Did you manage to remain active during lockdown?

I am off to Japan soon which inspired this blog article.  So I wanted to share with you some ideas about a holiday first aid kit. The first thing I pack is rescue remedy which relieves stress and anxiety - I basically pack this in case flights get cancelled, luggage gets lost etc. The next thing I pack is Traumeel, in case I get a soft tissue injury i.e. sprain or strain. Traumeel is a homeopathic combination preparation that reduces inflammation, swelling, and oozing. The pharmacology involved is not yet understood. Studies suggest the drug modifies the action of neutrophils and the release of inflammatory mediators. Injected locally, its analgesic effect is comparable to steroids but without the risks of tendon rupture or skin depigmentation.   I personally take tablets or use a cream because I am whimp who doesn't like the idea of injecting herself.  Plus I don't think its very practical to try and take an injection kit through an airport! Traumeel has been available for eighty years and is suitable for frequent use, with the only contraindication being adverse allergic reaction. Among elite athletes its use is common and anecdotally it attracts very favorable reports. There is data to suggest comparable efficacy of both topical and injected Traumeel when compared with  Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug therapy, with fewer side effects and greater patient satisfaction. References https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3085232/ Schneider, C, Klein, P et al (2005) ‘A homeopathic ointment preparation compared with 1% diclofenac gel for acute symptomatic treatment of tendinopathy’. Explore(NY); Nov;1(6):446-52. Birnesser, H et al (2004) ‘The homeopathic preparation Traumeel S compared with NSAIDS for symptomatic treatment of epicondylitis’. Journal of Musculoskeletal Research, Vol. 8, Nos. 2 & 3 119 -128.

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

I previously explain what NMT or Neuromuscular Technique is.  In this blog post I want to focus on how NMT works. With NMT when the static pressure is applied to the muscle, a message is sent from the muscles (via the golgi tendons & the muscles spindles both of which are part of the nervous system) to the brain and then the muscle relaxes.  Within the muscles

• Golgi tendons respond to load or force on the muscle
• Muscle spindles respond to the length of the muscle