#thefascialeffect – The Fascial Effect

Don’t Just Sit There!

Sitting is something we all do without thinking about it, we sit relaxing on the sofa, we sit at our desks, we sit in cafes and restaurants, we sit on public transport or in our cars, but sitting can be bad for our bodies if we don’t sit in the right position.

Hunched over a keyboard, slumped on the sofa, bent over a mobile phone or e-reader, driving on a long journey, even watching TV, we twist and bend into positions our bodies weren’t designed to maintain for any length of time. These activities involve:

Holding your neck in an awkward position for long periods of time
Hunching your shoulders forward
Leaning more into one side of your body

When your head is positioned in a forward posture for hours at a time it puts extra pressure on the discs in the neck and spine, which causes increased compression and can lead to chronic neck and shoulder pain and severe headaches. So, stress headaches may not be about too much going on in your head, but how you’re holding it.

The average human head weighs around 10 to 12lbs and all that is balanced on just 7 vertebrae in your neck and supported by around 20 muscles that are responsible for moving your head around and keeping that weight in place.

The relationship between the head, neck and torso affects the whole body. When the head sits properly on the neck and both are properly aligned with the back, the whole body follows with natural posture. However getting our heavy head to sit in correct alignment after the back, neck and spine is a difficult task.

The partial solution to this is getting the neck and shoulders as right as possible at first and the head alignment will follow. Also, these pains can usually be treated with a course of gentle myofascial release therapy, which identifies the points or triggers where things have tightened up and got stuck, loosens the muscles of neck, releases trapped nerves and increases your range of movement.

That will work to release some of the tension, but if you just go back to your old habits, all that good work can be reversed. However, you can practise good self-care after treatment and prevent this happening again.

My Neck and Shoulder Fascia Release workshop is designed to get you started with basic movement therapy to do that – and it’s online, so it doesn’t matter where you are you can participate. The results are often life-changing and patients find they not only have more mobility, less (or no) pain, but also sleep better and feel generally better in themselves.

To book a Neck and Shoulder Fascia Release Workshop click here

If your current symptoms are very uncomfortable an initial assessment is advisable. It may be necessary to have a manual treatment to release some of the tension first to get the most out of the workshop.

Nutrition

Twinge and Whinge

Despite the unseasonably warm November, the weather is getting colder and wetter. That’s British weather – the days get shorter and the temperature drops.

If you suffer from arthritis – whether rheumatoid (where your joints get inflamed) or osteo (also known as ‘wear and tear’) – you probably get more painful twinges and aches when it gets colder and dampness also affects them. Cold weather is uncomfortable and many people report feeling stiffer, moving more slowly and every move causes twinges and aches in their joints.

But why?

Cold muscles don’t stretch as well as warm ones, which is why your personal trainer will strongly recommend you warm up before a workout to ensure you don’t get any injuries. This tension reduces mobility and flexibility in your joints.

There are even studies that have linked changes in the barometric pressure to changes in the way joints move.

What you can do

A good diet will help; eating seasonally fresh and nourishing foods should be your first step. But what about supplements to support your body’s functioning?

Here are a few supplements that support bone health:

Curcumin is the principal active component of Turmeric and gives the spice its bright yellow colour. In South Asia, turmeric is considered to be a warming spice; I feel warm just looking at the vibrant yellow powder! Curcumin has anti-inflammatory properties, making it a potential treatment for a number of health conditions, including reduced joint pain and increased ease of movement. Some studies have shown that the reduction in joint inflammation can act in an almost self-healing fashion, allowing regeneration of cartilage leading to true joint healing – rather than simply managing the condition so get out your recipe books and see how you can add Turmeric to your recipes.

We can’t talk about joints without mentioning the often recommended Glucosamine Sulphate, which helps to lubricate the joints and support the formation of cartilage, reducing wear and tear i.e. osteoarthritis.

Winter months are not good for sunbathing in the UK, but sunlight generates Vitamin D, which contributes to strong bones. That means that for around 6 months of the year a Vitamin D3 supplement is advisable. Vitamin D facilitates Calcium absorption in the body, which promotes bone and joint health.

It is essential to take Vitamin D3 with Vitamin K2 which will make sure that the calcium ends up in the bones and not become deposits where it shouldn’t be, like in your arteries.

Add safe doses of curcumin, glucosamine, Vitamins D3 and K2 to Black Cumin Seed Oil to reduce inflammation, Pumpkin Seed Oil – packed full of essential fatty acids, which act as lubricants for joints, and Milled Flaxseed – also high in Omega Fats, Vitamins and Minerals. If that sounds too complicated to put together every day then you might find that a sachet of BEND, daily, will give you all the concentrated, natural ingredients designed to support healthy bones and joints that you need.

This doesn’t mean that a daily sachet of BEND will replace gentle exercise to keep your joints moving. You still need to move around as much as possible – the combination of a sachet of BEND and moderate exercise is better than either option alone. Protect and preserve your bones and joints to stay mobile and independent.

For more information call Jas on 07775633798

Ageing

Is ‘The Change’ disrupting your life?

Menopause is often referred to as ‘The Change’, implying that your life will change to be different afterwards – but in reality it’s the actual process of menopause that is the biggest change. And it can disrupt not only the life of the woman who is experiencing it, but also those who live and work with her.

Menopause is a change in hormone balance that stops ovulation and the symptoms can include hot flushes, night sweats, brain fog, mood swings and depression to name few. In addition body fat accumulates mainly in the abdominal area as a result of oestrogen deficiency and blood pressure begins to rise adding to a greater risk of cardiovascular disorders later in life.

Some people can manage relatively mild symptoms, but the severity of the symptoms can almost be unbearable for others. Everyone is different.

A balanced diet high in plant foods alongside action taken to reduce stress and take moderate exercise can help cope with physical health and mental wellbeing during this time.

But what if you are not able to step off the treadmill of life just yet and want to keep living life to the full without the constant challenges of coping with the menopause? What if the small changes you make to your lifestyle are helping, but they are not improving the quality of your life as much as you would like? There are pharmaceutical treatments like HRT, but not everyone wants to commit to taking that for an unspecified number of years. However, there are natural alternatives.

I came across the Rain seed nutritional products at precisely this time and have never looked back. It’s all about getting back to basics – if a diet high in plant foods is good for you, the seed-based product is three times more nutritious, because it contains the fuel and genetic material to grow the plant in the first place i.e. everything is in the seed; vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes and plentiful Omega 3, 6 and 9.

The seeds used in these supplements cannot, as a rule, be added to your muesli! That’s why these products are brilliant, no chewing is required as the seed coat is ground and the oils are extracted in a cold press process so as not to damage any precious nutrition. This densely nutritious product is added to a solution to make it palatable and convenient to take.

SOUL is the product I started taking and most certainly the one I would recommend for symptoms caused by hormonal issues.

Menopause, peri-menopause and pre-menstrual tension are all hormonal imbalances and the symptoms are amplified by inflammation. Any anti-inflammatory agent can lessen the associated discomforts and optimize healthy endocrine function. All of the seeds in SOUL are known for their anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties.

For information on the ingredients view the PDF SOUL

If you would like to know how SOUL can help you then email me on jas@thefascialeffect.co.uk to arrange a consultation.

Body

Posture can tell the story of our life

Every one of us is born with inherited genes from our parents. Our structure is inherited and then life continues to further shape us with:

Physical trauma such as accidents injuries and surgery
Psychological trauma – stress, anxiety and moods
Movement patterns – overuse or lifestyle habits

All of these influence the fascia framework; a 3-dimensional connective tissue which connects by weaving a continuous web around the body from head to toe, from front to back and from interior to exterior. In a perfect structure the fascia would be well laid out and organised, but because life happens, it can become stuck, stretched and bunched! Many times this leads to pain and dysfunction.

If symptoms such as pain, tightness and a restricted range of movement are ignored, we become increasingly locked in a structural/postural pattern from within.

The English Dictionary definition of posture is ‘the position or way in which someone stands or walks’. However, posture is more than simply standing, walking or sitting up straight – it is the driving force of all movement and activities and has a profound effect on our health and wellbeing.

If we develop poor posture by constantly sitting in a chair that doesn’t provide the right support for our body or walk with a hunched back, it’s no wonder our body starts to complain. It wasn’t designed for the position we’ve been forcing it to adopt and that’s why we develop aches and pains.

The motivation to change or improve posture is usually pain or restricted movement. Efforts to change are quite often frustratingly ineffective because we focus on changing the outside structure. Overzealous activity can even cause injury and further restrictions.

While people talk about sports injuries, things like tennis elbow can develop even if you’ve never picked up a tennis racquet. It’s simply the result of a frequently repeated movement that irritates a muscle or tendon until it becomes sore. Then the fascia tries to protect it and needs to be released for healing to take place.

If we want to continue moving well, an inner awareness of our body and making gentle subtle changes to posture is the way forward to long-term health and wellbeing.

For more information call 0775633798

Body

When wear and tear starts to hurt

As you get older your body can start to show signs of what even the medical profession sometimes refer to as ‘wear and tear’. However, a more likely diagnosis is likely to be osteoarthritis.

This is a degenerative joint disease caused by the thinning and damage of cartilage usually due to gradual wear and tear, injury or overuse. Predominantly it affects weight bearing joints like the hip and knee and is more common as we age, but occurs in the younger people with a physically demanding job or lifestyle.

Osteoarthritis should not be confused with rheumatoid arthritis (or rheumatism), where the tissue around the joint is inflamed resulting in noticeable swelling, restricting movement. This can afflict any age group.

Articular cartilage is a tough, flexible tissue which covers the end of the bones and acts as a shock absorber allowing the bones making up the joint to glide over one another. Without the cartilage cushion, bone rubs on bone causing the affected joint to react. The symptoms can include:

The gradual onset of pain – felt either when joint is kept immobile (e.g. driving, sitting and night pain), or when weight bearing (e.g. walking and climbing stairs).
Stiffness – normally felt worse in the morning.
Swelling and tenderness after physical activity.
Change in movement patterns (e.g. abnormal gait or limp).
Referred pain (e.g. people present with tenderness or reduced mobility in another region of their body due to compensatory movement or muscle imbalance).
Reduced stability as a result of atrophy and weakening of muscles around the joint.
Inactivity to avoid pain can result in worsening physical symptoms and decrease in overall mental health and overall wellbeing.

How can physical therapy and myofascial release help?

When the cartilage has been worn down it cannot be regenerated and there comes a time when surgery and joint replacement is the only option. However, until then, manual therapy may help to relieve some of the symptoms.

Myofascial Release is a style of hands-on therapy that involves sustained pressure on selected areas of the body to break up tight fascia that inhibits movement of muscles and joints. A treatment plan including myofascial release can be effective in managing the symptoms of osteoarthritis by:

Reducing tension and softening adhesions around a joint giving bones some space to move reducing the friction that causes pain and inflammation
Treating myofascial trigger points also reduces pain and stiffness
Positional Release – a precise manipulation technique to treat muscle spasm and pain in the ligaments, tendons and joints to achieve the most optimal level of comfort possible
Gentle passive stretching to increase the range of pain free movement within capability
The increased flexibility of the fascia allows for strengthening of surrounding muscles, which supports the join better
A continued course of treatments to address any postural habits developed due to compensation patterns will slow down further degeneration
Advice on nutritional supplementation to support long term bone and joint health.

So if you’ve got that ‘getting older is painful’ feeling, this is a non-surgical approach that will give you an improved range of movement without the associated pain. Taking action sooner rather than later often prevents things getting to the point where surgery is the only option.

For more information call 07775 633798

Ageing

How soundly do you sleep?

How often do you wake feeling you could have had a few more hours of sleep? Feeling tired and groggy in the morning is not always due to lack of sleep, but often because of the poor quality of sleep.

Sufficient sleep is necessary for the body to repair the damage it’s suffered during the day. While you rest your body will flush out all the toxins that naturally accumulate and re-charge for another day of living.

If you don’t sleep well your body is unable to do this properly. If this continues over a long period of time it can cause all sorts of health problems.

The problem is that it’s difficult to solve the problem of poor quality sleep – and the effects reach every aspect of your life. Being tired or lacking in energy doesn’t make you a great companion or the employee of the year. You feel every one of your years – and if you’ve had this problem a while, you probably feel older than the calendar says!

So how can you fix this problem?

People will tell you to reduce stress as that’s probably causing a disturbed night’s sleep. Easy to say, but almost impossible to do.

Asking your doctor to prescribe sleeping pills may make you sleep better, but often results in a groggy awakening and a chemically induced sleep isn’t great for your long-term health.

Some people resort to buying new beds or mattresses. Some try spraying lavender oil on their pillows. But what if there was a simpler and more natural solution.

It is important to give the body the right nutrition to cleanse, repair and recharge itself. This wards off morning grogginess and helps you wake up feeling refreshed and able to live your life to the full, instead of struggling to exist.

Soul Red can help. It is a blend of 3 seed oils + ribose, which together are high in antioxidants and excellent for anti-ageing. If you take a sachet of Soul Red last thing at night, the anti-inflammatory effects of the black cumin, chardonnay grape and red raspberry seed oils soothe your body and the antioxidant effects counteract free radical damage in the body while you sleep. Ribose energises the cells which is the equivalent to charging a flat battery in your mobile phone. And the body is ready to go again for another 16 hours or so. As an added bonus it also has an anti-ageing effect on your cells.

To shop click here or if you would like to talk to me, just call 07775 633798.

Stress

Happy Hopi Ear Candling!

We carry stress and tension throughout our body, most of it in our head. When I get clients who really need to relax and chill out, the Hopi Ear Candle treatment is one of my favourites. It is total relaxation for both the client and the therapist.

If you don’t ‘get’ why ear candles are so relaxing let me explain.
Firstly, you have to lie comfortably on your side, and your therapist also has to remain still with their hands gently on your head to keep you from moving and the ear candle upright (so no accidents happen!). The process of just lying quietly while the candle slowly burns is an excellent way to reduce some of the stress of a busy lifestyle.

Secondly, as it burns, the candle makes a pleasant crackling sound as it releases vapours into the ear and you experience a warm, comfortable sensation in the head. During this process, a mild suction occurs and excess wax and impurities can be gently drawn out.

Thirdly, the fragrance of the candle soothes you and releases renewed energy often described as a feeling of “relief in the head”.

This is repeated for the other ear and can be followed by a Fascial Effect™ facial massage which pays particular attention to certain pressure points on the face. This deeper, clinical approach with the Hopi treatment helps relax the facial muscles, increase circulation and can also be helpful for a variety of conditions such as headaches, hay-fever and blocked sinuses.

Most clients find the whole experience very relaxing and quite often fall asleep during the treatment.

If you’d like to find out more about this dual approach please do give Jas a call on 07775 633798.

Please Note: Hopi Ear Candles are contra-indicated for the following conditions:

Perforated or lack of ear drum
Auricular cysts
Grommets have been fitted
Infection or inflammation of the ear
An allergy to bees wax or bee stings
Recent ear surgery
Epilepsy

If you’d like to find out more about this dual approach please do give Jas a call on 07775 633798.