Pain is a very complex problem. It’s also such a common problem that every person on the planet will at some point in their life suffer its consequences, perhaps only a little, but for some unlucky souls, it will be life-changing for the worse.
Read & understand this five part series and you will have in your grasp the ability to reduce the risk of suffering severe chronic pain massively in your favour.
There are many factors which can affect the severity and longevity of the pain which is suffered. Many of those factors are in our individual control, so the good news is that each of us has the potential to dial in pain relief and reduce the impact of pain on our lives.
In this series of blogs, I will take you on a journey to help you gain a better understanding of pain and its causes, so that you will be able to reduce its consequences on your quality of life.
My Qualifications In Pain Relief
For me, the study of the cause and treatment of pain has been a lifelong journey. As a child I witnessed firsthand the suffering caused by long term severe pain, when my mother was bed ridden for years with back pain. My childhood also ended abruptly when I was handed many of the responsibilities and duties my mother could no longer fulfil.
I witnessed firsthand the inability of western medicine to effectively treat severe pain
At the outset, I had observed firsthand the inability of our western medical knowledge to effectively deal with severe pain and I thus vowed I would never restrict myself to the boundaries of western medicine alone. Why would I? After all, we all know that the best way to improve is to seek out those who excel. Thus, my outlook has always been broad rather than narrow, inclusive rather than exclusive.
At the outset, I had observed first-hand the inability of our western medical knowledge to effectively deal with severe pain and I thus vowed I would never restrict myself to the boundaries of western medicine alone. Why would I? After all, we all know that the best way to improve is to seek out those who excel. Thus my outlook has always been broad rather than narrow, inclusive rather than exclusive.
One reason chronic, or long term, pain has increased is that there has been too much focus on the localised injury and not enough on the significant contribution made by the nervous system and brain.
However, I would forever regret not communicating my knowledge on pain relief to you and at the same time potentially leaving you to suffer more than needed. Ultimately it is then up to each of you how you choose your own future pain relief journey.
Why do we feel pain?
Pain is a normal human experience, and we need it to survive. Pain is nature’s warning system which is designed to protect us. Pain is the symptom and not the cause of a problem.
When someone brings us bad news, we don’t shoot the messenger, do we? No, 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. It is only trying to warn us that there is a problem, and it is up to us to seek out the true reason behind that pain. Where is the pain coming from and why? You can’t put a fire out if you don’t know where the fire is. Pain is no different.
Chronic pain has more to do with sensitive nerves and how your brain processes your lifestyle than the injury itself
Pain signals are sent to the brain for processing through the nervous system. Some nerves send control signals from the brain to the rest of the body. Others send signals from the body to the brain for feedback and processing. Each of us have around 45 miles of nerves connecting all our body parts to the spinal cord, so that provides a lot of opportunity for pain signals to be sent to the brain. The brain has to decide how to express that pain signal and that expression can vary wildly from one individual to the next.
As an example, I have seen patients with bone-on-bone contact in their knees and yet feel almost no pain, whereas others with far better cartilage cover suffer severely.
Our perception of pain is related to everything we are experiencing in our lives at that time. When we move better, eat better, are happier and less stressed, we minimise the pain we feel.
One 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.
If pain is suffered for too long, typically more than 3 months, the brain can hard wire it in. One reason chronic, or long term, pain has increased is that there has been too much focus on the localised injury and not enough on the significant contribution made by the nervous system and brain. In so doing, we have allowed the pain to be locked in the brain and no amount of localised treatment of where the pain is perceived to be felt will make any difference. Sadly, it’s not uncommon for perceived pain to be felt when the cause of the pain is in a different part of the body.
Emotional Trauma
An extreme example of locked in pain is when it has been caused by an emotional trauma many years earlier and often from as early as childhood. This trauma has caused a locked in physical condition which expresses itself as never-ending pain. The trauma and pain are intertwined so tightly that both must be released at the same time.
I have witnessed firsthand many such situations where the release of a muscle locked in spasm caused an emotional outflow and replay of the emotional trauma which was the root cause of the problem. This emotional venting led to a release from pain suffered sometimes 20, 30, 40 and even 50 years!
To summarise this necessarily brief introduction to why we feel pain, it should be clear that assessing pain is not a simple matter if the intention is to get to the root cause.
In my next blog in this series Your Pain Relief Plan Part 2 I will discuss the consequences of ageing and the differences between acute and chronic pain and why these need very different treatment protocols.
If you are currently suffering chronic, severe pain and nothing has so far helped, then our advice would be to get an appointment with Nicky asap. Nicky has helped thousands of clients get out of pain. Her reputation speaks for itself. Clients don’t travel from all of the UK and many from abroad without very good reason.
Don’t suffer any longer than you have to CALL NOW!
CALL 01889 881488. Jean, Erica or Charlotte will be happy to help
Call 01889 881488 Now
p.s. Don’t try to book online at this time as that is only suitable for existing clients already being treated for an existing problem.
One of the first questions any patient asks when obtaining an injury is ‘how long until it gets better’... If only an answer were simple.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the shoulder joint, the answer isn’t straightforward at all because your shoulder is one of the most complicated joints in your body.
To achieve the wide range of movement that the shoulder provides, it requires a combination of muscles from body to shoulder blade (scapula), body to arm bone (humerus) and shoulder blade to arm bone. Due to this complexity, it is one of the most susceptible joints in the body to injury.
The shoulder is made up of three bones, the upper arm bone (humerus), the shoulder blade (scapula) and the collarbone (clavicle). There are joints between the clavicle and scapula and between the scapula and humerus.
The stability of the shoulder is predominantly controlled by four muscles, commonly known as the rotator cuff. They are tasked with keeping the joint properly centred and located.
These are
These are- Supraspinatus
- Infraspinatus
- Subscapularis
- Teres Minor
Common Shoulder Problems
The most common shoulder injuries are:
- Rotator cuff tears/tendonitis
- Impingement
- Instability
- Frozen Shoulder
- Bursitis
- Osteoarthritis
Rotator Cuff Tears
The rotator cuff muscles and tendons are an important part of the shoulder and are tasked with keeping the bones of the joint together across its wide range of motion. Rotator cuff tears account for more than 50% of shoulder injuries and are most common in people who repeatedly perform overhead motions. Thus athletes involved in sports such as swimming, racquet sports and weight lifting, which all require repetitive overhead movement, are particularly prone to injury.
Typical symptoms of a rotator cuff tear will be pain at night disturbing your sleep, and probably some lessening of pain during the day, although any overhead movement or even reaching behind your back is likely to be painful. You will also probably experience weakness in the affected arm. If left untreated, the pain will most likely increase over time.
Keen athletes may be tempted to continue in their favourite sport, in the hope that the pain will recede, but this will most likely aggravate the situation and, over time, may make the condition worse. If you suspect a rotator cuff tear, it is strongly advised to seek help from a qualified physiotherapist or sports therapist as soon as possible, as some conditions, such as a full-thickness supraspinatus tear, can become irreversible if left too long.
Impingement
Rotator cuff tendons can become trapped between a bony projection of the shoulder blade called the acromion and the top of the humerus (arm bone). Particularly prone is the supraspinatus tendon, this muscle is responsible for moving the top of the arm sideways from the body for about the first 15 degrees of arm movement.
Impingement problems can be caused by a number of factors, including:
- Loss of scapula – humeral rhythm
- Nerve interference or injury from the neck to the shoulder, causing abnormal movement of the shoulder
- Poor posture
- Tears and inflammation of tendons
Instability
Recent dislocation, sudden injury or overuse can each cause shoulder instability. The head of the upper arm bone can glide out of the shoulder socket (glenoid). This can occur when the capsule and ligaments that have the role of stabilising the shoulder in the socket have not healed properly and remain stretched making them too loose to keep the shoulder stabilised. This can result in repeated dislocations.
It is, therefore important to seek treatment. Rehabilitation and soft tissue work can be provided by qualified physiotherapists or sports therapists to help strengthen the muscles and ligaments and help to gain stability around the shoulder joint once more. It is advisable to seek help sooner rather than later.
Frozen Shoulder
This condition, medically described as adhesive capsulitis, can literally develop overnight. The capsule of the joint becomes inflamed and stiff, resulting in restricted movement. Eventually, the shoulder ‘freezes’ and becomes immobile for a few months to a year.
However, a frozen shoulder does typically progress in three main stages:
- Freezing stage- any movement of your shoulder causes pain, and your shoulder's range of motion starts to become limited.
- Frozen stage- pain may begin to diminish during this stage. However, your shoulder becomes stiffer and moving it becomes more difficult.
- Thawing stage- The range of motion in your shoulder begins to improve.
Bursitis
A bursa is a fluid-filled sac that act as a cushion to stop friction between the muscles and bones as they glide over on another. You have several in your shoulder, one being one of the largest in the body which is located towards the top of the arm.
After an excessive repetitive motion of the shoulder, the bursas can inflame and swell. The pain is normally a gradual onset located on the outside of the shoulder which can spread down the arm. It can become more aggravated when lying on the shoulder or if you’re using your shoulder anywhere from 60-90 degrees up and outwards.
When treating Bursitis, the aim is to control the inflammation. If you don’t seek help, often the pain will become worse and become impinged.
Osteoarthritis
This is when the normally smooth cartilage that covers the ball and socket joint diminishes after constant friction leaving bone to grind against bone. It develops slowly and the pain worsens over time, normally after chronic wear and tear or work injuries. Symptoms may include swelling, pain, and stiffness.
Osteoarthritis is a chronic problem which cannot be resolved, but the symptoms of the condition are amenable to pain-reducing treatment.
Every shoulder injury will present differently, and everyone’s perception of improvement will be different too. For example, one patient may be over the moon for gaining an extra 10 degrees in pain-free shoulder motion. Whereas the next will be happy only when gaining their full range of motion back.
Many biological, psychological, and social factors are involved during the recovery process after a shoulder injury.
If you are suffering from shoulder pain, we can help
Call 01889 881488 Now
Jean, Erica & Charlotte will be happy to help
A lot of you may have watched the commonwealth games this year and noticed a familiar location that the mountain bikers raced on. Cannock Chase has provided us with the opportunity to use this track whether to practice or cycle on for the experience. Whether you are interested in mountain biking over Cannock Chase, or road cycling and you want to do so while minimising your chances of injury, then here is some free advice given to you from our sports therapists at Nicky Snazell’s Wellness and Physiotherapy Clinic.
First, there are many ways to decrease your chance of injury and footwear is one factor you should consider.
Compared to running shoes, cycling shoes are designed with stiffer soles to help optimize your energy transfer. You should keep your foot rigid, so there’s no power lost through your feet and all the power from your legs goes directly into the pedal stroke. Additional support from clipping your shoes into your road bike will also help you to feel more secure when you are pedalling and can help prevent you from losing balance. It can also make you more aerodynamic as it has been noted that it is easier to get your torso lower toward your handlebars making you more streamlined increasing your speed.
That said, proper trainers are only part of the solution if you are struggling with any pain when cycling. Strengthening and conditioning the muscles in your legs and core region is essential for injury prevention. We can provide guidance, not only to stop and prevent pain occurring but to increase your cycling longevity and your performance.
What are the most common injury areas from Cycling?
The most common injury areas, more often due to overuse and poor technique are:
- Knee
- Lower back
- Neck
- Thigh
- Ankle
Specific diagnoses for these areas are:
- Anterior knee pain
- Lumbar or neck myofascial pain, a chronic condition affecting the muscles
- The iliotibial band running up the outside of the thigh
- Achilles tendonitis
If you are a keen cyclist, the chances are you have suffered from an injury throughout your training. Understanding how and why this is caused and taking steps to strengthen your weakness could be a game-changer for your performance.
Strength and Conditioning
The problem for many of us is that daily life can involve a lot of sitting at a computer screen all day and this can lead to poor posture and the important muscles in our trunk stiffening up and weakening. These core muscles, along with those in the buttocks and thigh are important tant in stabilising you during exercise. If these muscles become weak you are more likely to injure yourself from falls or strains.
What is Strength and conditioning?
The use of dynamic and static bodyweight and resistance exercises to improve your performance and reduce the likelihood of injury occurring. It is also used during injury recovery.
Why should I strength and condition?
- Injury prevention – helps to correct muscle imbalances and improve muscle activation, as well as increasing the efficiency of your running biomechanics which results in improved running performance.
- To be faster/ stronger
- To enjoy exercise more.
If this sounds like something you may need, book an appointment with one of our sports therapists to get the best possible guidance and treatment. As an athlete, you put so much effort into your training, it’s worth putting the effort into taking care of your body too. Prevention is just as important as recovery.
Call 01889 881488 Now
Erica, Jean and Charlotte will be happy to help
“Mr Roo referred me to you, said you are the clinic of last resort, as you fix problems others don’t or can’t, and he knows you will listen to me.
“I love my grandkids. I love my garden, I love to feed to birds, the hedgehogs, it’s my world, my life. Right now, I can’t do any of this because it’s agony and I don’t have a life.
I get phone calls from my doctor who prescribes drugs that don’t work. I have just seen a private surgeon at £19 a minute. He didn’t listen to me. I wanted help, I wanted him to listen, I wanted to know what I could do, who I should see. He just said nothing could be done with total disinterest, that surgery at my age was a waste of time and so was physiotherapy.”
Isn’t this sad? No one listened, no one gave her any hope.
“I have a scan, here, look, I don’t understand what it means. Can you help.”
This is what we did…………………
The scan showed a narrowing in a disc and some of it had squashed out like toothpaste, crushing a nerve in a rather arthritic little spinal joint. This little tiny part of her back meant she couldn’t pick up her grandkids, walk far, sleep or bend over gardening.
A detailed assessment showed us where the physical problem was, her general fitness and how she moved (her biomechanics). We needed to gently open up her locked-down spinal joint, quell the inflammation in her disc, and release the muscle contracture trapping the nerve.
Just as important as the physical treatment, we also needed to explain how other aspects of her health and mental stress were affecting her and her pain. To do this we explained the 4 Keys to Health: mindset, fitness, food and lifestyle and how a simple red, amber, green traffic light approach could help guide her to take the positive steps to better health. This in turn would help protect her from COVID and her pain.
We gave the patient her life back
After just 3 sessions she was no longer in physical pain and perhaps more importantly, had got her life back, comfortable in the knowledge that she had been listened to and that what was important to her had been understood. In her sessions, we gave:
- Advice on the relevant keys and how to move to 4 green keys.
- Counselling to reduce stress/ improve the immune response
- Laser to ease the pain and help reduce the inflammation.
- Electroacupuncture to reduce the pain and inflammation
- IMS dry needling to cut through fascia and remove muscle contracture, taking pressure off the nerves
- Exercise to help reduce the disc bulge with specific manual mobilisations and robotics
- Deep oscillation massage to soothingly reduce inflammation further
- Gentle hands on healing to further boost the response
If you are in pain, we can help
Call 01889 881488 Now
Jean, Erica & Charlotte will be happy to help
Our loyalty scheme has been a tremendous success and much loved since it was launched many years ago. Those of you who are familiar with this scheme will remember that we issued cards at reception which allowed you to record up to 10 loyalty stamps, one stamp for each appointment.
COVID then came along and threw a spanner in the works, as we were no longer able to issue cards for health reasons. This break, however, gave us the opportunity to rethink how the scheme could be improved both for you and us. We realised that we were in the process of installing some very powerful software and this, when operational, would allow us to develop a much more effective solution which would save you time on the phone and at reception.
We are delighted to tell you that our new software-based system is up and running and this means we can tell you almost instantly what your balance is on your loyalty account.
Didn’t Know We Had A Loyalty Scheme?
Well, Read On!
Now many of you who first joined us post COVID lockdown might not be aware we have a loyalty scheme and that you may have credit on your account. For those of you in this situation, this is how it works:
- You earn one loyalty credit for each appointment attended and paid in full
- Once you have 5 credits, you can exchange those in for a £10 discount on your next appointment.
- You can exchange multiple discounts at the same time. For example, 10 credits would get you a £20 discount and so on.
- Loyalty credits are not transferable or redeemable for cash
Our new system has been logging credits earned and exchanged since 1st July 2020, so fear not. Your account will be up to date.
Don’t Miss Out. Redeem Your Older Than One Year Old Credits Before 1st February 2023
We are taking the opportunity to update the rules of the scheme and from 1st February 2023, any credits which are over 12 months old will expire. Also, only credits earned since 1st July 2020 will be redeemable up to that date.
We are giving you plenty of time to use older credits earned between 1st July 2020 and 31st January 2022. Don’t miss out. Exchange them before 1st February 2023, or they will expire.
Still, Prefer The Cards?
The loyalty cards of old have been a very helpful reminder to many about their credit status, so much so that many may prefer to continue to get a card. No problem! We can give you a card if you wish, with the main log being available to you at any time from our software.
If you are in pain, we can help
Call 01889 881488 Now
Jean, Erica & Charlotte will be happy to help
Before I tell this story, I need to explain a bit about my background. I grew up in a scientific family, with a father and two brothers very much on the science rather than arts side of the seesaw. At school I was guided into science from the age of 13 and ended up studying engineering, just like my brothers. Since then, most of my working life has been in aerospace, surrounded by people who deal in facts and figures. In short, I had zero experience in anything spiritual and before this experience would have derided it as hairy fairy claptrap.
After leaving the aerospace industry behind in 2003, I chose to work as my own boss and started a health clinic business with Nicky my wife. She provided various treatment skills, including Physiotherapy and I provided the business background. Aware that I knew little about the health industry, I took myself back to college at Stafford for a year and subsequently to London for two and a half years, studying Chinese Medicine.
It is here my story unfolds.
My course work in London required many weekends and I soon got into the routine of travelling early Friday evening to London by train and then getting the tube from Euston up to Tufnell Park, where I then walked down Tufnell Park Road and stopped off at a clean and well-stocked shop halfway down, to get some tea, which I would eat at a fairly basic B&B.
This particular Friday, I was going to be unable to leave at my normal time due to work commitments, but I would still have no problem getting to the B&B at a not ridiculously late hour. That afternoon I mentioned to Nicky that I had had a vision a couple of times of being stabbed, which I put down to an overactive imagination and thought nothing more about.
I was keen to do some revision on the train, but this got interrupted by the stabbing image getting more and more frequent, to the extent it really started to spook me. I was in an interesting quandary as on the one hand, my scientific background told me it was just my mind stuck in a loop and couldn’t possibly be real. On the other hand, I was spooked, and any thoughts of studying went out of the window as fast as the scenery rushing past. By the time I made my way down to the Northern line platform at Euston I was contemplating going back up and getting a taxi direct to the B&B. It was my stomach that overruled that, as I needed something to eat and anyway, I was overreacting, wasn’t I?
My short tube journey to Tufnell Park, acted to intensify the feeling that I was going to get stabbed that night. As I stood at the corner outside the tube station, I forced myself to focus on getting something to eat. The later journey time meant that my favourite shop would already be closed, so an alternative was needed and there on the other side of the road was my saviour. Not as appealing as my normal haunt, after all I had seen it many times before and always written it off, but needs must, and it obviously sold food. I crossed the road where I had never crossed before.
My earlier impressions of the shop were fairly accurate, I bought up and decided that it would be my last visit. Outside I turned left and stopped to consider my walk to the B&B, which was about 5 minutes away. Next along from the shop was a GP’s Practice and between the two was a driveway to the back of the corner buildings.
I can only describe what happened then was like being overwhelmed by an intense surge of fear. I was instantly terrified and just wanted to get away. My senses were on full alert, and I was convinced that my visions were about to come true. I walked straight down the centre of the road, keeping maximum distance between me and any perceived danger points, like dark alleyways. It was difficult not to run, I was in full fight or flight mode, cortisol flooding my system and my heart racing.
I made it the B&B and couldn’t get into my locked room soon enough. I collapsed onto the bed to calm down, unable to face any food or fluid and went through multiple phases of relief. Eventually, I tried to make light of the whole experience and lent heavily on my upbringing and decided that I had been an overdramatic idiot.
After a fairly fitful sleep, I was relaxed. I convinced myself the whole thing had been imagination gone wild. I needed to get to Camden Town, and this meant retracing my steps back to Tufnell Park tube station.
As I got to the tube station, I looked across to the GP surgery and corner shop. The gap between was cordoned off by Police tape. An unlucky soul had been murdered there the night before. He had been stabbed.
An Epitaph
I have no memory of having any kind of similar experience to this before this event. It’s not impossible though, because nearly everybody I knew would have laughed in my face if I had suggested such a thing. It’s highly likely that being married to Nicky, observing her skills and listening to her beliefs, has opened a door in me that I didn’t even realise existed.
I cannot rub out this experience. It happened. Why did it happen to me? Who knows? But without a shadow of a doubt, I picked up on a stabbing more than eight hours before it occurred and from more than 100 miles away. I have no idea how this happened.
Has it happened again? Only once and nothing so significant, although it could have been. Nicky and I regularly drive to Norfolk and not being keen on the boredom of motorways and the A14, we have created a very nice cross-country route, which takes us through some very pretty countryside and allows us to stop halfway at a nice pub in Corby Glen. The route takes us across the A1 and through Colsterworth, famous for being the birthplace of Newton. One night we approached a crossroad in Colsterworth, with the road on the left being concealed behind houses. Although we had right of way, I braked hard suddenly before the junction and shouted to Nicky a car was going to come straight across in front of us. Seconds later a car shot out from the left and went across the road in front of us, travelling at a speed that would have caused a serious accident if we had been in the way. We would have been if I hadn’t braked.
I can’t explain any of this and no doubt many would try to fob it off as a couple of made-up stories, because they would have no basis to justify belief. I understand and sympathise with this, after all I would have done exactly the same before these experiences.
My view is that the life that most of us lead, the information we are given, the environment we are provided for most of us all provoke disbelief of anything intangible.
It is only the rare personal experiences of the tiny few that allows a different perspective to be even considered.
For me, I cannot possibly return to the majority belief. Will any more events like this occur for me? I don’t know. I will be disappointed if they don’t.
Alan
If you are in pain, we can help
Call 01889 881488 Now
Jean, Erica & Charlotte will be happy to help
One autumn morning last year, a quiet, middle-aged clinical professor came to see me because he found his gym workout was badly irritating his elbow and ankle.
I went over my 4 Keys (see my book) healthy living questions, to which he scored green in food/ water/ supplements and fitness. He scored amber in lifestyle – he was working a little too much. Family life had been fraught with problems until recently, and on the whole, he loved his work. He just couldn’t quite get his life/work balance right. His mind was amber and at times red, as he found teaching at university stressful, and he also found it difficult to switch off. I intuitively sensed some deeper issues, and it made sense that keeping fit calmed his mind.
“I haven’t injured myself or upped my workouts or done anything to cause these pains; they’ve just crept up on me. My pain is deep and aching, not sharp, and I haven’t done anything to cause it,” he stated, at a loss as to why this was happening to him.
This made me decide to explore his physical body for chronic [neuropathic] pain and to explore the deeper spinal muscles and relevant joints and ligaments. It seemed wise to leave the alternative discipline of shamanic reiki till later. This aspect of healing needs a deeper level of understanding and trust between practitioner and patient.
I could feel that his lower back was tighter on one side This could have been disc irritation, or it could have been his biomechanics, the way he sits and walks, and either a fixed or habitual posture. Telltale signs of collagen lines at the base of his neck and back suggested a thinning of the underlying discs. His buttock was acutely tender. His hamstring was slightly tenser, with sensitivity being increased again over the division of the sciatic nerve at the back of the knee, tight bands in his calf muscles, and a moving tenderness where his ankle flexors wove around his ankle.
This was all pointing to neuropathic changes to his L5 nerve root at the base of his spine. That means the sensitivity of the nerve root due to poor posture or ageing disc, as well as mild peripheral nerve changes, causing small contractures down the limb and his ache.
This type of problem is insidious and is often a normal part of ageing related to postural issues, causing disc narrowing, called spondylosis, and subtle changes to nerves, from very mild to severe neuropathy.
The symptoms can be anything from mild stiffness to pins and needles, numbness and various degrees of sharp burning and aching pains, often made worse on exercising.
Edwin needed a combination of treatments and skills to help resolve his problems. Over two treatments I gave him GunnIMS to relieve the deep-seated muscle problems at the base of his neck and back, plus acupuncture, laser, joint mobilisations and deep oscillation. I also used NLP and subtle mind mapping to get his head in the right place.
Ideally, I would have gone on to add shamanic reiki to heal issues in his auric body, balance his chakras, and use key acupuncture points in his fascial plane. However, after two treatments he was physically pain-free and elected to get on with his life.
If you are suffering long-term pain, and maybe even tried some treatments which have not helped, then it might be because the cause is more complex than first thought. Physical symptoms can manifest themselves due to a whole range of reasons, from mental to nutritional to physical, including neuropathic (nerve-related), or a combination of some or all these causes. It thus requires a deep and broad assessment to be able to create a successful treatment plan and positive outcome.
If you are in pain, we can help
Call 01889 881488 Now
Jean, Erica & Charlotte will be happy to help
Great news. The sun is shining, and it’s holiday time!
Hydration Questionnaire:
- 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?
Score 1 for each Yes. Total 0—3 Red, 4—6 Amber, 7—9 Green. Get Nicky’s ‘4 Keys To Health’ book for more information.
Here is some simple advice to help you avoid ruining your holiday
What happens in a drought?
A hose pipe ban, a car wash ban, shorter showers, and less water in the bath. We all protect the vital stuff, like making sure we and our animals get water. Fortunately, we live in a country with more than its fair share of rain and our droughts don’t last too long, so a drought tends to be more of a temporary irritant than a serious problem.
But what if a drought did last for a long time? What would happen to our gardens if they hardly ever got watered? Well, a lot of very poorly and dead plants and lawns that wouldn’t win any prizes for sure.
It’s doubtful anyone would argue with the above in principle. After all, it’s stating the blindingly obvious.
If it’s so obvious then, why is it that at least 75% of us and maybe as many as 90% are long-term dehydrated? Given that plants left dehydrated long-term will get weak and die, then it should come as no surprise that our complex bodies are likely to suffer the same fate. Why do we put ourselves at this risk?
Your body will start to react to dehydration with as little as a 1% drop in availability, and a priority system will start to kick in. Your brain needs a lot of water and your organs' functions are vital. These will get priority because these are more critical to life. Non-critical body parts will get a bit of what is left.
Up To 90% Of Us Are Dehydrated.
The list of potential problems from dehydration are huge and are linked to many diseases. The implication to overall wellness is obvious—stay dehydrated at your peril. As a clinic which treats patients every day with pain and injury, here are some dehydration issues we see:
- Just about every joint in your body has cartilage, which needs to be kept hydrated to stay healthy. Dehydrated cartilage will promote inflammation, pain and arthritis.
- Spinal discs need to stay moist and supple. Without adequate hydration this could cause a multitude of spinal problems.
- Muscles will cramp, swell, become tender, have reduced strength and possibly suffer tissue damage.
- Dehydrated tendons and ligaments can make you more prone to injury, pain and inflammation.
Long-term dehydration is clearly serious and is linked to many diseases. So why are we so prone to dehydration when it is so easy to fix?
Your Body Has Drought Management
Many studies have shown that what we drink is just as important as how much we drink. In the UK caffeine-loaded beverages like coffee, tea and soda’s are prevalent. In fact, most of us don’t drink water at all.
The problem with caffeine, if concentrated, is that it is a diuretic which in many cases stimulates us to lose more water than we consume in the drink itself. Thus, drinks like this act to dehydrate, not hydrate. It makes it worse.
This issue is contentious and we have to accept that many arguments will have a financial motive. But let’s use common sense. Most people in the UK drink tea and coffee as their main source of fluid intake. If these drinks are not diuretics, then how come nearly 90% of us are dehydrated?
There are many social factors which prevent adequate fluid intake as well. People whose environment does not provide easy access to a toilet, such as drivers for example, are very prone to low fluid intake.
A further factor is with the elderly, who simply don’t register they are thirsty in the first place, plus don’t want to drink too much to reduce visits to the loo.
Here are some simple guidelines on 'how to stay properly hydrated'
- Drink water as well as diuretic drinks. Recommendations vary but aim for about 1.2 litres per day
- First thing in the morning drink a big glass of water, not tea or coffee.
- If you are feeling hungry, maybe you are thirsty. Drink some water first as that quenches hunger.
- If you are feeling lethargic during the day, drink some water. Lethargy is an early sign of dehydration.
- If you get a bit of heartburn, try a glass of water first.
I use a water bottle which shows me how much water I need to drink all through the day. It gives great feedback, as it’s easy to see when I’m not drinking enough. A really simple and great idea.
If you are in pain, we can help
Call 01889 881488 Now
Jean, Erica & Charlotte will be happy to help
In the first three parts of this pain relief series
Your Pain Relief Plan Introduction
I have discussed what pain is and how your brain can choose the level of pain felt, depending on range of holistic factors, to the extent that a person with a severe physical condition can suffer almost no pain, while another with milder physical problems can be in intense pain.
I touched upon the meanings and causes of acute pain, chronic pain and neuropathic pain and how to correctly assess and then treat holistically, the latter strongly supported by latest scientific research.
In this final part, I will look further into treating the symptoms of chronic pain and why there is a choice between a maintenance or wellness approach.
Lastly, I will discuss this clinic's 4 Keys To Health wellness approach which fits very well with latest research indicators.
What’s the Difference Between Maintenance and Wellness Treatment For Chronic Pain
For some of you, there is always going to be resistance to adopting a
broad holistic approach to treatment and for you a more direct, hands on treatment regime is the best fit. It will be what you are comfortable with and only by being comfortable will the treatment be effective.
For others, who are more comfortable with embracing all things ‘wholistic’ then wellness will be a much better fit.
Note that we have switched holistic to wholistic above and this is not just a play on words. Historically, the term wholistic was used to convey treatment of the whole body and everything so far discussed has referred to the importance of exactly that. For example, the brain MRI scans proved a connection to wholistic factors.
The more recently adopted term of holistic, is subliminally referring to a hole, which is diametrically the opposite to the interpretation of whole.
At Nicky Snazell’s Wellness & Physiotherapy Clinic, our Wellness program adopts the full meaning of wholistic, and thus considers all factors such as diet, exercise, stress, social support to have significance, just as ancient doctors did. Our 4 Keys approach also provides a road map and monitors your progress to achieving improved overall health.
Such ‘soft’ factors are not included in our maintenance program and this will in many cases be a perfect fit to requirements.
Ultimately its up to you which approach suits you best. The most important issue is to ensure that if you are suffering from an unresolvable chronic condition, then you ensure you continue treatment to keep painful symptoms at bay and allow you to get on with your life and how you want to live it, confident in the knowledge that we have got your back if anything goes wrong. Far better that than existing not living, waiting for the next flare up, fearful to do the many things you love doing.
4 Keys To Health
Our clinic has long promoted an approach to treatment which embraces both physical and social aspects. Nicky Snazell has written five books on this subject and has been invited to speak on over 30 radio stations right across the USA, to promote and educate an alternative to excessive opioid use, long before the COVID-19 pandemic started. The advice is equally important and valid to treating the forecast tidal wave of chronic pain coming.
Nicky’s first book, The 4 Keys To Health, available from Amazon, described an approach which looked at every aspect increasingly considered important:
- Mindset
- Nutrition
- Lifestyle
- Fitness & exercise
A simple traffic light system was included to score patients and provide a preventative road map to better health. Wellness, or prevention, is naturally incorporated into the service we offer.
Thus, the direction of Nicky Snazell’s Wellness and Physiotherapy Clinic has been consistently towards providing a capability which exactly matches the need as proposed by latest research.
- Do your homework. Complete our 4 Keys to Health questionnaire, provided below, to both help you understand your current condition and allow you to go armed with this knowledge when you see your therapist.
- Write an action plan from your results, for example, 10 minutes plus exercise a day, more sleep, better diet. Include a bucket list of special things you enjoy.
- Only use a good therapist who comes highly recommended. Your health deserves nothing less.
- Act now. If you are in pain, get properly assessed and treated as soon as possible. Delay just means you will suffer pain longer and can make it worse. Some conditions, if left too long, are irreversible.
- Think long term. Get your problem fixed now and then embark on a plan to both improve your 4 Keys and help prevent reoccurrence. Armed with a completed health questionnaire, your therapist can create you a personalised road map to better health.
Call 01889 881488 Now
p.s. Don’t try to book online at this time as that is only suitable for existing clients already being treated for an existing problem.
In the first three parts of this pain relief series
Your Pain Relief Plan Introduction
I discussed why we feel pain and how the degree of pain felt due to lifestyle factors could vary widely from one individual to the next. Also, when long term, typically over 3 months, the brain would effectively lock the pain in. Emotional trauma, even as far back as childhood, had been found to lock in pain for almost a lifetime.
I then went into more detail about how pain works and discussed the implications of ageing and the differences between acute and chronic conditions, and the most effective ways of treating these.
With this as a background, we will now explore the causes of nerve-related neuropathic pain and how it gets locked into the body. This in turn clarifies why exercise and /or some drugs may not be the correct pain relief solution when suffering neuropathic pain.
Pain Assessment
It should be clear by now that it is vital to be properly assessed by a qualified therapist before treatment starts. Otherwise totally, the wrong treatment could be provided. But we need to go back one stage further to obtain an effective assessment.
In a separate series of blogs on A Different Perspective on Your Physiotherapy Assessment, I explained the vital steps needed for a successful assessment before even starting the physical assessment. This included creating the right environment to build connection and trust, without which a detailed understanding of the back story behind the problem could not be effectively communicated.
Even with this approach, therapists, however qualified, are trained to manually assess conditions but ultimately can only come up with a provisional diagnosis. To confirm this diagnosis, additional scans, such as EMG to look at nerve function, MRI, Xray and ultrasound may be needed. Even then, some conditions are invisible to such scans. Scans may thus be able to eliminate some causes, but not able to confirm the actual cause. A good example is that neither MRI nor X-ray can see muscle spasms, the latter being responsible for a lot of neuropathic problems, such as sciatica.
Holistic Treatment
Those of you who have previously had a dislike or mistrust of the term holistic, should by now, if you have read my previous three parts of this series, realise that even latest scientific technology has measured non scientific factors as having significance. It has been confirmed that pain is modulated by factors such as attention, anticipation, empathy, placebo, meditation, fear, anxiety, posture, emotion and movement. This, in turn, has confirmed the benefits of a more holistic approach to assessment and treatment.
Our ancient Doctors, called Shamans at the time, always knew that the link between mind and body was key to healing. Those same ancient Doctors would look at the whole body, the mindset, fitness, diet and lifestyle of the patient. They also knew that the level of social support the patient had was a key factor.
Latest research is confirming these same links between mind and body as it has now been found that without consideration of the whole, Long-COVID sufferers, for example, will struggle to heal.
Further, we know that the backstory and meaning to the patients’ pain is
essential to understanding the suffering. Without listening to and understanding the backstoryand
meaning, the minds’ healing process cannot start. Evidence suggests that in chronic and complex pain cases, there are likely to also be problems with fear, mood and personality.
The negative factors in our modern day lifestyle, particularly as the world is experiencing a pandemic, are worsening. As a consequence, it is feared that that there will be both an increase in the rate of chronic pain cases and the severity of its impact will have widespread social implications.
The case for a more holistic approach is thus building if we want to successfully fight this growing threat.
Pain Relief – The Way Forward
Pain, as we have seen, can result from a multitude of causes. Pain can be acute or chronic, physical or emotional, physical or neuropathic and is impacted by other factors including emotion, mindset, exercise, nutrition and lifestyle.
Clearly, the therapist you choose needs to be properly qualified to assess and treat you both physically and holistically and incorporate the significance of your mindset, fitness, diet, lifestyle, emotional support network and be empathetic to your story.
In the final part of this blog series Pain Relief – Your Escape Plan I will explain in more detail the approaches to treating the symptoms of chronic pain problems and highlight the differences between maintenance and wellness. Lastly, I introduce our clinic's own 4 Keys To Health approach and how it fits with Wellness.
Call 01889 881488 Now
p.s. Don’t try to book online at this time as that is only suitable for existing clients already being treated for an existing problem.