Monthly Archives: September 2017

How many hours a day do you spend on your phone, on your tablet or at a computer screen?  What is your head doing right now? If you’re reading this using your phone, laptop or tablet, chances are you’re hunched over with your head tilted down. Research has found that this position, called ‘text neck’, can lead to bad posture and cause pain in your neck, head, shoulders, spine and even down your arms.

Recent research shows that 79% of 18 – 44 year olds have their mobile phone with them almost all the time – with only 2 hours of their waking day without their phone at hand. Many of us rely on smartphones and tablets to communicate for work and to keep in touch with family and friends throughout the day and we setting ourselves up for a future of pain and discomfort.

Migraines are now listed in the top 20 disabilities by the World Health Organisation  and a survey of over 120,000 households found that four out of ten females and two out of ten males respectively will experience migraine at some stage in their lifetime – most likely before age of 35 and that the greatest frequency of attacks are likely to occur between the ages of 20 and 24 years in females and 15 to 19 in males. The authors reported that these findings were in accordance with previous studies. (Stewart WF, Wood C, Reed ML, Roy J, Lipton RB. Cumulative lifetime migraine incidence in women and men. Cephalalgia 2008;28:1170-1178)

Clearly this is a significant problem for many people!

By Diane Palliser, Reflexologist

“If you’re feeling out of kilter

Don’t know why or what about

Let your feet reveal the answer

Find the sore spot work it out”

– Eunice D. Ingham

Reflexology is one of the oldest healing practices in the world as evidenced by Chinese and Egyptian texts, illustrations and artefacts.  Cleopatra’s lover Mark Antony was reported as being particularly skilled in the area of foot massage, provoking the scorn of his rival Caesar, who, on witnessing Mark Antony massaging Cleopatra’s feet at a party remarked that “it showed his pathetic enslavement to her”. Another, much more recent female icon, Princess Diana is also reported to have had reflexology 3 times a week.

However, Reflexology is not just a luxury treatment enjoyed by goddesses but can also be beneficial to pets, babies, people overcoming addictions, people with and recovering from cancer and those living with Alzheimer’s, to name a few.