Do you have tight hips? – part 1
Many of the clients we see exercise regularly but I have never heard anyone mention including in their workouts exercises that focus on the hips. Yet, this is extremely important, as sitting for long periods of time can cause your hip flexors to become tight or weak or both leading to problems with posture and back pain. In addition weak hip flexors contribute to foot, ankle and knee injuries.
Sitting is a primary culprit in tight hips and thighs because the muscles are rarely extended (although they may also become tight from working out). To lengthen and strengthen these muscles, try this move created by Suzanne Bowen, creator of BarreAmped, an internationally taught barre technique chosen by Fitness Magazine and Natural Health Magazine as the best barre workouts in 2015.
You’ll need a chair or kitchen counter for support. Start out in a kneeling lunge position with your right foot in front and leg bent at the knee in a 90-degree angle. Your left knee should be a few inches behind your left hip. To do the exercise, Bowen recommends:
“1. Press forward a few inches into your right leg just until you feel a gentle stretch in the opposite hip.
If you have very tight hips, this might be as far as you go. (Protect the front knee by making sure it doesn’t extend out beyond the toes.) For a more advanced stretch, straighten the left leg behind you and then press forward.
2. When you’re ready to move on, reposition the rear leg as needed so you can stretch your right leg straight out in front of you.
Keep your back straight and lean a few inches forward from the hips and feel the stretch in the right hamstring.”
Hold each position for two to five deep breaths, then switch sides.
References
Los Angeles Times January 9, 2016
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Can you prevent rheumatoid arthritis?
People in the UK are low in vitamin D because of the weakness of the sunlight and the short summers. In addition there is greater concern in the UK about getting skin cancer from sunbathing or being out in the sun. Almost every rheumatoid arthritis sufferer has low levels of vitamin D and this is likely to be true for people with other inflammatory diseases too. Sunshine isn't the only source of vitamin D. Some foods such as eggs, oily fish such as sardines and salmon are rich in vitamin D too. Reserachers from the university of brimingham are the lastest to report in the importance of vitamin D. In a series of tests, they discovered that the immune cells of rheumatoid arthritis pateients could still respond normally to vitamin D by supressing inflammatory signalling - if those cells were circulating in the blood, but the same cell type when localisec to the fluid around the arthricitc joints, showned no anti-inflamatory reaction to vitamin D. This is because arthritis leads to vitamin D insensitivity which means that cells no longer respond to it. The research suggest that vitmain D therapy could still work on patients if they are given very high doeses, although standard suplements amy not. Prof Martin Hewison says that "almost everyone in the Uk has vitamin D deficiency". High levels of vitamin D can help prevent inflamatory diseases including rheumatiod arthritis. Reference https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896841117304201
The low down on natural sugars – part 1
We all want to reduce the amount of sugar we eat, and and there are loads of alternative "natural" sugars to pick from. When I go to the supermarket and read labels I am bombarded with terms like
- fructose
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- carrots
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