Press Releases

An Ageing population

It is now acknowledged that there is a demographic revolution underway with senior citizens at its core, as our reporter explains. BETTE Davis, star of the silver screen, once said: “Old age is no place for sissies”. Even if you are a fit and healthy pensioner you know that she is right. Not only are we living longer but, within the developing world, the over 80s are the fastest growing population group.

This fact has been recognised by The World Health Organisation, which has designated October 1 the International Day for Older Persons, in recognition of the fact that the over 60s have a critical role to play through their experience and knowledge. But it warns that “such contributions to development can only be ensured if older persons enjoy adequate levels of health”.

That is an attitude shared by Steve Hodgson and his team of medical experts at the Hallamshire Physiotherapy Centre, Newbould Lane.

“People are living longer but at the moment when a joint wears out, the knee or the hip most commonly, we replace it but that situation cannot continue. Endless replacement is not the answer. Both in terms of time and money, physiotherapy is a far more cost effective way of dealing with the problem,” said Steve. “Surgery may be necessary in some cases but it should never be our first choice.

“We rust out: we don’t wear out. Joints are governed by controlled movement so if you stop moving joints you damage them but if you are experiencing pain it is the natural response.”
Fear avoidance - moving in a way which avoids pain - affects the whole body and impedes movement but often the cause is not age-related.

“Healthy joints rely on movement of the muscles but we are increasingly seeing the effects of our sedentary lifestyles in middle-aged people who are overweight, smoke and take no exercise,” said Steve.

“However, many older people are less affected by these things. They have led more active lives. As young men and women they may have been in the forces, they will also have lived with rationing in which ‘junk’ food played no part. And while they may now spend time watching television, as children they will have been out playing. Computer games and Game Boys have no place in their lives.”

But there is also a cultural element to the problem as Steve explains: “Where you live will have an effect on how you view old age. “Older people living on their own tend to stay more active because they have to, while there are those in their 50s with heart or weight problems who simply give up. They accept it as part of getting older and restrict their activities to a minimum, particularly if they have other people round them who will cook, shop and clean for them. It has a lot to do with expectations and what is acceptable.

“In this country back pain is seen as a reason not only to have time off work but to give it up altogether. Yet in Oman, until quite recently, no one ever reported lower back pain. People there had back pain but it was never seen as a problem: it was just part of life.
“Similarly, Aboriginal women will never tell anyone if they have a pain in the neck as in their culture it is a sign of infidelity.

“So when we look at what we think of as a medical problem we need to remember that cultural component. In Oman, once back pain was diagnosed as a problem it became one.

“We can change people’s quality of life through physiotherapy, without the need for surgery.”

• In 2000 there were 600 million people aged 60 and above; by 2025 there will be 1.2 billion and by 2050 there will be two billion;
• Today two-thirds of older people live in the developing world; by 2025 that figure will be 75 per cent;
• In the developing world the very old (80+) is the fastest growing population group;
• Women out live men in virtually all societies: in very old age the ratio of women to men is 2:1. (World Health Organisation).

Doug Scott evening in Sheffield – January 2006

ANYONE who reaches the peak of success even once in their lives will know that the hard work and dedication behind that achievement.

Consider then Doug Scott CBE, a climber who has reached the summit of 40 peaks during his illustrious career – all new climbs by new routes. At 64, he still has the same drive and enthusiasm which saw him scale the heights of Everest 30 years ago.

Now, thanks to the efforts of climber and events organiser Matt Heason, Doug will be in Sheffield on January 16 to talk about his career. The evening, which is being staged at the Lescar Hotel, Hunter’s Bar, is being sponsored by Hallamshire Physiotherapy and will include a talk by Steve Hodgson on injuries, prevention and awareness.

“A lot of climbers go to see Steve and his colleagues. They look after the GB climbing squad. They understand what we do and why we do it so he was the ideal choice both as a sponsor and a speaker,” said Matt.

“Climbers need to be aware of their posture and how they move,” said Steve. “The nature of climbing is that everything is done in a forward manner so they can become very tight across the chest and almost c-shaped.

“They then undergo postural changes which makes it difficult for them to put their arms above their heads which in turn puts additional stresses on elbows, tendons and shoulders.
“So we look at how their bodies change and adapt in response to climbing and what they need to do to prevent it. The big risk areas are the shoulders, the elbow and the hand because they often spend too long dangling.”

His advice to young climbers is to take it steady. “If you start climbing young and do it slowly and progressively, the tendons and the muscles will strengthen and adapt to that. For older climbers or those who start young and do lots of dynamic jumping from rocks, the tendon stress increases too quickly causing micro-trauma which will then come out later.

“We try to advise climbers on these things. If you have say a shoulder weakness then you will start to use your elbow more which in turn will give you an elbow problem. If not using your legs, you put more emphasis on your arms and you start to stress your arms. It is down to technique as much as anything.”

So interested in climbers has Steve become that he has started to go out into Derbyshire himself to experience some of their problems at first hand. “I’m not a climber but I have a lot of friends who are. “Sheffield has the highest population of climbers in the country. We treat so many of them I though it was time I went out and joined them.

Everest Marathon

A WHISTLE may not be the first piece of kit which comes to mind when packing for a run down Everest but without one athletes will not be allowed to leave Base Camp.

Keith Holmes, deputy head at Bradfield school, Worrall has his polished and ready alongside his running kit and thermals as he prepares for the run of his life in the Everest Marathon - a bi-annual event which has won a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s highest marathon.

Bradfield has made Nepal the focus of its fundraising efforts this year and this mountainous trek through the foothills of the Himalayas is Keith’s contribution to that.

Despite taking part in the Great North Run for the past 19 years, this is his first full marathon. Fell running is where he gets his kicks.

“I could not do just road running and to be honest I find even the Great North Run tedious. I only started that because I’m from the North East and I go back there to see my family. I much prefer fell running. It’s more of a challenge although it has caused me some serious damage which I perhaps would not have suffered on the road,” said Keith, who runs 365 days a year come rain or shine.

“When I turned 50 last year I decided to step up a gear and I did really well, winning 20 out of 22 races. I travelled to championships all over Europe, including the world Masters in Italy where I came 18th out of 150.

“This season I was doing well until I raced in Edale at the beginning of June and broke my ankle. I thought that was the end for me but about three weeks after it happened I went to Hallamshire Physiotherapy where they had put me back on my feet once before when I had a recurrent hamstring problem which four other physios had tried to sort out.

“With this ankle injury everyone I saw told me to rest. Steve Hodgson, the physio there, told me to run so I did, very gently at first, combining it with exercise and it worked. So here I am at the age of 51 about to take part in my first marathon.”

Keith, who is sponsored by Hallamshire Physiotherapy and Keep on Running at Attercliffe, as well as parents, colleagues and pupils at Bradfield, is one of just 75 runners from around the world taking part in the race.

Such is the challenge faced by those selected that as many as one-third will not even manage the walk to Base Camp. The race starts at 17,000 feet. At that altitude the air holds half the oxygen it does at sea level. Athletes soon learn to pace themselves, particularly as they are running at sub-zero temperatures.

Keith is not sure how much he will raise but is paying for the entire trip himself to ensure maximum benefit to the people of Nepal.

What concerns him at this stage is his time. “In normal conditions I would expect to run the 26.2miles in about three hours but we will be running at high altitude so the best any of us can expect is six hours. Sounds rubbish doesn’t it? But if I do it at all I’ll have done well.”

Footballers

PHYSIOTHERAPIST Steve Hodgson has little patience with football managers who blame the playing surface for their team’s injuries.

“There is no evidence that different types of pitch have any influence on hamstring injuries,” he said. “It’s not what the pitch is like but what you do on the top of it that is important.

“If you make people train too hard, for too long, over too short a period of time, they’ll train until they get injured. “More importantly, when you look at a muscle which is getting pulled repeatedly, such as hamstrings, the chances are that that muscle is expected to do something it is not designed to do. I’m not talking about a one off when someone is running for a bus, for example, I’m talking about sports people who run and train regularly.”

The ‘poor pitch’ excuse is likely to become a thing of the past as more and more team physios enrol on professional courses specifically designed for the professional ball player.

Steve and his colleagues at Hallamshire Physiotherapy at Broomhill lecture on a Sheffield Hallam University course which is directed towards physiotherapists from professional football clubs. Some are ‘football physios’ and others are physiotherapists who treat footballers.

“With them we look at why people have recurring injuries – not just muscle usage but how that fits in with the overall scheme of things,” said Steve.

Lee Nobes, physio at Oldham Athletic FC, says signing up for the course was one of the best things he has ever done. “It has opened up different avenues of thought and practice,” said Lee who is studying for his MSc in muscular skeletal physiotherapy.

“We now look at the whole person rather than just the injury we are treating. We look at the way they run and move both on an off the pitch.

“The course takes three years and is very hard work. I’ve been doing it for less than a year now and it has completely changed the way we practice. By meeting Steve and his colleagues every two weeks we can talk through what we are doing and make sure it is all on the right lines.

“The other week he brought in a footballer from Leeds and a rugby player who were both injured and talked us through their treatment, putting them into different positions. We could actually see the difference as he worked on them. The course is tailor-made for people who work in sport.”

Once he has qualified Lee will be able to add MSc to his impressive list of qualifications - BSc (Hons), BA (Comb Hons), CSCS, GSR, MCSP SRP.

When assessing a problem, Steve and his colleagues use a video cam and encourage their students to do the same. “You cannot see where the problem lies by just looking at someone standing still. We run everybody, putting them into functional positions. If they have an injury running or rowing or ski-ing or whatever it is you need to look at the problem area in action.”

The Perils of Skiing

AS THE winter Olympics draw to a close a good number of the population could well be brought to its knees as those thrilled by the downhill skiers and the agile snowboarders take to the slopes with little or no preparation.

Physiotherapist Steve Hodgson, of Hallamshire Physiotherapy, who has recently taken up the sport, knows well where the snow will take its toll.

“The big problem area is usually the knee, “ said Steve. “This is because you have huge torsion between the upper and lower legs and in between you have the knee trying to compensate for the ability to turn and twist. How you control your body is the problem and will put additional stresses at the knee. And it is the ligaments within the knee which are vulnerable as they not only keep the joints together physically but also provide a feedback mechanism whereby you control your knees. When the ligaments are intact they allow the muscles to work better and at a greater speed and to take on additional stresses.”

Although we Brits did not shine in Turin, we should not be too hard on ourselves. Although our climate is cold we do not have regular access to the one thing which would improve our medal tally – snow.

“The Austrians, the Swiss and the Americans all have access to snow and so their selection committees have a big pool to choose from. In the UK the numbers available for the Olympic squad are much smaller,” said Steve.

Starting younger is a big advantage. “If you learn to ski at the same time as you learn to walk, you learn that motor pattern without realising it and your ability to balance and control things is that much better. The ski is then an extension of the limb.

“If you take up skiing as I have done, at the age of 45, it is much harder. You are learning a new task, a different way of moving and so you become that much more vulnerable.”

Older learners also need to remember that with age the ligaments lose their elasticity, and weaken. Maintaining activity levels will minimise the deterioration in the quality of ligaments.
But the big problem with the winter sports men and women is lack of all-year fitness. “Sitting at a desk for 50 weeks of the year being relatively inactive and all of a sudden having a week or two of skiing without having prepared for the physical stresses beforehand puts a strain on the body,” said Steve, who runs regularly by way of an all-year-round workout.

Contact sports and regular visits to the gym are good preparations. “You need to begin exercising at least three months in advance. You need to run and work on balance and co-ordination and generally get used to making your muscles work harder,” advises Steve. “The more you do the fitter you will become. And there is no age bar to this. A 90-year old can benefit from regular exercise. I’m not advocating that they should take to the slopes but being older is no reason not to exercise. The potential to improve is always there.”

His only other advice is build the activity levels slowly and once on the slopes stay within your abilities. “Rate of change is what catches people out. Increase too rapidly and you will open yourself up to more injuries. Your body takes time to change from relative sedentary to more activity. It is not just the heart and lungs, it’s the muscles, ligaments and bones too. Even the professionals need to be aware of this.”

If you are thinking of taking to the slopes the advice is to do exercises where your foot is fixed and your body is moving against it, combining general fitness exercises - cycling, walking and running – with strengthening the lower leg. And above all take it slowly. The speed will come with the downhill run.

Home exercises
Place your back flat against a wall and gradually lower yourself into a ‘sitting’ position with your thighs at no more than a 90degree angle to your body. Hold for the count of 10 and repeat ten times.

Using a kitchen chair back for balance, slowly bend your knees into a squatting position. Hold for a count of 30 seconds and repeat 5 to 6 times.

Put a telephone directory on the floor a step onto it and off going forward, using alternate feet.

Step on and off the bottom stair 20 times.

Multiple Sclerosis Press Release (by Carmel Stewart)

People with MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS are reaping the benefit of physiotherapy and high dosage oxygen therapy on a regular basis. At the MS Therapy Centre near Catcliffe, people are joining the ever-increasing waiting lists for treatment on the physio table, to use the oxygen chamber and other therapies on offer.

The Therapy Centre on Station Road, Catcliffe, five minutes from the Parkway, was originally established several years ago at Meadowhall. It moved to its purpose-built premises in 2002 but was so busy sorting out the building and taking care of its many members that the formal opening ceremony was delayed until earlier this year.

People with MS at various stages of the condition, and other neurological disorders, travel from Yorkshire, Humberside and Derbyshire for treatment at the Centre.

“Physiotherapy is an essential part of the treatment, it’s crucial,” said Centre Manager Lynne Foster. “Hallamshire Physiotherapy Clinic, which is based in Broomhill and specialises in treatment of neurological conditions, offer us a special daily rate but, as a charity, our funds all come through grants, contributions and donations so we can only afford one day a week. I could easily fill more days, the waiting list is so long, but we just don’t have the funds to pay for it.”

Less well-known but still effective, is the high dosage oxygen therapy which enables members to absorb pure oxygen into their system under increased pressure, many find this beneficial. Breathing oxygen under pressure causes the dilated and leaky blood vessels in MS to constrict back to normal size and reduces the swelling. More oxygen is delivered into the bloodstream accelerating normal healing processes and minimising the amount of damage caused. It is also suitable for other neurological complaints, tissue repair and sports injuries.

Oxygen therapy can safely be taken regularly, the whole process is very carefully monitored and trained operators are in constant communication with the member, who is in view at all times. Pure oxygen helps repair muscle and damaged tissue. Members have been using it for 20 years but it is recognised as an effective treatment for other conditions and also for athletes. We offer this facility to sports people as the only facilitator of this unique therapy in the area.

“We offer professional help in the way of counselling and other treatments, such as the physio, which is medically proven to help. We also have visiting alternative therapists which members find relaxing and beneficial,” said Julia Conlan-Greaves, Fundraiser.

“Hospitals tend to be reactive - we are proactive. They offer physiotherapy and the like when there is a set back; we work to prevent the set-back happening or at least to delay it by maintaining mobility , helping to limit the progression of the condition and promote a feeling of well being “.

Funds are always an issue at the Centre, which is staffed mainly by volunteers. Annual running costs are £72,000. Their compulsory registration by the Healthcare Commission, which monitors the high quality of operational standards, rose this year from £1,080 to £1,560; by 2008 that will have risen again to £4,000 pa.

Fact file: Multiple sclerosis is the most common disabling neurological condition.
It affects the protective myelin sheath round the nerve fibres which then interferes with messages to the brain.

Because there are nerves all round the body it is impossible to know where it will strike.
The word sclerosis comes from the Greek 'skleros' meaning hard. In MS, hard areas called plaques, lesions or scars develop around the nerves.

'Multiple' refers to the different areas of the central nervous system which may have damaged myelin.

In the UK alone 85,000 people have MS.

Everyone is affected differently. Some have periods of relapse and remission, for others it is progressive.

Worldwide, an estimated 2,500,000 people have MS, more commonly in countries further away from the equator.

MS affects mainly 20 to 40 year-olds, with women almost twice as likely to develop it as men.
Once diagnosed, MS stays with you for life.

PLANT A TREE FOUNDATION

Plant a Tree, Not a Cartridge – that’s the message from some of Sheffield’s leading businesses this week as they prepare to get their hands dirty and do their bit for the local environment!

Representatives of Royal Bank of Scotland, leading Sheffield law firm Keeble Hawson, corporate landscapers Charlton Brook Ltd, management consultants Director Resource and Hallamshire Physiotherapy pulled on their wellies and picked up their spades in support of an environmental initiative launched by Jon West, Director of Cartridge World in Sheffield.
The team will be joining other corporate sponsors planting an avenue of trees at the entrance to Concord Park as part of National Tree Week (27th November – 1st December).

Jon West started the project to help replace just a few of the trees the city is losing to age and ill health.

And he is keen to encourage other businesses to take up the last few places in this ‘groundbreaking’ opportunity, just by donating £150 and bringing a team of four people to plant their tree.

"This is a great chance for local businesses to help define the way our city will look for generations to come," said Jon West.

"Few people realise that unless we act now, most of Sheffield’s trees will have come to the end of their natural lives within a few years – they urgently need to be replaced if the generations that follow us are to have the environmental benefits they bring.

"We still have room for a few more sponsors for the event. It’s a great team building exercise, and a great way to make the city a better place to be!"

Andrew Coombe, Partner at Keeble Hawson, added, "We strongly support Cartridge World in its bid to take action against the loss of trees in Sheffield.

"Keeble Hawson is delighted to be part of this initiative as part of our ongoing programme of community work and urge other businesses in the region to join the campaign."
For more information on the tree planting please contact Jon West on 07960 006326 or email jon@cwsheffield.co.uk.