.uk      

 

Give Your Body An ‘MOT’ With A Deep Tissue Sports Massage

Taking up exercise in the New Year has tremendous health benefits. Be it at the gym, jogging outside or a fitness DVD at home.  If you are regularly training it pays to take care of your muscle and joint health. Whether you’re new to exercise or a seasoned athlete, you will benefit from sports massage treatment.

Sports Massage Therapist, Hayley Meeking from Reigate’s Chart Clinic explains,

“Exercise in all forms of sport, training or even from manual work means that our body’s are working repeatedly and this can place a lot strain on your muscles and joints. This strain may lead to muscular imbalances, increasing the risk of suffering an injury.”

“Like driving a car, using it regularly causes wear and tear.  To preserve its condition you take a car for a service and MOT, so why wouldn’t you give your body the same level of treatment?”

A Sports Massage will help to...

Maintain your flexibility, allowing you to exercise more efficiently

• Reduce your body’s recovery time between exercise sessions
• Help with aches, pains and post-exercise soreness
• Locate and treat areas of tension due to muscular imbalances
• Minimises the chances of suffering an injury
• You will feel good; consider it a well deserved reward for your body’s hard work!

 To find how we can help you or to book an appointment contact Chart Clinic on 01737 248 023 or email info@chartclinic.co.uk

Getting fit in 2013? Kick-start the New Year with Chart Clinic’s exercise tips…

The end of the festive season sees millions of people in Britain pledge to make a New Year’s resolution. Unfortunately many of these good intentions will be abandoned by the end of January.

A December of office parties, entertaining and overindulging through the Christmas holiday are a great reason to make us want to kick-start 2013 with a healthy diet and some exercise.

Exercise related injuries are a regular occurrence in the New Year, something that we see all too frequently at our Reigate clinic.

If getting fit is on the top of your list, here are a few tips to keep you motivated and avoid injury - the two leading causes of quitting an exercise program.

• Pick a type of exercise you will enjoy– you are more likely to keep at it.
• Perform a warm up routine and stretch before and after you exercise, also do a warm down afterwards. Doing this before and after exercise decreases the chance of hurting yourself, as muscles are less likely to get injured if they are warm and relaxed.
• Build up slowly, if you haven’t exercised in a while ease yourself back in gently, a beginner to running won’t be able to run a marathon right away, mix brisk walking with some light jogging and increase distances gradually.
• Even if you are not a beginner to a sport, think about taking some coaching or a lesson. Improving your technique will decrease your chances of picking up an injury.
• Avoid being a ‘weekend warrior’ by spreading exercise throughout the week. Overdoing it at the weekend will put you more at risk of injury.
• Listen to your body. Pain, swelling and stiffness are your body’s way of telling you to ease back on an exercise routine. If you find that these symptoms do not resolve themselves, or are beyond what you consider normal, it may be time to seek medical attention.
• Prevent injury, and boredom, by balancing cardiovascular exercise, weight training and stretching in your exercise routine.
• If in doubt ask, seek advice from a professional, sports injury specialists can offer advice on taking up an exercise regime and injury care.

Wishing you a Happy New Year and a New You, Good luck!

To find out more how an Osteopath or Sports Massage can help you, or for more information visit our website www.chartclinic.co.uk or call 01737 248 023