What Hunter-Gatherers could teach office workers. Sitting is a modern day curse, particularly for office workers, who often spend long hours each day sat in front of their computers.

I frequently find that patients coming to see me with knee or back pain also have underlying problems with their hips which they were not aware of.

Sometimes patients come and see me who aren’t in pain as such, but feel that their backs are out of alignment and are on the verge of getting worse. Often these patients have experienced serious problems with their backs in the past, and recognise the warning signs leading up to an episode of serious back pain.

Patients often complain of pins and needles or numbness in their hands, often accompanied by neck pain. One of the most common causes is compression of the nerves in the neck.

Although the concept had been around for a long time, it wasn’t until the 1980s that researchers began to formally suggest that certain types of headache were actually being caused by problems in the neck, rather than the skull or brain. They went on to validate this theory by doing experiments where they blocked (numbed) specific nerves at the top of the neck and then noticed that the headaches were relieved.

You might think that spending time in space with no gravity would be a nice rest for your back, but you would be wrong. Studies have shown that over half of US astronauts experience back pain during their missions, and that overall they have more than 4 times the risk of getting herniated discs compared to the general population.

Why Sciatica Recovery Can Be a Slow Road: Understanding the Healing Process

Sciatica is a condition that osteopaths see frequently. It consists of pain, numbness, and/or tingling that radiates along the path of the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower back through the buttocks and down the back of each leg. In some cases, the unlucky person will also experience a weakening of their leg or foot muscles.

Why Sciatica Recovery Can Be a Slow Road: Understanding the Healing Process

Sciatica is a condition that osteopaths see frequently. It consists of pain, numbness, and/or tingling that radiates along the path of the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower back through the buttocks and down the back of each leg. In some cases, the unlucky person will also experience a weakening of their leg or foot muscles.

In my previous blog I talked about the merits of using either paracetamol or ibuprofen for back pain relief. For those people who would like to try natural alternatives to these drugs, today I’m going to highlight two natural pain-killers which have some scientific evidence supporting their use for alleviating back pain.

Paracetamol or Ibuprofen for back pain?

If you have nerve damage and are looking to optimise your recovery, there are a few supplements that have shown promise with regard to either protecting or repairing nervous tissue

Sore jaw after the dentist?

Apple Cider Vinegar

Quite frankly, everyone needs to be filtering their drinking water. Why? Well, to be blunt, the stuff that comes out of your tap includes water that has come out of other people. Our bodies can only metabolise a fraction of most drugs we swallow, so the rest will end up being excreted in urine or faeces, and therefore entering into the wastewater system.

Turmeric is a great natural and inexpensive tonic, exhibiting proven anti-inflammatory effects across the body. Most of the beneficial effects derive from turmeric’s ability to decrease oxidative stress, and as a result, inflammation.

From now on I will be offering a £5 discount on every treatment for cash payers. This means my cash prices will be £50 for new patients and £40 for returning patients.

As a lifelong coffee drinker I’m always watching out for research that justifies my caffeine habit. A recently published study looked at how coffee consumption influenced the health of around half a million people in the UK over a period of 12 years.