Nicky Snazell as ‘The pain killer’
My name is Nicky Snazell and I am known to some as ‘The pain killer’. After all, that’s what I do: I like to hunt down and seek out and kill pain, and I expect you want me to kill yours too. Would you like to hire me out as an assassin? I realise how important it is to you to free yourself of unnecessary pain so that you can enjoy life to the full.
What qualifies me to have a go? Well I’ve got nearly years of experience and successful outcomes in treating pain.
How? By hunting down the origins of pain, some of which we are frequently so unaware of. So often I feel like I’m working in the illness industry and not the wellness industry, and I believe that we should focus more on the latter – by preventing health problems before we have to cure them. I am keen to get you to your optimal health for your age, but only if you play the game and invest in the health bank of your future self.
How do I know I can help? For one thing, I have studied health and pain for thirty years, researching how we as humans function at our best. Furthermore, this is backed up by the knowledge and skills I have gained by creating and working within my integrated medical practice, which has given me over twenty-five years of hands-on experience and from which I’ve collected a long list of testimonials from satisfied customers who have managed to conquer their pain. Yes they’ve done it, and now so can you.
I assume that if you’re reading this blog, you would like to know for certain that you can avoid a lot of unnecessary pain for yourself or your patient. Am I right? Then you have come to the right place. I want these blogs to be a practical resource that you can use and apply to your own health and your own life. After all, you are the author of your own life, so what chapter are you writing right now? You may have had no say in how your story started, but you have all the control in the world on what happens in the middle, to end, as well as how many pages your novel contains. You have the power to control your own future health – you just need the knowledge and the skills to know how to do it. This is the information I’m going to give you in these blogs, and despite what you may have been led to believe, your pain is actually in your own hands.
I have spent my life searching for ways to treat pain, and I have travelled all over the world, meeting and learning from countless specialists and professionals during this quest of mine. Now, I want to pour all of that knowledge and all of my experience into you, so that my methods can become your methods, and so that you can conquer your pain, allowing you to have a long, happy life. It sounds relatively simple, doesn’t it? No? Well, it may be simpler than you think.
This series of blogs will discuss healing through an understanding of how neuroscience works, and I believe that this holds the keys to wellness, mental excellence, physical fitness, prosperity, relationship skills, society contribution and having a purpose to live – not to mention, of course, keeping out of pain. I like to imagine all of these things as breaking down into four main sections:
My four keys of health, featuring mind-set, nutrition and hydration, fitness, and lifestyle. You will be able to read about each of these four keys in due course.
Drawing wisdom from both modern medical technology and ancient healing, over the next year I will guide you through your health journey, giving you the knowledge and the tools you need to create the best lifestyle for you. Say goodbye to unnecessary pain and say hello to a fitter, healthier, happier you.
A newspaper headline in November 2014 in the Daily Express announced:
‘How You Can Add Years To Your Life’. The article presented recent research from the Lancet (a medical journal) to back up previously anecdotal evidence, and basically said that having a sense of purpose as you get older helps you live a longer, healthier life. This was also echoed in Viktor E.
Frankl’s book, Man’s Search For Meaning (Rider & Co, 2008), about how man’s sense of dignity and purpose was cruelly stripped from him until death, and how hanging on to a purposeful mission actually extends lives. Write a key purpose on several bits of paper, left in many places, and make sure you keep reminding yourself everyday.
This brings us to the question: why do we have pain?
Many people view pain as a bad thing in itself, but it is nature’s warning system, meant to protect us. When someone brings us bad news, we don’t shoot the messenger, do we? Instead, we listen to what the messenger has to say, and then we go and find the real cause of the problem. It is exactly the same thing when it comes to pain: Mr Pain is only trying to warn us that there is a problem, and it is up to us to take his advice and seek out the true reason behind that pain – where is Mr Pain coming from? And why? This is what we have to find out.
Unfortunately, nature’s warning system can so easily become a nightmare. Lasting pain can be caused by deficiencies and excesses in your mind, body, and diet. The secret to conquering pain is to find out what you have too much or too little of. It’s all about balance, and any disruption in the delicate balance of your body can be a strong contender for the root cause of your painful life.
As we age, we need to put more care into diet, supplementation, exercise, and our workload. It sounds simple, but many of us fail to even acknowledge that we have to change the way we use our bodies as we get older. As we age, naturally occurring enzymes are fewer, inflammation is greater, and the change from fibrinogen to inflexible scar tissue becomes much more extensive. Therefore, long-term solutions for pain need to address our ongoing biochemical changes.
I have two kinds of patients that come to my clinic: those who want a quick fix with no effort on their part or change in their lifestyle, and those who want a more permanent solution and actually want to make an investment in their future health. Long-term solutions can only be met by concentrating on the root cause, not by simply focusing on the symptoms alone.
How much we feel pain is governed by our beliefs and moods, as our joint psychology/biology (physiology) affects every cell in our body. What we don’t know about pain will hurt us, but the body is always attempting to regulate pain impulses and to heal. With improved knowledge, we can work with – rather than against – this process and, in turn, feel less pain.
How Pain Works
So, how does pain work? We have myriad tiny receptors inside us – sensing touch, pressure, temperature, and pain – which pass information to our sensory nerves. These pain impulses travel up the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, and here is where you get your first chance to reduce your pain level – at the pain gate. If the pain gets through the gate, it heads onto the thalamus, which acts like a router and – simply speaking – makes three ‘phone calls’, one to the sensory cortex (which interprets the nature of the pain), one to the mammalian amygdala (which assesses the level of fear, is the emotional centre, and which decides if the body needs to shut down digestion, cell division, circulation etc.), and one to the cortex (which is in charge of the human decision-making process). Hence our minds really do decide, like a panel of judges, how much pain is appropriate for us to experience at any one time. Pain is then translated into how much we hurt. If we return to the gating mechanism, you can close the gate at the pain’s entry point into the brain by doing several things.
While we will explore these concepts in more depth in the individual blogs, they can include: having a massage, getting the right amount and the right type of sleep, undergoing acupuncture, eating nutritious food and making the correct use of supplements, going to reiki and meditation sessions, evaluating your lifestyle, understanding your natural biorhythms, taking part in regular exercise, getting your posture right, using a TENS device, undergoing hypnosis, drinking plenty of water, doing breathing exercises, and making sure you get enough laughter and meaningful, loving relationships into each and every day.
Love has come out in recent research as the number one healthy antidote to suffering.
In Ancient cultures shamans and doctors were only paid if they kept their clients free from illness and fit and well. They taught their clients how to prevent illness as best as they could with knowledge about their mindset, eating and drinking from fresh nutrient rich sources, advising on their activity level and safety of their dwelling from predators, the wind direction, and dampness of their dwelling.
They did not get paid when their client was ill, they had failed at that time to keep them well.
Compare it to now. Now, in the health service it’s about firefighting, hosing down the wreckage.Back through history, Shamans the early doctors looked at 4 key areas to health to keep patients healthy.Mind, Fitness, Diet and Lifestyle.
How people think is so important,we know the mind creates and destroys health, and shamans prescribed mantras and prayers.
Healthy nutrient rich crops and clean water, as Ancient man knew it was natures’ medicine, and supplemented with different foods and herbs.
Where they physically working too hard or not enough? Ancient doctors/shamans understood the needs of the moving the body correctly.
Was the home/ shelter protected from the stresses of flooding, winds, predators, enough living quarter space? As they gave lifestyle advice to protect health.
Hence where my idea came from for my first book the 4 keys.If you hold 4 green keys your chances of getting through an illness is much greater than 4 amber or 4 red. The questionnaires in my first book give you your scores on the door!
Suffering is the result of the totality of your life, your support system. Not your diagnosis, arthritic joints, scan results etc. Your body is talking to you SO LISTEN. Lack of knowledge of how to heal yourself leads to unnecessary, avoidable pain and then into chronic avoidable suffering. Visualising holding 4 green keys empowers to you be able to do something to help yourself or someone else. Knowing that even placing flowers in a room changes that persons’ wellness. This stops you ever feeling totally helpless again when faced with your one or a loved ones prognosis. I know what that feels like. I only wish someone had written this book for me as a child.
'The Body’ Nicky’s second instalment of her fantastic ‘Human Garage’ Trilogy is days away from release!
‘The Body’ Nicky’s second instalment of her fantastic ‘Human Garage’ Trilogy is days away from release!
To celebrate we are offering an amazing 45% off any Magnetic Resonance Treatment. If you or someone you know needs help with Osteoarthritis, Bone Problems, Sports Injuries or Spinal Disc issues.
Call us on 01889 881488
“For a longer active life”
Offer ends 30th September
Terms and Conditions apply.
The Pain Relief Clinic is pleased to announce Consultant Physiotherapist, Nicky Snazell, has won a top award and national recognition for ‘Excellence in Patient Service’ at a Gala Dinner, held by The Acupuncture Association for Chartered Physiotherapists, (AACP). The prestigious awards dinner was held on Friday 13th May at the Hilton Hotel in Coventry as part of the AACP Annual Conference. The awards were held to recognise individuals who were honoured for their achievements and the contributions they have made.
Nicky Snazell, Clinical Director of The Pain Relief Clinics was honoured at The AACP Awards evening. Nicky was selected from more than 6000 physiotherapists in both NHS and private practice from across the UK to win the first ever ‘Excellence in Patient Service’ Award. Nicky was recognised for her incredible achievements and for making a significant contribution to the practice of acupuncture having successfully treated thousands of patients throughout her career spanning nearly thirty years.
The AACP celebrated Nicky’s patient-focused approach, holistic understanding and treatment of patients and excellence in practice. Nicky was said to be an inspirational leader in her field and having made a significant contribution to the practice of acupuncture in the UK. Collecting the award Nicky said,
“Winning this award inspires me to continue my work driving holistic physiotherapy practice forward. I believe it is every health practitioner’s duty to study and share with enthusiasm the secrets of good health. We should work in the wellness industry with preventative health advice and not just the illness industry”
Nicky’s drive to learn and discover better methods to treat pain was ignited by her frustration as a child watching her mother suffer years of terrible back pain. Despite Nicky’s mother seeing numerous professionals nothing ever really helped.
A qualified biologist, physiotherapist, spinal pain specialist and author; Nicky’s career has taken to her to China, Korea, Canada and many European countries, where she has been privileged to work alongside many pioneers in their field. Nicky is one of the few people in the world to have achieved the highest level of qualification and the first practitioner in the world to be awarded a fellowship from the Institute for the Study and Treatment of Pain.
It’s this work Nicky continues at her two clinics in Stafford and Harrogate.
For the love of dance
Love to Dance…
For those of you who love to dance on a regular basis – whether for your job, for exercise or for the sheer love of it – you will already by familiar with the absolute joy that dancing can bring you, and you’ll crave that unmistakable “buzz” inside you, with the happy endorphins kicking in whilst you move your body to the beat. The genre of music and style of dance doesn’t matter – you’ll simply know the passion it brings out in you, and in others who share your love of it.
However, dancers will also be only too familiar with how tough dancing can be on the body, and often, after hours of blissful dancing, you will then find yourselves aching – in your back, you neck, shoulders, hips… and especially in your knees and feet, which can take quite a hammering with all that bending, sliding, spinning and turning!
Usually, within a day or two, the soreness wears off, and you’re craving your next dance.
But sometimes the problem can be more worrying, with severe pain developing, causing you to restrict your dancing – or even prevent you from dancing altogether for a while.
A few examples include:
• Menisus Knee Tear, from twisting the knee whilst moving;
• Lower Back strain and muscle spasms;
• Plantar Fasciitis – pain as you put weight on your foot;
• Hallux Limitus, where your big toe becomes stiff;
• Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome, from tight hamstrings and calf muscles, and weak quads, plus repetitive pressure on the knee cap;
• Ankle sprains – eg, from landing wrongly from a jump;
• Tendonopathy of the Rotator Cuff, Posterior Tibial tendon, and in the Achilles.
Fear not… Help is at hand!
Yes, we can help you if you are suffering with any of these. At the Nicky Snazell Pain Relief Clinic, we have treatments whereby we can actively intervene to get you back to doing what you love. And the sooner you do something about it, the less damage you will cause – and the sooner you can return to the dance-floor.
Happy dancing!
The key to healthly exercise
The key to healthly exercise is just that.Let’s take another look at why we should exercise so we can hold a green fitness key.Today I find that humans are far too sedentary, all too
often sitting in front of a computer by day, followed by
sitting in front of a TV at night. This lack of physical
activity causes emotional and physiological imbalances,
but we can change this by looking at how we exercise; improving your
fitness changes your chemistry, acts as a powerful antidepressant, promotes
mental clarity, and reduces the likelihood of cancer.
If you’re not happy with either how you look or feel about your weight,
then with correct guidance, you can break out of inactivity and be rewarded
by smiling at yourself whenever you see your reflection. I will guide you towards 4 green keys to health and tonight is fitness.
You can learn more about how and when you should
exercise, as getting the correct mix can extend your life.
When I am working at my clinic, I hear echoing around the walls: I am too
old to exercise, too old to work. Are you too old to exercise? Well, no one told
Jiroemon Kimura (born 1897) that he was too old. He passed away recently
at age 116, farming until he was 90 years old. Remember the Carry On films?
Well, did you know that Barbara Windsor carries on exercising in her late 70s?
You can find her in her gym wear keeping fit outside in Hyde Park.
Over 450,000 people in the USA and over 70,000 people in the UK risk total
knee replacement every year. Want to talk pain? Then talk TKR. What’s
worse is that it is unsuccessful 10% of the time, and you can even die from
having total knee replacement. Furthermore, the age for TKR is constantly
dropping. Why? Anybody want to hazard a guess? That’s right: obesity.
Now, this isn’t proven yet, but it is most likely the biggest cause.
So, what happens when you get fat? Ladies, take the ‘C’ off chips and you
know what you get! Guys, you put it on around the waist and lose sight of
your favourite toy! What you probably don’t know is that your knees are
loaded with up to four times your weight, so every extra stone (14 lbs) is
an extra four stone (56 lbs) on your knees – that’s why knees are so often
the first casualty with OA. If you want to know why the four times multiple
occurs, it’s because of leverage. Now, you are intelligent people, and you are
surely interested in health or you wouldn’t be here. So, why have you made
the decision to get arthritis? Made the decision to get lots of pain? Made
the decision to risk surgery and even death? It’s because much of the pain
associated with the pleasure of eating too much is too far away, and anyway,
going to the gym is a pain for most. We need to change the way we think
about exercise, and hopefully this chapter will go some way to doing that
for you.
Here’s some more cheery news: an in-depth study into retirement found
that men in their sixties are every bit as good at driving business than those
physically and mentally in their prime. In later life, prescriptive exercise is
more effort than swallowing a pill, but it is well worth it; in a nutshell, you get
less senility and less pain. Exercise weaves its magic, strengthening the heart,
releasing more neurotransmitters for cell communication, boosting BDNF
for improving neural connections in the brain, aiding metabolism, improving
blood flow, stimulating toxic disposal systems, and strengthening bones.
This next fact gets me out running in howling gales and rain: current research
in Sweden shows that exercise alters the way genes work in the tissue that
stores fat, and changes in adipose tissue storage sites were measurable even
with just two workouts a week. Epigenetics has always fascinated me since
studying biology, and this is the study of how chemical alterations will
change how genes work in a cell. This allows us to fine tune our body to a
changing environment.
Exercise alters this process in muscle cells and improves how sugar is
processed. Furthermore, adipose tissue (fat cells) is an organ in its own right, producing active chemicals that have profound effects on the body. In
this tissue, 18,000 markers were found on 7,663 genes! This is leading to a
greater understanding of why exercise helps fatty tissue do its job properly,
which means that as we get older, we don’t have to have such a lumpy,
bumpy body. This smooth body needs a good structural support.
The 4 keys to health
The 4 keys to health is all about investing in the healthiest happiest future you could wish for with sound scientific knowledge and big spoonfuls of commonsense and experience.Tonights blog is for nutrition week. The traffic lights approach to healthfor the 4 keys to health gives one point for every yes answer.
0 – 3: RED.
3 – 6: AMBER.
6 – 9: GREEN.
Scores: Now count up your scores – are you red, amber, or green for this key?
Initial score:
Once you’ve read the chapter and implemented any changes, take the
questionnaire again to see how much you’ve improved.This questionnaire is in 4 parts.
Diet and Blood Sugar Levels
• Is your weight good for your age and height?
• Do you have lots of energy and do you like to exercise?
• Are you free from joint pain?
• Do you rarely feel like dozing in the day and feel alert after eating?
• Do you hardly ever get stomach ache or bloating?
• Do you concentrate easily with a clear memory and few
headaches?
• Do you hardly ever need sweet food or caffeine fixes?
• Do you jump out of bed, raring to go?
• Do you rarely feel dizzy / irritable / have mood swings in
gaps between meals?
Water
• Do you rarely have thirst / dry mouth?
• Do you rarely get headaches?
• Is your urine a mild (not dark) yellow colour?
• Are your skin and lips moist, not dry?
• Do you have regular bowel movements most days?
• Do you have less than two glasses of alcohol a day?
• Do you have five helpings of fresh fruit and vegetables a day?
• Do you have several glasses of fruit water / juice / herbal
teas a day, even if resting?
• Do you avoid having too many salty snacks?
Healthy Low Homocysteine Levels (repairing DNA
and building nerves / cartilage)
• Is your weight satisfactory and stable?
• Are you a clear thinker with a good memory and rare
headaches?
• Do you eat healthily with green veggies, seeds, and nuts,
but aren’t vegan?
• You are not an alcoholic, smoker, or heavy coffee drinker?
• Do you have little joint pain?
• Do you have great stamina without weariness?
• Is your cardiovascular system and blood pressure normal?
• Do you sleep well?
• Are you rarely angry, irritable, or down?
Essential Fats
• Do you have healthy hair?
• Do you have flexible, pain-free joints?
• You are not taking painkillers?
• No arthritis, asthma, or eczema?
• No diagnosed cardiovascular problems?
• Do you spend more than thirty minutes a day outside in
sunlight?
• Do you eat healthily with oily fish, about four eggs a week,
seeds and nuts most days, and fewer than two alcoholic
drinks a day?
• Do you have a good memory, learning abilities, and
concentration?
• You don’t get down, anxious or unnecessarily angry?
Anti-Ageing, Anti-rot, Antioxidants
• Are you a quick healer?
• Are you younger than middle aged (40)?
• Do you have healthy skin?
• No diagnosis of cancer or cardiovascular disease?
• Don’t bruise easily?
• Do you live in quiet, clear air, healthy countryside, not
near major roads?
• Do you eat healthily with five lots of fruit and veg a day,
raw seeds / nuts, and at least two oily fish a week?
• Do you take antioxidant supplements?
• Do you exercise and raise your heart rate five times a
week?If you got a red key read my blogs or get a copy of my book,through www.thepainkiller.co.uk,www.painreliefclinic.co.uk, or amazon.
Exercise is vital for healthy aging
Exercise is vital for healthy ageing, so get out of that chair! When we slouch
in our chairs, we don’t breathe correctly, we have less lung capacity, less
oxygen, a poorer blood flow, a weaker heart, and less nutrient delivery.
Smooth muscles tighten up to take up the slack, and our blood pressure
readings go up. Blood flow can’t accommodate sudden movements anymore,
so dizziness follows, and with it, increased accidents. Men’s sexual potency
falls, the gut slows, and digestion fails. Sugar metabolism struggles andcc
diabetes is more likely to take hold. In an article in Psychological Medicine,
Dregan and M.C Gulliford wrote about how intense exercise helps brain
function (Dregan & Gulliford, 2013), so you can remember where you put
your gym wear! Get my drift?
Here are some more facts I sourced for you to back up reasons to exercise
– for all you academic buffs out there. Whether you are old or young,
‘it’s widely acknowledged that a healthy body equals a healthy mind. The
government recommends a minimum of 150 minutes of exercise per week,
between the ages of 19 and 64’ (Dregan, 2013). A word to the wise – if you
don’t exercise at all, start. If you are new to exercise, start small and just walk
a little further than usual. Exercise doesn’t have to mean enduring lengthy,
intense programmes or taking up a gym membership, although I think the
discipline of going and the social angle is great. If you are exercising on your
own, you still need to add in working out with weights as well as aerobic
exercise, such as walking.
Did you know that at 44 years old, without exercising, we are at the peak
depressive age? However, at 70 – if we follow a fitness programme – it is
possible to be as physically fit and happy as we were when we were 20!
Another study got a group of 60 year olds to start doing three long swims a
week, and their medical measurements and tests were those of 40 year olds.
Exercise is much like medicine – it doesn’t have to taste nice, but the outcome
is more than worth it. Being disciplined about getting your exercise is your
key to longevity, so exercise regularly and effectively. Most people will say
they don’t like it, that it’s boring or painful, that they have no time to do it,
but they’re just in denial for the need to move. Well, couch potatoes, here
are some more facts for you:
• A study looked at 50 elderly people of an average age of 87.
Given a 10 week weights workout at this age, they doubled their muscle
Tennis Elbow Part 3
Welcome back to the series of articles about physiotherapy and tennis elbow (also known as lateral epicondylitis, lateral epicondylosis and lateral epicondylalgia). So far we have covered who is affected by tennis elbow, the anatomy of the elbow and which muscles or tendons are most likely to be injured. This article will try to give an overview of a huge subject: the physiology of tendons and why they get injured, now this is a massive topic in physiotherapy and has been the subject of huge amounts of research (and in fact our knowledge on this topic is still developing) so I will only be touching the surface.
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Forearm extensor muscles
Firstly we need to look at what tendons actually are and why they might get injured in tennis elbow. Simply put a tendon is a piece of connective tissue that joins muscle to bone and is comprised of well organised mostly one directional collagen fibres (Wang et al 2003). Unlike muscles tendons can not contract themselves and are relatively inelastic (with a much lower proportion of elastin – only about 1-2% Jozsa & Kannus 1997). So basically muscles do the contraction and force generation but tendons, because they connect to the bones and are relatively inelastic, transfer that force over to the bones and move our joints. A key fact about tendons is that they generally will have a much lower blood supply than muscles and in turn have a lower metabolic rate which affects their ability to heal and makes an injury to a tendon much slower to recover and heal properly (Abate et al 2009). Furthermore the point at which muscle turns into tendon (the musculo-tendinous junction) is the point which is most often injured and is subject to large mechanical forces (Abate et al 2009).
Okay – how does this affect tennis elbow? Well, as we found out in the last article, extensor carpi radialis brevis (ECRB) is the most commonly injured muscle in tennis elbow and this muscle is most commonly injured at either the musculo-tendinous junction or at the lateral epicondyle (bony bit of the elbow) where the common extensor tendon inserts into the bone. Therefore understanding tendons and how they react and function is key to understanding tennis elbow.
Tennis Elbow
The common extensor tendon as shown above is the continuation of all the extensors of the wrist and fingers and therefore any time you extend your wrist or your fingers to pick anything up it is put under stress. So it isn’t really a surprise that if you do too much of anything like picking things up then this tendon may get irritated and sore and that your physiotherapist will be able to find fairly easily a very sore spot on the lateral epicondyle of your elbow.
Next blog post will look in more detail at the physiology of what happens when the tendon gets injured in tennis elbow and hopefully manage to summarise and simplify decades of research on tendinopathies.
References
Abate M., Gravare-Silbernagel K., Siljeholm C., Di Iorio A., De Amicis D., Salini V., Werner S., Paganelli R. (2009) Pathogenesis of tendinopathies: inflammation or degeneration? Arthritis Research and Therapy 11 (3): 235
Jozsa, L., and Kannus, P., Human Tendons: Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathology. Human Kinetics: Champaign, IL, 1997
Wang J., Jia F., Yang G., Yang S., Campbell B., Stone D., Woo S., (2003) Cyclic Mechanical Stretching of Human Tendon Fibroblasts Increases the Production of Prostaglandin E2 and Levels of Cyclooxygenase Expression: A Novel In Vitro Model Study Connective Tissue Research 44: 128 – 133