When:

Mon :         16-Apr, 23-Apr, 30-Apr, 14-May, 21-May, 28-May

Tue :          17-Apr, 24-Apr, 01-May, 08-May, 15-May, 22-May

Thr :          19-Apr, 26-Apr, 03-May, 10-May, 17-May, 24-May

Fri :           20-Apr, 27-Apr, 04-May, 11-May, 18-May, 25-May

How long: One hour class for six weeks

Cost: £82

For more information on our Pilates courses, please visit www.physiocare.co.uk

When: 8^th May 2012

Where: Twyford Clinic

Classes will be held on a Tuesday from 12.15pm – 01.15pm on 8^th, 15^th , 22^nd & 29^th May, 12^th,19^th, & 26^th June 2012.

You are welcome to bring small babies but unfortunately we are unable to accommodate toddlers.

Refresher Course: Tuesday 4^th September 2012 – 12.15pm – 01.15pm (please enquire for details).

Cost £150

 In truth, breathing is affected by many factors including fitness levels, stress, poor posture, pain, obesity, the weather, and a myriad of other internal and external variables. 

Optimizing our oxygen intake can have far reaching positive effects on the body including:

• Gives you more energy
• Reduces stress and mental / physical fatigue
• Reduces chest pains due to tight muscles
• Opens up the chest to make breathing easier and fuller
• Eases the strain on the heart by increasing oxygen to the heart
• Slows your heart rate and steadies your blood pressure
• Releases and reduces muscular spasm and tension that may be causing pain
• Makes you able to recover faster from exertion
• Reverses the negative stress reactions from your brain that keep you awake, such as adrenaline.

Do I have a Breathing Problem?

While most of us wouldn’t identify ourselves as having breathing problems, almost all of us could benefit from improved breathing for a variety of other issues that we don’t automatically link with our breathing.  For example, evidence supports a link between poor breathing and back pain. This makes sense as trunk muscles perform both postural and breathing functions, so disruption in one function can negatively impact the other.  Also, failing to breathe normally causes our rib cage to stiffen over time which limits our flexibility and makes tasks such as twisting our body to swim, swing a golf club or play tennis much harder to do effectively over time.

Similarly, shoulder and neck pain are also often related to poor breathing strategies as we tend to overuse the muscles in the neck and at the top of the shoulders to help us breathe when they should be relaxed.

If you have pain in your neck, shoulder or back, it’s likely you do have a breathing problem and could benefit from breathing exercises.

Posture and Breathing

We know that prolonged sitting and especially sitting in a slumped posture puts excessive strain on our backs, but did you realize it also compromises our breathing?  It does this by limiting the ability of the trunk and ribcage to expand fully, thereby causing us to breathe more through our bellies where there is less resistance to expansion than through the rigid trunk.  Add to this the frequently observed posture many people maintain of allowing their shoulders to roll forward or become hunched up towards their ears and breathing properly becomes an impossible feat!  If you have poor posture, you can bet your breathing is not ideal, and while correcting the posture itself is one step in the right direction, you’ll need to also address your poor breathing habits if you want to make lasting changes

How Should I Breathe?

Think of your lungs as a small vest that hangs down from your collarbones to the bottom of your ribs. When breathing, try to take the air into the area under the sides and back of the rib cage as this is where there is the most lung volume.

A Basic Exercise

Lie flat on your back with your knees bent or straight whichever is more comfortable for you. First breathe normally for a minute or so and pay attention to where your lungs fill up. Does your chest rise and fall or does most of the air seem to fill up your belly?

Now place your hands palm down one on each side of your rib cage. As you breathe in, you should feel your rib cage expand up and out to the sides like a bucket handle, and then recoil as you relax and exhale. Can you feel the air filling up the backside of your lungs and pressing your ribs gently into the floor? You shouldn’t feel any muscles working as you exhale, let the air flow out passively.

You can also perform this exercise whilst sitting or standing but make sure you are sitting in a relatively upright position rather than slumping in poor posture and compressing your rib cage down onto the lungs.

If you have difficulty with this exercise, or notice that your rib cage fails to move with your breathing or perhaps it moves less on one side than the other, you may wish to have an assessment a physiotherapist who can help you identify your problem areas and give you individualized treatment and exercises specific to your body.

When: 1^st November  2011

Where: Twyford clinic

Classes will be held on a Tuesday from 07.30pm – 08.30pm on 1^st, 8^th, 15^th, 22^nd and 29^th November,  6^th,13^th December 2011.

You are welcome to bring small babies but unfortunately we are unable to accommodate toddlers.

Refresher Course: Tuesday 24^th January 2012 – 07.30pm – 08.30pm                        (please enquire for details).

Cost £150

Starting Monday 17

To tackle this, the charity is calling for changes in health and safety laws and training courses to help schools learn more about best practice for back health. And with 88% of primary school teachers reporting back pain, it’s definitely an area of pressing need.

When questioned Teachers felt that there back problems were aggravated by bending over low tables, sitting on children’s chairs and kneeling at low tables or on the floor.

Many of those who took part in the survey said they could no longer sit on the floor, worked part-time rather than full-time, moved to work with older children, or were forced to take ill-health retirement.

Alarmingly, only 8% said they had officially reported their problems either because they did not know how to raise their concerns or they were afraid of jeopardising their careers.

At the same time, the damaging effect of heavy school bags on the backs of primary and secondary school children has long been a major worry for BackCare and significant concern to many practising Physiotherapists.

Most of the four million children at secondary school will be asked at some stage in their school career to carry levels of weight that the charity considers to be “excessive and dangerous to health.” More than 120,000 of them will see a doctor before the age of 16 about back pain.

The issue of back pain isn’t of course confined to schools. It is thought that 4 out of every 5 adults will experience back pain at some point in their life, and the fact that back pain causes around 4.9 million adult sick days each year must be a matter of concern. It is clearly important to continue to raise awareness of the problems back pain can cause, and to promote appropriate methods of prevention and treatment.

The team at Physiocare has a particular interest in the management of Back and Neck problems. Their specialist training enables them to help in the management of acute and chronic recurrent spinal pain and dysfunction. They undertake a thorough assessment of each problem to determine potential causes; both physical and environmental, before developing an individualised treatment program.

Mindy trained at Guys Hospital School of Physiotherapy qualifying in 1991.  Following this she has worked clinically in both the NHS and private sectors gaining a wide range of experience before specialising in the treatment of musculoskeletal dysfunction and injury.  In 1996 she undertook a full time MSc in Manipulative Therapy to further develop her clinical skills and began to specialise in the management of back and spinal pain. 

Between 1998 and 2002 she held a split clinical/research role at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Birmingham, whilst studying for her PhD.  During this time she further developed her clinical and research interests in back pain and worked in a multidisciplinary back pain triage clinic. 

After gaining her PhD from Coventry University in 2002 she took a role as Senior Lecturer and subsequently Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Hertfordshire.   Mindy has published in numerous academic journals including Spine, Manual Therapy, BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders and Neurourology and Urodynamics.  She combines her research and teaching with her clinical commitments at Physiocare.  

Professional Publications

1. Potter, CL, Cairns, MC, Stokes, M (2011) Use of ultrasound imaging by physiotherapists: A pilot study to survey use, skills and training.  Manual Therapy (in press).*
2. Crotty, K, Bartram, C, Cairns, M, Dorey, G, Pitkin, J, Taylor, P (2011) Investigation of optimal cues to instruction for pelvic floor muscle contraction: a pilot study using 2-D ultrasound imaging in pre-menopausal, nulliparous, continent women.  Neurourology and Urodynamics March 10
3. Jaggi, A, Cairns MC, Malone AA, Cowan, JC, Lambert, SL, & Bayley, JIL (2009) Prospective blinded comparison of surface vs wire electromyographic analysis of muscle recruitment in shoulder instability – A pilot study.  Physiotherapy Research International: DOI: 10.1002/pri.407. 14(1): 17–29
4. Casserley-Feeney, S, Phelan, M, Duffy, F, Roush, S, Cairns, MC & Hurley, DA (2008) Patient Satisfaction with Private Physiotherapy for Musculoskeletal Pain. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders: doi:10.1186/1471-2474-9-50. [1.46]
5. Cairns, MC, Foster, NE, Wright, CC (2006) Randomised controlled trial of specific spinal stabilisation exercises and conventional physiotherapy for patients with recurrent low back pain.  Spine 31(19): E670-E681 [2.676]
6. Cairns, MC, Foster, NE, Wright, CC, Pennington, D (2003) Level Of Distress Measured Using The DRAM In A Recurrent LBP Population Referred For Physiotherapy.  Spine 28 (9): 953-959 [2.676]
7. Cairns, MC, Harrison, K & Wright, C (2000) Pressure Biofeedback: A useful tool in the quantification of deep abdominal muscle dysfunction? Physiotherapy 86(3): 127-138
   
   

Pilates can make a world of difference to your physical shape, your body’s movement and your general wellbeing; we really recommend that you give it a go!

Sign up now or register your interest in future courses by emailing us at physio@physiocare.co.uk or call us on 0118 934 4055 for a booking form to book your place now!

Where: Twyford clinic, 6 Church Street

When:

 Mon    (7 – 8 pm)                  12-Sep, 19-Sep, 26-Sep, 03-Oct, 10-Oct, 17-Oct

                                                31-Oct, 07-Nov, 14-Nov, 21-Nov, 28-Nov, 05-Dec

 Tue     (2 – 3 pm)                   13-Sep, 20-Sep, 27-Sep, 04-Oct, 11-Oct, 18-Oct

                                                01-Nov, 08-Nov, 15-Nov, 22-Nov, 29-Nov, 06-Dec

 Tue     (6.30 – 7.30 pm)       13-Sep, 20-Sep, 27-Sep, 04-Oct, 11-Oct, 18-Oct

                                                01-Nov, 08-Nov, 15-Nov, 22-Nov, 29-Nov, 06-Dec

 Thr      (10.15 – 11.15 am)    15-Sep, 22-Sep, 29-Sep, 06-Oct, 13-Oct, 20-Oct

                                                03-Nov, 10-Nov, 17-Nov, 24-Nov, 01-Dec, 08-Dec

 Fri       (10.15  - 11.15 am)   16-Sep, 23-Sep, 30-Sep, 07-Oct, 14-Oct, 21-Oct

                                                04-Nov, 11-Nov, 18-Nov, 25-Nov, 02-Dec, 09-Dec

How long: One hour class for six weeks

Cost: £82

For more information on our Pilates courses, please visit www.physiocare.co.uk

Some of the key changes:

• We’ve added Frequently Asked Questions pages for Physiotherapy, Fitness and Wellbeing – aimed at giving lots of useful information prior to your first visit to Physiocare.

• Our news section is now a lot easier to update – so watch this space for regular news items! In addition, you now have the ability to leave a comment or ask a question in response to a news post… why not leave us your thoughts on the new website today?

• You can now see our latest Tweet on our home page, and easily access our Twitter & Facebook pages (LinkedIn coming soon!). You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter directly from our website.

Take a look around, and as always – let us know what you think!

When: 19th September 2011

Where: Twyford clinic

Classes will be held on a Monday from 10.45am - 11.45am on 19th and 26th September, 11th, 3rd, 10th, 17th and 31st October and 7th November 2011.

You are welcome to bring small babies but unfortunately we are unable to accommodate toddlers.

Refresher Course: Monday 9th January 2012 - 10.45am – 11.45am (please enquire for details).

Cost £150, early bird booking £135 available until 8th August 2011.

Most of us love being outside in the summer months and as we welcome the long evenings, we turn our attention to the garden. But, beware, if you are not used to the exertion that gardening can cause, you may unknowingly injure yourself. Approximately 87,000* people are injured each year whilst actively carrying out gardening or DIY jobs in the garden, and this is a trend we are familiar with here at Physiocare. With this in mind, we have some top tips to keep you safe this summer:

Do:

• Make sure you warm up - just walking up and down the garden whilst getting your tools and equipment ready will help your muscles warm up and help prevent sudden strain
• Make sure you have the right tools for the job - if you are weeding, have you got a long handled hoe? Tthis will reduce strain on your back
• Check your posture regularly and make sure you stand and stretch every 10 - 15 minutes.
• Use a knee pad or cushion to give you extra comfort
• When lifting, take extra care and ensure you bend from the knees and keep your back straight
• Take your time and enjoy your garden - doing something too fast can cause you to overstretch and cause injury
• Take regular breaks and drink plenty of fluid
• Think about the type of plants you have in your garden and look for those that will provide good ground cover and therefore reduce the need for weeding
• Once you've finished for the day, take a walk as it will help to keep you mobile and stop your muscles seizing up
• Enjoy a hot bath or shower to avoid aches and pains or muscle spasm

Don't:

• Stay in one position for too long
• Lift heavy items, wait for assistance
• Overload a wheelbarrow - two lighter journeys are better for you then one heavy load which puts more strain on your body
• Leave your equipment , tidy away otherwise you increase your chance of trips
• Stay in garden for too long - you can always finish tomorrow!

* The figures are based on the DTI Home Accident Surveillance System Report 2002