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The history of sports massage

2011-01-07T12:46:33+00:00

Sports Massage has been around for thousands of years. The Greeks and Romans were very clear on the benefits of massage on the athletes of their day. Galen (AD 30-200), who was a well-known Roman physician, prescribed massage for the gladiators both before and after exercising. Sports Massage followed a history similar to therapeutic massage. In the late 1980's to early 1990's, Sports massage became a modality unto it self with more specific training taking place for the practitioner to be able to address the specific needs of athletes whose bodies are undergoing intense physical exertion and stress.

What is sports massage?
Sports Massage is a form of bodywork that uses Deep Tissue and Swedish Massage techniques specifically adapted to deal with the effects of intense physical exertion on the body. Its primary purpose is to ease stiffness and pain in both muscles and joints, increase mobility in muscles and joints, warm muscle and connective tissue prior to exercise and help in removing toxins and lactic acid after a workout.

This modality is used before, during and after many athletic events. It has been found to enhance athletic performance by keeping muscles at their peak of flexibility and strength, while warding off injury. Massage after great exertion reduces ones level of stiffness and muscle soreness. For some athletes a massage helps keep anxiety at a minimum before competition. The Sports Massage practitioner can use certain techniques to increase body stimulation previous to an event, which increases mental alertness. Regular sports massage sessions have been shown to improve an athlete's speed, strength, endurance and flexibility, as well as shorten recovery time between events.

Previous artcle: The truth about statins

Are now offically an ITEC approved training provider! Running courses in sports massage/therapy and complementary therapies upto Level 5!

2010-11-23T19:02:36+00:00

The CTC is now offically an ITEC approved training provider! Running courses in sports massage/therapy and complementary therapies upto Level 5!

The truth about statins

2010-11-08T13:46:41+00:00

Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs significantly increase a person's risk of cataracts, muscle weakness, liver dysfunction and kidney failure, according to a study in the British Medical Journal.

The study also confirmed that the drugs lower the risk of heart disease and esophageal cancer, but claims of other health benefits were unsupported.

Researchers from Nottingham University in the United Kingdom examined data on more than 2 million patients between the ages of 30 and 84, seen at 38 different general practices, who had been prescribed the cholesterol-lowering drugs. More than 70 percent were taking simvastatin (Zocor), 22.3 percent were taking atorvastatin (Lipitor), 3.6 percent were taking pravastatin (Pravachol, Selektine), 1.9 percent were taking rosuvastatin (Crestor) and 1.4 percent were taking fluvastatin (Canef, Lescol, Lochol, Vastin).

The researchers confirmed prior data suggesting that statins increase patients' risk of cataracts, liver dysfunction, kidney failure and a form of muscle weakness known as myopathy. They found that for every 10,000 women treated with the drugs, 23 would develop acute kidney (renal) failure, 39 would develop myopathy, 74 would develop liver dysfunction and 309 would develop cataracts. Men suffered an even higher risk of myopathy, but their risks of the other three conditions were similar to those suffered by women.

Putting it in different terms, the researchers found that only 434 people would need to be treated with the drugs for five years for one case of acute renal failure to develop. It would take only 136 treated for each case of liver dysfunction and 33 for each case of cataracts. Among women, 259 would need to be treated for each case of myopathy; among men, the number was only 91.

The risk of developing all conditions was highest during the first year of treatment, but continued throughout the course of the study. Risk of liver and kidney problems increased proportionally with the dose of statins being taken.

All drugs appeared to pose a similar risk of all conditions, with the exception of fluvastatin, which increased the risk of liver dysfunction more than its competitors. Men taking fluvastatin were twice as likely to develop liver dysfunction as those not taking statins, while women's risk increased by 2.5 times.

The researchers did find, however, that the risk of cataracts returned to normal within one year of stopping statin treatment, while the risk of liver and kidney problems returned to normal within one to three years. Additionally, they found no connection between statin use and the risk of dementia, osteoporotic fracture, Parkinson's disease, rheumatoid arthritis or venous thromboembolism.

Examining the purported benefits of the drugs, researchers found that they did in fact lower the risk of heart disease, averting 271 cases for every 10,000 high-risk patients treated. Put another way, 33 high-risk men or 37 high-risk women would need to be treated with the drugs to avert one case of the disease.

Although advocates of the drugs have claimed that they may also reduce the risk cancer, the researchers found almost no data supporting these claims. The study "largely confirmed other studies that reported no clear association between statins and risk of cancers," the researchers wrote.

The only cancer-fighting effect uncovered in the study was a slightly lower risk of esophageal cancer, with eight cases averted for every 10,000 high-risk women treated. In other words, 1,266 high-risk women or 1,082 high-risk men would need to be treated with the drugs to prevent one case of esophageal cancer.

Although sales of the blockbuster drugs are unlikely to be reduced as a result of the study, the researchers encouraged closer monitoring of patients for side effects and said their findings "would tend to support a policy of using lower doses of statins in people at high risk of the adverse event."

Sourced and written by natural news

Previos article: Will this potion make you thin

Will this potion make you thin?

2010-10-17T14:16:59+01:00

HCG gives you a sense of wellbeing and you do not get hungry (Roy Botterell) For a moment, everyone who was huddled outside a recent fashion show thought they had misheard her. Surely the style maven before us — who insists on keeping her name and her weight issues anonymous — hadn’t just said she’d lost 18lb in less than two weeks? It was no mistake, however, those were her very words. She looked glowing, ecstatic and, beneath her uniform of top-to-toe loose-fitting black, pretty svelte.

What was her secret? She was, she said, following the HCG diet, the latest craze to obsess New Yorkers. The basics are simple, even if they sound a tad draconian: a couple of drops of HCG hormone on the tongue a day (some inject it), combined with a daily intake of 500 calories (yes, you read that right). This must be followed strictly for four weeks, but thereafter you can eat a normal healthy diet with a short period of starch and sugar elimination. Wasn’t she starving? No, she beamed. Did she have enough energy to get through the day? She had never felt better, she said — on only an apple for breakfast and in the afternoon, some chicken and vegetables for lunch and again for dinner, and plenty of herbal tea. Besides, she said, she’d never known weight loss like it.

The HCG weight-loss system was developed about 50 years ago by a British doctor, ATW Simeons, on the basis that the HCG hormone, which the body produces during pregnancy, could help shift stubborn fat deposits. Royalty and celebrities have visited the late doctor’s clinic in Rome, yet the diet is only now becoming all the rage.

Essentially, HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) works on the hypothalamus gland, which governs some metabolic processes, explains Jeanette Blackwell, of the Cheshire-based Blackwell Slimming Clinic — the only place in Britain that uses the hormone for weight loss (its is a homeopathic version). Simeons, she says, looked at why some people were unable to lose weight and found that, for some, the hypothalamus “misreads the threat of starvation for the body. The resulting abnormal metabolic function causes the accumulation of an abnormal amount of fat around the abdomen, upper arms and upper legs”. The hormone counteracts this and enables the gland to release the abnormal fat (but only when the 500-calorie limit is adhered to). Most HCG websites claim an average weight loss of 40lb over a 30-day programme.

Any imbalance in one hormone causes a whole list of hormonal messages to all the glands of the body Not everyone is convinced, of course. “There is no scientific evidence to support the claims that are made about HCG [injections] and fat redistribution, appetite and other effects,” says Azmina Govindji, a registered dietician and television nutritionist. “What worries me, too, is that a 500-calorie diet — which is really a semi-starvation regimen — could have drastic effects on your stores of protein, muscle and on your vital organs. Further, the US Food and Drug Administration has not approved the use of the drug HCG.”

Shabir Daya, a pharmacist with Victoria Health, a website that specialises in natural health products, also has reservations.

“My main concern with using hormonal drops or injections is that all hormones communicate with each other, using each other as chemical messengers. This means that any imbalance in one hormone causes a whole list of hormonal messages to all the glands of the body, resulting in possible multiple concerns, either immediately or later on.”

Blackwell, who works with a nutritionist and hypnotherapist at her clinic, remains evangelical about the process. For starters, she says, HCG is not a hormone but “a polypeptide. Simeons highlighted that HCG was misnamed as a hormone — in that it’s just a protein that’s excreted by the placenta in pregnant women to release nutrients to the baby”.

As for the restricted food intake, she stands by its necessity: “In order for the regimen to work, it has to be 500 calories a day. I can understand why a nutritionist would be concerned, but talk to any of my clients and they will all say the same: HCG gives you a sense of wellbeing and you do not get hungry; you don’t feel that you miss anything. You can eat two apples, 100g of protein, which can be a steak or chicken or fish and green vegetables for lunch and dinner. It allows you to release the abnormal fat. As well as the 500 calories you’re eating, your body is releasing 2,000 calories of abnormal fat — that means your body is metabolising 2,500 calories a day. The feeling of wellbeing is quite amazing.”

The Blackwell Clinic offers an eight-week course for £795; hcgslimming.co.uk

Written by Jourdana Abrahams, Inner Style health sunday times

Previous article: work life balance

Work life balance

2010-10-14T12:03:34+01:00

Long shift work and unregulated shift patterns is the catayalist in all cases of work related illness,though for many staff its work balance that can tip the scale and send some staff members ill. Workbalance can be tricky especialy when workers have a young family or they are young themselves and want to still have a full social life.

All these actvities outside the workplace are great for worklife balance though the actions of a heavy weekend can reflect in a 12 hour shift. This is something that Dr Borman mentioned in his report, that it wasn't just the balance of shift patterns and better working conditions that would improve nurses health it was investing in themselves that would intern stop sicknesss absence.

Staffing levels criple the NHS budget having to hire locoms for 3 times as much as a normal nurse cost, also the report mentioned that if you were to increase shift times it would be harder to get the staff to cover it and would increase the rate of sickness absence. In my opinion nurses need to be invested into and awarded for their healthy living choices and working commitment, it seems the only support a nurse recieves is when they are sick or have been push byond their limit.

Previous article: Wellness at work

Wellness at work

2010-09-20T10:43:02+01:00

By this BBC report (workplace illness) stress in the workplace must be at its highst level to date and what is the most cost effective and a diplomatic way of dealing with this epedemic. One way of dealing with this problem would be workplace massage a few minutes of untightning muscle knots and tension can be a real benefit.

Though cutting worker stress is a case of changing worker perception and idiology and this can be tackled through homeopathy,breathing relaxation or even counselling. Though when a worker is trapped within a unbalanced mind state that sort of in sight may be unwanted, though with massage this can be a great way of introducing workers to a therapy that everyone is open to. Once the worker has been through this massage process they are more suseptable to classes such as breathing relaxation and NLP. This is where suggestion can be introduced to the workers through guided meditation and breathing relaxation once these suggestions have been planted they can be triggered and that inplanted memory of deep relaxation can recalled through any situation even a stressfull one.

Previous article: Homeopathy Success in Piglets and E Coli

Homeopathy Success in Piglets and E Coli

2010-09-14T11:39:24+01:00

The following was sent to me by organic farmer, homeopathic activist and all round good guy - Oliver Dowding. I was fascinated by this piece of research and I hope you enjoy it too: Here's a quick outline of what happened:
The study in question was a double blind RCT of 52 sows who were randomly treated with Coli 30K or placebo and who subsequently gave birth to 525 piglets.The study showed that there was a reduction in the incidence of E.Coli diarrhoea. (Results showed that the placebo group had over six times more diarrhoea than the homeopathically treated group (P < 0.0001). The researchers pointed out that although mean duration of diarrhoea was not significantly different for both groups, 1.86 days on average in the placebo group compared to 1.3 days in the Coli 30K group, the difference of half a day can make large differences in the overall performance of piglets.
The owner of the farm where the experiment was carried out initially quite sceptical about homeopathy. However, after the experiment he decided to apply Coli 30K to all sows. Since then E.Coli diarrhoea has hardly occurred . . . . . .

The authors state that "Advantages at farm level (of E.Coli 30K homeopathic remedy) are ease of application of the treatment by the farmer and cost reduction. These advantages and the positive results from this study make the homeopathic agent Coli 30K an attractive potential alternative in the prevention of E.Coli diarrhoea."

Food for thought . . . .

So, given the double blind RCT structure of the trial - the 'gold standard' of science, does this research indicate that homeopathy works, double blind RCTs don't work - or that ickle piggies tell great big porkies?

You decide!

Previous article: Doctors warn over homeopathic vaccines

Sourced from healthy pages

Doctors warn over homeopathic 'vaccines', but who are they helping, the patient or a healthy growing pharamaceutical industry?

2010-09-13T17:00:47+01:00

Doctors warn that homeopathy does not work and there is no evidence to support this, though there has been a great deal of examples one of these is the mass vacination of 2.5 million people in cuba preventing Leptospirosis.

Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects humans and animals. It is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. In humans it causes a wide range of symptoms, and some infected persons may have no symptoms at all. Symptoms of leptospirosis include high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and vomiting, and may include jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, or a rash. If the disease is not treated, the patient could develop kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure, and respiratory distress. In rare cases death occurs."

The Cuban's have been doing their best to alleviate the suffering that results from the Leptospirosis epidemic in which over 2,000 people get infected and some of whom die. The numbers of infections have been increasing year on year. Because the cost of producing the allopathic vaccine is very high, Cuba only inoculates a small percentage of the people likely to be infected. That still costs them £2.2 million.
As Cuba gets no help from the US it also has the benefit of not being under the grip of the multi national pharmaceutical companies that would normally not allow such a large scale homeopathic programme to go ahead.

By using a homeopathic prophylaxis the entire population of two of the major areas that get affected by Leptospirosis were inoculated. That amounted to 2.5 million people given two doses at a cost of just £130,000.The results were that "within 2 weeks after Aug 2007, the rising lines literally dropped off the chart to ZERO-Ten infections only! Yes.

Near-zero infections, zero deaths from leptospirosis after Aug 2007.
And in 2008, no deaths, infections less than 10 a month," said an amazed attendee of the conference as the charts were being revealed on the stage.

Previous article: Homeopathy & ME

Homeopathy & M.E

2010-09-09T18:19:05+01:00

The condition ME or (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis ) is also referred to as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It is a chronic illness that affects many body systems and their functions. The changes seem to particularly affect the nervous and immune system, but they also affect other body systems. The illness can cause profound exhaustion, muscle pain, problems with mental functioning such as memory loss and poor concentration, malaise and other symptoms. (ref. Bury & Bolton ME/ CFS support group).

As we can see the presenting complaints from this type of syndrome are many. For those people coping with this condition on a day to day basis the difficulties of managing their daily living needs alone can be overwhelming. This is where Homeopathy can be of great assistance. Homeopathy treats the presenting complaints of the individual as they are expressed symptom by symptom by the sufferer building a suitable remedy picture. This remedy along with herbal support can assist the sufferer back to a picture of improved energy.

As Homeopathy works with the individuals own healing energies the process is gentle leaving no side effects. Homeopathy has been around for two hundred years and was rediscovered by a medical doctor in the 1800’s who had a successful Homeopathic practice for thirty years.

Previous article:Tai Chi helping fibromyalgia

Tai Chi helping fibromyalgia

2010-09-01T16:43:26+01:00

Study in to Tai Chi helping fibromyalgia found that a number of patients responded well to it. Tai chi is great for correcting balance through slow movement and deep breathing, stimulating the chi in the body and giving clients a sense of wellbeing

Fibromyalgia is a long lasting condition which is characterised by weakness and soft-tissue pain that is often chronic. Sufferers also usually experience fatigue, weakness and disturbed sleep. The most common people category to suffer from it is middle aged women. Worldwidethere are 200 milion people with the condition.

A study on the effect of Tai Chi on fibromyalgia found that a significant number of patients responded well. Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston conducted the study in order to try an reduce or eliminate fibromylagia symptoms such as pains in joints .

Sourced from: medical news

Previous aticle: Police given relaxation techniques to help tem combat stress