NICE Guidelines for early management of persistent non-specific low back pain.

Guidelines for the early management of persistent non-specific low back pain have been released by The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

This focuses on patients who "have been in pain for longer than 6 weeks but less than one year, where pain may be linked to structures in the back such as joints, muscles and ligaments".

NICE recommends that clinicians trying to improve the management of persistent non-specific low back pain use manual therapy, as practised by osteopaths, which includes techniques using spinal manipulation, mobilisation, and massage/soft tissue work.

Further information concerning the full guidance and a summary of the guidelines, can be found at http://www.nice.org.uk/CG88


For further information or advice or to book an appointment then please call The Sporting Club on 0207 481 4107 or visit www.thesportingclub.co.uk

What is Osteopathy?

Osteopathy recognises the importance of the link between the structure of the human body and the way it functions. Osteopathy is an effective health care system which focuses mainly on the musculo-skeletal system (the muscles, joints, ligaments and connective tissues) and the way this inter-relates with the body as a whole.

Osteopaths use their hands to diagnose and treat the underlying cause of the problem utilising a highly developed sense of touch, to identify problem areas of the body.

We take a holistic view that the musculo-skeletal system is important in maintaining the health of other parts of the body such as the respiratory and digestive systems. Osteopathy encourages the body to work as efficiently as possible, allowing the body to restore itself to normal function. Treatment is carried out using a wide variety of techniques to suit the patient and the condition being treated, thus making it suitable for the whole family.

Osteopaths train for 4 – 5 years at recognised specialist colleges where there skills and understanding are developed. Once graduated Osteopaths are registered with the General Osteopathic council (GosC) and become members of the British Osteopathic Association (BOA).

Our Osteopath James, studied at the British School of Osteopathy and found particular interests in respiratory conditions sports injuries. James has since worked in private practice for over 4 years and is a member of BackCare (a registered charity).

For appointment call James directly on 07877 711 492 or 0207 481 4107 or email us on info@thesportingclub.co.uk. Visit us at www.thesportingclub.co.uk for further details and health advice.

Time for a change?

Updating or changing your programs regularly is a key aspect to achieving your training goals. People who stick to the same routine for months and sometimes years on end, will rarely get the results they are after.

The basic premise is this. When you do a new workout consisting of different exercises and movement patterns, the body is forced to recruit different motor units. The body's response to the workout is to adapt and be stronger than before. Every time you do the same workout, the motor unit response can diminish somewhat, until eventually your body figures out what's going on. The body will then become more and more efficient, thus using less energy to get through the workout.

Considering that we workout to burn more energy, the last thing we want is for the body to become efficient in its energy expenditure. The goal is to burn more energy in less time.

How often you need to change depends on your experience. If you are a relative beginner, then a program can deliver results for up to 8-10 workouts. If you're a high level athlete, you may need to change programs weekly. As a general rule of thumb, I would never stick to the same program for longer than 5 weeks.

The good news is that you don't need to massively overhaul your programs to elicit change for the body. Here are some small changes you can make to deliver big results:

• Instead of doing back squats, switch to a front or overhead squat.
• Change the hand position of the exercise. Most times we use a pronated grip (palms facing away from body) so switch to a neutral or underhand grip.
• Change your rest times. If you're used to having 90 seconds rest between exercises, then decrease it to 60 seconds to improve your lactate threshold, or increase it to 2 minutes to improve your strength levels.
• Change the speed at which you move. Adding a pause at the hardest part of the movement can help improve motor unit activation, e.g on your squats, hold for 1 second at the bottom.
• Use FatGripz on dumbbell and barbell exercises (www.fatgripz.com).
• Do exercises in supersets or circuits to improve your CV fitness whilst also improving your strength

In order to maximise results and avoid becoming one of those regular gym goers, you must keep your programs fresh.