August 2018

Clinic News

We need your help please…. You may well have seen these impressive plaques by the front door – The bronze coloured ones are the Clinical Management Quality Mark and it is up for renewal in November 2018. For us to be able to re-apply for this we have to collect data about the clinic and some of it needs to come from you.  Firstly we have to submit a patient satisfaction questionnaire which we would like you to complete please and secondly if you have recently received an email from us about your condition from care response, we need you to complete all four responses please – the information is essential to allow us to show how we are doing in comparison to other chiropractic clinics.

So…because we know you like competitions we would like to enter you into a draw for participating in the patient satisfaction questionnaire and there will be with a chance to win either a bottle of Prosecco or a 25^th anniversary goody bag. There are three of each up for grabs so make sure you get your questionnaire from reception and check the inclusion box at the bottom if you want to be in the draw.

In addition if you complete all FOUR emails sent for care response we will give you an EXTRA TWO stamps on your loyalty card- so please help us to get recognition by the Royal College of Chiropractic for our continued efforts in producing high quality management and service – we can only do it with your support. Thank you.

Loyalty cards – please can we politely remind you that terms and conditions apply to these cards – details of which can been found on our website – please keep your card safe as we cannot back date stamps for lost cards etc.

Missed appointment and late cancellations: we are seeing an increasing number of missed appointment recently – please check your text reminder carefully – as we are very busy we have a waiting list for patients requiring appointments and it is frustrating to see that appointments are wasted in this way so please help us to help you.

August Challenge - Correct Colours

What you need: Yourself your eyes, mouth, and a good left/right brain connection!

Instructions:  Work through the sheets to get more points. You have to say the correct colour out loud and ignore the written words

I.e. for the sequence below it would be green, red, blue, yellow etc.

What this shows:

You have different sections of your brain which are in control of different tasks i.e. vision, speech, movement, sensation etc. There are two sides or hemisphere’s of the brain (connected by the corpus callosum) – and colour perception and reading are on opposite sides of the brain, so they have to communicate with each other so you get the right answer and ignore the text!

Marginal gains for healthier eating?

If I was going to use a sporting example to illustrate a point then you would think I would go topically, with football or tennis being the sport of choice! However we can all still relate to cycling and the success of team GB in recent years. When Sir David Brailsford took over in 2002 the team had previously had very little success with only one gold medal win in almost 80 years. So how did he make such huge changes to their success to the point that they have won so many gold medals at the Olympics in recent years? He used the theory of marginal gains, whereby if he took every aspect of the bike and the race and managed to achieve 1% improvement, then the total improvement collectively would significantly change results.

Obviously everyone knows that a drastic change in your diet will have an impact on your health (both positively and negatively depending on what you change!), but the question is can this idea of marginal gains be applied to your diet to have an improvement on your health? 

I think so. And by applying this method you can constantly be fine tuning and tweaking what or how you eat. For this to work all you need to do is pick one aspect of what you are focusing on each time: this could be anything from sugar content, where you are getting your food from, how many veg are in a meal or how many takeaways you are having etc. Next just think, can I make a small improvement by making a change?

In terms of sugar for example, if you have x 2 teaspoons of sugar in your tea then going with no sugar at all is a big change – you can make a small change by looking at the ‘worst, better, best’ scale: worst = x2 teaspoons white sugar, better = 1 teaspoon brown sugar, even better = organic agave syrup/honey best = no sugar or stevia. You can then just pick the next smaller improvement and make the change a habit; and next time you review everything sugar intake might not be as high on the list, or you can move onto the next step.

Admittedly this is not a text book diet that you follow like a cookbook recipe because it involves learning a little bit more each time so that you can fill in the blanks and learn what is bad, better and best for you, but in the long run you can make huge changes to your diet which are sustainable over a period of time.

Avoiding Back Pain whilst on the Road

Many drivers don’t realise that the back pain or a stiff neck may primarily be caused by bad driving habits, although you might not always feel it while you’re on the road.

Most of us spend a good couple of hours a day in our cars, commuting to and from work or running errands. This may cause us to suffer from aches and pains known as Repetitive Driver Injury.

According to the British Chiropractic Association (BCA), 40% of people say that simply sitting down for long periods of time exacerbates neck and back pain.

Did you know… Long periods of time on the road puts extra strain on the vertebrae and discs and we lose the lumbar curves in our backs.

Remember… Avoiding back problems while driving may not require anything drastic, such as, buying a new car, however, taking practical measures should help drivers feel comfortable behind the wheel:

• After a long journey muscles can become very stiff, therefore, simple exercises, such as, side bends and seat braces, are very effective.
• Remain relaxed whilst driving and take breaks.
• Maintain a good lumbar support to ensure that there is a slight arch in your lower back to avoid pressure on your discs.

Remember… If you have any issues you should book in for a check up. These types of problems are more easily treated if dealt with promptly

For Further information or comments, please contact your chiropractor.

How To Kick Away Typical Football Injuries

According to the Football Association, one in five adults play football in some shape or form across the UK. In sport, injury comes with the territory and football is no different.

Common injuries

The majority of football related injuries are trauma-based injuries affecting soft tissues. Owing to the nature of the sport a large proportions of the injuries affect the lower extremities. Common injuries are often to the hamstrings, knees and ankles.

How to avoid or recover from sport injuries

There is no doubt that being active is beneficial to your health. However, there are always risks involved and so, it is paramount that you also look after your body. To minimise the risk of injury enables individuals to remain active for longer, improving health over a lifetime. There are a couple of injuries that footballers commonly sustain but in the context of sport injuries, football is relatively safe compared to activates such as rugby.

Repetitive strain injury

The first are injuries obtained through repetitive straining. These often develop when individuals do not leave enough time to recover between training and fail to cool down or stretch properly. Injuries can include shin splints, pain in the back of the knee (patellar tendinitis) and pain at the back of the ankle (Achilles Tendinitis). In severe cases overuse it can even lead to stress fractures.

Trauma based injuries

The second type of injury common among those who play football is trauma-based injury. These can arise from overextension or contact between players. These injuries can often be more serious and in some instances may even require surgery. Common trauma injuries include ankle sprains, hamstring stains, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) strains and cartilage tears.

Instability problems

Often more serious injuries to lower extremities such as cartilage tears or ACL damage can lead to instability problems, which in turn can lead to alignment problems. This occurs as weight becomes unevenly distributed across the legs in order to overcompensate for the injury. This can amount to problems such as a misaligned pelvis and back pain.

For further information or advice, please talk to your chiropractor.