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Should I see an Osteopath or Chiropractor?

Should I see an Osteopath or Chiropractor? | Thierry Payet

by with No Comment Ostéopathie

Should I see an Osteopath or Chiropractor?

I had to do some research into this field on account of my ridiculous back. Without rhyme or reason every now and again I am unable to walk!

Nothing had happened that I know about, and yet I can be bed ridden for 2-8 days at the whim of an evil god somewhere.

Enough was enough, I wanted help, but did not know the correct way to turn.

I am a wimp-let’s put it out it out there! I am extremely scared about being popped clicked or manipulated, but feel I have very little option if I wish to live a normal life.

I decided to do a consultation with both and Osteopath and Chiropractor and decide then.

First was the chiropractor. Chiropractors from what I can tell tend to focus mainly on the alignment of the spine as the primary means to relieve problems. This was the focus of the session, and he showed me the various stresses being placed upon my body due to misalignment and bad posture, various models of the spine and vertebrae. He said he could treat me after a further scan, the treatment programme was explained to me and I walked away very confident in the process.

Next was the Osteopath appointment. Whilst waiting, I read some of the pamphlets in the waiting room and was able to learn a little about the discipline. Whereas chiropractors focus primarily upon the skeletal structure, osteopaths look at the body as a whole, drawing from many methods to help and improve it’s efficiency, function and work towards correcting the structure. It treats a broad range of problems throughout the body- from digestive and circulatory, to muscular, soft tissue and nerve related issues.

The appointment was similar at the beginning, although the lifestyle and medical questions that I had to answer were much more extensive than at the chiropractor. My examination was certainly more hands on. The osteopath gave me a full physical before recommending and discussing further information he would like before proceeding. To my surprise, I was actually treated on the day, at the consultation, and I left the property with a core/hip exercise to engage my muscles to strengthen/prevent further problems.

This little “hip trick” really worked for me, it involved engaging a core muscle before doing anything-sitting down standing up, rolling over. It was difficult at first, but a re-learning how to bend when doing anything truly was a revelation! On the strength of this I decided to opt for the Osteopath option-The great variety of techniques to influence the body’s own healing mechanisms appealed to me more than the thought of permanent adjustments.

I am happy with my choice, I am sure that chiropractors are very good with the back, but my problem was with my hip and back- and the holistic approach, ethos and treatment style of an Osteopath just seemed a better fit for me. I also experienced some unexpected positive side effects! After a few sessions I noticed a welcome reduction in headaches and digestive problems that I had been having. It turns out that these symptoms are often related to injuries in other areas.

Don’t be scared of treatment! Try it, it has improved more than just my bad back!

 

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Back problems!

Back problems! | Thierry Payet

by with No Comment Santé

Back problems!

Could you be to blame?

Back pain can be completely life changing, and is caused by a collection of seemingly unavoidable, innocuous and sometimes contradictory sins! Activity, inactivity, working, childcare, driving-you know, all the things that it is almost impossible to avoid and lead a relatively normal existence.

The causes and solutions are far too numerous to cover completely here, but what follows is a brief discussion of the avoidable, self-inflicted behaviours that can commonly cause injury.

The back will unfortunately deteriorate as we age and live. It is a race against time to straighten, strengthen but if we are not careful we can start a race toward chronic back issues and mobility problems.

THE TORTOISE repeated behaviours that have slowly built up stress over time.

THE HARE one off, untried or unusual activities, where we have attempted something new, been too ambitious and exerted ourselves unwisely.

 

THE TORTOISE

Underestimate, Underprepare, underperform! – Understand?

We pay little attention to that which we do every day. It is great to have all of the equipment, support, nutrition and knowledge to help us perform in the gym, but how long do you spend in the gym vs your bed, office or car? Do you have an ergonomic bike or multi-gym, but not an ergonomic chair, keyboard or mouse?

It is just as likely that bad lifestyle habits routinely repeated will be the cause of your back pain as it is to be caused a one off trauma or strain. If you knew what these were, you wouldn’t do them, so consulting a professional is a good way to break this cycle. Their objectivity and experience can help uncover something you are doing regularly and unconsciously.

A visit to any Osteopath, physiotherapist or chiropractor will involve trying to understand which behaviours could the source of your back problems.  This is cannot be achieved merely by touch and examination, they will ask you numerous lifestyle questions- you are the most important information resource here. They cannot observe you every hour of every day, so help them by paying attention to everything you do in your daily routine. Your posture, seated and standing, screen time, recreation, footwear, work responsibilities. If your pain hasn’t been caused by a specific event, Identifying as much about your life as possible is key to creating a profile for treatment and prevention.

THE HARE

Overconfidence, Overenthusiasm, Overexertion,

The back injury is often the unforeseen consequence of well-intentioned plans to strengthen and improve other aspects of our health.

It is important to set yourself achievable goals, sympathetic to your body. Marketing in the fitness industry is geared towards immediate results and intensive programmes- a boot camp culture. It is easy to get caught up in this and try and move too quickly-perhaps going straight to MMA is not the best starting point after 15 years on the sofa! Ambition is great, use it, bottle it, let it drive you to succeed-but do some low impact prep work before jumping in at the deep end! Work on cardio, strengthening and stretching the areas that you will be using, and build up slowly listening to your body. The weeks/months of recovery time needed after a back strain occurs is a high price to pay for going too big, too fast or for too long.

If you are new to any activity, unfamiliar movements can be easy way to put strain on your back. Key techniques and sensible body positions are taught to youngsters entering any new sport/activity, but not necessarily the keen but rusty/uninitiated adult. There is more information out there than ever on Youtube and online, but this can be as dangerous and misguided as it is useful. Swallow your pride, do a short course, however knowledgeable you think you are in the field-the likelihood is that a lot has changed since your heyday-see a professional who is up to date with all the newest advice.

You have taken the conscientious steps to get your body ready, and your techniques well practiced and sound-don’t overdo it! All that effort will be useless if you try too much, too soon.

Our team can help

Bodilight  have worked hard to assemble the team you need to understand and treat your long term or newly discovered back problems. Prevention is better than cure here, and our Osteopaths or sports physios will work with you on a plan with you to improve awareness, decipher the origin of the injury, and work towards prevention moving forwards.

 

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Dry Needling

Dry Needling | Thierry Payet

by with No Comment Santé

Dry Needling

This article will knot be afraid to get right to the point-I will give it my best shot. You will of course learn a few interesting facts about dry needling, but you do run the risk of further crimes against humour. You have been warned!

What is dry needling?

The use of small needles to stimulate muscle twitch response in order to help conditions such as joint pain, tennis golfers elbow, muscle/ligament strain, tendonitis/osis, sciatica, chronic pain and many more.

Why choose Dry Needling?

I am not a hippy, but I personally like to avoid taking medication unless completely necessary. It means when I need to use it, I have a lower tolerance and the medication works better. I like to use these things sparingly, but I don’t want to suffer in silence. Thus if I can find treatments with little or no side effects, and less chemicals in my body, I will give them a try!

Terminology

Why is the needle dry-will it hurt more?

The simple answer is no. The distinction of ‘dry’ in the title of this therapy refers to the lack of any liquid, or indeed medication as such being delivered. If anything, the process will hurt less due to this. The needle itself is the medicine in this instance, most patients do not feel the needle going in, and at most feel a slight cramping sensation in terms of pain.

There are a number of terms used to describe dry needling.

These can include;

Trigger point dry needling (TDN)

Intramuscular manual therapy

Myofascial needling

Dry needling is not Acupuncture, it derives from modern western medicine rather than ancient Eastern practices. Despite being different in purpose and ethos-This is perhaps a good way for the uninitiated to visualise the treatment.

A needle is used to mobilize and oxygenate inflamed, tense or certain other targeted areas (trigger points) on the body. This assists with pain reduction, mobility improvement and rehabilitation of the area in question. It is essentially a complimentary approach to massage for the acute of trauma or strains.

When we injure ourselves, the body immediately looks to protect the area and limit the damage by preventing further usage-simplistically It does this by limiting blood flow, we experience this as swelling to the area in question. After this has occurred, scarring or fibrosis can prevent movement returning to its usual state. The first step in treatment for injury is often to release the area from this protective state, improve blood flow, muscle mobility and reduce pain.

Dry needling approaches this by using a hollow needle breaking down the scarred fibres that inhibit recovery and creating a “Local twitch response”. The initial area of effect experiences a beneficial mechanical response may be localised, but advocates of this method report positive chemical and neurological benefits.

If you are looking for pain or injury treatment that is not invasive, and doesn’t involve medication, this could be a great option for you. As with any treatment, please seek advice from your doctor to be sure this is appropriate for your particular needs.

Dry needling is offered as part of a holistic approach at Bodilight and is used alongside other methods. Please drop in for an informal chat with our team of experts to discuss the best course of treatment for you and whether needling may help.

 

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Event preparation and protection!

Event preparation and protection! | Thierry Payet

by with No Comment Médecine

 

When you are in training for an event you spend your life dodging injury and illness. You protect your body and health like that of a new-born baby. The thought of twisting your ankle or getting a cough and cold holds so much more fear than at any other time. To ensure you stay at the optimum health and fitness that you have been working so hard on, rest becomes an integral part of your training and having regular sports massage can aid the recovery of tired, sore, overworked muscles.

I have completed two marathons. The first one, Berlin 2012, I was remarkably unprepared. Not through not training or not clocking up the miles, but through not really giving my body the chance to thrive during the training or the race itself. I just went for it. I trained every week, increasing the miles two at a time. I didn’t eat well, I didn’t stretch before or after the training and I definitely didn’t even look into having a Sports Massage. I was then obviously, effected by aching joints, muscles and generally felt terrible for the week after, only feeling better after five to six days before going out and starting the cycle all over again.  The actual event was not too bad, it took me ages but I finished and swore never to go through the whole process again.

Skip to four years later and 18 months after my daughter was born I find myself again on a marathon starting line with thousands of other people at the 2016 London Marathon. But this time, I was a lot better prepared, a lot better trained and over the past four months of training I hadn’t suffered the types of pain and discomfort I had the first time round. I put this all down to one quick thirty-minute session with a Sports Massage Therapist at the early stage of my training.

I had decided this time not to suffer on the rest days, so I stretched after each run, I ate better and I built the miles slower. I had less aching muscles in general but my lower back and hamstrings caused a lot of discomfort when walking, bending and lifting. I did some research and figured that a sports massage therapist was probably the best person to go and see. I mean it has the word sport in the title

I booked a treatment a couple of days after a long training run when I knew the effects of DOMS (delayed muscle soreness) would be in full swing. I explained where the pain was, what made it better and what I was trying to do reduce the dull ache that I had been suffering from after each run.  What I know now and didn’t know then is how connected the muscular system is and having one short, tight area can make the rest of the body pull, twist and over compensate to reduce damage. I have short tight hamstrings, that attached to the sit bones (Ischial Tuberosity), which then pull on the gluteal muscles and effect the lower back. Loosening them up with regular sports massage not only reduced my pain but it improved my form, my strength and my speed. After a couple of treatments over the final few weeks of long training runs, I wasn’t pain free (of course not I was running 18-22 miles every week) but I certainly didn’t have that dull, sickly feeling every time I moved.

The day before the marathon I headed down to the Expo to collect my goodie bag and number, I also had one more Sports massage but this time it wasn’t to “fix” any problematic muscles, it was to relax me. I was so nervous that I had been carrying so much tension in my back, neck and shoulders that my posture had suffered and I was getting headaches. It was only a 30 minute treatment but the practitioner released so much tension I floated out of the Expo ready for my second Marathon.

I finished the London Marathon one hour and 3 minutes quicker than my first marathon 4 years earlier. Sports massage therapists are not doctors, healers or miracle workers but in preparing, protecting and maintaining my muscles for the onslaught of a 26-mile run, they certainly worked some magic.

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