Humans have a built in primitive and automatic defence mechanism, which today we refer to as our ‘fight or flight’ response. Early human response to being hunted would have been ‘fight or flight’, causing an instant release of a whole cascade of chemical changes in the body, raising breathing rate, blood pressure, blood sugar and heart rate. Non urgent functions, like the immune system, would have been shut down and the conscious brain switched off. All that mattered was to maximise speed of reaction and the ability of the body to fight or escape. Once the threat was removed, his body would have returned to normal operation.
Although we don’t have to face being hunted now, our systems react exactly the same way to any perceived threat and these threats can be a lot longer lasting, which is not healthy for us. Being stuck in a traffic jam, having a difficult work situation, or living in a pandemic will be very stressful and will trigger our fight or flight response, with the same cascade of chemical changes and the same preferential control of internal systems. Clearly, now more than ever, it’s not good to have prolonged periods in this state, with our immune system shut down.
When in fight or flight mode we are anxious and lose our ability for rational thought and our memories are blurred. That’s why we are unable to clearly remember what happened in accidents. It’s also why you can’t seem to think clearly when under stress. (The latter fact is well understood and is technique long used to help sway the masses)
When in a real threatening situation, the surge of chemicals will be consumed by the physical reaction, which is important to help the body get back to normal as quickly as possible. However, if your perceived threat is while you are inactive, like sitting on your sofa watching bad news after bad news on TV, then the chemicals are not properly metabolised, which eventually can lead to a dangerous build-up of ‘stress hormones’. There’s a lot of evidence that any accumulation can cause problems, such as high blood pressure and increased susceptibility to a number of chronic conditions. Hence why we all hear stress can be a killer.
Our fight or flight response is built in. We cannot eliminate it. But there are steps we can take to reduce our stress environment and to develop ways to control stress. Meditation and mindfulness are techniques which you can learn from us. Our HeartMath technology is a wonderful and yet simple tool to help teach you how to lower your stress.
Much is common sense. It should be no surprise that it is incredibly important to have a good supporting social network of real friends. In fact, latest research has shown that it is the most important factor in life expectancy.
Take some time to think about what causes you stress. Your job, your relationships, your physical environment. And don’t underestimate the stressful impact that constantly watching, or reading, bad news has on you.
Immunity Boosters
- Daily physical exercise is highly beneficial because it helps reduce the build-up of stress and depression and gets you to a healthier, calmer state.
- Focus on your breathing. This helps switch off the fight or flight response.
- Create a calming environment
- Stop watching constant bad news on TV
If you are suffering from stress, anxiety or depression then we can help.
Call now on 01889 881488. Erica and Jean will be happy to help
Not a month goes by without a number of our patients commenting that they were not aware of all the things we do here and if only they had known they would have booked in sooner.
It’s impossible to list everything we do in this small space and the graphic below only gives a sample. In simple terms, if you have a problem with a muscle, tendon, ligament, spinal disc or joint anywhere in your body, we can help.
If you want to improve your wellness, we can help with that as well. Plus, in todays stressful world, especially with the COVID pandemic, anxiety is a massive problem and we are pleased to be able to help here also.
Here is a list of the treatments we offer:
- Wellness advice
- Anxiety
- GunnIMS—world specialist
dry needling for chronic
& sports pain - Acupuncture
- Physiotherapy
- Sports therapy
- Post op rehab
- Biomechanics &
Bespoke orthotics - Relaxing, sports and
deep tissue massage - Personal training
- Reiki
- Reflexology
If you, or someone you know, is in pain or has suffered an injury, we can help.
Call Now on 01889 881488 and Erica and Jean will be happy to help
We are open throughout the lockdown
2020 will soon be over and for most of us it can’t come to soon. It will be a year that most of us will want to forget and put behind us.
The rapidly approaching Christmas holiday is going to give us exactly that opportunity, a chance to relax, unwind and think of a brighter future without the gloom of a pandemic hanging over us like a dark cloud. The recent announcements of vaccines have certainly had an uplifting effect. When we go out now, we see more smiling faces and more people happy to say hello again. We all know the battle is not yet won, but win it we shall and 2021 will be the year to celebrate this.
So, this Christmas holiday take the time to think of a brighter, sunnier future and as the saying ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ goes, reflect upon what we need to learn and change as we exit the pandemic.
Do you remember seeing the rapid and significant improvements in the air and rivers that took just a few weeks to occur? What a wonderful thing to see and even better, it’s clearly something we can see is in our grasp. It’s a lesson we need our younger generations to take control of to ensure a better future for the planet.
Did this lesson impact our rulers in making the decision to stop the sale of petrol and diesel cars in just 9 years’ time? It has certainly impacted the public’s attitude to electric cars. Forget the politics, just imagine being able to go out without having to taste and smell the pollution, and listen to the noise that engines produce. Fresh, clean air is coming soon, with all the health benefits that brings.
Sadly, some of us will not see this bright new future, having succumbed to the pandemic, a pandemic which has struck down people from all spectrums of life. In the majority of cases the health of the individual has been a contributing factor and we owe it to ourselves and the next generations to respond positively to this knowledge. The good news is that we all instinctively know when something is good or bad for our health and for many it’s just a matter of needing a helping hand to guide us along the right path.
Prevention is always better than cure and that’s why we promote Wellness, which is very much a preventative approach. Certainly, Nicky Snazell’s Clinic has the knowledge and expertise to provide you exactly that kind of help in a simple to understand way. Better health and a stronger immune system are there if you want it.
For Nicky & I, 2020 has certainly been a stressful year, so we are really looking forward to a well-earned break. This year we are going to be closed from 24th December to 1st January inclusive and that’s going to give us and the team a full 11 days to unwind and plan for a better 2021.
For us, we will be cycling out on the Chase most days and with the help of good lighting, some nights as well, adding to the 4,000 miles we have already pedalled this year. The Chase has an extensive hidden history and we are enjoying learning more each time we visit.
We are also going to add a new member to our family next year, this time being a dog and we have already sourced a puppy carrier, so that it can also enjoy our many hours exploring the beauty of the Chase. I’m sure this will create great interest from passers-by.
Animals of course are great therapy and we are going to get an Australian Labradoodle, which are well known to make excellent therapy dogs (who knows, we might add dog therapy to help with anxiety - I’m trying to imagine Erica & Jean booking dog appointments though!) They are also non shedding and great for allergy sufferers, which will be good for Alan. Yesterday we started thinking of names as we cycled. Something unusual for a female dog. Now that’s positive!
So, to all of you, this Christmas think positively about the bright new future that 2021 holds. Plan to take positive steps to ensure you make the most of it.
If you want to improve your health and strengthen your immune system to help defend yourself from future viral attacks, then we can help.
Call now 01889 881488. Erica & Jean will be happy to help.
p.s. Please ask to book with the dog just to wind Erica & Jean up.
COVID-19 has dominated our lives for nearly a year now and while we may be becoming immune to the subject, there are new articles emerging constantly as we learn more about this epidemic, providing important new insights, which we should not ignore.
A recent paper, referenced below, published by physiotherapist Dr Adriaan Louw, written for the medical community, is well researched and gives strong indications of what our post COVID-19 lives may involve. Sadly, it will not just be a matter of getting through the epidemic. For many, there will be significant long term consequences.
The author forecasts a tidal wave of chronic pain, depression and anxiety heading our way.
Here we will translate the paper burdened with medical terminology into something which can be more easily understood by the general public.
SARS
SARS was a coronavirus epidemic and as such, was considered a good place to start to review what happened during and after the epidemic:
- Up to 65% of survivors developed depression, anxiety disorders, panic disorders, phobias and psychosis.
- Between 25% and 44% of Hong Kong SARS survivors were diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 15% experienced depression for at least two and a half years.
It became very clear that SARS showed the importance of the need to treat patients with a broad approach, looking at their physical, mental and general health situation.
Inflammation and Immune System
We will all understand that the strength of our immune system is a key resistor to poor health. Perhaps not so well known will be that our own inflammatory responses are closely linked to our immune system. An acute viral illness, for example, can trigger an inflammatory response that will present as myalgia, fatigue and organ specific symptoms.
These responses can also be long lived. Long term chronic pain is well reported post ICU (intensive care unit), with 40% recording chronic pain up to 4 years later. Another study showed that many experienced persistent difficulties for up to 11 years with mobility (52%), pain/discomfort (57%), normal daily activities (52%) and cognition (43%).
With an immune system already under threat, the immune system will be further challenged with depression, poor sleep and opioid use, all of which suppress the immune system.
Social Aspects
Lockdowns and social isolation have psychological and financial implications and inevitably cause stressors such as fear of illness, future uncertainty and concerns of second waves will only exacerbate this.
Early evidence shows that anxiety and depression and sleep disturbances are common reactions to this pandemic. Sleep deprivation can lead to symptoms virtually indistinguishable from widespread pain, fatigue and diffuse tenderness. While exercise is known to help sleep, our abilities to get the exercise we need has been restricted by the pandemic.
Restrictions on access to regular medical care further adds to the potential downstream consequences expected after COVID-19.
Physical & Emotional Link
It is well known that physical and emotional pain are closely related. Functional MRI studies have shown that physical and emotional pain mapping in the brain overlap by 88%. It is thus very important to accept that thoughts, emotions and physical pain should be considered and treated together as one problem.
Treatment
The evidence suggests that in chronic and complex pain cases, there are likely to also be problems with fear, mood and personality. The indicators are 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.
It is considered evident that the physiotherapists approach to treating chronic pain must include consideration of social and environmental aspects, including mental aspects, emotional wellbeing, nutritional advice, mindfulness, lifestyle and preventative care.
4 Keys To Health
Many of you will know that 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 considered important in this paper:
- Mindset
- Nutrition
- Lifestyle
- Fitness & exercise
A simple traffic light system was included to score patients and provide a preventative road map and pathway to better health. Wellness, or prevention, was naturally incorporated into the service we offered.
Thus, the direction of Nicky Snazell’s Wellness and Physiotherapy Clinic has been solidly towards providing a capability which exactly matches the need as proposed as a vital need by Adriaan Louw.
Summary
Dr Adriaan Louw has provided insightful and well researched evidence to suggest that a tidal wave of chronic pain, depression and anxiety is coming post COVID-19. Treatment, to be effective, will require consideration of physical, social and environmental aspects.
While none of us will have control of the potential size of the tidal wave coming, we do have the opportunity to be properly prepared. At Nicky Snazell’s Clinic, we have already long embraced, taught and learnt the proposed skills that are suggested as vital to win the battle.
If you want to get ahead of the curve and start thinking about prevention as better than cure, then now is the time to talk to us. We can help.
Our clinic has an enviable reputation for treating pain, with patients travelling from far and wide. We have treatment skills at the highest level, combined with a thorough understanding of the importance of treating the whole person.
Call now on 01889 881488. Erica and Jean will be happy to help.
For those who wish to read the full paper, this is the reference:
Letter to the editor: chronic pain tidal wave after COVID-19: are you ready? Adriaan Louw, PT, PhD. PHYSIOTHERAPY THEORY AND PRACTICE, 2020, Vol 36, No 12, 1275 -1278. https//doi.org/10.1080/09593985.2020.1840717
This year we will be closed from Thursday 24th December until Friday 1st January inclusive.
We will reopen on Monday 4th January.
There is bound to be a rush for appointments before Christmas, so don’t leave it for too long before making your appointments to ensure you are ready to enjoy your break.
Call now on 01889 881488. Erica and Jean will be happy to help.
Increasingly, COVID sufferers are experiencing long term pain and debilitation and these consequences are being termed as ‘Long-COVID’
Physiotherapy has been identified as having critical importance in helping treat the upcoming surge of ‘Long- COVID’ pain sufferers. Relief from that pain needs a combination of talking and listening (psychotherapy) to calm the system down, along with hands on treatment and movement and this is exactly what physiotherapy can provide, especially when treated by a physiotherapist skilled in holistic health.
We know that COVID causes an inflammatory storm and an associated wave of pain, which can last months or even years. We also know that stress lowers our immune system, so now more than ever, we see that physiotherapists are essential to the strategy of treatment.
Our ancient Doctors, called Shamans at the time, always knew that the link between mind and body was key to healing. Lo and behold, new research now backs that up. The backstory and meaning to the patients pain is essential to understanding the suffering. Without listening to and understanding the backstory and meaning, the minds’ healing process cannot start.
As an example of the importance of understanding the meaning the injury has to the patient. Take two situations of a broken ankle. To most people a broken ankle is an inconvenience, to a professional ice skater it would be a significant, possibly career ending injury. If the therapist only looks at the physical problem without sharing the emotion, then research shows the patient cannot heal as quickly.
If you feel you are suffering Long-COVID pain, then we can help.
Call now. 01889 881488. Erica and Jean will be happy to help
Exercise. Even the mention of the word usually causes a groan. We all have our reasons, or excuses, for not exercising, but mainly it’s because we can easily imagine the short term pain, but not so easily visualise the long term benefits.
We won’t even try to make it sound like dedicated and consistent exercise is easy, because for it to be of any benefit, you have to put some effort in. Sadly for most, that’s enough to go no further. This is at great personal cost to you later in life though. Make no mistake, It will cost you.
So what are the benefits of exercise?
- Done at the correct level, it’s anti-ageing
- It reduces fat and improves appearance
- It makes you happier
- It’s good for mental health, a natural anti –depressant
- It strengthens muscles, which helps you have a happier and more active life
- Stronger muscles also mean joints move more easily with less pain.
- Correct exercise levels help protect joints from arthritis and strengthen bones to help prevent bone thinning.
- It improves circulation
- It helps prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, strokes and obesity
- It stretches the fascia and helps maintain elasticity, easing movement and reducing pain
- It improves the immune system.
Many of the bad things exercise can help with are on the increase, blighting many lives prematurely. Doctors agree that right now, one of the best ways to help protect yourself from COVID is by getting healthier and fitter. Is this not reason enough alone to start exercising?
We can’t force you to exercise, but we would strongly advise you to make regular exercise a part of your life now, so that you can help yourself have a much better later life and help prevent chronic diseases.
If you want advice on what to do, then we have great Sports Therapists who would be happy to help. Call now on 01889 881488 and Erica or Jean will be happy to help.
We are open throughout the lockdown
The trick with exercise is to link it to something you enjoy doing. Nicky & I have tried different forms of exercise over the years and at one time we were at the gym or pool three times a week. Nicky’s preference was always the pool as she has grew up from a young age loving the water. For me, it was much more exercise equipment in the gym, rather than weights.
Just over a year ago we decided to switch to being outside more and got a couple of bikes to ride on the chase and now that’s a very integral part of our lifestyle, having done over 5000 miles between us exploring every corner of the chase. It’s amazing how much history there is on the chase and a recent book has just been published on the war camps there which gives us the added interest of trying to work where everything was. Of course there is the added benefit of the beauty of the chase, added by the changes of the four seasons.
Call now on 01889 881488 and Erica or Jean will be happy to help.
We are open throughout the lockdown
Be Smart. Halve Your Risk
This advice that has been repeated to us since early in the pandemic:
- Wear a mask
- Maintain social distance
- Wash your hands regularly
Although this advice smacks of common sense, it is still flagrantly ignored by some. On an almost daily basis, we get patients who complain about having to wear a mask for a whole 30 minutes. Wearing a mask is not just to help protect you, it’s also to protect others. So yes, we require you to wear a mask.
Facts Support Wearing A Mask
In the USA, COVID is essentially out of control and sadly wearing a mask has become a political issue, even though expert scientists have developed many models and forecast that over 100,000 lives could be saved in the next few months, if everybody just wears a mask. That’s as many US troops who died in fighting from the D Day beaches in 1944 to Berlin in 1945. Deaths that are mourned to this day. And now its ok, and all for the sake of wearing a mask? Really?
Ok, this is not the USA, but look at the size of the numbers and consider this in our own country. Every time I go shopping I see many not wearing masks. We are thus not immune to the same fate.
Double Your Risk
For those who are unconvinced, a recently announced real world study has proven the benefits of wearing a mask. In the state of Kansas, the state governor recommended mask wearing on 3rd July. Some counties in the state followed the recommendation, others didn’t. Two weeks were allowed to let the change take effect. Since then those counties where masks have been worn have stayed level on the number of new cases. Those who chose to ignore the advice have gone up and continue to go up. Right now, the number of cases in counties not requiring mask wearing is DOUBLE those who do. This is not a small study. It’s based on nearly 3 million people.
The facts are simple.
Not wearing a mask doubles the risk for you and for those around you.
Safety always comes first for you and our staff. We require that anybody in the clinic wears a mask. Our staff wear full PPE all day, so asking you to wear a mask for the short time you are in our clinic to help protect everybody is not an unrealistic expectation. Your help helps keep us open and thus allows us to continue to help you.
We strive to make our clinic as safe as it can be and it’s most certainly safer than the many other environments that we all need to visit to exist.
We are here to help you and we will do our part to be as safe as we can be. We need you to do your part as well, not just by wearing a mask while at the clinic, but also by living as safely as you can by following simple common-sense advice. That way, you keep yourself, your family and your friends safer as well.
Many of us are frustrated and confused by the arguments and counter arguments we constantly hear about just about anything. How can expert A argue the complete opposite of expert B? Well it depends in part if they were asked the same question.
So let’s start with something that probably most of us know about - RDA. RDA was introduced around the end of World War Two, to eliminate problems caused by vitamin and mineral deficiencies, such as scurvy and rickets. That’s 75 years ago, before most of us were born.
Go to any food store today and you will find examples of what percentage of RDA a particular product provides. (Ask yourself how many other things are still judged today against a 75 year old standard) Not a bad thing in itself, but at the end of WWII, the western world was devastated, there was food rationing and it’s hardly like that today. Unless your diet is particularly bad, you should easily manage to get RDA levels in your diet.
Hence, and quite rightly, you will hear comments like ‘vitamin supplements are a waste of money’, or the one I really like, ‘vitamins just make expensive wee.’ If you are eating a decent diet, all this is true. Provided that is, you are only looking at RDA levels, which are only to prevent sickness.
Fast forward 75 years and our knowledge and understanding in just about everything has grown massively. An example of which is that a group of leading authorities on diet and nutrition in North America created a new nutrition standard, called Optimum Nutrition.
The intent of this new standard is to improve health, the polar opposite of RDA, which was to prevent sickness.
In current times, with the global coronavirus pandemic, can you think of a better time to strengthen your defences?
Now various studies have shown that due to modern intense farming methods, the vitamin and mineral content of today’s fruit and vegetables is a fraction of that in 1945. Combine that with higher levels required for Optimum Nutrition and it soon becomes clear that it is practically impossible to get sufficient vitamins and minerals without supplementation.
Now ask the right question. Do vitamins and minerals just make expensive wee? Not if you understand the purpose of Optimum Nutrition, which is to IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH.
Nicky and I have been taking optimum nutrition levels of supplementation for a number of years, plus we eat a diet which is as healthy as we can make it. Many GP’s we talk to are taking plenty of supplements at the moment, maybe not at optimum nutrition levels, but their intent is clear. Our bodies need every bit of help they can get at the moment.
High quality comparative information on supplements is available in North America and we choose to buy ours from a company that always scores right at the top. They make their own supplements and to pharmaceutical standards, which means you are guaranteed to get precisely what it says on the label. Most companies do neither.
Generally, the people I talk to are very sceptical about supplements because of what they have heard. I get that. But what question was being answered?
Breaking News
There are now close 30 studies demonstrating that having optimum blood levels of Vitamin D reduces COVID-19 risks: reduced risk of infection, reduced risk of severe disease, reduced risk of dying.
Many researchers now regard the evidence as overwhelming
While many will say we need more research, ask yourself this: What have you got to lose?
Footnote
Nicky & I have no financial link to any vitamin manufacturer. This information is provided merely to help you and the choices you make for yourself and those important to you.
It’s very important that we understand the implications of the words we use, as they can have a powerful control of our beliefs and the actions we take. Let’s take the word ‘Health’, a very common word and one with which we in the UK associate very strong beliefs.
Many years ago, it was decided for good reasons that our nation should have a National Health Service. The concept was admirable; government funded health care for all. Having personally lived in countries without their own NHS, and witnessed the inequalities that this causes, I can only say I am immensely proud that we continue to fight for our NHS’s survival.
But if we look deeper into world funding of health, as published by the World Health Organisation, we find that only 3% is spent on prevention, or health, and the other 97% is spent on treating episodes of sickness and injury. It is difficult to justify calling such a service a health service when in fact it is 97% a sickness and injury service. This is not an intended criticism of the NHS, far from it, it is merely a statement of fact.
Now consider the implications, for a moment, if we had all grown up with exactly the same service, but it had been more accurately called the National Sickness and Injury Service, or NSIS.
Your health is your responsibility and yours alone
For a start, we would not have the belief that our health was somehow somebody else’s responsibility. We would have the reassurance that should something go wrong, we would have an excellent NSIS to call upon, but we would understand our health was fundamentally our responsibility and ours alone.
What impact might it have if we taught our children from day one that it was important to be healthy, to make healthy decisions each and every day, and to take personal responsibility for their own health? Would the UK have the dishonour of growing fatter faster than any other nation on earth? Would we have 3 million suffering diabetes and another 7 million at risk? Would we have a decreasing life expectancy? Would we have a NSIS which simply can’t cope with the ever increasing demands placed on it?
Some may think this is just a play on words. I disagree. I speak to far too many individuals who believe health care should be free, based solely on their mistaken belief that our NSIS is a free health service. This in turn actually dissuades or even stops people from investing in their own health, which of course eventually places a greater burden on our national service.
I doubt anyone would argue with the merits of a government funded service where the majority was spent on prevention and health. But for now, we need to be realistic and understand we have an admirable service which provides care for episodes of sickness and injury. It is thus up to each of us to accept the responsibility for both our own health and for the next generation.
Accept that responsibility and your actions will inevitably change to lead you and your children to a healthier, happier and longer life.
At Nicky Snazell’s Wellness and Physiotherapy Clinic, we have embraced prevention as better than cure and promote wellness as a core part of our service. If you want to become more proactive about your health, we can help you with a roadmap to that healthier, happier and longer life.
Call now on 01889 881488. Erica and Jean will be happy to help