News - Longlevens Chiropractic & Sports Injury Clinic

Find Us In the Citizen and on thisisgloucestershire.co.uk

October 16, 2012/in Uncategorized/by admin-lc

Chiropractor Simon Rose in today's Citizen, page 10

Simon Rose explains the StraightenUp UK exercise program to Leah Rose

Today we are famous! Find us on page 10 of the Citizen or via this link on thisisgloucestershire.co.uk

Sacro-Iliac, also known as SI, Joint pain

October 15, 2012/in Back Pain, News, Osteoarthritis/by admin-lc

The Sacro-Iliac joint is a common cause of lower back pain due to the large amount of force it has to cope with, patients often get this joint confused with the hip as it is quite low and slightly to the side of the spine (wider in women).

This joint connects the spine to the pelvis and takes on a lot of force during motions involving the legs and torso. The joint essentially is a wedge of bone (The Sacrum) at the base of the spine fitting into wedge shaped region (between the ‘Ilia’, pleural of the ilium which is one of three parts of the pelvis) at the pelvis hence the name Sacro-iliac. Because this joint takes on so much force it requires a lot of stabilising, hence there are many ligaments connecting the sacrum to the surrounding structures. These ligaments are prone to injury, if the muscles around the joint, above or below are not working efficiently to support the spine then the S.I joint’s ligaments and cartilage are prone to increased forces and therefore damage.

Front view:

Rear view:

Pain that originally starts in this region often spreads across the whole of the lower back, this is because inflammation is a very clever but also very crude system. When the inflammatory process starts, it essentially dumps inflammatory chemicals on a region. What it often does however is go a bit too far, this can actually damage healthy cells, giving the feeling of pain in a general region. The S.I. joint can also refer pain to various other regions, this is because where the pain fibers from the S.I joint enter the spine, fibers often cross with fibers that innervate other regions of skin of the body, therefore producing pain at the region also. When this occurs, it is known as an S.I. joint Syndrome as all three components of pain, restriction and pain referral are involved to make up the ‘syndrome’.
Purely using an Ice pack regularly for 10-15 minutes every 2 hours for a week will make a massive difference and should localise the pain back to the joint where it originated. To clear out the rest and to prevent recurrence, a Chiropractor may be needed to get the joints moving properly and the muscles loosened and functioning correctly once more. There is only around 2-4 millimeters of movement at the joint therefore a Chiropractor will help regain as much movement as possible. This will get rid of the pain completely and with the correct assessment and treatment of your bio-mechanics and function it will prevent the problem from recurring in the future.

There are more serious conditions that can affect this joint such as various arthropathies, (there are many types of arthritis) though a well trained Chiropractor should be able to determine the exact cause of the pain from your history and assessment.

STRAIGHTEN UP UK! Simon Rose gives an insight into the South West’s Back Pain Issues

October 11, 2012/in News, Osteoarthritis/by admin-lc

This week *is Back Care Awareness Week. Chiropractor Simon Rose of Longlevens Chiropractic & Sports Injury Clinic encourages people to straighten out their approach to back care, as new consumer research shows that almost half the UK population (48%) has suffered from back pain. Nearly 40% of sufferers in the South West have suffered from back or neck pain for more than ten years! Ouch!

The research, commissioned by the British Chiropractic Association, shows that 23% of people in the South West have suffered for over a year, yet 19% of these people have never sought any professional treatment or consultation for their pain even though back pain has prevented 54 % of people in the South West from sleeping.

Simon Rose comments: “Back pain is something which must not be swept aside – not just by sufferers but by people of all ages who should think about preventative measures. Research shows that 43% of people are limited in their activity by back and joint pain, so we all need to act to ease and prevent future problems to live life to the fullest”.

The British Chiropractic Association has developed a simple program of exercises called “Straighten Up UK” to help people get more active and prevent back pain in both adults and children. Easy to learn and do, it consists of precise, slow stretches, each with a specific purpose.

Simon Rose says: “The three minute exercise routine helps to promote an active lifestyle as well as balance, strength and flexibility in the spine, therefore reducing the risk of problems arising. Education on the importance of posture and back care cannot begin early enough, the sooner action is taken the less likely future back pain will be. With recent research by the BCA showing that 42.5% of people do not participate in any physical exercise, we must shape up and straighten up to keep our backs healthy”.

Visit the BCA website to see instructional videos on the Straighten Up UK routine and begin to tackle potential problems this Back Care Awareness Week. You will also find a range of advice, leaflets and video guides available to download from the BCA website www.chiropractic-uk.co.uk.

*research conducted in February 2012

Sports Therapy Open Evening at the University of Gloucester

September 28, 2012/in News/by admin-lc

Yesterday evening Leah Rose attended the University of Gloucestershire’s Sports Therapy Open Evening. It was a great opportunity to meet the Department’s leaders and lecturers, to understand the courses in much more detail, and to learn more about what Sports Therapy undergrads and grads can offer.

The Sports Therapy Department at the University of Gloucester boasts some fantastic and very impressive new facilities. Unsurprisingly, the stats for the courses show that application numbers and entry levels are very high compared to places available, despite the phenomenal rate of growth and expansion that the course has experienced. Exciting times are ahead for what is still a relatively new profession.

We would like to thank the Sports Therapy Department for a very informative and enjoyable evening and we look forward to becoming more involved with the department in the future.

Rugby Injuries: The Stinger

September 24, 2012/in Neck Pain, News, Sports Injuries/by admin-lc

In this post I will be explaining what occurs and what is felt with a stinger injury and I will also give some advice on what to expect with regards to recovery.

“Stingers”, also known as “Burners”, occur when a persons neck is taken too far to one side too quickly whilst at the same time the shoulder is depressed downwards too far and too quickly also. The usual mechanism is as a result of a tackle during Rugby or American Football, the resulting pain is described as stinging or burning sensation. The reasons for these symptoms are because the nerves exiting the neck that innervate the arm (via the “brachial plexus”) are stretched during the tackle and therefore injured.

The type of pain that is felt is regarded as a sharp shooting neurological type pain with regions of stinging and burning locally and often distally down the arm. The pain location can vary, though the most commonly affected area is that which is innervated by the C5 nerve as this is the nerve where most of the over stretching is likely to occur as the shoulder is depressed too far downwards. As you can see in the picture below, the C5 nerve root is the highest exiting nerve that innervates the arm from the neck region.
Look at the yellow nerves exiting the spine in to the arm in this picture, C5 is the highest level.

The regions of skin innervated by C5, C6, C7, C8 and T1 are shown here in this picture, when suffering from a Rugby stinger you may feel discomfort along one or more of these regions with C5 being the most likely.

The muscles that you may find weak as a result of a stinger playing Rugby are most likely to be those innervated by C5 and then decreasing in likelihood C6, C7, C8, T1.

As you can see the main muscles innervated by C5 and C6 are those surrounding the shoulder girdle, therefore expect dysfunction to occur in this region. The rate of healing for a nerve is very slow so make sure you are patient and perform rehab sensibly. I would recommend seeing a specialist (e.g chiropractor) for advice and guidance throughout this process as too little or too much rehab or treatment at the wrong time could decrease your recovery rate and prolong your return to action.

Kate’s Write Up of the Paralympics

September 20, 2012/in Massage Therapy, News/by admin-lc

What a fantastic yet exhausting week at the paralympics! The response for the massage was brilliant everyone kept coming back for more!

Most clients were media people carrying cameras all day long who were looking for relief for their shoulders. Firstly I would ask them to take 3 deep breaths in to relax. Then I started on their lower back to make sure they felt a release of tension all over the back, not just at the shoulders. Every person I saw had shoulders up by their ears with tension and the muscles that run parallel to the spine (Paraspinals) were solid too. I would use broad techniques with the palm of my hand to begin with to warm up the muscles, then move onto using my thumbs (butterfly technique) to increase the pressure to release tension. I then moved onto specific stretch technique, in which I apply pressure down into the muscle as the client stretches out the muscle that has been pinned by me. This is a fantastic technique that has instant results, however it is sometimes quite tender. I used this technique on the paraspinals, upper trapezius, and neck muscles with which you can see visible increases in range of movement of the cervical spine (neck) straight after the technique has been used.

The therapists I got to work with at the paralympics were fantastic, it was lovely to meet new faces and learn from other people. All in all it was a great experience and I even got to meet some famous faces!!

Do You Work for the NHS?

September 17, 2012/in News/by admin-lc

We are pleased to announce to all NHS employees that we have joined healthstaffdiscounts.co.uk and are giving 10% off consultation and treatment charges to those NHS employees who hold an NHS staff card!

Tips To Improve Your Posture

September 14, 2012/in Back Pain, Neck Pain, News, Osteoarthritis/by admin-lc

1. Stretch regularly – Yoga and Pilates are brilliant to improve your posture, the better you move, the better your posture and the less problems you will experience. If you feel tight in one particular area or are not sure where you are moving incorrectly then your teacher (yoga/pilates) or manual therapist (e.g. Chiropractor) can help you.

2. Correct your ergonomics at work, if you sit at a desk for long periods at work for example then make sure you ergonomics are perfect. A lot of companies will assess this for you, however make sure it is kept up to date as it is very important for your posture and to prevent injury.

3. Take regular short breaks, if you have to stay in one place for a long period of time (e.g. sitting down) make sure you take a break and move about for at least 5 minutes every half hour. This will allow the structures within your body to recover from a prolonged period of stress in one position which can lead to poor posture.

4. Drink lots of water – staying hydrated keeps your muscles and joints supple and strong preventing your body from getting lazy and adapting a poor posture.

5. Feel free to fidget! Fidgeting is your body telling you that you need to move to get comfortable, listen to your body. If your body needs to move to be comfortable then let it be comfortable, just don’t let it be comfortable in one position for too long ;-) .

Always remember, keep moving and stay loose, keep your back straight when bending and use your knees!

If your company would like us to pay you a visit to conduct free postural assessments please get in touch!

Chiropractor Danny Explains Why You Should Get Back and Neck Pain Treated Sooner Rather Than Later

September 7, 2012/in Back Pain, News, Osteoarthritis, Trapped Nerves/by admin-lc

Within this post I’ll explain why seeking treatment for your back pain earlier will potentially save you a lot of money.

Take a quick look at these well researched statistics:

80% of the population will experience back pain at some time
40% of the population are affected by back pain currently (16 million)
2.5 million people have back pain every day of the year
119 million working days are lost
1.2 million people are affected by musculo-skeletal pain and 500.000 by work related stress

The Hard Working Citizen

The sooner a person with back pain sees a well trained therapist such as a Chiropractor, the sooner they will get better, simple. Recently I and my colleagues have noticed how patients are presenting with incredibly chronic (>3weeks) back pain. People seem to be putting up with pain without seeking help for longer than ever before, we think this may be due to the recent recession (or double dip recession as it is for us Brits). People are really feeling the pinch, but if you think you are saving money by not getting your back pain treated now, you are very mistaken. In fact, it’s not cost effective at all! Its actually uneconomical! I’ll explain why.

Scary but (potentially) true

I’m going to use a common lower back problem as an example, a lower back disc bulge, a disc bulge usually occurs because the underlying supportive back structures are working incorrectly. The forces within the lower back are therefore repeatedly falling upon structures that cannot cope with the increase in load (the discs, among other things). This leads to failure, if the bulge is not correctly managed and the forces continue to be incurred in a region that has already failed then its ability to heal is diminished. It may take months or years to get better with a very high chance that it will recur in the future due to the mechanism of micro tearing in the outer layers which heals incredibly slowly, if at all (Read more here on disc bulges). Disc bulges can progress and in a lot of cases may even lead to surgery, the likelihood of this increases if you do not seek effective advice and treatment. The earlier you seek treatment, the quicker your disc bulge will resolve itself and with the correct prevention strategy provided you will have a lower back that will be less susceptible to having disc bulges in the future.

“And financially this affects me how?”

The financial implications of this are simple, by letting your back pain progress and possibly worsen it may end with you requiring surgery and months off work with no guarantee it won’t recur. Due to the reasons above you may even require multiple surgeries in the future. Therefore, costing you even more in lost wages with time off work and possibly even your job! This is all theoretical of course and I’m not trying to scare you ~~well, maybe a little lol…~~ as more than likely if it is your first episode of back pain it may be nothing serious but for the price of a consultation fee it’s still best to get it checked out now to be better safe than sorry. The best way to treat the problem and find out the cause is to seek help from a well trained manual therapist such as a Chiropractor. A good therapist will offer you a variety of treatment and prevention options (or referral if required) and an insight into how your problem could progress if left untreated. So what I would recommend is to save yourself money and seek help now rather than later, trust me, your future pain free self will be thanking me in the long run.

Danny at Gloucester Rowing Regatta

September 7, 2012/in News/by admin-lc

On the 25^th and 26^th of August 2012 Danny Adams volunteered to provide sports therapy for the competitors at the Gloucester Rowing Regatta, Hempsted Meadow. The Saturday was the busiest day of the two with the Junior and Masters events being held and the seniors competing on the Sunday. The rowing in Gloucester was fast and furious with competitors from all around the country attending the event.

On the Saturday Danny provided treatment to competitors from a small marquee attached to the side of the main marquee. He saw a wide range of different injuries which made it very interesting – he was prepped and ready to see some chronic Rowing problems!

It was a great atmosphere on the Saturday, which turned almost festival like when the heavens decided to open, turning the soft grassy meadow into a flip flop eating mud field. He says that from time to time he felt like Ray Mears or Bear Grylls treating in extreme conditions, as often muddy, bare footed competitors made their way to see him in his humble tent! The great thing was that other than the odd grumble, the muddy conditions made the event even more enjoyable as everyone seemed to be having a great day, Danny included!

The Sunday was a little quieter and shorter, with Danny choosing to treat on a much dryer wooden floored area in the corner of the main marquee. As expected, due to the lower number of competitors on the senior’s day, he treated a lot less people but none the less enjoyed the fantastic hospitality and atmosphere that Gloucester Rowing club kindly provided.

A big thanks to Ben Rodford and all at Gloucester Rowing Club for organising this thoroughly enjoyable event. Danny looks forward to treating the competitors again at the Autumn Head event coming this November.

***If you would like us to support an event that you are attending or hosting, whether sport or work related, please get in touch!!***