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Do you suffer with Lower Back Pain?
Have you tried physiotherapy or osteopathy to treat your lower back pain?

Click here for Study Advert

“DOC’S RAMBLINGS”

May

We had a captivating talk by Ian Traynar, a local osteopath. His talk was in 2 parts. Initially he facilitated a group discussion on the role of an osteopath, our preconceptions and how the Alexander Technique (AT) might fit in. He then went on to talk in a bit more detail about AT, explaining how it is actually the study of thinking in relation to movement and how "the poise of the head in relation to the body is key to the freedom and ease of movement." We just scraped the surface of this fascinating subject, but luckily Ian seemed willing to return at a later date and tell us more.

Next month we have Sally Curtis coming to continue with her topic of Neurophysiology. She likes to make sure that she targets her talk to points of interest and so if you have any questions that you would like her to cover, please email Kevin and he will pass them on to her before the day.

April

Emma Davies, the pharmacist who works for the Southampton Pain Clinic, made a return visit today. We are so lucky to have a group of specialist speakers who have befriended our group and who are happy to come on a regular basis to talk to us. Emma led a group discussion about self medication. As we all know there are a host of medicines available over the counter, many of which make all sorts of claims about their effectiveness. Trying them can so often turn out to be a pointless and expensive experience. The main messages we took away from the meeting were: that it's important to keep your GP informed of any over the counter medications that you wish to try just in case they interact badly with the medication you already take, if your GP is uncertain about interactions then they can contact the pharmacy advisory service at the hospital, and if you are worried about any of your medications in general then make an appointment with your GP for a review ( try not to crowd out the consultation with other health issues so that the focus can be on your specific concerns about your medicines ). I'm looking forward to next month to hear more about the Alexander Technique from local osteopath Ian Traynar.

We will also have a brief visit from Katherine Bradbury who is doing research at Southampton University about people's experiences of physiotherapy and osteopathy treatments for low back pain and who is looking for volunteers to get involved. (See study advert above)

March

It was lovely to see so many faces, new and old, at this our 49th meeting! It was our 4th birthday. We celebrated with cake and took a commemorative group photo.
Our speaker this time was Ita Berry, a psychologist currently working in the Southampton Pain Clinic. Her talk was entitled "Servicing." We are all used to the idea of servicing our cars or boilers, but Ita wanted to stress the importance of servicing our minds and bodies. In using the word "mind" she was particularly referring to our sense of self. As part of our servicing she recommended that we took regular breaks, making sure we had switch off times. We could try to develop peaceful environments that we could escape to in our heads, maybe using music or our imaginations. She thought we should spend time praising ourselves and our achievements, using self affirming statements, much in the way that a good parent might. We should
develop positive mantras. She concluded by saying that "self service" is an important part of self esteem and that we should treat ourselves kindly and demonstrate to others that we are worthy of love. She left us with lots to think about and ideas to try to put into practice. Some of the members felt that this might be easier said than done and yet the thought remained that the more you practiced the better you might get at it.

February

We had a good turn out on what was actually a lovely spring afternoon. We were entertained by Richard Beale- this was a return visit, by popular request. He gave us further, fascinating insights into the way of life in China. You may recall that he works there as a tour guide. One of the most interesting topics he covered was the honourable citizens' (senior citizens to us but it is thought very rude to imply that folks are "old" in China) penchant for keeping crickets as pets. They think that the sound and presence of crickets brings a touch of the country side into their town dwellings. They have specially designed, pottery cricket houses equipped with a bed and feeding bowl. Some are so preoccupied with their pet that they carry them around outside the house in small boxes and to keep them warm, tuck them into especially stitched little pockets under the arms of their shirts. Such dedication! Imagine the looks you'd get in the supermarket if your armpit started chirruping!

January

Anybody chancing on this month's meeting could have been forgiven for thinking that we were sitting in an adult education tutorial! We were being talked to by Sally Curtis, a lecturer in Neurophysiology at the University of Southampton Medical School. What was so lovely was that Sally has such a wonderful way of describing things that we were all gripped by what she was saying and the majority of us understood some, if not all, of what she was telling us. We heard all about nerve cells, their nucleuses, branches, dendrites etc and the fact that, unlike for example liver cells, they cannot reproduce themselves. We learnt that the nervous system is divided by its structure into central and peripheral parts, and, further, by it's function into sensory and motor divisions. She touched a little on the nature of chronic pain and tried to explain some aspects of it using the physiology she was describing. It was also made clear that many aspects of chronic pain are still not easily explained by physiology alone. So much depends on the person's own experiences, their circumstances and their general health status. She directed us to a useful web site, http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/introb.html for those who wish to learn more. She has also promised to come back. So if you have any particular questions in mind, give them to Joan who will forward them to Sally so she can prepare her talk accordingly.

 

"Wellbeing" loaf which Mr Cotton sells in his shop. (Click here for information) It is full of healthy grains and seeds and is additive free.

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

Keeping Pace With Pain

Southampton Based Chronic Pain Support Group

Venue - Avenue St Andrews, United Reformed Church, The Avenue, Southampton
3rd Thursday of each month 1pm-3pm

Informal Setting, Guest Speaker, easy parking, disabled access, refreshments

ALL MEMBERS OLD AND NEW WELCOME

Forthcoming dates for your 2009 diary - Time 1pm to 3pm

  • June 18th - Further Pain Physiology with Sally Curtis, Lecturer, Southampton School of Medicine
  • July 16th – Wessex DriveAbility - Your Local Driving Assessment Service'. – Heather Gifford,
  • August 20th – Cream Teas and Music plus painting with Tracey
  • September 17th – Relaxation and Breathing Techniques with Debbie Harrison
The date of the July coffee morning will be Monday July 6th

Why not join us for a chat and a good cup of tea and a bun!

KPWP's 4th Birthday - March 2009

One of our coffee mornings

More tea vicar


How big was it?

 


Donate to charity for free. Every day go to The Hunger Site and click the special link on the homepage, its prominently displayed sponsors donate a cup of staple foodstuff to someone starving. Once you have clicked on that site visit the other sites listed at the top of that page and do the same.

The Library is open!!

For an idea of some of the books we have and a short review of them click Here

 

 

For further information on our group, please contact Chris or Steve on 023 8046 5019