Dulce Far NienteSweet Idleness I was away on holiday with friends recently and I introduced them to the notion of Dulce Far Niente; the sweetness of doing nothing, sweet idleness. The phrase was made popular in the film Eat, Pray, Love. In the film one of the Italians was making the point to the Americans that they were always told that you have to … Read More
Stoking the Fires
Stoking the fire.But not too much…. Inflammation is at the root of many problems; anything with ‘itis’ means inflamed. Arthritis inflamed joints, tonsillitis inflamed tonsils. Inflammation is also part of the problem in some gut disease (chrohn’s, ulcerative colitis etc), heart disease, diabetes, lung conditions and dementia. As we age we become more inflamed which is probably partly why we get more aches and … Read More
Sticks and Stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me?
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me? I have always thought this is a ridiculous aphorism and I now know that words can be damaging. There is scientific evidence of the powerful effect that negative words have on pain i.e. it makes it worse. Have you ever been to see a health care professional to be told you … Read More
It’s a whole new world
It’s a whole new world Have you ever had a complete shift in the way you view yourself or radically changed your behaviour or beliefs? Not just for a few days or weeks but completely no looking back to the old ways?I have had it happen a few times in my life, going on a diet (the last of many) losing more … Read More
The Body Electric
The Body Electric The best thing that has come out of lockdown for me is being introduced to the works, thoughts and understandings of Lorimer Moseley and David Butler. Lorimer is a pain scientist and David an educator and all round good egg; their intellect, understanding, tireless work and great humour is a joy to witness. My good friend and colleague Sam and I … Read More
Why do things hurt?
Why do things hurt? “I cannot understand why this has happened”Is one of the most common things I hear from clients, What is going on and why?We can shred ourselves trying to fit this puzzle together, why? Because if we can understand what has led to this problem then hopefully we can avoid it in the future. Talking to someone external can help to untangle the thoughts but also get a slightly more objective … Read More
Opening
So the exciting news is that I am starting back face-to-face working on Friday 5th June.As you might expect it is a bit complicated and I am afraid you cannot just book an appointment online at the moment.I have to pre-screen clients first to (a). check whether a telehealth appointment would be more suitable and (b). the Covid-19 status of yourself and the family … Read More
Maternity Package
I am very happy to be introducing my new Maternity package. Pregnancy is a time of a lot of change to the body in a relatively short time. Happily the female body is designed to manage it, but occasionally a little help is required. Pregnancy is also a great time to help aches and pains which may have been around … Read More
Helping Babies to sleep.
When parents bring their babies for treatment we often talk about how the baby sleeps. This can be a really problematic area especially for first time parents. Nothing can really prepare you for having your first baby, despite how much you read or classes you go to. Suddenly you have this little life to care for that is totally dependent … Read More
Types of Arthritis
ARTHRITIS:What does this conjure up for you? Ending up in a wheelchair? Crumbling bones? Loss of mobility. pain and disability……….There are several different types of arthritis and I will explain a little about the most common ones.Arthritis can be genetic (your genotype), but REMEMBER that how your genes manifest (your phenotype) is very varied. What will affect what happens to … Read More
Headaches and what to do about them.
Do you suffer from headaches? What do you do to help them? You are one of the 90% of the population that suffer headaches at sometime. You may have discovered that there is a six month wait for a hospital referral and there are only 50 specialist centres for the treatment of headaches in the country. Of all headache sufferers, about … Read More
Your marvellous spine
Your spine (or back) is a truly wonderful thing. We have a tendency to focus on what goes wrong with it and given that 30.8 million days were lost to back problems in 2016 that’s not surprising. The spine is a flexible container for the spinal cord, its function is both protective and supportive. When you were a 17 day old embryo you were a little … Read More