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Back care week

I’ve Got Your Back! How to Prevent Pain

Written by Lorraine Smith on . Posted in Complementary & Holistic Therapies, Holistic, Massage, Medical Massage, Mental Wellbeing, Reflexology, Reiki, Self-Care.

Back Care Awareness Week: 7th-12th October 2024

Are you struggling with back pain from hours spent hunched over a desk? 

Is your posture less than perfect?

This Back Care Awareness Week, I’ve got your back—literally! 

Whether you’re dealing with persistent discomfort or aiming to prevent issues before they start, this week is the perfect time to focus on your back health.

Wherever you are in the UK, Back Care Awareness Week might kick off on different dates, but I’m following the official timeline from backcare.org, and it begins today! 

Your back supports you every day; why not take this opportunity to assess your posture, reflect on you lifestyle, and incorporate daily habits to help resolve ongoing issues and protect your back in the long term. 

So, without further ado, let’s dive into some practical tips that can help you protect your back and improve your overall health and wellbeing.

Look After Your Back and Your Wellbeing

Back pain is one of the most common health issues in the UK, affecting people of all ages, walks of life and professions. 

Whether you’re working from home, hitting the gym, or simply going about your daily routine, taking care of your back is essential for long-term health.

Is Your Home Office Hurting Your Back?

With many of us now working from home, whether full time or hybrid, it’s essential to ensure that your workspace is set up ergonomically. Poor posture or spending hours on the couch or in bed while working can lead to significant discomfort, pain, and, possibly, long-term back issues.

Here are a few key adjustments to help protect your back while working from home:

  • Chair Support: Ensure your chair supports your lower back properly. If you’re working from a couch or bed, you’re likely slouching, which can strain your spine.
  • Desk vs. Couch: Sitting at a properly set-up desk is much better for your back than lounging on the couch or working in bed. Desks allow for proper posture, while soft furniture encourages slouching.
  • Screen Height: Your monitor or laptop screen should be at eye level to prevent hunching your shoulders and neck.
  • Frequent Breaks: Get up and move around every 20 minutes to reduce stiffness and improve circulation.

For more ergonomic tips, check out this Mayo Clinic guide on office ergonomics.

The Tissue is Not Always the Issue

Sometimes, despite all your efforts to care for your back, pain persists. Research shows that back pain isn’t always linked to structural damage. The phrase “the tissue is not the issue” reminds us that pain can be influenced by a variety of factors—stress, mood, fitness, or previous pain experiences.

The nervous system plays a crucial role in how much pain you feel. When pain is persistent, your nervous system can become hypersensitive, making you feel more discomfort even after the initial injury has healed. Understanding this can help you manage your pain better and distinguish between “hurt” and “harm.”

A personalised, holistic approach to self-care or treatment, considering both physical and emotional factors, can often offer better results.

Strengthening Your Core: A Key to Back Health

One of the best ways to prevent back pain is by building a strong core. Your core muscles support your spine, helping to prevent strain and injury. Incorporating exercises like planks, gentle yoga, or Pilates can make a significant difference in keeping your back healthy and resilient.

Everyday Habits for a Healthier Back

Small lifestyle changes can have a big impact on your back health. Here are some simple tips to follow:

  • Stay Active: Regular exercise like walking or swimming keeps your back flexible.
  • Move Regularly: Avoid sitting for more than 20 minutes without taking a quick walk or stretch.
  • Eat a Balanced Diet: A diet rich in nutrients can nourish your muscles, bones, and spine.
  • Take Vitamin D and Calcium: Support bone health by ensuring you get enough calcium and Vitamin D.

Mental Health and Back Pain: A Two-Way Street

Chronic back pain can impact your mental health, causing stress, poor sleep, and even depression. Likewise, stress and anxiety can amplify the perception of pain.

An holistic approach, which addresses both physical and emotional factors, is crucial for effective pain management.

Massage and Complementary Therapies for Back Pain Relief

Sometimes, self-care isn’t enough, and that’s where professional treatments come in. At Lorraine’s Treatment Room, I offer a range of therapies designed to alleviate back pain and improve your overall wellbeing:

Celebrate Back Care Awareness Week!

This Back Care Awareness Week, why not take a small step towards better back health? Whether it’s improving your posture, strengthening your core, or booking a relaxing treatment, every little change can have a big impact.

If you’re ready to take the next step in your back care journey, I’m here to support you with treatments tailored to your needs. Get in touch and let’s work together to ensure your back stays healthy and pain-free!

Today is National Massage Day 2021- Here are 25 reasons you should get a massage

Written by Lorraine Smith on . Posted in Massage.

National Massage Day occurs on the 1st October each year.

When was the last time you got a massage?  

Imagine booking a massage right now and picture the experience that awaits you… tranquil treatment room, relaxing music playing gently in the background, the soothing aromas that calm your senses, imagine yourself sinking into the heated couch and feeling your stresses and strains melt away…

There are many massage modalities and numerous ways massage can benefit you.  

Whether you are:

  • An aromatherapy lover
  • A traditionalist who enjoys a Swedish massage
  • Enjoy the geothermal aspect of a LaStone or Bamboo Massage treatment
  • Are suffering with a sluggish lymphatic system so would like lymphatic drainage
  • Want to give your stubborn areas a good jigging with G5 massage
  • Like a deep tissue or power massage
  • Are a keen sports person who would like some sports / remedial massage
  • Someone who prefers a head massage
  • A lover of a foot massage
  • A facial massage aficionado
  • Would like two or three hours on the couch being massaged from top to toe

I HAVE A MASSAGE FOR YOU!

Additionally, I am able to combine your favourite aspects from any of the massages to create a truly bespoke treatment just for you.

You can find all the massages available at Lorraine’s Treatment Room by clicking here.

The American Massage Therapy Association lists 25 reasons why you should get a massage, they reference the studies carried out, highlighting the positive results for each condition and the study size.  Top benefits include:

  1. Relieve stress
  2. Relieve postoperative pain
  3. Reduce anxiety
  4. Manage low-back pain
  5. Help fibromyalgia pain
  6. Reduce muscle tension
  7. Enhance exercise performance
  8. Relieve tension headaches
  9. Sleep better
  10. Ease symptoms of depression
  11. Improve cardiovascular health
  12. Reduce pain of osteoarthritis
  13. Decrease stress in cancer patients
  14. Improve balance in older adults
  15. Decrease rheumatoid arthritis pain
  16. Temper effects of dementia
  17. Promote relaxation
  18. Lower blood pressure
  19. Decrease symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
  20. Help chronic neck pain
  21. Lower joint replacement pain
  22. Increase range of motion
  23. Decrease migraine frequency
  24. Improve quality of life in hospice care
  25. Reduce chemotherapy-related nausea

Looking at the number one & three benefits of relieving stress and anxiety, Psychology Today tell us that 

The anxiety-reducing and mood-enhancing benefits of massage are probably related to changes in EEG activity, decreased levels of cortisol, and increased activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, which acts automatically to calm the body and brain during stress.

Additionally, numerous studies have been carried out on massage pressure and show that moderate massage is the most effective for reducing pain associated with medical issues and carries the additional benefits of improving attention and enhancing your body’s immune response.

Brain imaging studies support this evidence by showing the changes that take place in areas of the brain that are involved in regulating stress responses and emotions such as the amygdala and hypothalamus.

I have some phenomenal treats and offers for National Massage Day that will be sent out to all members on my mailing list….I’ve even devised a couple of new treatments just for the occasion!If you are not a member of the mailing list and would like to be, you can join by clicking here.

1st October also marks the start of Pro-Touch Awareness month – a month that promotes the importance of consensual and positive human touch and connection to everyone.  Just think about how comforting a hand can be when you are in need.  Now, imagine someone who is deprived of human contact, what joy could a simple touch, or hug, bring to them?

Pro-Touch Awareness realises that, following the pandemic, we are presently in a touch-starved world so as well as raising awareness of the benefits of touch, they are encouraging touching the lives of others with acts of kindness.

What kindness could you bring to someone’s life today?

Is gardening giving you gyp?

Written by Lorraine Smith on . Posted in Self-Care.

Top tips to prevent and relieve those gardening aches and pains.

Having more time at home during lockdown ignited a horticulture habit for lots of people.  You might have spent more time tending to your lawn, possibly have been growing a variety of flowers for the visual delight or for arrangements, perhaps you have established a ‘wildlife’ garden, or did you start growing food for your family?

There is no doubt that gardening is great exercise, eating fresh food with virtually zero miles is commendable and tasty, and flowers can brighten the dullest of days and give our hearts a hug, however, the act of planting seeds, tilling, and weeding is not great for our hands and the strange positions we contort ourselves into whilst gardening can cause aches and pains in muscles we did not know we had! 

There can be many repetitive tasks involved with gardening, especially if you have a large plot or allotment. These motions, especially those we carry out infrequently, can aggravate existing conditions or cause new ones! 

Overdoing it in the garden might cause a flare-up or bring about:

  •  Arthritis
  • Carpal tunnel
  • Knee conditions
  • Hip conditions
  • Tendonitis
  • Lower back strains
  • Shoulder strains
  • Sore calves
  • General aches and pains
  • Sore hands
  • Chapped hands

It’s important to remember that the secret to a healthy garden is a healthy gardener!

So, what can you do to keep yourself healthy?

Firstly, pace yourself.  Don’t  just head straight in for hours on end and subsequently end up with aches and pains that could have been prevented.

It is recommended that you start your gardening with something gentle such as raking or watering and then STRETCH!

Stretching is especially important if you are not usually active or have not gardened for a while. Stretches should be done slowly without bouncing.  Your muscles will be warm after the raking/watering and stretching is best done on warm muscles.

You should not force a stretch and should aim to hold each stretch for 30 seconds for maximum benefit. 

The following stretches might help with gardening aches and pains and are ideally carried out before and after your gardening session and any time you take a break..

  • Offset the forward bending by arching your back backwards. 
  • Do some side-to-side stretches. 
  • Try some body twists.
  • Stretch your quads by holding onto a chair or similar, grabbing one ankle and pulling this gently towards your buttocks.
  • Stretch your calves by leaning against a wall, putting one leg behind the other, bend the front leg at the knee and, with the back leg, push your heel into the ground.  
  • Extend your arm and bend your hand downward at the wrist. With the other hand gently press your hand back toward the body.Then bend your hand upward at the wrist and again gently press fingers back toward the body. 
  • Holding your hand up, slowly bend your fingers down, one joint at a time. Slowly bring fingers back up and stretch the fingers outward as far as comfortable. 
  • Try wrist rotations.

There is lots of information on stretching and gardening specific stretches on the internet.  Somewhere like the NHS Website is a great place to start.  However, as usual, if you have any concerns regarding any ailments, please seek medical advice.

Remember to take frequent breaks – a break is a great time to do some stretching and also to reach for the water bottle.

It is important that you stay hydrated, especially when exercising.  Water, sugar free drinks, tea and coffee all count towards you 6-8 glasses a day.

Keep your gardening tools maintained and ensure they are comfortable to hold and the right size for you as this ensures you do not have to grip handles that are the wrong size for your hands and are not bending over excessively if your spade or fork is too short.

Another thing to remember when gardening is to wear protective gloves!  Gloves are a gardener’s friend. Gloves can save you from dry skin, calluses, cuts and being attacked by nettles or brambles!  They will also protect your nails from snagging or excessive dirt.

As well as stretching, some people find a nice long soak after gardening can be soothing on their aches and pains.

Your hands and forearms will also appreciate self-massage with a moistening or pain-relieving cream or lotion.   Regular gardeners might even like to treat themselves to an indulgent hand cream specifically for gardeners to ensure the hands stay as soft and cared for as possible.

If you have overdone it in the garden then why not book a Massage or Complementary session to help address those aches and pains and help prevent repetitive strain; a premium, medical style manicure will help keep your nails and cuticles in tip-top condition and will moisturise dry hands.  For further luxury and self-care, nourishing, moisture-replenishing collagen gloves are available as an add-on to any treatment.

HAPPY GARDENING!