Archive for March, 2008

Lichfield Staffordshire Sports Injury sufferers use Atlas Sports Injury Clinic Tamworth

The sports injury team at Atlas Sports Injury Clinic in Tamworth have secured the services of yet another sports injury specialist. Richard Mason, a Chartered Physiotherapist who boasts a London Marathon time of just over 2 hours 20 minutes has joined the Atlas Team and will be providing sports Physiotherapy and training advice to Atlas customers.

Atlas Sports Injury Clinic also have available a Sports Podiatrist Peter Taylor who himself is a 1 hour 10 min half marathon winner. Peter heads up the running injury clinic in Tamworth and provides runners with prescription orthotics, laser foot scanning, biomechanical evaluations and video gait analysis.

Lichfield Staffordshire is often spelt incorrectly and appears as Litchfield. Lichfield is a mere 15 minutes drive from Tamworth and Lichfield sports injury customers can access top quality treatment on their sports injury. Atlas have a steady stream of patients from Staffordshire which include surrounding areas of Burton on Trent, Brownhills, Norton Canes, Cannock and Swadlincote. If you want effective sports injury treatment then a few extra miles travel is worthwhile.

Atlas have a long history of treating sporting injuries and provide treatments for both elite athletes and the casual jogger. Atlas have expertise with soccer injuries, skiing injuries, racquet sports injuries, golfing injuries, athletics and dance injuries.

The Tamworth Sports Injury Clinic is open long hours Monday to Friday and also offer a Saturday morning slot for customers. Parking is easy and you will find the hands on approach from the Atlas practitioners a refreshing change from the exercise prescription approach from many physiotherapists.

Testimonials can be viewed by visiting the atlas Website

www.atlaspainrelief.com and clicking on the sports injuries link.

Common injuries for runners include Peroneal Tendonitis

Peroneal tendonitis presents as a pain down the outside of your calf and is aggravated by running. It can appear sore to touch and can give tenderness around the outside ankle bone when running your fingers over it. Causes can vary from over-pronated feet which increase the stress on the outside of the calf to something simple like running long distances on the same camber of the road. Think about changing sides of the road when you run. It’s like running on the side of a hill which is unnatural for most of us and continual distance running of this nature will lead to this overuse syndrome and eventually prevent you from running.

Solihull osteopath John Williams supports the BOA in promoting the role of Osteopathy.

Two Atlas Clinics are prepared to accept Patients from NHS initiatives should the local PCT be able to obtain NHS funding for Osteopathic treatment of back pain and other musculo skeletal disorders.

www.atlaspainrelief.com and www.solihullbackpainclinic.co.uk

The Department for Work and Pensions is preparing to publish a report by Dame Carol Black, the DWP’s National Director for Health and Work, on assisting people on sick leave to return to work. The report puts the total cost of ill-health to the British economy at around £103bn, with the bulk of this figure (£63bn) being made up of the benefit costs and lost taxes for people who are not working due to illness or disability.

As part of her recommendations, Dame Black proposes trials of a new Fit for Work service to provide access to specialists such as physiotherapists, osteopaths and counsellors for all employees in the early stages of sickness. Dame Black has been reported as saying that the conditions are often treatable and even preventable if they could be supported early. Commenting on this morning’s Today programme, Dame Black specifically referred to the potential of osteopathy when treating and preventing conditions such as bad backs.

On Wednesday 12 March, the BOA held a parliamentary reception in the House of Commons focused on Osteopathy: Complementary Healthcare for a 21st Century Workforce. The purpose of the event was to highlight the benefits of osteopathy and its greater potential if Government funding was introduced.

In her presentation the president of the BOA, Karen Robinson, focused on the potential benefits to the NHS; by getting patients off waiting lists, and reducing the need for expensive and/or ineffective drugs; and to the economy; by assisting those on long-term sick leave back into work, thereby reducing working days lost and the associated benefit payments. Osteopathy has the potential to even more beneficial if interventions occur early on.

Musculoskeletal problems have taken a significant toll on the UK economy. The Department of Health’s Musculoskeletal Services Framework 2006 Report highlighted that musculoskeletal patients are the second largest group (22%) receiving incapacity benefits and an estimated 12.3 million working days are lost every year through work-related musculoskeletal problems. The cost to the UK economy of these lost days is staggering.

As the UK economy continues to develop and the pressures of modern working life become more acute, the physical strain upon employees is likely to increase further. As Geoffrey Podger, CEO of the Health and Safety Executive, recognised in a speech to the Society of Occupational Medicine, “With 30 million working days still lost each year, more must be done to embrace the challenges of the modern workplace… We have to find effective solutions to these new challenges in order to keep people healthy and in employment”.

Karen Robinson, President of the BOA comments, ‘More must be done to reduce the level of impact of musculoskeletal conditions on patients, and the corresponding effect caused to employers and the economy. While there are no silver-bullet answers to addressing this concern, Osteopathy offers the potential to drastically reduce the number of working days lost, benefiting patients, employers and the NHS. With over seven million osteopathic treatments performed each year, the feedback we receive from our patients is overwhelmingly positive.”

“Whilst we were very disappointed to note that no provision had been made in the budget to make use of the NHS surpluses previously reported to support the integration of osteopathy and other alternative therapies into NHS treatments we are encouraged to hear Dame Carol’s comments this morning to the media and the BOA will do all it can to support any initiatives that emerge. While musculoskeletal problems still present a formidable challenge, Osteopathy offers enormous promise to patients, to employers and to the NHS. At the event Karen encouraged the MPs and policy makers present to engage further with the British Osteopathic Association to help us increase accessibility to this proven” Karen Robinson continued

The host for the event was the Luton North MP, Kelvin Hopkins who introduced to the podium Conservative Shadow Minister for Disabled People, Mark Harper, BOA President Karen Robinson, and Boo Armstrong, Managing Director of GetWell UK, whose organisation has had great success in a pilot scheme in Northern Ireland to integrate complementary therapies into the NHS.

Attendees at the reception included: Kelvin Hopkins MP (host), Mark Harper MP (Conservative shadow Minister for Work and Pensions; Anne Milton MP (Conservative shadow Minister of Health); Sandra Gidley MP (Liberal Democrat shadow Minister for Health/Member of the Health Select Committee); Dr. John Pugh MP (Liberal Democrat shadow Minister for Treasury, Member of Public Accounts Select Committee); Bob Russell MP (Liberal Democrat shadow Minister for Defence/ Whip); Diane Abbott MP; Mark Durkan MP/MLA; Bill Etherington MP; Roger Gale MP; David Maclean MP; Edward O’ Hara MP; Dr. Tony Wright MP; Earl Baldwin of Bewdley; Lord Brookman; Lord Clement-Jones; Lord Colwyn; Baroness Wilkins’

Acupuncture Solihull for a female Solihull acupuncturist. If you are looking for an acupuncture practitioner and have fertility problems then call 0121 745 8792. Acupuncture for fertility may help potential parents to have the family they dreamed about. Working alongside IVF the acupuncture treatment will cause no harm and many couples have endorsed acupuncture to aid fertility.

Solihull acupuncture clinic is part of the Atlas group of clinics and offers Free Consultations with our female acupuncture practitioner. Acupuncture is painless and can treat many problems such as hormonal, digestive, emotional and pain related problems.

Stress, anxiety and depression respond well to acupuncture treatments and Solihull acupuncture clinic have treatments designed for your needs.

Acupuncture is available to new patients from Cheswick Green, Dickens Heath,Earlswood,Solihull, Shirley and Hall Green. If you prefer to be treated by a female practitioner call us today.

Visit Solihull Acupuncture Clinic and see what they have to offer. Book your free consultation by calling 0121 745 8792 or visit our website on www.atlaspainrelief.com

Osteopath, Osteopaths, Osteopathy – The Secret Society

Solihull Osteopath John Williams looks at the role of the Osteopath in the UK and what can Osteopaths really do to help people. John is the Clinic Director of the Atlas Pain Relief Centre group of clinics in Hall Green Birmingham and Tamworth Staffordshire and he is opening a new Birmingham Osteopaths Clinic at the Robin Hood Island, on the Shirley / Solihull border at the end of March 2008.

Visit the website www.solihullbackpainclinic.co.uk

If my experience of dealing with the general public is anything to go by, then sadly for Osteopaths in the UK we are still an unknown quantity. How many times am I going to be asked “what is an osteopath? what do osteopaths do? and what is the difference between an osteopath and a chiropractor”

I am sure this is a subject that troubles many osteopaths in the UK, we know that there have been initiatives to promote our profession but if so, the hard work of some and efforts of us all is falling short of what is required. We are as mysterious as a secret society to many of the general population and for some that have heard of osteopaths they are totally confused about what we actually do.

“You’re the fella’s that manipulate the muscles and the chiropractors manipulate your spine” or “ chiropractors work on the spine and osteopaths treat the arms and legs.

Many patients that visit me for the first time have booked an appointment to see an osteopath but know virtually nothing about osteopathy, why is this?
As an osteopath, I am extremely proud of my profession and want everyone to know what a huge contribution to the health of the nation we actually make. I want everyone to know what an osteopath is and what they do. Is there an official statement detailing the differences between osteopaths and chiropractors?

Our chiropractic cousins have no such problem because the majority of people would give a familiar reply if asked what a chiropractor does. Can we not find out how the chiropractors achieved such recognition and perhaps adapt something to suit.

We seem to keep patting ourselves on the back and promoting our profession within our ranks. We all know how good our profession is, but isn’t this just preaching to the converted. Let us begin telling the world what osteopaths do and what part we can play in healthcare. Musculo-skeletal pain, especially back pain, seems to be on the increase and affects so many. Why is it, that as the chiropractic and osteopathy professions are often described as being similar, that the population know what chiropractors do and have no idea of what osteopaths do.

We all know that osteopaths do far more than fix bad backs and back pain but do the general public know? We have a fabulous product which in my opinion is not being marketed well enough. If this profession is run as a business then let us see some results. I am not interested in “Spin” I want recognition of our profession, give the job to people who have a successful track record in sales and give them a budget to get the job done.
We pay top dollar for our GOsC registration and I am astounded by comparisons between the GOsC fees and the HPC fees. Both are regulating bodies of professionals and the HPC charges a fraction of the GOsC registration fee.

I hear many osteopaths asking what do the GOsC do for these expensive fees, let us at least be able to say they managed to use our fees to promote osteopathy in a successful manner and achieve what we all want – public recognition !

Any comments or suggestions can be forwarded to jwosteopath@yahoo.com