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What is Sports Massage?

What is Sports Massage?

What is Sports Massage? Broken down into its acronym let’s explore what ‘sports massage’ is: Sports It is a common misconception that sports massage deals predominantly with athletes.  In my eyes we are all sports people as life is one ever increasingly competitive, intense physical activity.  To live life to its fullest we all must have ‘fit’, well functioning muscles that are prepared for fight or flight, whether that be performing to your best ability in a weekly tennis match, chasing after your kids or gardening with ease. Posture In today’s society postural misalignment is often the origin of chronic aches and pains within the body.  Bad posture, from sitting at a desk all day, playing sports and also general life, can lead to under/over developed muscular tissues as imbalanced forces are exerted upon the body.  My role as a sports massage therapist is to work closely with you to regain the healthiest posture for you in whatever you do.  By relaxing over-used muscles and re-engaging under-used muscles, your postural awareness increases and your neuromuscular (nervous and muscular)  system functions better.  More on posture another week! Organic All the cells in our muscles are living and responsive to the physical and emotional state of our body.  They are essential to our complete, holistic functioning and sometimes these cells need encouragement.  Muscle therapy creates an involuntary relaxation response carried out by our peripheral nervous system.  There is also a mechanical response, issued by our sympathetic nervous system, which cleanses and improves cellular health.  *If you have had the pleasure of attending our Health Class you will understand the connection between the spine and our neuromuscular system. Recovery and prevention In day-to-day...
Back pain: Pay attention to your posture and core strength – Bristol Post article

Back pain: Pay attention to your posture and core strength – Bristol Post article

Back pain: Pay attention to your posture and core strength Core strength and stability is concerned with all the muscles that are found in, or attached to, the torso. Of course this includes the abdominals, but also involves muscles of the lower back, hips, pelvic floor and diaphragm. The relationship of these muscles and how they work together is key to maintaining body stability. Weakness in these muscles causes poor posture and can lead to pain in the back, shoulders, hips or even lower limbs. Executing 100 sit-ups a day won’t give you a solid core, but keeping all these muscles in good shape will help protect from injury during everyday movements, lifting or playing sports. Training your core muscles will also help you to have a smaller waist and a flatter stomach and may also mean the difference between requiring or avoiding surgery. Weekend asked three health and medical experts for their opinion on the importance of core strength. All agreed that in terms of preventing injury and pain, a sedentary lifestyle and poor posture have a lot to answer for. Matt Poulter, co-director at The Chiropractic Centre, Clifton “Core stability has, in recent times, become a buzz word and, as such, it’s easy to think that strengthening it is a cure-all for everything. In my experience, however, lifestyle and the type of job you do are huge factors influencing health, wellbeing and posture. A less active lifestyle can lead to a weak or imbalanced core, but it also reduces joint flexibility and muscle strength. “These problems can build up undetected over a period of years and then,...
Back pain: why we should all be taking more care to stand tall – Bristol Post article

Back pain: why we should all be taking more care to stand tall – Bristol Post article

Back pain: why we should all be taking more care to stand tall According to the charity Back Care, back pain is the second most common cause of absence from work in Britain. Every year more than four million working days are lost as a result of back pain and, on average, an employee with back pain takes 17 days off to recover from an episode. Chances are you won’t know there’s a problem until it manifests in pain, at which point you may head to a GP, or perhaps a physiotherapist or a chiropractor. Bristol chiropractor Charles Herbert, who’s based in Clifton with business partner Matt Poulter, is aiming to turn this scenario on its head. On the basis that prevention is better than cure, he and Matt want to start visiting Bristol offices to talk to workers about posture and the best way to set up a desk environment and to give general advice about good spine maintenance. “It’s an ambition we have to get Bristol healthy,” says Charles. “We are the Green Capital of Europe and a ‘healthy’ city, so why not be the healthiest individuals as well? “Going into offices is something we’re going to roll out, but we have big plans. It’s something new we haven’t done before in this way – and it’s a case of putting it into a package that companies can offer their employees to see what can be done to make people have fewer days off work. “I’d say the majority of our patients sit in an office. The most common postural problem for office workers is the head lolling forward....
How do you want to age?

How do you want to age?

How do you want to age? What will your last 10 years look like?  Will you be quick enough to play with your grandchildren?  Strong enough to embrace every moment?  Will you grow old with vitality or will you succumb to old age? Your posture is a good indicator of how well you will age.  When you have good posture your nerves and body will be able to work and function the way they are supposed to.  However, with most of us now spending nine hours a day sitting down, our sedentary modern lifestyles are fast becoming a serious threat to our health.  These prolonged periods of inactivity not only increase our risk of obesity they also affect our body shape and posture, which can, in turn, lead to a whole range of health problems.  It is therefore no surprise that sitting has been blamed as the new smoking! Poor posture over time changes the shape of your spine and affects your health Modern technology sees many of us hunch over our smartphones and sitting slumped in front of a computer for hours.  It’s these commonly adopted positions that can lead to a loss of the essential cervical (neck) curvature.  Another change often seen is a thoracic hyperkyphosis, which is sometimes referred to as ‘Dowagers Hump’ – this is an exaggerated curve backwards of the middle of the back.  These changes in the shape of your spine can impair mobility and balance as we age and increase the risk of falls and fractures.  It is known that those with a hyperkyphotic posture have a 44% greater risk of mortality than those without.  The increased risk of death presented by a...
Before you give your kids your iPad, read this!

Before you give your kids your iPad, read this!

With the children off school over the summer holidays, it was great to meet some of our existing patient’s kids. For many of them it was the first time they’d seen a chiropractor work their magic, and the popping and clicking captivated the majority. However, those children that were ‘old hat’ with what we do played on an iPhone or iPad. You didn’t have to be a chiropractor to notice the childrens posture when they were hunched over the phone playing Angry Birds or watching Peppa Pig! You can’t help but wonder the influence prolonged periods slouching over these devices will do to young malleable spines. We all say that we were much more active as kids compared to the current generation but I needed to have a look at some of the statistics. A recent study from this year took a sample of 461 parents with children between the ages of 11-16. 40% of these children had suffered from neck or back pain and, worryingly, 15% of parents said their child’s pain was directly resulting from using technology. Parents suggested a staggering 68% of children spent more than four hours on a laptop, tablet or phone. The NHS suggests a child should spend at least an hour a day doing rigorous activity. 48% of parents in this study suggested their children didn’t meet this. You can only hypothesise about the long-term affect of children leading more sedentary lives. I have seen the affect this has had on hundreds if not thousands of adults, many of which come in when their posture has changed, the shoulders have rounded, the mid back is hunched and the...

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