Welcome
Changes within the BackCare Clinic for the New Year
New Years Resolutions!
Do You Put Unnescessary Stress Onto The Horse You Are Riding?
Yes it’s the start of yet another new year. While I hope it is going to be a happy and prosperous new year for you, for the BackCare Clinics at Eye and Ipswich it is going to be a year of change.
At the Complementary Medicine Centre, Eye we hope to be moving into our new premises within the refurbished Hartismere Hospital building. We will be having our own suite of rooms on the first floor alongside the new stair well and lift. So no problems with access.
It’s going to be an exciting time for all of us, but inevitable there are going to be teething problems. Please bear with us when these occur and also make us aware of any problems that may affect you.
At the BackCare Clinic, Ipswich we are fortunate that Allison Mordecai is returning to provide a wide range of massage therapies and reflexology.
Both Allison and Lara, at the CMC, have promised promotions and discounts for patients of The BackCare Clinic.
With legislation regarding self-regulation in the pipeline, The Association of Osteomyologists is urging its’ members to instigate improvements in patient care and administration now rather than wait for changes to be forced upon us.
Of course patient care has always been a priority at the BackCare clinic and this will of course continue.
Patients will notice little change in the treatment they receive. However, as there is a requirement for continuing professional development (CPD’s), new techniques will occasionally be introduced when they can improve the outcome for the individual patient and naturally these will be discussed with you at the time of treatment.
One of the most significant change is that we are being urged to treat all patients that have not attended the clinic for treatment, or attend with a different complaint, within a six month period as a new patient. This will obviously have implications to the length of appointment and therefore possibly the cost.
As many patients will be unaware of this change - not everyone receives or reads their e-mails - it will be phased in over the coming months. Initially, if you have not attended the clinic for 6 months or over you will be asked to arrive 15 minutes early for your appointment in order to complete new record cards. I hope understand the need for us to have these updated records and will bear with us when asked to fill in these again. By asking you to arrive early it is hoped that it will be possible to keep actual appointment times and therefore the cost of appointments as they are at present.
In addition to this there is going to be the inevitable increase in the amount of paper records that we will be required to keep. To keep time and cost considerations to a minimum it is hoped that many of these records can be standardised and will only require a quick signature on the part of the patient.
NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS!
I fear we are all guilty of making resolutions at this time of year with most of them being broken by the time you read this newsletter! However, I thought I would at least make a token effort. So this year I have resolved not too spend time reminding you all that maintaining a healthy back is as important as treating your injuries and relieving pain. That it can indeed be cheaper to have the occasional treatment to prevent pain than wait and need two to three treatments to relieve pain. Not to forget the possible loss of income when pain prevents you working.
I think this is a resolution that you will all hope I stick to. So once again I will wish you a HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.
Treating the horse alone is not the answer.
Many patients attending The BackCare Clinic, like Trina Gowing, ride horses on a regular basis. If you are one of these, or indeed know of others that ride, then the following article may be of interest to you. It shows that The BackCare Clinic is not solely a centre for the treatment of back, neck and shoulder pain. Treatment at the clinic can improve posture and balance. Benefiting your riding and reducing the stress placed on your horses back.
‘Is this a true reflection of how you have been sitting then?’ my Instructor, Becky Chapman, asked ominously.
‘Yes, I think so’ I replied, slightly concerned but not really surprised.
I was on the horse riding simulator at Ashen Equestrian Centre. It’s a very sophisticated plastic horse that will tell you, based on a number of sensors, whether you sit to the right, left, too forward or too back (amongst other things).
I’ve had a number of lessons on ‘Strider’ the plastic horse, and have never had such an obvious deviation from the ideal balance point. I was sitting with a lot of weight to my left even whilst stationary, and motion magnified the problem. My right shoulder felt like it wanted be up near my ear and no matter how I tried to correct it, I couldn’t. It was at that point that I admitted to myself that the ‘just get on with it’ attitude wasn’t going to do me (or any horse I ride) any good long term. I came away from my lesson feeling a little deflated, wondering how I was going to get myself fixed. Money was tight and the ‘back man’ that I had seen in the past was retired.
I had heard about a man, Nic Aldous, from a few friends who had highly recommended him. After finding out I could have a free consultation I decided I had nothing to lose. I booked an appointment and went to see Nic, wondering if he really was the ‘real solution to back pain’. Admittedly my main problem was my shoulder, but I also had pain in my lower back occasionally, my left ankle was extremely sore after riding and I had a tendency to weight my right leg and roll on the outside of my left foot when walking.
My first (free) consultation was a bit of a whirlwind of information. Nic asked me to do a few simple exercises that quickly demonstrated stiffness in certain areas of my spine and torso. He also explained what was happening, and why and how he could fix it using a combination of Theraflex and Cranio-Sacral therapy. I was very happy with his explanations and booked myself in for my first ‘proper’ appointment.
The first appointment was a combination of Theraflex and Cranio-Sacral work on my shoulders and pelvis. My general posture was reviewed at the start and end of the session, and much to my delight I looked taller and slimmer with a flatter stomach – and a more natural curve to my back. I left feeling very optimistic. The treatment was not painful, and seemed to yield instant results. From that first session my shoulder pain disappeared. I went home with an idea of how to stand correctly and a couple of exercises to do.
As Nic had pointed out, tissue memory would prevent any permanent change this early on in the treatment so I wasn’t surprised when 24 hours later I felt a bit crooked. My next session was a week later and Nic once again used the Theraflex, followed by Cranio-Sacral therapy. The results lasted about 4 days – a step in the right direction!
The next session was the last one of my weekly sessions, and Nic worked on my pelvis a fair amount. The Cranio-Sacral therapy is so gentle but makes quite profound changes. In particular my left foot tended to fall inward when I lay down, in contrast to my right foot which pointed outward. After some cranio-sacral work, both feet were much better
My next session, it had been around 6 weeks since I last saw Nic. Although I had a few stiff areas (noticeable more to Nic than me) I had felt great for that time. A stark contrast to starting the day crying in the kitchen unsure how to get through the day with a 3 and 1 year old to look after, with a very painful shoulder. I was very happy that I was well on the way to being ‘fixed’ and had one more thing to do. Get back on the riding simulator.
Before the lesson began, I explained to my instructor that I had recently been having treatments from Nic, and that I was interested in how that may have affected my position on the horse. She turned the screens off so I couldn’t see what was happening, and effectively did a ‘blind run’ in walk to see how my posture had changed, if at all. I can confirm Nic has done his job extremely well, and my posture was absolutely bang on central. I no longer sit to the left, and in turn my shoulders are now level too. I am very happy with the treatment from Nic, given that I can categorically prove that my weight distribution when sitting on a horse has been changed by treatments from Nic alone. I had not ridden for the duration of the treatment from Nic, nor had I had any other form of treatments and the only postural exercises/stretches I had done were ones specified by Nic.
I’m pain free, I know that when I ride I am not putting undue strain on any horse that I ride, I’m not putting undue strain on my joints in my body and I feel taller, look slimmer and walk with a skip in my step. Brilliant result, I’m very happy.
Katrina Gowing
Other people have also reported improvements to the quality of their riding particularly those competing in dressage events.