Pain Relief Can Be A Breath Away - Health

Interesting article about using a technique called diaphragmatic breathing to help with back pain. The technique helps our body produce endorphins and therefore reduces the need to take painkillers.

Given that shallow breathing stresses the Scalenes I wonder if diaphragmatic breathing could also be helpful with neck and shoulder pain. I'm going to refer some of my clients to this page and see if they find it helpful

Fast Facts About Raynaud's Phenomenon

Short article from the 'About Arthritis' site. Raynaud's disease most commonly causes whitening, numbness and pain in the tips of the fingers.

BBC NEWS | Health | Women can stop bone-saving drug

Excellent news for older women. New studies now suggest that drugs which prevent osteoporosis may continue to work for yesrs after you stop taking them.

Pain Relief Linked to Expectation of Treatment Efficacy

A study looking at the effects of belief on placebo medication. The number of people in the study were small which needs to be kept in mind but the results are interesting.

Who’s confused about alternative medicine? - Toward Freedom

This article is about Professor Edzard Ernst whio is one of a small number of specialists within the orthdox mainstream medical world who are very vocal in condemning all alternative/complementary therapies out of hand.

The vitriolic and violent nature of their language certainly doesn't suggest the reasonable rational man of science but one might suspect this is the response of somebody who feels threatened by anything they can't control.

Dark Chocolate: A Bittersweet Pill to Take - First Coast News

Well I enjoyed putting up the recent articles about the health benefits of chocolate but in the interests of balance I really felt that I should put this one up too.

It points out quite rightly that the studies were all small and mostly were using specially formulated chocolate bars rather than the stuff you can buy in the local shop.

I still think that a small amount (small being the operative word here) of very high cocoa mass dark chocolate is likely to be good for you. The very dark chocolate also has the advantage of being so rich in flavour that you don't need to eat a large amount of it.

Weather and Arthritis - Connection Between Weather and Arthritis Symptoms

Interesting article about the effects of weather on artritis pain.

The studis mentioned were quite small but it does seem that low pressure and high humidity tend to increase arthritic pain while high pressure and low humidity decrease it.

To ease pain, a patient must be a health activist - Marin Independent Journal - Dr. Tom Gross

Dr Gross offers an openminded and sensible approach to working with your back pain. This article is especially interesting as it's written by a medical practitioner who is also a long term sufferer of back pain.

Massage Relieves Knee Osteoarthritis

This study was done with a group of 68 people with arthritis pain in the knee. They showed significant improvement after 8 weeks of massage and the benefits lasted for 2 months after the massages stopped.

'Fat scan' shows up health risk - BBC NEWS

Interesting article about a new scan for intenal body fat located around the internal organs.

I already knew that BMI was quite a crude measure of fat but I didn't realise that an apparently thin person could have as much as 7 litres of bad fat around the organs.

Jing Advanced Massage Training

Earlier in the week I said I'd give you feedback on the course I just attended. The course was with Jing and was the 3 day Foundation in Holistic Medical Massage.

The course was great fun and wonderful value for money as I learned so many new techniques. The best thing is that they teach you practical techniques which you can incorporate into your existing massage routines and they teach you to work deeper but not harder.

I would recommend this course to any therapist who wants to raise the level of their massage and who wants to learn techniqies to save their own body from injury.

Have a look at the courses available at the link above.

Managing chronic pain - The Herald Dispatch

Interesting article about a pain management centre in the USA. It's good to see that they are looking at the clinical outcome that each patient wants and are therefore treating them in a more holistic way. It's also particularly good to see less relience on painkiling drugs and more new approches being tested.

However it does seem a shame that no bodywork is mentioned in connextion with the range of treatments used as we therapists know the power of massage, realignment and energy work in helping with chronic pain situations.

Frivolity: Things to do in Tesco

I won't be posting for a few days as I'm off to do a 3 day course on Holistic Medical massage where I hope to learn and practice lots of advanced massage techniques.

I'll tell you about the course when I get back but in the meantime take a look at this weblog, it has nothing to do with complementary therapies or health but laughter is good for you and some of these posts are hilarious. The poster is my husband Phil Bradley.

Work Your Core - Abilene Reporter News

Good little article with about half a dozen exercises which work of the core postural muscles.

I often recommend Pilates classes to clients who have back pain and I might point them in the direction of an set of exercises like this but if they can afford the cost it's better to go to classes where a skilled tutor can help you get the exercixes exactly right.

How Does a Rheumatologist Explain Arthritis?

The 'About Arthritis' site is always very useful and this is a good enrty article defining what arthritis is and what rheumatism and rheumatic disease are.

Facial Release Massage Therapy - Simon James Blog

This is such a happy coincidence, I just wrote a blog mentioning that I was hoping to learn more about this subject at the training course I'm attending next week.

Then I come across this excellent post describing Facial release and it's benefits for repetative strain injury, serendipity at work and I hope a good omen for next week

Point Taken - The Boston Globe

A facinating article about Dr Helene Langevin who is doing research into acupuncture and the way it works.

I found the most interesting point was the interaction she has found that acupuncture has with the comnnective tissue. The effects of connective tissue on pain is usually ignored by both mainstream and complementary therapies but it may actually be a key part of relieving and managing chronic pain relief.

I'm going on a 3 day advanced massage course next week when I'm hoping to learn a little more about myofacial release techniques which is essentailly working with the connective tissue.

What a dog kneads - The News Sentinel

Interesting article about massage and energy healing treatment working with dogs. I've dome a little work with Neuroskeletal realignment on dogs with arthritis and it did seem to have some effect.

At least people won't be able to blame the placebo effect if these therapies work so well with animals.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome May Be Caused by Tissue Injury

This is a report on some research that suggests that tissue injury is the cause of Carpel Tunnel Injury. However the numbers included in the study are very small so I think the results should be treated with caution.