She died….I cried….
When I was nine years old (admittedly, that was a long time ago), my pet hamster died. I cried and cried.. Vets tell us that pet owners cry more for their pets than they do for their family. That\’s weird! Grief sometimes manifests itself as physical symptoms, and probably all practitioners see patients with symptoms […]
If you get stronger, will you live longer?
There was a great piece of research published last year in the BMJ, about the correlation between grip strength and various health outcomes, including mortality. Yes, mortality. It seems that higher strength is associated with health and with living longer. No real surprise there. What interested me, particularly was that grip strength is a good […]
Here are some new push-up ideas!
Do you like to do push-ups? They can be a great way to strengthen your shoulder and arm muscles! I was chatting with my colleague Ed Marshall the other day about push-ups. We were discussing how changing the hand position can completely change how a push-up feels and changes the way that the shoulder and […]
She just coughed…..for two months!
Have you heard people say things like \’I just coughed, and my back went\’? Well this case is not quite like that, the lady involved had been coughing hard for two whole months – non-stop! She developed back pain. Have a look at this video (it\’s only 1 min) and see why she was getting […]
Did I tell you about my tennis career?
I have loads in common with Andy Murray…. I’m Scottish -well, half-Scottish anyway. (By the way the Burns night went really well, thanks). My Mum loves us both and I’m also called Andy by my pals. (For some reason I’m always called Andrew at work, I’m not sure why)!. I used to play tennis too, and […]
How do you know if one leg is longer than the other?
It\’s nearly Burns night (25th Jan), so we are having a Burns night supper: Haggis (vegetarian), neeps and tattys! The fictional wild haggis was reputed to have legs longer on one side than the other, in order to be able to walk around the Scottish mountains! This may be good for a haggis, but is […]
Fitness or Pharmacy?
If you need some inspiration to get yourself exercising in 2019, checkout this video discussing a new piece of research demonstrating that exercise can be as good as medication in reducing blood pressure. Wow! This is a ground-breaking piece of high quality research. Andrew is also inspired to get into a new form of exercise: […]
My Mum\’s Christmas Cake is so good…..it\’s BAD!!!!
My Mum makes the BEST Christmas cake ever. But like most things in life, what we love may not be so good for us….in excess. Increasingly all practitioners have patients who complain of symptoms of gout: pain, often quite severe, commonly in the big toe. This is probably due to our rich lifestyle. In this […]
What have sprouts ever done for us?
I have to admit it I am a great fan of brussel sprouts. I certainly wasn\’t as a child. In fact the sprouts cooked in school kitchens produced an aroma that would put most people off eating sprouts – forever! There are some great reasons for eating sprouts – watch the video and find out […]
The Ice Man
I have just finished reading this very interesting book by investigative journalist, Scott Carney. He had heard about a Dutchman called Wim Hof who was making some quite extra-ordinary health claims about using a combination of cold exposure, breathing techniques and meditation to improve health and fitness. Scott Carney visited Wim Hof and participated in […]