The Body Stress Release Academy is celebrating it's 30th Anniversary next month - here's your chance to celebrate with us and win FREE BSR sessions.
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A new study indicates that anti-inflammatory drugs be be little better than a placebo in treating back pain...  Well it's certainly chilly at the moment, but a new study show that the it's not the cold making your aches and pains worse! There has been a long held belief that when the weather turns cold,we feel are aches that much more, however the latest study suggests we are just feeling the pain of learned association. According to Chris Maher, professor at The George Institute For Global Health, “Human beings are very susceptible so it’s easy to see why we might only take note of pain on the days when it’s cold and rainy outside, but discount the days when they have symptoms but the weather is mild and sunny.”  The study looked at a sample of 1000 back pain sufferers, studying pain levels in relation to the weather, and found no correlation between them. This suggests that, rather than blame the weather, we should look at the elements we can control.
Our nervous system is a complicated network with many functions. Continuous signals (nerve impulses) exchange between your brain and the rest of your body. The optimum functioning of this communication system is crucial to keep a constantly healthy andto maintain a balance and aid recovery. Muscular tension can suppress the nervous system, causing distorted perception of bodily functions by the brain and the spinal cord. Disruption of the nervous system can adversely affect every bodily function. Nerves to the legs and arms can be irritated, and also nerves towards the organs such as the intestine and stomach. Body Stress Release begins a process in which the body releases muscular tension, so that the body can recover from the strain and the nervous system can function normally again.  One of the most common issues I hear about as a Body Stress Release practitioner is tension in the shoulders and neck. So why has this become such a widespread problem? With so many people working in offices, one of the biggest culprits is 'computer hunch', the tension that builds up from too many long hours working on your PC (or Mac!). Sitting with our necks pulled forward, often with our shoulders up is not a natural position. Add in the mental stress that often accompanies our working day, deadlines, work overload etc, and you have a problem.  It's not just physical stresses that cause these problems, shoulder tension is frequently linked to emotional stress. The trapezius group of muscles, that covers the neck, shoulders & mid back is often the part of the body that carries the most tension. We've all heard of 'carrying the weight of your world on your shoulders', and there is a certain amount of truth in this. Often increased emotional stresses lead to shoulder tension. Our muscles are designed to tighten up during times of stress (part of our natural 'fight or flight' response), but often do not relax properly when the event causing stress has gone, leaving a residue of tension and tightness in the muscles. Tension HeadachesOften, what starts as tight shoulders, lead to stiff necks, tightness in the back, and frequently, tension headaches. Many people experience this, feeling like a tightening around the head, or a sensation of pressure on the skull.  So, what can help? If you're working at a desk all day, be aware of your posture, try and sit up straight and position your screen to stop your neck pulling forward. Try and take breaks during your day, loosen the shoulders, stretch some some muscles, and try not to get locked in the same position too long. If you're getting the train or bus home, don't get in the same position you've been in all day by looking at your phone!
If you're tension is locked in, try Body Stress Release if you have a local practitioner, or try and find a similar complimentary health technique. 
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Pokemon Go isn't the problem, if it gets gamers in the fresh air..great! It's the way you hold the phone when you're playing! The pressure you exert on your nerves, discs, joint spaces and the little bones on the sides of your vertebrae when you look down towards your computer devices, iPads, book or newspaper is huge! This can lead to headaches, pins & needles, and tension in the neck & shoulders. So, head's up for heads up!   The following is an extract from my recent talk for Hove Stress Busters. "The word 'stress' normally has negative connotations, however, Stress can be and is positive. We all need positive stress in our life's. It is one of our vital warning signs, within our bodies system producing the "fight or flight" response, in which chemicals kick in & send blood to the correct parts of the body, for survival, feeding our muscles in readiness to react, fight or run away from dangers present. Positive stress also provides us with challenges to stimulate the brain & body. It gives us the incentive to get out of bed each morning, give us purpose in our lives, and to achieve daily, however that may be. It is our motivation. For example, an athlete who trains, needs positive stress to improve their performance. they need correct exercise & rest, to improve their physical abilities,and for they're muscles to develop & strengthen, as well as the positive stress of competition so they can achieve their goals. So, not all stress is harmful, in that we require a certain level of stress to promote growth and evolution by the way of repeated positive adaptations. Lack of positive stress is a contributor towards a lack of fulfillment, which can lead into depression. Stress, however, becomes bad for you when the amount of stress increases to a level that which you can no longer adapt to. At this point you have reached stress overload.   So what happens when you become overloaded with stress? Our bodies go into a 'fight or flight' response, hormones are triggered that raise our heart and breathing rates. Our muscles tense and oxygen is increased to the brain. This is natural, but if the stress continues your body keeps it's stress levels up far longer than is needed for survival and the tightened muscles do not then relax When we have too much stress, beyond our ability to deal with it, this becomes stored into our bodies as lines of tension or body stress. The stress then becomes locked into our muscles, which lay above the body's vital nerves. This disrupts the nervous system's communication with the brain, and prevents the body functioning at it's optimum level. We are all designed to be self healing. For example, if you cut your finger, after a period of time it will heal naturally. If the body's communication system is disrupted,the efficiency of your body's natural self-healing ability is impaired. The most important area which can be affected by body stress is the spine and the nerves that radiate from it. If stress is stored in the muscles that sit over the neck area, this can lead to headaches/migraines, tense shoulders, stiff necks and pins & needles or numbness in the arms. If the body stress is stored over the lower back or lumbar area, this can lead to back problems, sciatica, cramps in the legs, and numbness in the feet.  Sleeping position is really important, poor position can lead to jaw problems, headaches, as well as back & neck problems.  Be careful how you sleep!
Few people are aware that sleeping in the wrong position causes dental problems and health problems in general, rendering many treatments vain. Those who sleep on their stomach or their side place a static load on the jaw, traumatizing the chewing apparatus continuously. Over time this situation will cause disturbances throughout the body because of the important role played in posture by the lower jaw. By sleeping in the wrong position, part of the body's weight falls on the lower jaw, forcing it laterally and unbalancing it. Usually this is not so serious, as the sleeper often changes position, so that the pressure inflicted on the jaw does not remain constant. Far more serious is the combination of sleeping stomach down and suffering from a misaligned Atlas, since the block of the first vertebra and the related limitation in the rotation of the head makes it necessary to sleep with one's head turned to the same side, causing constant pressure on the mandible! Exerting prolonged pressure on the chewing apparatus obstructs blood flow, traumatizes teeth, gums, jaw joints, nerves and chewing muscles. Since this imbalance continues for many hours every night, over time permanent damage will be done to the chewing apparatus, the teeth will deteriorate and the jaw deviate (malocclusion), with negative effects on the rest of the body. Sleeping on one's stomach however cannot modify the alignment of the Atlas. The most common symptom of an incorrect sleeping position:
Initially, after years of incorrect sleeping position, it can be difficult to get used to sleeping in a new, unaccustomed position. Yet the results that can be achieved will surely repay the effort in terms of regained health as well as dental costs! Learning to sleep in the correct position will lead to many disorders involving the masticatory system being resolved spontaneously.  In Body Stress Release, we talk about three types of stress, Mental or Emotional Stress, Physical Stress and Chemical Stress. Firstly we have Emotional Stress. We all suffer from emotional or mental stress at some point in our lives. It could caused by major events such as bereavement, moving house, losing your job, or minor daily hassles like being late and stuck in a traffic jam, or simply having too much to do and feeling like things are piling on top of you. We all able to deal with different amounts of stress on an ongoing basis, however for most people carrying too much mental stress will begin to take it's toll physically and mentally. Secondly there is Physical Stress. This is the stress we all place on our bodies in our daily lives. Physical stress can be caused by a repetitive action. A classic example is Repetitive Strain Injury.  I often see clients who have pain in there hands caused by too much time spent working on a keyboard, and the stress placed on their joints has caused RSI to flare up. Physical stress can also be placed on the body by an accident. If I see a client who has come to me with back pain, it is often the case that they have had a bad fall,recently or even in childhood, which has locked stress into their body, which is now manifesting as back pain. Poor posture is also a physical stress being placed on the body.
The last category of stress is Chemical Stress. This happens when a foreign substance comes into contact with the body which causes it to become stressed. It could be be something as simple as a cleaning fluid with which the body reacts, causing headaches or neck pain. I have had clients whose headaches were caused by the brand of moisturiser, whose problems cleared up after some BSR sessions combined with changing brands. Another good example is hayfever where the body reacts with a foreign agent, in this case pollen. |
Rob Petherick
Body Stress Release Practitioner in Brighton & Hove. Archives
November 2018
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