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Breath Work for Long Term Covid Recovery

29th April 2022

Blog, Featured, Health, Lifestyle, Motivation, News

As a disease that attacks the respiratory system, often causing long-lasting damage and leading to issues such as acute respiratory distress syndrome and pneumonia, a lot of people who experience chronic COVID-19 symptoms, also known as long COVID, can have difficulty breathing for quite some time. As such, an important part of long-term COVID recovery is regular practice of breathing exercises. These exercises as described here are playing a key role in the treatments being used across the board for patients recovering from COVID. Are Breathing Exercises Effective? Typically, you might associate breathing exercises with methods of treatment designed to fight things like anxiety, stress, and depression. There is a lot of evidence to show that they can help affect the parasympathetic nervous system which plays a key...

The Top-10 Benefits of Gyrotonic Method

24th March 2022

Blog, Exercise, Fitness, Health, Lifestyle, Motivation, Uncategorised

If you are looking for the next phase of your wellness journey, or are experiencing back, neck, and muscular-skeletal problems due to poor posture or stress, the Gyrotonic Method might be the solution for you. This three dimensional exercise system, predominantly uses a machine called the Pulley Tower Combination Unit. Designed with rotational discs and weighted pulleys it allows the user to strengthen and stretch simultaneously through spiralling, circular and undulating movements paired with corresponding breathing patterns. If you have heard of this and want to know more, here are the top 10 benefits of Gyrotonic Method. 1. It Releases Tension in the Body Imbalances in our body is often reflected in our posture, and we can carry that as tension in many different parts of our...

Self-Massage, Benefits and How To Guide

26th January 2022

Blog, Health, Lifestyle, Motivation, News, Uncategorised

My mission is to help you become a better you, by offering advice on anything from healthy eating, keeping active, finding balance, controlling your stress levels and healing the damage of modern lifestyles and habitual movement patterns. The past couple of years have been incredibly challenging and with unpredictable times times ahead, it is more important than ever to look after yourself. Animals and humans alike enjoy receiving massage, probably because it is the a way of showing love through physical contact and movement. When you perform self-massage, you are also showing respect and gratitude for and to your amazing body. Self-massage isn’t difficult, doesn’t take much time, but the benefits can be far-reaching: Self-massage can help you soothe your Muscles, Joints Connective tissue Nervous system The...

Pelvic Pain/Sacroiliac Joint Pain

22nd November 2021

Blog, Featured, Health, Uncategorised

What is sacroiliac pain or dysfunction? Intense pain in the pelvis, deep part of the buttocks, low back and/or leg can be caused by your hip, spine or Sacroiliac joint (SI) joint or all three. Anatomy of the Sacroiliac Joint Your 2 sacroiliac joints (SI) are located in the pelvis and link the sacrum (triangular shaped bone at the base of the spine) to the ilia (hip bones). Your pelvis divides the weight of the upper body between the legs, therefore these joints are functionally important for the control and distribution of force between the upper body and the legs. Think of them as shock absorbers, mitigating gravitational forces as well as those generated by standing and walking. They are true joints, lined with articular cartilage and stabilised by strong...

Love Your Shoulders

28th September 2020

Blog, Exercise, Featured, Fitness, Health, Motivation, Uncategorised

Shoulders are often an unloved body area; we tend to take them for granted until something goes wrong. Common conditions such as frozen shoulder, aside from being painful, make everyday tasks like reaching, lifting, or dressing yourself very difficult. My philosophy is prevention is much better and easier than cure. Some regular mobilising, dynamic stretching, and strengthening of your shoulders will increase your overall body strength, decrease the load on your bones, ligaments and joints. In addition it will help you get more from any exercise that involves the upper body, be that tennis or weight lifting. We have an amazing number of Shoulder Movements: Flexion Extension Abduction Adduction Horizontal Flexion Horizontal Extension Medial Rotation Lateral Rotation Circumduction Tuning in to Your Shoulders Let’s explore the right shoulder....

Looking After Your Hands & Wrists

30th August 2020

Blog, Exercise, Featured, Health, Lifestyle, Uncategorised

Covid-19 has accelerated the digital transformation and many of us are spending much more time on our devices. As as result I am seeing clients with hand and wrist pain, arising from chronic tension and stresses. Here I share my top tips for relieving hand and wrist tension. Causes of pain such as osteoarthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome and gout require medical intervention and are beyond the scope of this blog. A Bit of Anatomy Bones The forearm extends from the elbow to the wrist and contains two bones, the radius and the ulna. The wrist contains eight bones which articulate proximally with the radius and distally with the metacarpal bones which make up the hand together with the phalanges. Muscles The forearm has an anterior compartment which consists of the...

Functional Breathing – What, Why, How

5th June 2020

Blog, Fitness, Health, Motivation, Uncategorised

On my daily walks, I cannot fail but be impressed by the number runners of all ages and levels of fitness that now populate the park. It may be my imagination, but it seems as though more people have taken up running since Covid-19 arrived on the scene. Apart from running technique (more on this in another blog), I notice their breathing as they plod/shuffle or soar past maintaining (mostly) social distance. So, is there a correct way to breathe and why does it matter? How you breathe affects every area of your physical and mental wellbeing. Whether it is premature ageing, dodgy digestion, weight gain, disturbed sleep, anxiety or reduced athletic performance, poor breathing is usually a factor. If you suffer from asthma, hay fever or...

Why Young People Should Stretch

29th February 2020

Blog, Exercise, Featured, Fitness, Health, Lifestyle, Uncategorised

Whether you are an athlete or have an average level of physical activity, I believe stretching should be an integral part of your daily life. Often, young people focus on building muscle and developing aerobic fitness, but flexibility is equally important. Why Stretch? Stretching is necessary - it helps keep muscles and fascia flexible, strong and healthy, thus maintaining range of motion in the joints. A short tight muscle is a weak muscle. For example, young people who are office based or in full-time education sit in a chair for a large part of the day. This tightens the hip flexors and hamstrings making it more difficult to extend the legs and knees fully, which affects walking. Now imagine what could happen when more stress is placed on...

Benefits of Stretching at Work/Workstation Stretches

13th January 2020

Blog, Exercise, Featured, Health, Lifestyle, Motivation

Benefits of Stretching at Work/Workstation Stretches In previous blogs I have mentioned how sitting creates compression in the spine, increasing pressure on the discs and shortening the pelvic muscles. Stretching throughout your work day will help you avoid injury to your low back, shoulders, knees, elbows and wrists, reduce your stress levels and potentially increase your productivity. Often clients are self-conscious about stretching at work, but consider the importance of maintaining blood flow and nutrient supply maintaining elasticity and energy levels of your tissues, to enhance your flexibility joint mobility reduce muscle tightness and discomfort improve muscular balance posture muscle co-ordination and you just might feel the odd side-glance is worth it. Who knows you might start a new wave of body awareness in your office. Although the main areas to...

Understanding Your Spine & How to Keep It Healthy Part 3 – Lumbar Spine

29th November 2019

Blog, Exercise, Health, Lifestyle, Motivation

The lumbar spine refers to the lower back, it starts about 5-6 inches below the shoulder blades and connects the thoracic spine to the sacral spine. Consisting of 5 vertebrae (L1 - L5) the lumbar spine is designed for power and flexibility - lifting, twisting and bending. The lower the vertebra the more weight it must bear, therefore the two lowest spinal segments L4 - L5 bear the most weight and are most prone to degeneration and injury. The lumbar spine meets the sacrum at the lumbosacral joint L5 - S1. This joint allows for considerable rotation so that the pelvis can swing when walking and running. The spinal cord travels from the skull through the spinal column to where the thoracic spine meets the lumbar spine at...

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