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How many hours a day do you spend on your phone, on your tablet or at a computer screen?  What is your head doing right now? If you’re reading this using your phone, laptop or tablet, chances are you’re hunched over with your head tilted down. Research has found that this position, called ‘text neck’, can lead to bad posture and cause pain in your neck, head, shoulders, spine and even down your arms.

Recent research shows that 79% of 18 – 44 year olds have their mobile phone with them almost all the time – with only 2 hours of their waking day without their phone at hand. Many of us rely on smartphones and tablets to communicate for work and to keep in touch with family and friends throughout the day and we setting ourselves up for a future of pain and discomfort.

Migraines are now listed in the top 20 disabilities by the World Health Organisation  and a survey of over 120,000 households found that four out of ten females and two out of ten males respectively will experience migraine at some stage in their lifetime – most likely before age of 35 and that the greatest frequency of attacks are likely to occur between the ages of 20 and 24 years in females and 15 to 19 in males. The authors reported that these findings were in accordance with previous studies. (Stewart WF, Wood C, Reed ML, Roy J, Lipton RB. Cumulative lifetime migraine incidence in women and men. Cephalalgia 2008;28:1170-1178)

Clearly this is a significant problem for many people!

By Diane Palliser, Reflexologist

“If you’re feeling out of kilter

Don’t know why or what about

Let your feet reveal the answer

Find the sore spot work it out”

– Eunice D. Ingham

Reflexology is one of the oldest healing practices in the world as evidenced by Chinese and Egyptian texts, illustrations and artefacts.  Cleopatra’s lover Mark Antony was reported as being particularly skilled in the area of foot massage, provoking the scorn of his rival Caesar, who, on witnessing Mark Antony massaging Cleopatra’s feet at a party remarked that “it showed his pathetic enslavement to her”. Another, much more recent female icon, Princess Diana is also reported to have had reflexology 3 times a week.

However, Reflexology is not just a luxury treatment enjoyed by goddesses but can also be beneficial to pets, babies, people overcoming addictions, people with and recovering from cancer and those living with Alzheimer’s, to name a few.

Summer is upon us….well kind of if you don’t include the weather!

Holidays, day trips, sunbathing, swimming, picnics and other such Summer fun!

It’s a fantastic time of year for all the family to enjoy, but for some it can involve the misery of painful acute health issues that go hand-in-hand with Summer fun.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a comprehensive system of healthcare that has evolved in China over 3,000 years. TCM has its own profound framework and offers a range of unique therapies such as Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine.

TCM regards and treats the body as a whole, existing in harmony with the universe and where all the different parts interconnect and become interactive. Its emphasis first of all is on health promotion and prevention, when one falls ill, the focus of the treatment is on the person suffering from the illness rather than the illness itself.

Our teenage son has recently had a growth spurt and now he is walking like an old man – what can we do to help him?

Regular trips to the shoe shop and trousers that seem to shrink in the wash are features of living with teenagers.  In their teens, children put on an amazing growth spurt to reach their adult height.  Girls usually do this more gradually from 8 to 14, but in boys it often occurs more suddenly between 13 and 16 and they can grow taller by as much as 9 cm in a year!

This phenomenal growth starts at the outside of the body and works in.  Hands and feet are the first to expand so needing new shoes is often the first sign of trouble.  Next the arms and legs grow longer, but even here the ‘outside in’ rule applies and the shin bones lengthen before the thigh and the forearm before the upper arm.  Finally the spine grows and right at the end the chest and shoulders of boys broaden out and in girls their hips and pelvis widen.

By Lynne Midwinter, Chartered Physiotherapist

Watching the highlights from RHS Chelsea Flower Show this week and with gardening listed as a hobby for over half the adult population of the UK it reminded me that there are a lot of people at risk of injury now that the peak gardening season is here.

At Physio & Therapies the first warm weekends in the spring and early summer usually brings us a rash of injuries from back strain to stiff shoulders presenting at our clinic, so here is our advice on how to avoid unnecessary discomfort.

As a Chartered Physiotherapist with a special interest in pelvis and spine problems I treat many women who have pelvic pain during pregnancy but suffer in silence because they don’t want to take medication that might harm their baby.  Pelvic girdle pain (PGP) used to be called Symphasis Pubis Dysfunction and can occur any time during or after pregnancy and affects one in four pregnant and postnatal women.

They present with a wide range of symptoms and the severity can vary widely however PGP is a common and, in most cases, easily treatable condition.  It can be treated at any stage during or after pregnancy, so if this applies to you please seek treatment.

Although women are often told that PGP is caused by hormones, up to date research

The mind is the most powerful tool our body has. In the same way that the mind can make us ill (for instance via stress or phobias), the mind can make us better……

Hypnotherapy utilises a perfectly natural phenomenon known as Hypnosis to use this power of the mind to bring about beneficial changes in an individual.

In all stages of the disease, a physiotherapist can provide you with advice and education. If required, a physiotherapist will also provide treatment. Physiotherapy treatment aims to prevent, stabilise or reduce movement related problems. You are advised to consult a physiotherapist: