Stress is almost an inevitable consequence of modern life, yet few people have any practical tools with which to manage it on a routine basis.

Beyond the particulars of each specific patient presentation, one simple form of treatment stands out in the care of most, if not all, patients betraying signs of stress: that of calming (manual therapists will say “inhibiting”) the body’s sympathetic nervous system – a.k.a.the “fight and flight” system – which tends to be in overdrive at that point.

It is a simple form of treatment involving gentle but firm finger pressure on specific spinal intersections, it can be taught to anyone in the space of five to ten minutes, and most significantly it works.  Many patients will report a sudden feeling of being “steadied”, and will recount that after treatment, they had their first night of good sleep in a long spell…

It works not just for adults, but also with children.  An exhausted mother recently brought me her “hyperactive” 8-year old son, whose energy appeared never to flag, and who would rarely go to bed before his parents as a result.  My diagnosis was one of a strained and over-stimulated nervous system, irritated both emotionally (his younger brother had just been diagnosed with type I diabetes) and physically (by a diet dominated by fat, sugar and processed carbohydrates).

During the initial consultation, I treated the youngster’s sympathetic system, but also gave his mother a short tutorial, as well as providing some relevant dietary advice.  A week later, the mother reported her son was demanding treatment every evening, and falling asleep at 7.30pm sharp.

If you have any questions relative to this blog or this form of treatment, simply contact us by phone on 020 8566 0767 (Ealing) / 01895 2000 50 (Uxbridge) or by email at help@brigetohealth.co.uk

When we see patients at Bridge to Health we invariably give home exercises designed to work synergistically with hands-on treatment, and from time to time someone will ask how long they need to keep up with the exercises. The answer I give is often one they do not want to hear.

What I tell the patient is that there is a broad difference between exercise prescription and medication prescription: whereas medication is usually intended to have short-term effects such as control of infection, inflammation or pain, exercise is not a time-limited cure: it is long-term prevention, and the specific exercise is only the starting point of restoring necessary movement to a specific part of the body. When that motion can be translated into more wide-spread integrated exercise (eg. such as swimming), then there is a case for dropping those exercises. There is hardly any chance of an exercise (as opposed to medication) being beneficial in the short-term and detrimental in the long-term: it may become therapeutically neutral, but it is usually the case that the people who want to stop doing the exercises are the very ones who are unlikely to replace them with anything else.

The issue I am raising here is not about drugs and exercise: it is about attitude and understanding.  Most of the problems we have with our bodies come about due to a mismatch between our physical form and our lifestyle, and in most of those instances the problem is a lack of appropriate movement rather than a surfeit (the exceptions usually involve extremes such as weight training, impact sports, excessive stretching or high-endurance activity.) Most of the time, the problem involves insufficient regular gentle normal-range movement to maintain body tissue health, such as is often the case in chronic low back or neck/shoulder problems associated with deskwork and sedentary lifestyle.

So in answer to the question ‘when can I stop doing the exercises’, I could use stick psychology by saying: ‘when you’re happy for the problem to come back’, or perhaps for a more carrot-oriented answer: ‘when you are so interested and involved in regular gentle mobility exercise that they are effectively redundant’. The good news is that when you get it right, restoring normal motion often generates messages of comfort and ease that provide all the motivation you need to persist with those lifestyle changes.

Due to rising running costs, Bridge to Health is introducing a modest increase in treatment fees as of 1st March, 2011. This will amount to £5 on osteopathy or massage sessions, and £10 on nutritional assessments; the new prices will be as follows:

Osteopathy: £45 (£40 for Fitness First Uxbridge members, corporate clients and concessions)

Massage: £35 (30 mins) and £55 (1 hour)

Nutritional assessment and diet plan: £60

We understand that most people are feeling the pinch at the moment from price increases, the squeeze on the labour market and the government spending cuts etc., but our fees have been held steady for the last 3 years, and we will once again try to hold these prices for as long as possible.

Best wishes
Peter and Mathieu

At this time of year, many of the families we treat in Ealing and Uxbridge are steeling themselves for yet another round of stiff medication as parents or children contract various chest infections, flu or viruses …

At home, we tend to use one very powerful form of non-medicated treatment, frequently used to excellent effect a couple of generations ago, now sadly forgotten: the cold compress.

Applied in the right manner and at the right time, cold compresses stimulate key waste elimination organs such as the liver and kidneys, whipping up the organism’s ability to evacuate not only disease-related toxins, but also the residue of medication that the body has been unable to process.

Cold compresses also help to curb a high fever, bringing it down to a safer level where it can actually assist in the cleansing and recovery process!

Instructions for use are very simple indeed:

• Keep the couple of old cotton sheets and woollen pullovers you were about to throw away;
• for each member of the family, cut a first strip of cotton wide enough to overlap the lower third of the rib cage and the upper abdomen (covering both liver and kidneys), and long enough to wrap around the body a couple of times; then a second strip to fit around the neck in a similar fashion;
• Cut two strips of wool that will fit comfortably around the body and neck lengthwise, and overlap the cotton by one inch each side on the width to isolate the cold compress;
• Make sure the person is warm before applying the compresses;
• Soak the cotton in cold water, wring it to the point where it is no longer dripping, apply around the neck and waist, swiftly covering it with the wool surround which is secured with a couple of safety pins;
• Cover up the person warmly and bundle them off to bed, where they may rapidly fall asleep…
• After 10 minutes, run a finger under each compress to check that the skin underneath is warm and reactive; in those rare cases where the skin is cold and clammy (and the person may be shivering), the immune system may be too run down to use the compress to good effect; in such cases, you will need to take the compresses off and wrap your home-patient up extra-warmly with a hot drink;
• Where no adverse reaction is noted, leave the compress on overnight or until dry;
• Keep repeating every night (and two-three times during the day if the person is staying at home) until full recovery.

The waist compress is a staple treatment whenever our children (or their parents!) are unwell and have a fever, and we’ll add a neck compress when they are coughing and spluttering – So far, we have thankfully been spared the need to administer any stronger form of medication, and we’ve noted that our children tend to recover faster than most of their pals.

Bridge to Health are registered osteopaths in Ealing (on The Green, 3 minutes walk from Ealing Broadway) and Uxbridge (On Uxbridge High Street, inside Fitness First). If you have any questions about cold compresses please contact us (email help@bridgetohealth.co.uk or telephone 020 8566 0767 (Ealing) or 01895 20050 Uxbridge).