Tag Archive for: london osteopath

So You Play Sports? London Osteopath Robin Kiashek May Be Able To Help You

So You Play Sports? London Osteopath Robin Kiashek May Be Able To Help YouMany of my patients enjoy participating in different sports, ranging from a hobby of gentle walking to top-class professional athletes whose livelihood depends on peak sports performance. Whatever your own personal level of sports participation, there are three keys to maximising performance and avoiding pain.

Warm up and cool down

Sports injuries are common and one of the most common causes is through not warming up beforehand or not cooling down afterwards. While you might prefer to simply kit up and launch yourself onto the soccer field, this can give your body quite a shock, causing cold muscles to suddenly stretch and increasing the chances of strains and other injuries.

A warm-up session should include muscle stretching and light cardiovascular exercise. Its goal is to warm and stretch your muscles so that they are better equipped to take the impact they are about to be given and to increase circulation and loosen joints. Ideally you should take at least 20 minutes to prepare your body for sport by warming up.

If you are taking part in a sport that is more static (eg cricket) then you should maintain body temperature and muscle elasticity by gentle exercise and stretching when you can during the game.

Cooling-down is also important and is often overlooked. The cool-down process adjusts your body back from high activity to low activity in a gradual way. By cooling-down instead of simply stopping, your heart rate and blood pressure reduces in a more gradual way, reducing the chances of fainting or dizziness. Cool-downs also help to remove the build-up of lactic acid in your muscles after their vigorous activity. Stretching during a cool-down can also help improve flexibility. You do not need to spend a long time cooling down, 5 to 10 minutes is normally enough depending on how vigorous the sport was.

Avoid over-enthusiasm

It’s very tempting to hurl yourself across the court to make that winning shot or kick with tremendous enthusiasm in the hope that the ball will be too fast for the goalie to stop but this can lead to problems. Stretching our bodies beyond what they can cope with can lead to a variety of different problems.

And, no, it is not an age-related problem. It is certainly true that a less-young golfer might twist over-enthusiastically to encourage the ball just a little closer to the hole but younger people are just as vulnerable to problems. Their growing bodies are often expected to perform to very high standards and they can be putting exceptional demands on their bodies that they are simply not able to cope with. Over-enthusiasm affects everyone when they step outside of their limitations.

Incorrect equipment

Incorrect or ill-fitting equipment also causes problems. Badly fitting footwear can cause foot, knee and hip problems. Don’t forget that footwear that is a little old may no longer be giving you the correct fit so avoid wearing your running shoes until they fall off!

Ill-fitting protective equipment or not wearing protective equipment such as shin pads, head protectors, etc may not be a direct cause of injury but it can expose you to a greater chance of injury.

The good news

Although sports injuries are common, the good news is that the fitter you are, the faster and better you will recover. Therefore, it is valuable to keep doing the sport to maintain your fitness, even putting aside the pleasure that most of us get from participating in a sport.

How London Osteopath, Robin Kiashek can help

As well as treating sports injuries, osteopathy can also help improve sports performance by restoring structural balance, improving joint mobility and reducing adhesions and soft tissue restrictions. For instance, a golfer’s swing may be able to be helped by improving the body’s ability to move. This may also have the added benefit of reducing the likelihood of injury.

If you want to keep fit then osteopathy can help to improve your muscle tone and keep you supple. This will reduce the risk of injury and help the body recover quicker from any injury.

Robin Kiashek offers more than osteopathy from both his central and north London clinics. His allied therapies can better support you to achieve even higher sports performance or faster and better recovery from a sports injury.

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Paracetamol: Not The Answer To Back Pain

london osteopath w1 n2 n10 suggests paracetemol may not help back pain Are you taking paracetamols to try and manage your back pain? If you are then you this may not be the best course of action according to the findings of a group of Australian researchers.

The group reviewed 13 clinical trials to investigate the efficacy and safety of paracetamol (acetaminophen) in the management of spinal pain and osteoarthritis of the hip or knee and their results were published in the British Medical Journal.

Their findings said that Paracetamol did not reduce disability or improve quality of life. Disturbingly they warned that Paracetamol increased the odds of liver problems.

Drug free treatment for back pain

Medications such as paracetamol are designed to target pain by using blood flow to deliver the drug to the problem site. However, often the true cause of the pain may not be at the site of pain and in these instances drugs such as paracetamol will not be effective.

Pain should be considered as a warning that should be investigated. Osteopathy offers a safe and drug free approach to treating back pain.

As an experienced osteopath in London I aim to work with patients to address their presenting symptoms and understand causative factors to promote on-going health. I will always seek to establish the cause of your pain, whether it is localised or due to some problem elsewhere. My overriding aim as an osteopath is to heal your body as a whole.

With over 20 years’ experience as a London osteopath offering allied therapies I offer safe, gentle effective treatment for a wide range of patients and conditions. I have worked with patients suffering many different types of symptoms including:

  • Joint, neck, muscle and back pain, both chronic and acute
  • Whiplash injuries
  • Spinal curvature

What some of my patients and referrers say

“Robin Kiashek is my ‘go-to’ osteopath for my complex patients with neck and back problems.” Dr Paul Jarman Consultant Neurologist, London

“Robin takes time to understand the cause of the condition and is totally focussed on sorting out the problem. “ 2015 Patient Survey

“I have been a patient of Robin Kiashek and also referred many of my patients. The consensus of all of us is that he has been a committed, thoughtful and wise osteopath. Dr Michael Gormley, General Practitioner, London

“After lots of doctors diagnosis, Robin was the first person to properly help reduce the pain. “ 2015 Patient Survey

“I feel so much better and I no longer have pain or discomfort. “ Sara

Visit an experienced London Osteopath in W1 and N2 N10

If you are suffering pain or discomfort and you would like further information on how I may help you or to book an Osteopathy appointment at either of my osteopathy clinics in London W1 and London N2 N10 please feel free to send me a message or call me on 020 8815 0979.

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How Osteopathy Is Organised And Regulated explained by our London Osteopath

As with other medical professionals, osteopaths are regulated. This gives you the peace of mind that the osteopath that you are seeing is well qualified and will conform to a rigorous set of clinical standards to ensure your safety and to ensure that you receive the most appropriate treatment for your condition.

To become an osteopath, requires completing a specialised degree programme, usually taking 4 to 5 years. This includes over 1000 hours of supervised clinical practice. Only then can a practitioner apply to be registered with the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) and call themselves an osteopath.

The GOsC maintains strict standards including the requirement for osteopaths to undertake a minimum of 30 hours of professional development each year. The GOsC will remove osteopaths from the register if they fail to meet a strict code of professional practice.

You can check that an osteopath is registered on the GOsC website.

Visit an experienced London Osteopath in W1 and N2 N10

If you are suffering pain or discomfort and you would like further information on how I may help you or to book an Osteopathy appointment at either of my osteopathy clinics in London W1 and London N2 N10 please feel free to send me a message or call me on 020 8815 0979.

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Some Back Conditions Patients Visit London Osteopath Robin Kiashek For

london osteopath w1 n2 n10Four out of five people suffer from back pain at some time in their lives and as many as one in two will experience back pain in any one year. It is one of the most common problems that people experience. The Backcare charity estimates that 5.6 million working days are lost each year due to back pain. It’s a big problem.

Back pain is a general term that encompasses a number of different conditions. As a London osteopath I frequently see patients with the following problems:

Acute back pain

Acute back pain is pain that affects the back and has lasted for less than six weeks. It can be caused by a strain or sprain of the structures that make up the back (muscles, ligaments, joints, etc) or it can be caused by damage to the discs.

Chronic back pain

Chronic back pain simply lasts for longer than acute back pain. Typically, for over 12 weeks. Wear and tear to the back (eg as osteoarthritis) can cause chronic back pain.

Disc problems

Common disc-related problems that cause back pain include degenerative disc disease, ruptured (or ‘slipped’) disc and sciatica (a nerve pain).

Mechanical back pain

Mechanical back pain is where the source of the problem is in the spine or its supporting structure (spinal joints, discs, vertebrae or related tissues).

Sciatica

Sciatica is pain caused by compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve, the longest nerve in your body, it runs from the back of your pelvis to your feet.

Ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis is a long-term condition. It can develop slowly over time and presents as the spine (and other areas of the body) becoming inflamed.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is a condition that affects your joints. It is the most common form of arthritis and it can be disabling and painful and is a common cause of back pain.

Visit an experienced London Osteopath in W1 and N2 N10

If you are suffering pain or discomfort and you would like further information on how I may help you or to book an Osteopathy appointment at either of my osteopathy clinics in London W1 and London N2 N10 please feel free to send me a message or call me on 020 8815 0979.

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London Osteopath Robin Kiashek Shares Why Detox Is a Marketing Myth

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The AsapScience video below is quite fun and I think true. This clever presentation looks at some of the miscomprehensions about some foods and diets that we all assume are true. The basic premise that everything is made of chemicals and things that we assume are good for us, actually contain some of the same natural chemicals that in other foods we think are bad for us.

The title of this post, why detox is a marketing myth, is taken from the presentation, as I think it’s a clever line to use and actually it does, in this context, ring true. How can you truly detox when the range and amounts of natural and man-made chemical compounds exist in everything that we consume. There’s another line which states that ‘everything is poison at a high-enough dose’, which is also true if you think about it in terms of moderation. Too much of anything that you consume will have some sort of negative effect to the body’s balance. In truth, we all need a little of everything, including natural toxins, to attain a balanced diet and lead a healthy life.

The video is fun and makes some interesting points, however, as an Osteopath in North London I think the overriding message that I get is that education and knowledge about what we eat is very low and if that knowledge was more general and easier to understand, that would be a small but significant step in the improvement of health and most certainly would provide an elements of weaponry in the fight against obesity.

Check out the video yourself and see what you think…
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