News

The more recently titled problem of “text neck” grows ever more prevalent. This is neck pain as a result of ongoing use of and looking down at a mobile phone or other device.

It may cause pain, muscle tension, sometimes nerve interruption and if practiced regularly enough, maybe speed up wear and tear changes. Long term practice of any postural bad habit will cause some areas to get over-worked and others to weaken, creating an imbalance in the way the body is held and consequently functions.

Some tips to avoid this problem:

1. Raise your phone or other device more to eye level to avoid tilting your neck forward.
2. Stand or sit up straight.
3. Take frequent breaks away from the device you’re using.
4. Stretch and strengthen your body to maintain good function. 
5. Treat pain as a warning sign and address any potential problems if and when they arise.

Follow this link for some basic neck mobility exercises. Let me know if you need further help.

https://www.rivermeadosteopaths.co.uk/neck-pain/

Trigger points are recognised by most of us as sore spots or knots in our muscles. However not every sore spot is a trigger point. They can be long-term and cause deep discomfort and aching.

They are painful “lumps or nodules” found within tight bands of muscles and they are characterised by the following factors:

• The pain is intense and felt at a specific point.
• A “lump/nodule” can be felt within a tight band of muscle.
• Applying pressure to the area reproduces the pain and may sometimes cause referred pain elsewhere. These referred pains are specific in their distributions.
• It is not trigger point pain if it can be explained by findings from a neurological examination.

There is often no known mechanism of injury. Sometimes trigger points might cause unexpected symptoms due to their interaction with the autonomic nervous system. For example skin blanching, goosebumps, increased sweating, dizziness, earache, stiffness, difficulty breathing… Of course other possible causes to such symptoms may need to be ruled out first.

Trigger points reduce the efficiency of the muscle they lay within, so they are important to identify and address in order to reduce pain and restore normal function. Other benefits of addressing them are improving posture and increasing range of motion.

In clinic I can identify and interact with these trigger points through examination and hands-on treatment, laser therapy can also produce quick and profound changes. Exercises can be a useful approach to try and prevent the return of the problem.

At home it is possible to use various tools, most commonly foam rollers and spiky balls so you can address the problem yourself or support a course of treatment at home.

They’re an acquired taste, but spiky balls may help you?!

As the weather becomes more consistently Spring-like, we now may be more inclined to get outside. This should be positive for the health of our bones.

• The sunlight triggers a reaction in our skin producing vitamin D. Good news as this helps us use calcium which is necessary for strong bones.
• If we become more active, the pressure through our bones will increase their strength.

A loss in bone density is normal as we age. Some illnesses and medications may also cause problems with bone density. Sometimes the losses are greater causing conditions called osteopenia or osteoporosis. These put you at a greater risk of a fracture. These conditions don’t hurt. They are often not discovered until someone unfortunately experiences a fracture. Other consequences of these problems can be changes to body position and the discomfort and disability that may bring alongside this.

These changes affect both men and women. In ladies they are often more prevalent due to the sharp shift in hormones around the menopause.

It is never too late to be looking after your bones and we should encourage the younger people in our lives to take good care of themselves in order they effectively build a “bone bank”. So they are in good place before these natural changes occur.

Care needs to be taken to exercise regularly. To create controlled stress into our limbs and spine to allow the bones to remodel. There is something that everyone can do, but depending on your situation you may need guidance as to what is most appropriate for you regarding activity and exercise.

We should also maintain a healthy diet. Balanced and varied containing those vitamins and minerals required for ideal bone health. Sometimes supplements might be appropriate.

If you receive a diagnosis of osteoporosis there may be prescription medication you need to take to assist with this further.

I am very happy to complete a FRAX questionnaire on your behalf. This assesses your susceptibility to these kind of fractures. This would be most appropriate for ladies over 65 and gentleman over 75 years of age.

When you’re next in the clinic, let me know if you would like me to do this for you. If needed, I can also help advise you on the care you should ideally take for good bone health.

In the meantime take care, look after yourselves and stay well.

• It is non-invasive.
• Painless to receive.
• It is time efficient, often just 3-10 minutes.
• Benefits are sometimes felt within minutes.

An announcement! I have been training away in the background so that I can add to my care of you in the clinic. I have been training in Pilates rehabilitation.

Unfortunately, in the time of COVID 19, as it requires closer contact, I don’t feel its appropriate to start this now. So when we get back to normal, this could now form part of your care at Rivermead Osteopaths.

However, in the meantime, and to avoid getting stiff in isolation. Take a look at this excellent selection of online Pilates classes. Created by the people I have trained under. Some very knowledgeable manual therapists.

Follow this link to take a look.
https://online.appihealthgroup.com/ref/29/?campaign=Don’tLetSelfIsolationMakeYouStiff

These exercises may help reduce hip joint stiffness in different scenarios. For people who are a little out-of-shape, to those with osteoarthritis and in many other scenarios. They offer controlled mobility through the hip joint, but all the same be careful.

If they cause pain then don’t persist with them, and if you had surgery or are a senior citizen you need to take it slower.

1. Lay on your side with your knees resting together to start. Keeping the feet in contact, open the knees as far as you’re able whilst keeping the spine straight and stable. Return to the start position. Repeat 10 times.

2. Keeping the knees together. Open the feet apart as wide as you’re able whilst keeping the spine straight and stable. Repeat 10 times.

3. Laying on your back. Place one hand on your knee. Think of this as drawing a circle on the ceiling with your knee. You can make the circles as small or large as you’re able to, but try and keep the spine straight as you do it. Repeat 5 times in an anti-clockwise, and 5 times in a clockwise direction on each side.

Please read this! I know it’s not the most stimulating of subjects. If you pay a little attention to your set-up at your computer/desk, both at home and work. Then it can make an enormous difference to your daily comfort. Trying to prevent the accumulation of an issue, which may result in pain. Everyday of my working life I spend talking about this! Believe me its a worthwhile practice, so I urge you to take note.

The basic set-up

Image supplied by Google

Start by looking at your seat. You should sit right back into your chair, so have your bottom to the back of the seat. When you’re sat up straight, the chair should be supporting the curve of the lower back. Office- style chairs may have an adjustable lower back support. You can buy lower back/lumbar supports if necessary. Cushions and pillows perhaps will offer temporary assistance.

So you should be sitting well in your chair. Keeping your shoulders relaxed, bring your elbows into your side and your forearms out horizontally. The level of your forearms should indicate the ideal height of the desk. So you may now need to adjust the height of the chair? You need to try and keep a flat wrist and hand to avoid overstrain of these areas. It’s personal preference if you use an armrest, and sometimes whether it is practical. Some people like them to keep their upper limb relaxed. Sometimes they prevent you pulling yourself close to your desk. If this is the case they maybe aren’t appropriate as you should be able to do this.

You may have to adjust the tilt of the seat base of the chair. The ideal is to have an angle of 90 to 120 degrees at the hip. So really this means that your knees should be level with or just below the hips. Feet should be flat on the floor, or on a footrest if preferred, or necessary.

So you should be sitting tucked in close to your desk. We now need to look at how the desktop is arranged. Your monitor needs to be set straight ahead of you, at an arm’s length away. The top of the monitor should be level with your line-of-sight. The keyboard should be straight ahead of you, and within easy reach. Everything you use regularly should be within easy reach. So the mouse, the phone any documents…

If you spend a lot of time on the phone, then a head-set may be a wise purchase to avoid the tendency to tuck the phone between your ear and shoulder. Or using a hands-free function on the phone. There are different style mouses which change the digit and position they are worked by and in. This may be helpful if you’re suffering any strains through the upper limb. Document holders may be useful if it’s necessary to constantly be referring to paperwork.

Above describes the very basic points to consider. There can be many different configurations depending on the nature of the work.  Feel free to email me with any queries.

It’s important to make sure you get up and move around regularly, try every 30 to 45 minutes.

The bits that caught my eye in the news

Musculoskeletal pains, like chronic back or neck and repetitive strain injuries. Account for half of absences from work, and 60% of those who are permanently unable to work due to their pain. This costs the European Union €240 billion every year in benefits, treatments and lost production.
Office workers, who often average around 40 hours a week sat at a desk, and on the computer and phone, commonly suffer problems. There is a tendency to hold a phone between the ear and shoulder whilst they attempt to multitask.
In 1983 the first call centre head-set was developed. This has now evolved into a lightweight, ergonomic and wireless device. The innovator company of the headset – Plantronics, and the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic, have carried out a study on pain reduction in headset users. In 4 weeks, half of the subjects who suffered neck ache and headaches at the start  of the study (54% and 44% respectively) reported no pain. Shoulder and upper back pain was also reduced. 60% of the users found the headsets “very useful”.

A common practice 200 years ago was bodysnatching. An article I read recently made me think of everything that may have gone before, in order to create the anatomical textbooks I studied from. Cambridge scientists have claimed that bodysnatching has had a greater influence on medical science, than advances made in World War I. Both gave medical students a vital insight into the affects of disease and illness on the body.
Apparently bodysnatching became so prevalent, relatives would watch over their deceased, and even over the grave after burial.