Summer Time is Gardening Time

Summer is here and with it plenty of time outdoors in our gardens or allotments, digging and pruning or sprucing things up (when we're not relaxing and enjoying a drink that is).  With these repetitive activities it is possible to develop join pain in the thumb.

Earlier in the season i'd shared about working on my allotment and having an old injury flare up causing a painful left thumb.  Every time I gripped the spade handle or secateurs, the joint "gave way" and by the end of the day it was achey. 

Thankfully things are much better now having taken my own advice and I want to share this valuable information with you once again in case you missed it.


To give support and aid recovery I used some Kinesio tape strapping across the joint and exercised the thumb.  The strapping is placed along the tendons, allowing exercise and movement with support.  This helps the brain and joint to reconnect so movement is improved across the painful joint.


In the beginning, exercise with the strapping on so you know how it should "feel".  When not gardening, practice "release motion".

Any questions?  Please don't hesitate to ask, all the contact details are here on the blog or on my website.  I love hearing from you.

Your core and what to watch out for.

After all the festivities and overindulgences of the end of year celebrations, some of you might be feeling that you want to go back to familiar exercise routines or trying a out new one.

Here are some top tips to help you make the most of your core exercises.  If you are not getting the results you want or you find your back aching afterwards you may be making some, or all of these mistakes. 

I hope you find this useful.  It would be great if you could leave a comment below to let me know what you thought and ideas for further information you would like in future blog posts.

A Nod to the Neck

My Cheeky Take on Pilates

By now we should all have got the message about our "core' and how we should be engaging and going to classes to help our spines stay strong.  There has been some exciting developments and research or evidence that our butt cheeks can do Pilates too.  Do you know you can do core bottom exercises and it really helps with back and hip pain and weak knees (especially for those who have a sedentary job).  For those of you who have worked on your core like mad and still have pain, this may be the missing piece for you.

Here's how..................



This may look like the clam, even start like the clam but rest assured ladies and gentlemen it is not the clam.