Now we're back in clinic after the lockdown, we're seeing an emerging trend where people have tried new activities and sadly picked up injuries along the way. One of the common ones we've seen are relating to cycling, so we thought we'd talk about some tips on how to set up your bike to help reduce strain on your body. Before we start, it's worth talking about bike fit here. If you're new to cycling and are enjoying it, hopefully wanting to do more, it's worth going to a specialist cycling store and asking them about a bite fit consultation. They may seem expensive initially, but by assessing your body's ergonomics and postures and setting your cycle up for your own quirks, you can save yourself a lot of pain and misery in the long run by preventing injuries. It really is a case of "prevention is better than cure", and whilst you think this is counterproductive to our business, your well-being is our ultimate priority, we want to help you stop being injured! So, let's look at the most ...

How often do you think about how you breathe? The general answer is not much, and that's o.k.! However, breathing has an amazing effect on our deep, primitive brain systems which are responsible for our "fight or flight" mechanism, and we can help to convince these systems that they don't have to be on constant high alert by focussing on breathing. Fight, Flight or Freeze?If you've never come across the phrase "Fight or Flight", put simply it means the response that is ingrained deep in our brain that dictates how we react to a perceived threat to us, and there are 3 elements to it. It helps us to determine if the threat is something we should run away from, or flight from, or whether we can stand up and fight the threat, but there is also another response commonly seen whereby we freeze under threat. This reaction helps our body gear itself up to respond by pushing blood into the muscles and the lungs to help us physically exert ourselves. More commonly in our current environment, we ...

What is Shockwave Therapy? Shockwave therapy, or Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT), is an effective treatment option for chronic, poor healing issues in the body. The shockwaves are mechanical pressure pulses, not electrical pulses, which create an audible ticking sound thanks to a sound wave produced by the machine. These pulses are aimed over the affected tissue to create physical changes and encourage healing.What conditions is Shockwave used for?Shockwave therapy can be a great treatment if you are still struggling with that chronic joint and soft tissue pain condition and you have tried everything else. Or you just want to get better faster. It has evidence to support its use for: - Plantar Fasciitis (heel pain)Shin Splints/Medial Tibial Stress SyndromeStress Fractures + Non-union FracturesAchilles TendinopathyGreater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome (Outside of hip pain)Tennis/Golfers ElbowPatella TendinopathyCalcific Tendonitis of the ShoulderRotator Cuff TendinopathyMetatarsalg...

I'm sure you'll all agree with me when I say it's been a VERY long 2 months of lockdown. For the protection of my own family members, I've had to remain closed during the peak of the virus, but I have been following guidelines set by the Government and the General Osteopathic Council very closely and continuously reassessing the situation. Thankfully, I'm very pleased to say that the clinic will be re-opening as of Monday 1st June 2020, however, there have to be some big changes for the foreseeable future, and I'd like to take a moment to outline those here: - Everyone, without exception, who comes into clinic will need to undergo screening for Covid19 symptoms and potential exposure, and this will need to be done every time you attend. The appointment confirmation and reminders that our system sends out will have a link to a screening questionnaire you can fill in remotely, and it only takes 10 seconds. The details you respond with will be kept securely with your records and will show...

Myofascial Release (MFR) is a specific, specialised manual therapy which is often used for the effective treatment, and rehabilitation, of soft tissue and connective tissue aches and pains, tension and tightness. What is myofascia? Myofascia is a connective tissue in the body (commonly called fascia) that wraps around the body. Fascia is made of collagen and acts to stabilise, enclose and separate muscles and other internal structures. Fascia can be classified into 4 layers: Superficial, deep, visceral and parietal. The different layers have different functions and surround different parts of the body.Fascia is flexible and is able to resist large forces placed on it, however, fascia becomes important to therapists when it becomes too stiff or too loose, or stops gliding smoothly with other structures and becomes bound down. Commonly, fascia will get tight after some kind of trauma, such as inflammation or surgery.What does Fascia do? Fascia was traditionally thought of in western medi...

Foam rolling is now a well know, popular method of self-massage and you will find them in most gyms and sports enthusiast's homes, but there are dangers to haphazardly rolling your muscles! So far, the few studies that have been done show that foam rolling does not improve performance but may improve muscle tone and reduce some post exercise fatigue. It is important to be clear what your objective is when setting out with your roller. Here's some advice on how to get the best from your foam roller and avoid injury: Choosing a roller; Get yourself a good roller: if you buy cheap you generally get cheap. Cheap rollers will often squash and give after just a few uses and become ineffective.Go for smooth foam, and avoid hard pipes, rollers with extreme spikes or knobbles. When should you roll? Try foam rolling after a warmup to promote flexibility of tissues. They can be used post-workout to help reduce aches and pains.Before bed may help to relieve tension in muscles and promote a go...

Our feet are amazing structures. They have a tough, fibrous band of connective tissue under them called the plantar fascia that runs between the heel and the balls of the toes. This tissue is designed to support the foot muscles, prevent the arch of the foot flattening too much and to provide sensory information to the brain about the position the ankle and foot is in. Plantar Fasciitis occurs when the plantar fascia is inflamed. In Latin, the term 'itis' means inflammation, so any condition ending in itis is an inflammatory problem. Often, plantar fasciitis causes pain to the heel and the under-side of the foot that is worse in the morning or when you've been standing on your feet for long periods of time. Commonly, that pain eases off after periods of inactivity when you get moving again. The pain starts gradually, getting worse over time, and can produce a strong dull ache but can also be a sharp pain. If the condition isn't resolved in its early stage it can become chronic, and res...

Sometimes, being an Osteopath isn't all about standing in a clinic and treating people. Occasionally, we get to go out into the beautiful countryside and work too! Thanks to Cromwell GB for organising a great clinic on Saturday 13th April 2019,I managed to get out and demo how changing the biomechanics of horse riders can make a big difference to the horse's performance by addressing small asymmetries in their posture and joint mobility. The picture shows a great example of this: by assessing the contact surface between the rider's legs and the horse's side, you can see if there is a symmetrical pattern each side. I was joined by the very clever Stephanie Bloom, a saddle fitter specialising in AH Saddles, and together we had attendees from the equestrian discipline of endurance along with several who weren't endurance riders. One rider even travelled from Surrey to Cambridgeshire to attend! It really did work very well to have a saddle ...

Horse riders are a special breed of people: We work hard to care for our horses, we bend, twist and lift heavy weights on a daily basis and that can play havoc with our body. We often habitually muck out one way, or sweep one way, heavily favoring one side of our body, yet we expect to be able to sit centrally on our horse to help his body and use each side of our being independently. That takes some serious skill! Riders don't think twice about trying to work out what's gone wrong with our tack or our horses if we encounter a problem, but riders ourselves generally are very last on the list to ever get any attention, and the impact on our horses from that can be huge. Did you ever think that your own body and your riding can be hindering how your horse uses his body? If we sit in an unbalanced way, our horses have to not only compensate for their problems, but ours too which will limit how well they perform. Certainly not what we want if we are competing! Osteopathy can be a really us...