More often than not, I find myself recommending products to my clients to help speed up their rehabilitation and stay injury free.

To make life a little easier, I’ve now added a page to this site with links to some key products available from Amazon:

www.nottingham-massage.com/shop

I’ll be adding to this with more products as I come across them, so keep coming back to see what’s new.

I’m very excited to announce that I’m now part of a new venture called the Combat Sports Clinic. Setup and conceived by top ranked female MMA fighter (and friend) Rosi Sexton, CSC has been setup to bring together therapists and professionals with a particular interest in combat sports.

As some of you may know, I’ve been involved with martial arts since the age of 14, with a history of training in karate, aikido, thai boxing, Brazilian ju-jitsu, submission wrestling and mixed martial arts (MMA). I’ve also treated many martial artists, from dedicated hobbyists to competing amateurs to top level professional fighters.

CSC is literally brand new but is already growing and developing with guest bloggers and contributors from all sides of the sport. Most exciting for a tech-head like me is the iPhone app that has been produced. You can download it from iTunes here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/combat-sports-clinic/id445265606?mt=8

I’ll be contributing regular blogs to the site on all manner of topics and hopefully will even be supplying some videos to appear on the site and app too. Really looking forward to it!!

Just a quick note to keep everyone up-to-date with latest developments…

As most of you will know, my wife and I are expecting a baby literally any day now (!) so I’m expecting that there might be some disruption to appointments booked over the next couple of weeks. Where possible, I’m going to minimise disruption to sessions booked in and do my best to be available on the usual days. If it all happens on the day that you have an appointment booked in, I’ll give you a call or text as soon as I can to make sure that there’s no confusion. So please book in as you would do normally and hopefully you won’t notice a difference!!

As always, if you’d like to book a session, give me a call on 07990 548519, email me at rich@nottingham-massage.com or use the popular online booking system to book in.

Hopefully I’ll see you again soon… maybe I’ll be a dad by then?!

Cheers, Rich

PS Keep your eyes peeled for my next newsletter as there are going to be some changes to appointment times etc from 1st August, but more on that later…

Becoming a parent exposes you to all kinds of new vocabulary and phrases that you just don’t come across in everyday life… well, I hadn’t!

This is the first of series of blog posts explaining what some of those new words mean:

meconium
This is what awaits you in your baby’s nappy for the first day or so. It’s a black, sticky, tar-like substance, not dissimilar to Marmite. Apparently it’s also odour-free, so at least that’s something!

colostrum
Talking of the first few days of a baby’s life, colostrum is the milk initially made by the mother. It is thicker than later milk and contains antibodies essential for a baby’s immune system as well as being high in protein and low in fat – sounds like a superfood!

prolactin
Also know as LTH or luteotropic hormone, prolactin is produced by the anterior pituitary gland and its main function is to stimulate milk production in the breast.

oxytocin
This hormone is produced by the posterior pituitary and has a number of functions. Firstly, it helps to control uterine contractions during labour. It also causes milk ‘let-down’ when the baby stimulates the nipple. The third and perhaps most well-known action of oxytocin is to help develop trust and bonding between mother and baby.

relaxin
Another hormone, this one is produced by the ovary, breast and placenta and works to allow ligaments to become more ‘stretchy’ by allowing collagen fibres to absorb more water. Although levels peak at the end of the 1st trimester, relaxin is most visible in late pregnancy as the body adapts to carrying a large weight and the pelvis prepares itself for delivery.

Phew, see what I mean! And that’s the tip of the iceberg of the words that you’ll hear. Next up we’ll have the wonders of Braxton-Hicks amongst other things…

Due to all the bank holidays coming together in April and May this year, I’m taking a break from Thursday 21st April to Tuesday 3rd May.

So, over the next few weeks I’m available on these days:

• Thursday 21st April at Bushido MMA from 6pm
• Tuesday 3rd May at Lace Market Clinic from 12 noon
• Monday 9th May at Lace Market Clinic from 10 am
• Tuesday 10th May at Bushido MMA from 6pm
• Monday 16th May at Lace Market Clinic from 10 am
• Tuesday 17th May at Bushido MMA from 6pm
• Monday 23rd May at Lace Market Clinic from 10 am
• Thursday 26th May at Bushido MMA from 6pm
• Monday 30th May at Lace Market Clinic from 10 am

If you’d like to book in, give me a call on 07990 548519 or email me at rich@nottingham-massage.com

Happy Easter!

The glenohumeral joint is an extremely mobile joint who’s stability come from numerous soft tissue structures such as ligaments and muscles rather than closely fitting joint surfaces as seen in the acetabulum/hip joint.

Although this dynamic stability is very complex in reality, an easy way to grasp the concept is to think of the joint as a series of concentric circles with the glenoid fossa and labrum at the centre and the rotator cuff muscles and prime movers at the outsides.

Many thanks to Carl from Neo Health for showing me this.

A recently published study has looked at patient satisfaction from musculoskeletal therapy and reached these conclusions:

Patients are highly satisfied with musculoskeletal physical therapy care delivered across outpatient settings in northern Europe, North America, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. The interpersonal attributes of the therapist and the process of care are key determinants of patient satisfaction. An unexpected finding was that treatment outcome was infrequently and inconsistently associated with patient satisfaction. Physical therapists can enhance the quality of patient-centered care by understanding and optimizing these determinants of patient satisfaction.

You can read the full article here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21071504.

As it’s a new decade, I’ve decided to refresh the website to bring it a bit more up to date and add a bit more information. Check it out here: www.nottingham-massage.com.

I’ve also taken a few pictures of the treatment room (radiator & fan heater just out of shot!):

Just need to take a few more photos of your truly in action and then I think it’ll be just about there…

As part of my 3rd year practical exams I’ll be examining the cardiovascular system. A part of that involves identifying, recordign and interpreting pulses.

Found this handy little video describing the locations of the major pulses:

Muscles, Bones & Joints:
Pulse Locations

Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Practitioner’s Guide to Treatment (3rd Ed)
by Leon Chaitow
Churchill Livingstone, Elsevier 2009

An extremely thorough investiagtion into a potentially baffling condition.

As a third year student at Oxford Brookes University on the five year ‘part time’ pathway, I’m beginning to treat patients regularly in clinic and learn about specific pathologies and conditions and their associated treatment modalities. One condition that I have come across a number of times already is Fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia or Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) is said to affect up to 2% of the adult population so is something that every healthcare practitioner should be aware of.

Chaitow has done a fantastic job of bringing together a wealth of information about the subject to provide as comprehensive a text as you could imagine regarding this condition. Wonderfully presented and clearly broken into relevant sections, this book deserves to be read by everyone dealing with patients suffering from this condition.

Scope of the book

Quite rightly beginning with the history of fibromyalgia and how perceptions and views have changed since it was first recognised in the late 16th Century as ‘rheumatism’ it looks at the changes that have reflected upon the condition and then comes bang up to date with research published in 2008 demonstrating the latest thinking. This superbly sets up following chapters on recognising and differentiating the condition, essential for any practitioner.

The book really comes into its own from this point onwards as it looks at conditions associated with FMS and also potential treatment modalities.

As the condition is so complex, there are many other related illnesses that will often be seen in clinic from IBS to TMJ dysfunction to depression/anxiety and many more. The book does an excellent job of covering as many of these conditions as you’d hope for, offering an insight into how they are related and how they can be treated as a whole.

Accompanying DVD

The book is accompanied by a DVD-ROM that features the entire book in digital format as well as around 20 videos covering various aspects of diagnosis and treatment, ably demonstrated by Mr Chaitow himself. This really helps to bring the subject to life and helps with the detailed treatment options and modalities described in the text.

My only criticism here is that the content is presented as a DVD-ROM rather than DVD meaning that it must be watched on a computer rather than television. I also had some difficulties using the disc on an Apple Mac. It was possible to access the content by this needed to be done by finding individual files, not ideal.

Conclusion

This really is a comprehensive text. It covers everything from the diagnosis to the treatment of the condition which is exactly what a healthcare practitioner, be it osteopath, massage therapist, whichever, is looking for. However, it goes far beyond this to look at the history and conflicting theories about the condition, giving a valuable insight into all elements of the condition.

I feel that the DVD is a bit of a missed opportunity but the supplied videos provide some extra insight.

As a whole, highly recommended.