Knee pain can be related to overuse where small stresses are repeated a large number of times without allowing adequate recovery, for example running too much too soon, or excessive jumping. Or injuries can be acute where the injury is caused by an impact or twisting such as an anterior cruciate ligament injury. An overuse injury can also be considered to be acute if it is painful or inflammed.
Knee pain is commonly caused by doing too much too soon when you haven't exercised for a long period of time - especially high-impact aerobics; walking, running or jumping on hard surfaces or uneven ground; excessive running up and down stairs (When you walk upstairs you are putting pressure on your knees that is equivalent to four times your body weight, when running up the stairs it can be eight times your body weight).

Prevent knee pain by keeping the muscles that support your knees strong and flexible. Start out slowly. Walk before you run - before you engage in a strenuous high impact activity such as jogging or running, try walking for a week. If walking causes knee pain, you shouldn't be running. Warm up and stretch before working out. Give your body a chance to recover from exercise. If you do high impact activities take every other day off. Avoid running up and down stairs and full squats. Doing knee exercises to strengthen and stretch the muscles that support the knee are vital for knee pain and injury prevention. Proper footwear is also important, especially if walking or running on hard surfaces. Keep your weight under control. Reducing one's weight reduces stress upon the knee.

Reflexology is a valuable tool that helps with not only the pain associated with knee issues, but is also a means for keeping the knees strong and healthy.
These are the main reflex points on which I focus, when attending a client with knee weakness.

Knee Reflex: In order to strengthen the knee joint and to send healing energy to any injured area.
Location: a small, soft triangular section, about 1 inch below the ankle bone.

Spine Reflex: The spine is the main support for the entire body, taking some of the weight off the knees.
Location: inside portion of the feet, running from the neck of the big toes, to the edge of the heel (it follows the natural curve of the instep).

Adrenal Gland Reflex: The adrenal glands increase the body’s natural anti-inflammatory hormones, which seem to soothe problematic knees.
Location: situated directly on the top portion of the kidney reflex points.

You spend about 33% of your life sleeping. Are you sleeping with a good pillow? Using a cervical support neck pillow is important because it helps to align your head and neck for sleeping. This means better sleep, waking up pain free and having good posture while sleeping.

If you have neck pain (acute or chronic), have suffered from
a whiplash-type injury, wake up with a stiff neck or have poor neck posture, then ideally you should get a good cervical support neck pillow. A flat pillow is not going to cut it. Some pillows such as temperpedic neck pillows can end up costing a lot of money. Other orthopedic neck pillows made out of fiberfill, even buckwheat hulls can be a lot more cost effective and very comfortable for sleeping.

Below Source: Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2010, 8:48 by Petri SaloArja HakkinenHannu Kautiainen Jari Ylinen

While neck strength training has been shown to be effective in improving neck muscle strength and reducing neck pain, “health-related quality of life” or “HRQoL” among patients with neck pain has been reported as an outcome in only two short-term exercise intervention studies.

Thus, reports on the influence of a long-term neck strength training intervention on HRQoL among patients with chronic neck pain have been not been completed. This study reports the effect of one-year neck strength training on HRQoL in females with chronic neck pain.

In this study, 180 female office workers, ages 25 to 53 with chronic neck pain were put into two groups:
• Group 1: a strength training group (STG) - this group performed high-intensity isometric neck strengthening exercises with an elastic band
• Group 2: endurance training group (ETG)- performed lighter dynamic neck muscle training
• Group 3: control group (CG)- received a single session of guidance on stretching exercises

Health-related quality of life was assessed using the generic 15D questionnaire at baseline and after 12 months.

The study found that training led to statistically significant improvement in the 15D total scores for both training groups (groups 1 and 2), whereas no changes occurred for the control . The STG improved significantly in five of 15 dimensions, while the ETG improved significantly in two dimensions.

Conclusions: One year of either strength or endurance training seemed to moderately enhance the Health related quality of life. Neck and upper body training can be recommended to improve health related quality of life of females with neck pain if they are motivated for long-term regular exercise.

Thai Foot Massage is a massage of the lower legs and feet that originated in Thailand about 2000 years ago. It has become an integral part of traditional Thai massage and has elements of Shiatsu, Reflexology, Chinese massage and Yoga incorporated into the massage itself. Thai Foot Massage involves hands on stretching and massage, along with the use of a stick to stimulate the reflex points. It is still taught by Buddhist monks in the temples of
Thailand.


Traditional Thai Massage and Thai Foot Massage compliment each other beautifully. Thai Massage balances the elements of the mind and body, while Thai Foot Massage stimulates the internal organs, giving the receiver an holistic treatment.


So what are the benefits of a Thai Foot Massage?
• improved circulation in legs and hands
• stimulates lymphatic drainage
• helps remove toxins
• helps boost the immune system
• reduces stiffness and improves flexibility


Other benefits include:
• detoxification of the immune system
• Accelerated physical healing
• Stress relief
• Improved sleep
• Stimulation of the mind

So, what exactly is 'First Past the Post'? We've heard a lot about it and heard a lot of people arguing against it....

What is it.....?

The candidate with the most number of votes in an election wins a seat in the House of Commons. The leader of the party which wins the highest number or seats, rather than the party with the highest percentage of the overall vote, is asked to form the government.

The Electoral Reform Society has this to say....


Arguments for....

• It's simple to understand and thus doesn't cost much to administer and doesn't alienate people who can't count.
• It doesn't take very long to count all the votes and work out who's won, meaning results can be declared a handful of hours after polls close.
• The voter can clearly express a view on which party they think should form the next government.
• It tends to produce a two-party system (see Duverger's Law), which in turn tends to produce single-party governments, which don't have to rely on support from other parties to pass legislation.
• It encourages 'broad-church' centrist policies.
• There is a close geographical link between voters and their member of parliament.
• People are often fearful of change and slow to adapt, thus as we've got it now, so we may as well keep it.
• Election spending is geared towards only a small portion of the country, keeping costs down for our cash-strapped parties.


Arguments against .....

• Representatives can get elected on tiny amounts of public support. In 2005, for example, George Galloway polled the votes of only 18.4 per cent of his constituents, yet ended up in the House of Commons. Only three MPs elected in 2005 secured the votes of more than 40 per cent of their constituents.
• It encourages tactical voting, as voters vote not for the candidate they most prefer, but against the candidate they most dislike.
• FPTP in effect wastes huge numbers of votes, as votes cast in a constituency for losing candidates, or for the winning candidate above the level they need to win that seat, count for nothing. In 2005, 70 per cent of votes were wasted in this way – that's over 19 million ballots.
• FPTP severely restricts voter choice. Parties are coalitions of many different viewpoints. If the preferred-party candidate in your constituency has views with which you don't agree, you don't have a means of saying so at the ballot box.
• Rather than allocating seats in line with actual support, FPTP rewards parties with 'lumpy' support, i.e. with just enough votes to win in each particular area. Thus, losing 4,000 votes in one area can be a good idea if it means you pick up 400 votes in another. With smaller parties, this works in favour of those with centralised support. For example, at the 2005 general election, the DUP won nine seats on 0.9 per cent of the vote, yet the Greens won no seats, despite polling almost 16,000 more votes than the DUP.
• With relatively small constituency sizes, the way boundaries are drawn can have important effects on the election result, which encourages attempts at gerrymandering.
• Small constituencies also lead to a proliferation of safe seats, where the same party is all but guaranteed re-election at each election. This not only in effect disenfranchises a region's voters, but it leads to these areas being ignored when it comes to framing policy.
• If large areas of the country are electoral deserts for a particular party, not only is the area ignored by that party, but also ambitious politicians from the area have to move away from their homeland if they want to have influence within their party.
• FPTP rewards organised minorities, deals ineffectively with the most disliked parties, ignores (and thus fails to deal with) views that don't look like challenging at the polls and can make certain areas feel neglected by the big political parties. Until 2009 Euro Elections it was the only electoral system in the UK to have elected representatives from extremist parties. A party can be despised by 49 per cent of an electorate and still win.
• Encouraging two-party politics can be an advantage, but in a multi-party culture, third parties with significant support can be greatly disadvantaged. In the 1983 general election, the Liberal SDP alliance won 25 of the vote, but gained only 3 per cent of the seats.
• Because FPTP restricts a constituency's choice of candidates, representation of minorities and women suffers from 'most broadly acceptable candidate syndrome', where the 'safest' looking candidate is the most likely to be offered a chance to stand for election.

Well.....it's 3 days until the election! And it's certainly hotting up. The TV debates have given this election a new and almost transparent edge which I have never seen in my lifetime before. I've enjoyed the debates and with my interest in neuro-linguistic progrmming, been very interested in the body language, the eye movements the spoken language and the speed of the replies and retorts. I'm unimpressed by Gordon Brown but he never was and never will be the polished orator that is David Cameron. He's a fumbler, a bumbler but that's not to say that he isn't a good accountant. It just seems that he made the wrong decisions as chancellor, probably with the help of a few other greedy business people and politicians, and then was propped up to the point of Prime Minister and fall guy just as smooth Tony Blair moved on to better things! I am definitely impressed by David Cameron's public speaking skills, even if there are a few Conservative policies that worry me - like the push for the establishment of more public schools and the scrapping of identity cards to name but a few.... I've been impressed to see Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats moving up the field and making it a real 3 horse race. I like what they have to say but since they've never 'done it before' we'll just have to guess as to whether what their manifesto says is deliverable, or maybe the country will put it's money where it's mouth is and give them chance to show us what they can do I'm worried that we may end up with a hung parliament and the potential financial implications that will have on the UK in the world financial markets too; could we find ourselves scrabbling around for the pennies like Greece? Well, whatever the thoughts, opinions, judgements and decisions of the nations, by Friday, the country may well be a very different place....

In 2004, after a period of illness I had a long course of acupuncture, both in Newport - Pembrokeshire and in the Vale of Glamorgan. The impact which acupuncture had on me was significant and it played a huge part in getting me back on my feet and back to the land of the living. My illness left me with ME / Chronic Fatigue type symptoms.

Acupuncture consists of the gentle insertion of fine, sterile, disposable needles into strategic points near the surface of the body. These points, which are so effective in treating disease, have been mapped by the Chinese over a period of two thousand years.


Many people experience a profound feeling of relaxation and well being during and after an acupuncture treatment, some people may experience some pain which lasts for a short time.

Acupuncture works by stimulating the flow of "Qi" or energy throughout the body. Where there is injury, the Qi gets stuck or becomes deficient. The insertion of needles helps bring the body's attention to the area and resume the free flow of energy.

Qi flows through a system of twelve major pathways or meridians. Each meridian is connected internally to a specific organ such as the lung or liver. The acupuncture points along these pathways can be used to affect a corresponding internal organ. When Qi in the meridians is balanced, the result is a state of wellbeing.

From a western medicine point of view acupuncture causes many physiological changes in the body including increased blood flow, stimulation of hormones and neurotransmitters, and stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system (allowing the patient to achieve very deep relaxation). Acupuncture invokes an analgesic effect by altering the body's own natural pain-relieving opiate system.

Acupuncture works surprisingly quickly. Most patients experience a great reduction in their symptoms after the first treatment.

If you would be interested in becoming a case study for me then please get in touch. The case study would consist of 2 treatments per week for 3 weeks. The 6 sessions would cost £75 - 50% off the usual cost of treatments!!

I am often asked whether reflexology can benefit arthritis sufferers. So, I have found some research which demonstrates it's positive effects:


Chi, J., "Effect of Foot Reflexo-massage on Rheumatoid Arthritis." 1996 China Reflexology Symposium Report, Beijing : China Reflexology Association, pages 93-94.

3 female patients, ages 37. 50 & 62, with acute and chronic stages of rheumatoid arthritis were given 7 sessions of foot reflexology for one hour every other day. They were relieved of knee pain and joint swelling disappeared after 2-4 courses. It was found that foot reflexology can improve blood and lymphatic circulation, strengthen immune function, reduce ischemia and hypoxia of arthropathic limbs but should be used with caution or avoided in cases of uncontrolled acute inflammation.

REFLEX ACTION Reported By Kath Harper, LifeWise, Australia, May 1993

Thirty-five female patients were involved in the study. Group 1 was composed of ten patients with long term arthritic pain. Three of the lower back, two of the neck, three of the shoulder and two of the knees/hips. After 10 treatments all 10 patients noticed some relief with 6 patients showing no recurrence of pain over a period of thirty days.

TREATMENT OF KNEE ARTHRALGIA WITH REFLEXOLOGY: AN ANALYSIS OF SEVENTEEN CASES By Chen Guang-ming, Yang-Hua Clinic, Shen Zhen City

Eight females and nine males, aged 5 to 80 years old, received ten daily 30 - 45 minute foot reflexo-therapy treatment. Arthralgia (joint pain) was caused by trauma in 5 cases, and by arthritis in 12 cases. Results: eleven patients (64.71%), including the 5 trauma caused cases completely recovered. Four patients (23.53%) improved. Two patients (11.76%) were unaffected.

Zhi-xian, Ma and Jin-li, Zhang, "Foot Reflexology in the Treatment of Acromioclavicular Arthritis, (19)96 Beijing International Reflexology Conference (Report), China Preventive Medical Association and the Chinese Society of Reflexology, Beijing, 1996, p. 55

Forty-two cases of acromioclaviclar (shoulder) arthritis received thirty minute sessions of foot reflexology once a day for 15 days. At the finish, 8 were "cured," 20 were "distinctly effective" and 14 cases were "improved."