Listen to Osteopath Youssef Youssef’s interview here.
Talk: Benefits of Independent Therapy
One of our physiotherapists, Joseph Maynard, recently gave a talk/demo to athletes from Ultimate Athletics (based in Dubai Sports City).
Joseph is an athlete himself and a coach for Ultimate Athletics, focusing on sprints and middle distance training. His talk was based on the benefits of independent therapy, with the aim to reduce the risk of injury and improve overall athletic performance. He spoke on soft tissue mobility and the mobility of fascia. With the use of rollers, treatment balls and massage sticks, Joseph highlighted the importance of stretching and flexibility, pre and post exercise.
Athletes from varying age groups and levels attended the presentation but everyone gave positive feedback.
Joseph also shared his thoughts on the event, “Giving people advice to help them help themselves is what I enjoy doing; opening their eyes to new ways of injury management and prevention is key to limiting injures and improving their performance. I really enjoyed taking this group session as everyone was really engaging and asking lots of questions!”
9th Networking Meeting for Healthcare Practitioners in Dubai
Dubai, 18th January 2016: After a break for the holiday season, the Elephant Club resumed its activities by hosting its 9th networking meeting – 1st meeting for 2016 – at Lime Tree Café.
We were overwhelmed with the response as eighteen healthcare practitioners joined us for the evening, including: Amy Vogelaar (Lactation Consultant / Antenatal and Parenting Educator, Love Parenting UAE), Anil Daniel Prasad (Physiotherapist, Osteopathic Health Centre), Asha Ann George (Ayurvedic Practitioner, Breath and Health), Cristina Mesquita (Osteopath, Osteopathic Health Centre), Esther Martinez (Osteopath/Physiotherapist, Osteopathic Health Centre), Gustavo R. Rydberg (Osteopathy Service Manager, Up and Running), Jocelyn Kope (Physiotherapist, Breath and Health), Karin Locher (Founder, Spatial Medicine), Malcolm Gregory (Osteopath, Osteopathic Health Centre), Martine Nates (Acupuncturist, Koster Clinic), Moira Macdonald (MLD Therapist, Osteopathic Health Centre), Nargis Raza (Managing Partner, Osteopathic Health Centre), Nicki Anderson (Occupational Therapist, Journey to Wholeness), Priyanka Banerjee (Homeopath), Renata Von Kouh (Physiotherapist, Osteopathic Health Centre), Shahida Siddiqui (CEO, Spa Dunya) Stephen Watts (Osteopath, Osteopathic Health Centre)and William D Murrell (Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon).
The next meeting is scheduled for 1st February for practitioners based in and around Mirdif. If you would like to attend, please send us your details on events@108.160.159.203
Workshop: Myths and Secrets of the Pelvic Floor
The body’s primary stress container
A 2 hour introductory talk for everyone…
Presenter: Karin Locher
Date & Time: 15th February, 6-8 pm
Cost: AED 250
Venue: Osteopathic Health Centre, Al Wasl Road, Umm Suqeim 2, Dubai, UAE
To reserve a seat and payment details, email: events@108.160.159.203
Overview
The concept of a weak pelvic floor quickly conjures up dreaded images of incontinence, prolapses, a lack of sexual senses and floppy lower abs. There is no wonder it has become one of the primary focuses to ‘tighten and tone’. But what constitutes a muscle that is not working, or feels weak? And what is the best way to bring it back into a healthy state? Contrary to what you might think, a weak muscle does not mean a loose muscle, one that needs tightening up. Weakness comes about when a muscle has lost its communication to the rest of the body, its sensory feedback, usually induced by a stressful environment or stressful circumstance.
Workshop: The Lightest Weight, for the Most Strength
Understanding the load distribution system
A practical workshop for functional trainers, movement professionals and all rehabilitation therapists
Presenter: Karin Locher
Date & Time: 3rd February, 6-8 pm
Cost: AED 250
Venue: Osteopathic Health Centre, Al Wasl Road, Umm Suqeim 2, Dubai, UAE
To reserve a seat and payment details, email: events@108.160.159.203
This 2 hour workshop will demonstrate:
- how to get involved with the efficiency of the body’s distribution system;
- how load, force and strain are distributed by and through the fascial system, when they can be, and how pain and injury occurs when they cannot;
- how information and communication are distributed for our automechano function, when it can be, how disorder and a sense of weakness occur when it cannot;
- how there is no isolated event in the body; isolated event = isolated strain, prolonged isolated strain = injury; and
- how when load, force and strain is evenly distributed, nobody ‘over strains’, and nobody injures.
Nutrition and Manual Therapy
In conversation with Esther Martinez, Osteopath/Physiotherapist at the Osteopathic Health Centre
How do you use a nutritional approach to treat patients?
We tend to relate nutrition to weight issues or digestive problems but the truth is that what we eat affects every single aspect of our health.
Tendonitis, back pain, plantar fasciitis, frozen shoulder, sciatica, tennis elbow, etc. are very common issues seen in physiotherapy/osteopathy consultations. Manual therapy is very effective but we can improve the results by combining manual therapy and nutritional approach, especially in those cases where the manual therapy is not achieving the expected results or when manual therapy is effective but the symptoms keep showing up again and again (recidivant tendonitis).
So what we eat can improve or aggravate back pain?
Yes, there are different mechanisms that are involved but this time I am going to talk about acidosis, when there is too much acid in the body fluids.
In the body there are receptors that inform the brain of what is going on in the tissues. There are mechanoreceptors that are stimulated by pressure and mechanical displacement, thermoreceptors that are stimulated by temperature changes and chemoreceptors that are stimulated by chemicals (either inside or outside the body).
Those receptors inform the brain of what type and amount of stimuli they are feeling. A small amount of pressure, cold or heat or chemical stimuli, will just send information to the brain but if the stimuli exceeds a certain threshold we will feel pain (if we hit our finger with a hammer, if we get burnt or if we are bitten by an scorpion).
The chemoreceptors in our body can be overstimulated by metabolic acidosis and therefore we can feel pain. The more acid our diet is, the more likely it is that our threshold of pain decreases. In other words we are more sensitive to pain or our ability to deal with the situation is limited.
That’s one of the reasons (among others) for why what we eat can aggravate our back pain, can retard the healing of our tendonitis, can affect our post-surgical rehabilitation or turn our sporadic pain into chronic pain.
The good news is that by combining manual therapy and nutritional treatment we can optimise results and prevent future problems.
Continuing the conversation on health and wellness
Dubai, 16th November 2015: The Elephant Club’s most recent networking event at BookMunch Café was alive with conversations on health, pregnancy, babies and treatment options available in Dubai for various conditions.
Homeopath Dr Vaneeta recognised as Professional Achiever of the Year
Our warmest congratulations to our homeopath Dr Vaneeta Shahani, who recently received an award for Professional Achiever of the Year at Masala Awards 2015.
This comes as a result of her hard work and dedication. Dr Vaneeta has over 25 years of experience with homeopathy.
If anyone deserves an award, it is Dr Vaneeta. Her compassionate approach to caring for thousands of patients is inspiring. We are proud to have her as a team member.
Committed to your health and fitness!
The Osteopathic Health Centre participated in Etisalat Fitness Fest, held in Dubai from 5th to 7th November. During the event, OHC physiotherapist Joseph Maynard and osteopaths Aziza Zubeidi and Youssef Youssef offered free consultations to the growing fitness community of Dubai.
Physiotherapy Musculoskeletal Screening
Interested in sports and fitness? Tired of not performing to your full potential? Here’s how you can gain an edge…
Physiotherapy Musculoskeletal Screening is a proactive approach for athletes and sports enthusiasts to reduce the likelihood of injury, keep track of their progress in sports and maximise their training potential.
Our physiotherapist Joseph Maynard has worked with many athletes, football and rugby players, golfers, cyclists and many others, enabling his clients to return to exercise or take on new challenges in sports and fitness.
During the screening, Joseph thoroughly assesses posture, flexibility, strength and biomechanics through a series of clinical tests and observations of movement. His assessment includes running analysis, road bike analysis and biomechanical assessment of most sports using latest evidence and technology.