Fit at Forty - with Dance

An article by Jane Beazley in advance of her 40th!

Scary birthdays

It is a year of scary birthdays at Mulberry Osteopaths. Patrick has already announced that he is hitting the big 60 this year, although I’m not sure I believe him, he looks very well on it. Whereas I (Jane) will hit the big 40 in April - Eeeek - how did that happen, I’m sure I was twenty just five minutes ago? I have already made plans for my birthday week – yes I said week, I am going to embrace 40 and do it in style. If you are one of my patients, I apologise now, as I am sure I will bore you with the details as it draws closer.

Fit at forty

About two years ago, I made a pledge to be fit at forty, and I wanted to use my opportunity to write a blog to talk about that, in the hope of inspiring at least one of you to make some changes.  When I found myself post osteopathy school with a BMI that categorised me as overweight, I knew something had to change. I initially faffed around with diets, but they were not sustainable and I always fell off the wagon. I soon recognised that rather than starving myself, I needed to make a positive life long change, combining food and exercise. I now eat reasonably healthily, I have cut down on my refined sugar intake, only allowing myself treats at the weekend, which is much more achievable than banning sugar outright, and I have also reintroduced dance into my weekly routine.

Dance and its benefits

Without a doubt, the most important step has been to exercise. I danced from the age of about four to seventeen, learning ballet, tap and occasionally jazz. So it was no great surprise when I started dance again that I became totally obsessed - I’m currently taking two zumba classes, two ballet classes and a tap class a week. It is challenging, it is at times exhausting (to quote my ballet teacher “ballet is beautiful, beauty is pain”), but I am always motivated to go, and that is because I love it. I would probably do more if I could afford it.

Dancing is so beneficial to your physical and mental health. Physically, it improves muscle strength and tone, visceral health, aerobic fitness levels, posture, balance, coordination, agility, mobility, flexibility, bone health and energy levels. It also helps with weight loss. For me, and depending on the style of dance, I burn 500-600 calories in an hour class, which makes me feel far less guilty on the days I can’t resist a slice of cake.

The mental benefits are huge too, and often overlooked. The BBC broadcast a programme called ‘Darcey Bussell: Dancing to happiness’ in December, which followed four different groups, with differing health issues, to learn how dance was benefiting their lives. It is well worth a watch if it is still available on the BBC IPlayer, but a brief synopsis is that dance can benefit:

·         Teenagers coping with issues such as anxiety, depression and confidence/self esteem.

·         Those diagnosed with Parkinson’s, as dance benefits their mobility, balance, fatigue, social behaviour, mood, motivation and memory,

·         The over 50’s through the Silver Swan ballet initiative, which is targeting those nearing or in retirement who might be unfit, isolated or lonely.

·         People suffering with Dementia (filmed at the Eric Liddell Centre in Edinburgh), challenging and improving their memory and movement.

Am I fit at forty?

The combination of less sugar and my weekly struts around the dance floor has helped with weight loss. I am back to a normal BMI, although my weight seems to have plateaued, but maybe that is because I have found my healthy adult weight. My jawline and waistline have definitely made a comeback, as has the faint outline of some abdominal muscles, but most importantly, I feel fit and strong, I don’t get out of breath when I would not expect to and I don’t get reflux anymore. Additionally, I find such joy in dance, in learning a new skill, in perfecting something I already know, in challenging my memory and in meeting people and making new friends with shared interests.

Next steps

I still need to work more on flexibility. As much as I would like to, I don’t think I will ever achieve the splits, however, I would like to feel more flexible, and maybe hold my leg at ninety degrees in ballet class with greater ease. Also, if I am going to survive a career lent over a treatment couch all day, I need to find some sort of routine post work to look after my spine. So my next steps are more stretching and maybe yoga. Perhaps I will wax lyrical about that next time.

Have I inspired you?

If you’ve lost touch with dance, and want to return to it, or if you want to try it for the first time, you are in a fabulous city to do so, there are so many schools and different classes/genres available. Although I love to bang on about dance, I understand it isn’t for everyone. If you recognise that you need to make some changes, but aren’t interested in dance, perhaps think about what it was that you loved to do as a child, as chances are you will still enjoy it and this will be your motivation. If you can’t think of anything, why don’t you try fitting exercise into your day, such as walking to work. Walking is so much more enjoyable than getting the bus, and it’s free. With spring/summer approaching, it is the perfect time to try. A decent pair of trainers, a top you don’t mind getting sweaty and some headphones to listen to the radio or a podcast are all you need.  Whatever you do, just do something to make a positive change. It is never too late.

Five inventions that will keep osteopaths in business

I thought I’d look at a few inventions that will keep osteopaths in business for years to come . . .

1. The Chair – Once upon a time man would squat when having a rest or a chat with a friend. It might seem surprising to many today but the human body is actually well designed for squatting.  Then some bright spark invented the chair and with it came all the postural challenges that osteopaths thrive on today. Prolonged sitting can lead to low back pain, lower rib tightness from slumping, pressure on the abdominal contents, reduced breathing capacity, tightness in the muscles at the fronts of the thighs, tension across the upper back and shoulders . . the list is almost endless. Of course, this all depends on how much time you spend sitting, what sort of seat it is, how well you sit, but ultimately you weren’t designed for prolonged sitting no matter how wonderful the design.

2. High heels – Fashions come and go but high heeled shoes never seem to fade away especially when it come to dressing up for a posh do. Some women even decide to wear them to work! The only negative thing from an osteopathic business perspective is that this fashion item has never really caught on with men in the same way it has for women. Put on a pair of heels and the whole walking mechanism is thrown into disarray. The calf muscles shorten, the pelvis tips forward, the low back hollows out so even if you can manage to walk gracefully without falling over there’s huge potential for hip pain, pelvic torsions, low back pain and all manner of aches in pains in the legs.

3. Hedge Trimmers – The sound of a hedge trimmer on a sunny summers day can bring a smile to an old osteopaths’ face, especially if it involves a nice tall hedge and therefore a step ladder. Holding a heavy piece of machinery at arm’s length in full stretch, not just for a couple of minutes but repeating the action over maybe an hour is great for straining shoulders and arms. If you add the step ladder into the equation you also get the benefit of leaning forward and overreaching to get to that furthest bit of hedge so the low back gets strained as well!

4. Vacuum Cleaners – We’re talking mainly about the stick type models here rather than the upright ones and to be fair the problems caused by these devices are more down to operator error than anything else. There’s a tendency when using a stick vacuum cleaner to bend over too much and press down through the stick as if the pressure will make it work better. No wonder folk struggle to straighten up after doing the weekly chores around the house.

5. Smart Phones – As if computers and laptops weren’t good enough for generating osteopathic business they’ve now introduced the smart phone and folk are walking and sitting around with their heads permanently looking down towards their feet. Given that your  average head weighs in at about 5kg that’s quite a challenge for all the muscles in the upper back and shoulders as they support the weight of this heavy object for hours during the day. Tightness across the upper back and shoulders, neck pain, headaches and even pains radiating down into the arms and hands are all possible consequences of this wonderful osteopathic fee generating device.

MOT and Service?

This is the time of year when the car goes in for its annual MOT and service, which should mean that it survives another Scottish winter.

Obviously there is a legal requirement to put your car through this annual ritual to ensure that it’s safe enough to take out on the roads so there’s no way of avoiding it. If we’re lucky we get the all clear or maybe some minor faults need attention but hopefully nothing too big and expensive.

This is also the perfect time to mention that funny rattling noise that you’ve noticed in the past few weeks or the fact that the car seems to be demanding a bit more oil than normal so that the mechanic can check things out and hopefully prevent a major problem from developing.

Unfortunately some might say it’s a shame there isn’t the same requirement to put ourselves in for an annual MOT and service.  There could be an invitation to attend your GP’s practice when you reach a certain mile stone age for a ‘well women’ or ‘well man’ check when a practice nurse may check your blood pressure, take a urine sample and ask a few life style questions.

Women are also invited to have cervical smears every three years once they reach the age of 25, and once you reach the ripe old age of 50 you can also opt in to the bowel screening scheme every couple of years and mammograms every three years.  All these are optional.

However, there’s not as much pressure to get those little niggly aches and pains checked out and, because there’s no requirement or obvious prompting with official letters, it’s easy to start living with troublesome joint and muscle problems that can often be easily resolved.

This is where an osteopathic MOT and service can be useful. A problem doesn’t have to involve acute pain or major disability for it to start making life un-necessarily harder . . . . and the chances are it’ll be a lot cheaper to get sorted out than the annual car MOT. 

How Long Would You Wait?

If you wake up in the morning with an acute spasm of pain across your low back, or you injure yourself doing some crazy sporting activity, you want it to be sorted out and you want it sorted out now, today. How long do you normally wait for an appointment with your GP?

By the time you get to see your GP the acute low back pain has settled in and you’ve been out of action for a while. Then don’t be surprised if after your wait for an appointment the response is a prescription for some pain killers and anti-inflammatory medication that’s a bit stronger than the stuff you can get in the chemist.

There is another option, you could give us a ring. Backs are what we’re good at. What’s more we will probably get you in to see us a lot quicker than trying to see your GP. We carried out an audit of new patients during June and it came up with some interesting figures:

Just over 30% of new patients got an appointment to see one of our osteopaths within 24 hours.

45% got an appointment within 48 hours.

85% of new patients were in to see one of us within a week.

Of course, not everyone who rings in to see us for the first time is in acute pain.  A large proportion of our patients have had a problem for a while before they finally get around to having things checked out. So in these cases it’s not a question of the first available appointment but more an appointment that’s convenient.

If the problem has been there for weeks or even months you may not be interested in the earliest possible appointment, it’s more a case of trying to schedule your appointment around work or family commitments. We offer evening and weekend appointments to help with this. You may also decide to wait a little longer to see one particular osteopath that has been suggested to you and at a time that works for you.

A high percentage of our patients are referred to us by a friend, colleague or family member, and most patients (just over 70% according to our audit) ask to see a specific osteopath when they ring in. About 90% get to see the osteopath they want. This again is a bit of a contrast to seeing the particular GP you want to see.

So if you’re in pain we’ll get you in quickly and if you’ve got a busy schedule we’re pretty flexible with regard to appointments times.

Mulberry Osteopaths Slide Show

Here's a little slide show I put together for World Osteopathy Day

Bendy Yoga Teachers and Communication

 – or Does your yoga teacher know what it’s like to be stiff?

I had a very good yoga teacher not so long ago who admitted that when she started doing yoga she actually found it quite easy in many ways. Even without trying too hard she was naturally flexible and found that it wasn’t too much of a struggle tying herself into the various yogic knots.

It stands to reason that many yoga teachers maybe initially drawn to yoga because they were born bendy, can do a lot of the yoga poses well and find that they enjoy being good at it. So can someone like this really understand what it’s like to be a middle aged bloke who works in an office and struggles to touch his knees let alone coming close to reaching his toes?

A good yoga teacher will listen to their students and try to understand what difficulties they face and how they feel. If a teacher drops effortlessly in to a standing forward bend, places her hands flat on the floor and presses her chest against her thighs then she doesn’t really have a concept of what a tight hamstring is or a ridged low back and immobile pelvis. She has to rely on you, the student, telling her how it is for you.

It’s important to communicate with your teacher, and the same goes for a Pilates instructor or personal trainer.  They should be willing and keen to listen.  It’s also even more important to communicate with yourself. Yoga, Pilates and movement in general is a chance to check in with your own body and listen to what it’s trying to say. Don’t just rely on your teacher to tell you what you ‘should be feeling’, actually tune in and ‘really feel’ what your body is telling you.

Bottom line is that you are your own best teacher provided you take the time to communicate with yourself.

Also save a thought for the poor old bendy yoga teacher that is often too bendy. I treat plenty of yoga teachers and students that maybe bendy but they need to work really hard to gain and maintain the strength to hold everything together.

Avoidance or Remedy?

It’s always interesting to hear the stories patients have to tell to give the back ground of the problems they present on their first consultation. We will often find out that the problem that is causing enough pain to prompt the visit to see an osteopath is the tip of the iceberg.  The other thing that can initiate that first visit is an inability to do something enjoyable or important such as a sporting activity.

Of course rather than trying to rectify the problem another possible option is avoidance.  If a particular movement, activity or task causes pain then just avoid that particular action. If you develop Repetitive Strain problems in the arms or wrists through working at a desk and computer then just change the job to avoid the computer. If running causes recurrent groin strain then stop running.

Avoidance certainly is one option but the underlying problem hasn’t gone away and you run the risk of being able to do less and less. Is that really the best option?

I’ve been treating a patient recently who had to stop cycling because it kept triggering pain and spasm in his left thigh. During the consultation he also told me about his history of hand and wrist pain associated with computer work. Luckily he found himself a better job which doesn’t involve as much use of a computer. So that’s computer work off the list and cycling off the list . . . . . what next?

Essentially aches and pains are your bodies way of telling you it’s not happy but more often than not osteopaths can not only ease the aches and pains but we can help your body return to the activity that it wasn’t particularly happy with.

As well as the hands on osteopathic treatment advice relating to changing your technique, using your body more efficiently, or introducing a more balanced exercise routine may also be included.

Now surely that’s a better option than avoidance and simply giving up the activity even though it may involve a bit more work to get you back on track.