Yoga, psoas, hip flexors, dislocated patella, Sciatica, BP Oil leak, contentment

Nearly did not go to yoga on Saturday. Monday and Tuesday were both hip openers, hard on the groin when you have had a double hernia operation. Guess what he concentrated on - hip openers and groin stretches; came home feeling like John Wayne after a long ride on a horse.

Saw a few people over the weekend. You can tell by the sound of urgency in their voice whether they really need to see you now. A lady had mid back pain for three months. After lots of tests and seeing specialists the conclusion was gall stones. Even the orthopaedic specialist thought it was nothing to do with the joints or muscles. Two weeks after the operation she had exactly the same pain. It turned out to be short hip flexors, especially psoas and a rib that was a fraction out of place. There are some major nerve ganglions (or junctions) right underneath the rib heads. the psoas muscles interlock with the cross shaped tendons of the diaphragm into the ribs between the kidneys. The diaphragm acts slightly upwards and the psoas muscles act downwards.

A young woman came in panic and great pain about her knee. The meniscus was stuck and she could not straighten the leg. You have to work very firmly and gently with knees. A few months ago she had come with her father because of the other knee. She had been to the drop in centre with a severely swollen knee. The doctor on duty had examined it and told her to take a hot bath. I have a great respect for doctors but it takes a nose dive when someone gives the wrong advice. The knee cap was completely dislocated. We sat her up straight with her father behind her to shorten the quadriceps. I took the leg into strong traction and worked for 35 minutes to ease the patella (knee cap) back into place. My colleague Vanya had to wipe away the sweat that was dripping off my forehead. We cooled it down and it has been fine every since.

Someone else came with sciatica. Sciatica is pain, tingling, electric, fuzzy feeling, deep aching in the back of one or both legs, running from the gluteal muscles, down the back or outside of the leg, into the calf muscles and sometimes to the foot. It can affect the toes especially the big toe. We will talk about it another time. Tell me if you have found ways of relieving sciatica.

The thought occurred to me that perhaps BP will never block the oil leak. We love to blame someone, but it happened to be them not some other oil company. As human beings we need to accept the responsibility for poisoning our planet. Using non recyclable laminated plastics in packaging, being lazy about recycling Constantly buying and throwing away plastics, using our cars without a second thought or offering lifts to others are all ways that we put pressure on companies like BP to keep that oil spewing out of the earth for our convenience.

We had a couple in their eighties round for tea tonight. It struck me how content they were. Yet the other In laws of the same family are suffering. What is the difference. Both men started on the same job level. This one was a rep for a timber merchant and worked until he was 70 years old. The other man had higher ambitions and drove himself to earn a lot more money until he was a director of his company. He travelled the world with his wife and made many friends in exotic places. Then he suffered panic attacks and could not travel any more. He could hardly drive his Range Rover and lost all his confidence. It was a kind of M.E. Perhaps M.E. affects driven people more than contented people?

"Ambition is a hard task master."

Who has the better quality of life now? When my mother died my dad decided that he would sell his perfect house with the perfect garden. Perfection became a burden to him. Most of his life he and his wife had acquired possessions. (They had 10 teapots!). He went off around the country on National Trust trips, walked a bit with the ramblers, or sat in the pub at lunchtime and waited for the group to arrive, found himself a lady friend who would go to the teashops with him and buy the most expensive meals there. He would drink half a bottle of wine with his grand children and do all of the things that he had not been allowed to do when he was married.

He died at 92 a contented man.
ps if you want to buy a bargain flat in Warwick have a look at:
http://flatinwarwick.wordpress.com

Oils that heal the body

I don't know what all this fuss is about low fat diets. I eat a high fat diet and can't put on an ounce of weight. Butter, lovely stuff, who would want margarine? Olive oil, I dunk bread in it and pour it on my toast. Hemp seed oil, yummy great for the tummy, cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, pecans all full of oil and great energy foods. Extra virgin oil means that it is extracted from the first pressing without heating above 60 degrees centigrade.

The only things you need to watch are:
Never eat "roasted, salted nuts". I used to visit the factories where they are "roasted". Peanuts, almonds, pistachios or macadamias are cleaned of all the crud that is sticking to them from the fields or being dried in someone's back yard. They pour the nuts into boiling vats of oil, deep fry them, drain the oil, spray them with 6% salt then finish them off with a glazing oil, what a way to ruin perfectly nutritious food that kept our ancestors going through the winter.

The other factor to avoid is salt. Try Meridian peanut butter, just peanuts, no salt or palm oil. Or try Wholebake original 9 seed bars, they will keep your energy levels going. Did you know that peanuts have more fibre in them weight for weight than prunes? Nuts and seeds will regulate your blood sugar levels.

Another great oil for cooking is Carotino Healthier cooking oil. It is made from red palm and rape seed oil, both very stable when heated. Stable oils do not hydrogenate when heated.

Oils are the only source of the vitamins A, E, D, and K. A helps the skin, E helps the blood and the heart, D helps the digestion and protects against diverticulitis, crohns disease and colon cancer, K helps to clot the blood and to build and replace the bones. People on fat free diets are asking for trouble.