Hawkes Physiotherapy Blog

" Sports Massage ? That's for sports people right?" Short answer...... NO I know I would be confused too. It is called sports massage after all! But believe it or not sports massage can be for anybody. In fact arguably it may be great for problems that sports people don't usually suffer from. "Arh, you mean aches and pains etc?" Well, yes, but not just this.  For example, it can lower stress, according to research done by Cady and Jones in 1997. Stress is linked to lots of health issues from IBS to high blood pressure, increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, hair loss, skin conditions etc. etc. Another effect of sports massage is that it can lower high blood pressure, which is literally a killer but I bet you never thought of going to have a sports massage for high blood pressure now did you? If all this wasn't enough, we continue into further benefits.... Reduces depression and anxiety (Moyer et al...

In today's article we will critically review the following research paper: Comparing Verum and Sham Acupuncture in Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis J Kim, SR Kim, H Lee, DH Nam J Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2019 (2019). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6732586/ So what type of evidence is this article? The below image shows where this article ranks in the hierarchy of evidence: So this article comes under the second from the top: Other SR & Meta-Analyses What conclusion is made? The author concluded that " verum acupuncture is more effective than sham acupuncture for pain relief, improving sleep quality, and reforming general status in FMS post treatment. However, evidence that it reduces fatigue was not found." Are the conclusion’s justified by the data? It would appear that the they are justified due to the meta-analysis analysing 10 randomised controlled trials...

Here is a video discussing these findings in further detail too: YouTube Video click me References: Couanis, G., W. Breidahl, and S. Burnham. "The relationship between subacromial bursa thickness on ultrasound and shoulder pain in open water endurance swimmers over time." Journal of science and medicine in sport 18.4 (2015): 373-377. Gill, Thomas J., et al. "The relative importance of acromial morphology and age with respect to rotator cuff pathology1." Journal of shoulder and elbow surgery 11.4 (2002): 327-330. Huegel, Julianne, Alexis A. Williams, and Louis J. Soslowsky. "Rotator cuff biology and biomechanics: a review of normal and pathological conditions." Current rheumatology reports 17.1 (2015): 476.

Recently we have added to the team at Hawkes Physiotherapy. We are always striving to improve the service that we can provide to you. Due to this, we now have a fully qualified sports massage therapist available at both of our clinics in Talke and Stoke:  Now, sports massage isn't just beneficial for sports people it can help many issues and is supported by good evidence too.  So what can it help?   Some people are concerned that sports massage is painful and will leave you feeling bruised afterwards but this just isn't the case. The aim of treatment is to work with you to find the ideal pressure to ensure that you leave feeling better and not worse. So what does it cost? Well, at both clinics, the first session is £15 for a 30 minute sports massage and this is £25 thereafter. For a 45 minute sports massage the first session is £25 and £35 thereafter.