Hello there! We’ve got a mixed bag for you again this month, so thank you to all our
contributors....next time it could be you....!!!
We’ll start off with an inspiring piece from Samantha Armstrong.
Here we go; Lessons in Life
When you realise your dreams it’s truly a great moment and I have done thanks to my daughter Lucie (16) and the support of my husband and youngest daughter (13).
When Lucie was diagnosed with Dystonia, a crippling neurological condition, at the age of 7 it was horrendous. But Lucie won through due to pioneering surgery and empowered me to do what I’m doing now. I’m a Nordic Walking Instructor, Personal Trainer and Sports Massage Therapist, I lead classes in the Peak District and surrounding areas and also take clients on a private basis, lead team building walks and celebration walks. Its great doing something that has a positive impact on people’s lives. I have Lucie to thank for that because, through my family’s
darkest days, exercise gave me inner strength. It was awful watching Lucie in pain, she
almost lost her life, every day was a battle to survive, she faced risky surgery and medical procedures. Exercise gave me a short break from it all. I would return buzzing, refreshed and ready to deal with what the day threw at me. That love of exercise, and its ability to improve well-being, encouraged me to train as a fitness instructor through evening classes, then a Sports Massage Therapist and ultimate a Nordic Walking Instructor. The training took about 3 years all in all, I had books everywhere and still managed Lucie’s hospital visits. The staff at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford would always see me with a folder on my knee writing away or studying! Or even in my gym clothes lunging up and down the ward or popping out for a run! It’s all because of Lucie and now I help other realise the benefits of exercise, not just physically but mentally as well. I like the fact that Nordic Walking reaches out to all abilities, including people with health problems. The arms take more of the strain, a lighter load is placed on the knees and other lower body joints. For anyone with restrictions or complaints of the spine, hip joints, knees of ankles, Nordic Walking provides relief. In the treatment of instability of the pelvis, whiplash, fibromyalgia and chronic problems, experience has shown that Nordic Walking is also
beneficial. Similarly, cardiac patients, people who are overweight or those with diabetes or rheumatism have an opportunity to improve their condition with Nordic Walking.
Lucie is now stable although still uses a wheelchair and has recently won a national Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award for overcoming adversity, quite an achievement all round!
Samantha has recently organised a Nordic Walking trip to the French Alps for June 2010, please contact her or go to her web site for more details.
e-mail: sam@coreconcept.org.uk or 07860 478 409
Letter from Spain and Tennis Elbow to Boot! by Natasha Trendell
Hi
I'm sending you a quick update to fill you in on my latest adventures, and to say a big thank you!
Having completed your fantastic sports massage course in September’ 08, my partner and I
re-located to the warmer climates of southern of Spain, where I was lucky enough to find work in a
beautiful spa hotel near Malaga. I am responsible for the majority of massage treatments, and am the only sports massage therapist employed by the hotel. During the summer I work by the pool, which has incredible sea views!
I wanted to share a brief overview of some of the clients I have treated, and also a case I found more difficult.
I have a client with tennis elbow, who comes for regular treatment and is definitely improving. My client came to me quite distressed, as her doctor had told her to take painkillers for the injury, and her chiropractor had made the situation worse! I treated her using a combination of deep forearm massage, petrissage, STR to wrist extensors, and frictions of 1.5 - 2 minutes to the CEO (Common Extensor Origin) . At first she felt some tenderness; then the discomfort started to subside, as frictioning has a mild anaesthetic effect. Finally, I re-checked resisted movement of the 3rd finger, and the wrist extensors. My client felt less pain.
After the treatment, I gave my client a homecare advice sheet outlining how she could play a part in her own healing, giving her much greater control over her injury. I advised her to continue to friction the CEO daily (she now uses the end of a wooden spoon to stop her fingers aching!). She said that this has been the best advice she has received so far. (Thank you Jane for your ideas).
The majority of cases I have received so far, have been clients suffering from back pain (mainly lumber), and neck strains. I have also treated 6 hairdressers at various stages, complaining of pain inferior to the scapula, and along the latissimus dorsi. I found that deep petrissage, stripping along the border of the scapula, and stripping of the latissimus dorsi itself really helped.
General pain in the lumber region has been treated with pressures to piriformis, rocking the pelvis, and pressures to Q.L. I treated one client who had been in a car accident 8 years ago, but still
suffered from back and gluteal pain. STR, and pressures to the glutes really helped to release tightness in this area. I massaged the area through a towel with my knuckles following the pressure point work. My client has found this very helpful, and has remarked that she has reduced her pain relief medication.
I am improving my knowledge with every client, and regularly consult my notes. "Sports
Injuries" by Lars Peterson, and Per Renstrom is a very useful book; an absolute must for
anyone studying/practicing sports massage. The only client I was a bit stuck on was a man who had been told that the longhead of his biceps tendon kept slipping out of the bicipital groove. He was given a massage by a junior physio back in the UK, who worked very deeply on the tendon and made the pain worse. I advised him to speak to his doctor and to try to get referred for a MRI scan to confirm the diagnosis; I didn't believe massage would be particularly helpful; however I wasn't 100% sure, so I sent Jane a quick email for some advice and her reply was:
"I have heard about the long head of the biceps tendon slipping. The osteopath Hoppenfeld mentions this in his book and although many people are sceptics, I did have a sports massage student who presented with what could have been this. You are quite right, massage probably would have made not difference. Things that may help are passive tractioning to the glenohumeral joint and Soft Tissue Release to forearm flexors (ie. biceps and all the wrist flexors). The rational behind that is that you are taking some tension out of the tendon so when they flex at the shoulder or elbow it is less likely to snap out of place (much the way that the flexor and extensor tendons of the big toe eventually pull the toe out of alignment in a bunion and because so shortened and tightened the they keep the toe in that position)."
I am starting to build up regular clients, and many local residents have been back for follow up treatments which is very satisfying. I can't thank you enough, as without your course, and your expert tuition!!) I wouldn't have this job, and I certainly wouldn't be able to treat as many clients as I have done. Thank you so much!!
Natasha Trendell, Sports Massage Practitioner
Fascial Release Technique Workshop with James Earls, 28th Sept, by Alison Dodd
I am a newly qualified Sports Massage Therapist having completed the APNT course last year with the huge help of Jane Johnson who I was lucky enough to have as my tutor! I love what I do and as a Therapist, I am keen to learn more and develop my skills further and of course obtain more CPD points along the way!! Since last October, I have been busy building up my therapy practice but I felt it was now time to start looking at developing my skills a little further. I started looking into some different workshops and courses and came across myofascial release which I found really interesting and I wanted to get more of an understanding about it. Luckily, in my research, I came across the workshop with James Earls on The London Massage Company’s website and for me it was perfect timing and seemed the ideal introduction…….
James was lovely and really enthusiastic. He introduced his workshop talking about how he had developed his interest in myofascial release and had trained with Tom Myers who many of us have come across in our training in reference to "Anatomy Trains". We were asked to introduce ourselves to the group - a really nice cross section of people with varied experience, a couple of whom I already knew from my course last year which was nice.
I suppose one of the first major points James made was to change our way of thinking with regard to the anatomy of the body, specifically muscles and their attachments. We have all been taught the basic anatomy of how tendons attach to the bones in order to create movement. However, James clearly explained, with the help of a video called “Strolling under the Skin”, together with some slides, that although some fibres of the tendons/fascia do attach to the bones at the attachment points, they are very much continuous from that point onwards and throughout the body forming an interconnected web. The video was really fascinating as it showed a dissected human body with it’s skin and adipose tissue removed revealing in detail how fascia basically envelopes everything in the body!!
James explained how fascia is different in it’s formation and make-up depending on its function within the body. When an area of the body comes under tension, the fascia acts to disperse the force and thickens which affects the whole myofascial system. It changes from being a gel fluid-like substance allowing gliding and movement, to a much dryer and harder substance in response to this tension. There was a brilliant (although rather messy) demonstration showing how fascia changes its structure and texture using cornflower mixed with water!
Another good way in which James tried to explain to us how fascia works is by likening it to a “pull” in a t-shirt or jumper. This showed how restrictions or tightness in one part of the fascia can cause problems in other areas of the body which made perfect sense! With this in mind, it also made you understand that by “normalising” the fascia with the method of myofascial release, it would help restore balance to the body.
Next we moved on to some practical work, working on different areas of the body including the lower leg, the IT band, the hamstrings and the neck and chest. We worked on different people which was really useful to get an idea of how different everyone was and how to assess different areas of the body. James demonstrated really well and when it was our turn, he came round to us all answering any questions we had. He also made me understand how important my posture was whilst working which is something I definitely need to work on!
When we asked James questions like how fast do we go or how deep do we work, it was impossible for him to give us an answer at the time and if I remember rightly, he said “enough but not too much”! However, having put myofascial release into practice with my clients since the workshop, this answer now makes complete sense! Obviously every client is different and the more I use it, the more I understand it and get a feel for how fast or how deep to work! I suppose it’s a matter of understanding that its really the fascia which dictates how you work as you feel the sensation of it “melting” or “giving” under your hands or fingers as it reverts to its “normal” status!
Overall I thought the workshop was excellent and there was a good balance of enough theory to help you make sense of it all without being too overloaded in the brain department! Plus enough practical work to help you get the feel for the method in order to put it straight into practice. I have to say it has definitely changed how I treat some of my clients and feel it has really helped to
develop and enhance my skills.
A totally worthwhile workshop and one I would definitely recommend!
Alison Dodd, Sports Massage Practitioner
Things We Think You’d Like
// For any of you who’ve already done a course or workshops in Myofascial Release then Cheli Mula would love to hear from you. Having been inspired with an Anatomy Trains weekend she would like to start a study group to practice further the meridians. She’s based in London and can provide fascilities. She’d like to meet on a regular basis as time allows, over a period of time. If you’re interested please contact Cheli on 07789567612 or chelimula@hotmail.com
// Back workshop reccomened by our colleague Stephen Ward. For more information on this workshop with Dr. Stuart McGill. Visit www.backfitpro.com
// The Yoga Show, brings you YogaAid - Aiming to raise money for a range of charities, during a three hour Yoga session! For more information visit www.theyogashow.co.uk or call tel: 01787 224040 - 30th, 31st October, & 1st November 2009
// Institute of Anatomical Sciences(IAS) The IAS is always looking to recruit new members. "Founded twenty-five years ago, the IAS is a growing international group of Anatomy and Anatomically-related professionals dedicated to sharing knowledge, techniques and practices to ensure informed intellectual and technical expertise in the Anatomical Sciences." Jane’s been a member for many years and attended some very interesting lectures and meetings. Membership is inexpensive and as far as I am aware has only one other member who is a massage
// Sue Carberry has found brilliant book that's not too expensive which she’d like to share with us: A Massage Therapist's Guide to Pathology "I've been in practice for nearly 13yrs and I wish I'd had this book when I was training, even so it's a valuable asset now."
Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins,US; 4Rev Ed edition (1 Feb 2008)
ISBN-10: 0781769191 / ISBN-13: 978-0781769198
// Prof. Eyal Lederman’s supervision groups provide the participants with tools to understand the different processes underlying their patients' conditions and to learn to optimise clinical
management. During the sessions the participants will have the opportunity to discuss case histories and practice techniques as well as explore their practical application in clinic. For further information and registration contact: cpd@cpdo.net (www.cpdo.net)
Help!
We could do with getting our hands on the Oct ‘09 issue of SportEx Medicine (we get SportEx Dynamics each month).
If you receive SportEx Medicine in hard copy we’d love to borrow it : ) Please give us a call: 0845 688 7188 or drop us an email if you can help.
Just For Fun
Jane sent me these two emails and they made me smile so we thought they’d make you smile too......!
Rain Rain Go away
Absolutely teeming down. Think I shall have to start placing the old sandbags up against the doors soon to prevent the floodwaters entering.
Bring a mack in october, wellingtons and perhaps a small inflatable lifecraft in your hand luggage? In fact, we could revolutionise the Boden autumn range with colour coded dinghies? Have a
feeling its going to be a wet autumn. Mum's going to despair as this will bring the snails out to eat her newly planted garden. I read that slugs and snails love the inside of grapefruit skins (how anyone worked that out I don't know - maybe someone came down to breakfast to find two small creatures enjoying it for them?) so the patio is littered with upturned fruit, like a load of mini alien craft have landed, and I've snuck them between the plants too. So far the molluscs seem to prefer the plants and it looks like I've simply been chucking my rubbish in the garden. No doubt the newspaper article left out a vital piece of information, like the slugs only like red grapefruit or something, or perhaps it wasn't grapefruit at all but melons of avocados. Might as well make a giant fruit salad and toss the entire thing outside for a midnight mollusc rave, round up the criters in the dead of night and submit to The Royal Academy entitled Slug Salad.
Jane
I found an article which says that milk chocolate is actually helpful in speeding muscle
repair.
Here at the LMCo we are both obviously keen to advance science and looks like our recent binges are in fact worthwhile experiments. The things we do for our newsletter subscribers and students huh?
I didn't access the article and am only hoping it advises ingesting the material not rubbing it in. (I've no intention of wasting my Lindt on some rugby players hamstrings thank you very much).
Or perhaps the therapist could eat it whilst massaging a muscle injury?
Who knows, we could invent our very own contrast bathing: 2 mins in warm chocolate, 2 mins Devon icecream. Mmmm.
Now all I need is an article supporting the ingestion of peppermint and dark chocolate, preferably specifically in the form of After Eight Mints cooled in the fridge for an hour, and I'm sorted!
Until next time......
Jane & Zoe
ask@thelondonmassagecompany.com
