What is NMT or Neuromuscular Technique?

Today I attended the Employee Benefits Connect event to find out about the latest trends in employee benefits.  Quite a few speakers identified the growth of onsite well-being services like the Vitality Breaks services I provide, as the number one healthcare issue in companies right now and for the next few years. The key conditions that are driving the growth of well-being services are:

1. Diabetes
2. Heart Disease
3. High Blood Pressure
4. Back Pain

We all know that back pains is common, episodic, often recurrent and generally self limiting.  Long term absence form work is greatest amongst the minority of employees whose conditions is chronic (if the pains lasts for more than 12 weeks) or is recurrent (if there are several episodes of pain in one year lasting less than 6 months).  Most people who are effected by back pain either remain in work or return to work promptly.  About 85% of people with back pain take less than seven days off work. In a survey reported by the London Work Foundation it identified that 9.6 million workers are regularly affected by back pain.  In addition the London Work Foundation has identified that musculoskeletal conditions comprise about 55 %of all work-related illness throughout the UK compared to stress being responsible for 30 per cent of work-related illness, that figure drops to 31% when you focus only non-manual workers.    This makes musculoskeletal conditions the top reason for long term absence from work in the UK for non-manual workers. So why am I quoting all these statistics, because despite speakers talking about trends in healthcare being driven by amongst other things back pain and clear evidence that musculoskeletal conditions are the number one reason for absence there was no mention of solutions.  Go figure!!!!

There is a wide range of American start up companies, creating technology solutions to combat the new "sitting disease".  In previous posts I have discussed in the impact of sitting all day

• the impact on muscles (in part 1)
• the general impact on the body (in part 2)
• the impact on your heart and the increase risk of cardiovascular disease (in part 3)
• the increased risk of certain cancers (in part 4)

In my post, "Taking a Break", I explored the reasons for taking a break and looked at the latest research on the length of break you need to take and the frequency.  In my last blog post, "Get Moving" I looked at how you can move while working.  In this post I want to review the technology solutions that are out there. Activity Trackers Most of the technology solutions currently available are wearable activity trackers. These products are basically advanced sensors that come embedded inside of bracelets or clips that hook onto your clothing. They measure your daily activity (steps taken and calories burned), sleep, and through an associated app, diet.  Below I list some of the common trackers.

• 1. Apple Watch

Everyone knows that Apple is about to launch the Apple Watch which will have a plethora of health and fitness functionalities. However the Apple Watch heavily relies on the iPhone to function and is not really considered a standalone device. But I want to focus on one interesting feature which is that ten minutes before each hour, the Apple Watch taps on their arms as an alert to ecourage you to stay active or just simply stand up. I can see this being essential for people who want to stay active but find they lose track of time when they work.

• 2. Jawbone UP

The company’s wearable activity tracker, Jawbone UP includes a step counter, sleep tracker and an idle alert, which offers reminders to users by buzzing if they are inactive. What is neat about Jawbone is that it links to your calendar from your iPhone and see what your schedule is with meetings and we can say — rather than buzzing you during the middle of your board meeting — we can actually wait until the end and give you some insight.

• 3. Nike+ Fuelband

What is good about the Nike+ Fuelband activity tracker is that lets you set an activity goal, you can press a button on an LED screen to check your progress, and displays a green light when you have achieved your goal.  However it can be inaccurate if for some reason you happen to move your hands swiftly throughout the day.

• 4. Fitbit One

Fitbit One is the best holistic tracking of activity, diet and sleep and is good value compared to some of the other activity trackers. The app creates graphs, charts and tools based on your data and lets you easily log food, water, weight, food plans and more.  It is especially good for women as you can clip it in the center of your bra, rather than trying to blend in a wrist based activity tracker with your outfit. Applications “I'll help you unclog your mind and uncramp your body”, is the promise of HotSeat health app that turns short breaks into meaningful activity through nudges and social accountability.  What I like about this application is that it allows you to create competition - which are always very motivational! Darma - The Hitech Cushion Digital health upstart Darma have developed a cushion that aims to help people take control of their sitting habits.  It helps you remember to maintain good posture when sitting down for long periods of time. The cushion contains one millimeter-thick fiber optic sensors that sense the user’s movements. The pillow also has embedded sensors that detect heart rate, stress level, and respiration. All of this information is sent to a companion app on the user’s smartphone. The app can then track a user’s stress level, sitting time, and posture and try to motivate users to get up every now and then. It will also alert users when they’ve slipped into a bad position and explain how to correct their posture. If users are feeling back pain, the app can guide them through stretches that might help relieve it.  To me this more directly provides relevant information to help my clients than some of the more wearable technology solutions.  I am looking forward to its launch later this year, until then there is always massage!

I would like to write a series of blog articles on the scientific evidence for massage.  I think it is important to start by stating the obvious that while massage can be studied, not many scientists are interested in studying it and not many massage therapists have scientific training.  This means that massage is woefully under researched.  In addition it is amazingly difficult to find 100 people with the same problem, who need exactly the same massage treatment, so large scale studies are very rare, which means a weakness of most studies is their size. Finally, while, most scientists are interested in how massage works, we don't have to know how something works to know if it works.  I know most of my clients are interested in scientific evidence but equally important is anecdotal evidence, their own opinion and experience of the treatment. What it crystal clear from scientific data and widely agreed upon by massage therapist researchers is that massage

1. Reduces anxiety
2. Reduces depression
3. Reduces stress
4. Reduces high BP

Given that in the Labour Force Survey in 2013 - 2014 it stated the total number of cases of work-related stress, depression or anxiety account for 39% of all work-related illnesses, this makes massage highly beneficial for anyone working in a high pressure corporate environment. Related Blog Posts http://vitalitytherapy.co.uk/blog/anxiety-reduction-massage http://vitalitytherapy.co.uk/blog/hypertension-part-4-massage References Moyer CA. Affective massage therapy.  Int J Ther Massage Bodywork 2008; 1(2): 3-5 Shulman KR, Jones GE. The effectiveness of massage therapy intervention on reducing anxiety in the work place. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. 1996;32:160–173. Cady SH, Jones GE. Massage therapy as a work place intervention for reduction of stress. Perceptual & Motor Skills. 1997;84:157–158. Hernandez-Reif M, Field T. High blood pressure and associated symptoms were reduced by massage therapy.Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies. 1999;4:31–38.