.: My boat: North Shore Atlantic (Cliodhna)
I read this comment on Dave's blog. What a great association for a boat.
It is now December and I have decided to name my boat Cliodhna (Klee-in-ah) after the Celtic Godess: The Irish/Scottish Celtic Goddess renowned for her Great Beauty. When she assumes human form, Cliodna is the most beautiful woman on earth: the fair skinned shapely one. She was the ruler of the waves. It was said that every ninth wave embodied her, and broke higher and stronger than any of the other wave. It was a Celtic belief that every ninth wave that breaks ashore has magical properties. It is also said that to hear Cliodhna's Wave is a fortunate thing, as it will solve for you any difficult problem you are experiencing at the time.Cliodhna rules the Land of Promise, an otherworld where there is no violence or death. She also took the form of a sea bird and therefore symbolized the Celtic afterlife.
When we lived in Orkney we often heard the tale about the Silkie, the mysterious women who were seal when at sea and women on land. The story is told beautifully by Stewart Hendrikson in his reliving of the tale.
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/hend/VictoryMusic/July-MusicTrad_SelkieLore.htm
When the air is damp and the wind has on those rare occasions dropped in Orkney you can stand on the beach at Tingwall jetty and hear the sound of the seals drifting across the water from Gairsay. It is a haunting sound like a low melodic fog horn. We used to run a whole food shop in Rendall then Kirkwall, called the Tree Bakery. I had a delivery to make to Mrs Gotts on Gairsay. For fun my friend Chris and I decided to paddle across in our Huntsman kayaks. Having made our delivery and stayed for a brief supper we set off back to Tingwall jetty in the dark. The air was misty as we set our Silva compass bearings. The tide had just reached that point of tipping from flood to ebb. The sea was lumpy and coming from three directions. I felt unnerved but Chris said to me, "Concentrate on each wave and paddle by the seat of your pants. Slowly we made progress until the green light of Tingwall Jetty came into view. I relaxed once we could see the jetty. We hauled the kayaks up the beach both relieved and reluctant to leave that magical place.
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Phytooestrogens, Menopause,
Phytoestrogens come from the greek word literally meaning 'female steroid hormones relating to plants'.
They work in a milder way than oestrogens made by the body to maintain the menstrual cycle and protect against bone loss after the menopause. Some women reported to me that lowering their wheat intake reduced muscle aches during the menopause. It is possible that wheat proteins (gliadins) become antigens or irritants in the bloodstream and trigger the immune system to over respond.
Oestrogen from animal fats
A major source of oestrogen is cows milk. Fats concentrates oestrogen so women on constant low fat diets including skimmed milk are denying themselves the benefits of oestrogen. Cows are milked when their oestrogen levels are high. In effect they have more milk than they need because the calves have been taken away. It is like expressing milk instead of breast feeding. Milk, especially in the form of yoghurt, is a nutritious food that provides retinol (we turn it into vitamin A), calcium, vitamin D and whey proteins such as casein. Pasteurising makes casein harder to digest. Unpasteurized milk is highly nutritious but must come from herds free of TB, it carries a theoretical risk of E. coli and salmonella.
If a young person has severe acne it is highly likely that they cannot tolerate milk proteins. I had terrible acne for many years and finally concluded after a cream tea in Devon that milk was the culprit. Avoiding cows milk for a year cured the intolerance to milk. However I found that sheep and goats milk cheeses were well tolerated. Oat milk is more suitable for a man than soya milk. A 2010 study done in Greece on sheep and goat's milk found no pesticide residues. Goats fed on red clover would be a great source of natural oestrogen.
In Pembrokeshire we met a farmer who made cheese from unpasteurized milk. He said that he used a different rennet to mainstream cheese producers. I found that unpasteurized cheese and milk was fine, no reaction at all.
Animal fats are not in themselves bad for you, but fats do store toxins including some chemicals and preservatives from the food chain. That is why the Inuit in Greenland and northern Canada are subject to the highest levels of environmental pollutants. Fats also concentrate hormones and store vitamins, for instance: A for the skin and tissue repair, E good for the heart, circulation, hormone control, K good for blood clotting and strong bone formation and D that helps calcium uptake, bones, skin and protection against bowel cancer and bowel diseases. Animal fats are partially saturated which means that when you roast the meat they do not change much or degenerate. Roasted meat with the fat is an excellent source of energy.
Meat from wild game, free range hens, ducks and geese, and wild boar or venison contains higher quality omega 3 fats that not only give you energy but also repairs your body.
Oestrogen from vegetarian sources
Red clover is a great crop to dig into the ground if you are growing organic vegetables. It is a great source of nitrogen and of oestrogen. You can try it as a supplement for menopause symptoms.
Linseed are a good source of lignin. The gut breaks it down into oestrogen like substances. They also provide soluble fibre that flushes out the bile duct and gall bladder. A positive study on hot flushes used 40g a day. Always crush linseed before consumption or chew it well. Personally I find it unpleasant if soaked. Crushed linseed go off more quickly so buy it whole and keep it in a cool, dark place within its sell by date. Throw it away if it tastes and smells like a cricket bat!
Lentils, chick peas (tahini and humous) and soya are good sources of oestrogen.
They work in a milder way than oestrogens made by the body to maintain the menstrual cycle and protect against bone loss after the menopause. Some women reported to me that lowering their wheat intake reduced muscle aches during the menopause. It is possible that wheat proteins (gliadins) become antigens or irritants in the bloodstream and trigger the immune system to over respond.
Oestrogen from animal fats
A major source of oestrogen is cows milk. Fats concentrates oestrogen so women on constant low fat diets including skimmed milk are denying themselves the benefits of oestrogen. Cows are milked when their oestrogen levels are high. In effect they have more milk than they need because the calves have been taken away. It is like expressing milk instead of breast feeding. Milk, especially in the form of yoghurt, is a nutritious food that provides retinol (we turn it into vitamin A), calcium, vitamin D and whey proteins such as casein. Pasteurising makes casein harder to digest. Unpasteurized milk is highly nutritious but must come from herds free of TB, it carries a theoretical risk of E. coli and salmonella.
If a young person has severe acne it is highly likely that they cannot tolerate milk proteins. I had terrible acne for many years and finally concluded after a cream tea in Devon that milk was the culprit. Avoiding cows milk for a year cured the intolerance to milk. However I found that sheep and goats milk cheeses were well tolerated. Oat milk is more suitable for a man than soya milk. A 2010 study done in Greece on sheep and goat's milk found no pesticide residues. Goats fed on red clover would be a great source of natural oestrogen.
In Pembrokeshire we met a farmer who made cheese from unpasteurized milk. He said that he used a different rennet to mainstream cheese producers. I found that unpasteurized cheese and milk was fine, no reaction at all.
Animal fats are not in themselves bad for you, but fats do store toxins including some chemicals and preservatives from the food chain. That is why the Inuit in Greenland and northern Canada are subject to the highest levels of environmental pollutants. Fats also concentrate hormones and store vitamins, for instance: A for the skin and tissue repair, E good for the heart, circulation, hormone control, K good for blood clotting and strong bone formation and D that helps calcium uptake, bones, skin and protection against bowel cancer and bowel diseases. Animal fats are partially saturated which means that when you roast the meat they do not change much or degenerate. Roasted meat with the fat is an excellent source of energy.
Meat from wild game, free range hens, ducks and geese, and wild boar or venison contains higher quality omega 3 fats that not only give you energy but also repairs your body.
Oestrogen from vegetarian sources
Red clover is a great crop to dig into the ground if you are growing organic vegetables. It is a great source of nitrogen and of oestrogen. You can try it as a supplement for menopause symptoms.
Linseed are a good source of lignin. The gut breaks it down into oestrogen like substances. They also provide soluble fibre that flushes out the bile duct and gall bladder. A positive study on hot flushes used 40g a day. Always crush linseed before consumption or chew it well. Personally I find it unpleasant if soaked. Crushed linseed go off more quickly so buy it whole and keep it in a cool, dark place within its sell by date. Throw it away if it tastes and smells like a cricket bat!
Lentils, chick peas (tahini and humous) and soya are good sources of oestrogen.
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Chakras, wheel of life,
In yoga last night our teacher introduced the idea of Chakras. A Chakra is a wheel of energy that resides in particular parts of the body. Some schools of thought identify 7 Chakras, associated with the coccyx, the testicles or ovaries, the solar plexus, the heart and so on. We practised our yoga with the idea of opening each chakra in turn and releasing the pent up energy. By associating a colour we could concentrate on the colour and at the same time repeat a sound. As a practicising craniosacral therapist I look for physiological blockages in the body that form barriers. With the hands and fingers placed gently and carefully as a fulcrum, a therapist finds that the clients brain resets the parameters and starts to release blood or craniosacral fluid or lymph or whatever through that blockage. The result is often relaxation, a sense of lightness, healing of tissues and increased mobility. To me that is a physiological change that is measurable. What puzzles me about Chakras is that we are taking an ancient Hindu way of assessing the body and using the terminology but we don't know if anything has really happened. Personally I find that yoga gives the benefits of a stronger more flexible body, a calmer approach to life and a more reflective personality.
In the class when we came to the pelvic chakra, the colour bright orange, I found myself thinking; What shape is a chakra, is it a wheel or a ball? If it is a ball then is it like a garden water feature or does it rotate on an axis. If there is one chakra for the testicles or ovaries what happens if you have your ovaries taken out or one bursts? or if you have one burst. Has the chakra gone with it or been thrown out of balance? Don't you need two chakras, one for each organ? The colours associated with them sound very much like the colours that Neurolinguistic Programmers use. Perhaps NLP borrowed them from Hinduism? The power of imagery is strong and does change our approach to life.
Paddling a canoe on a river gives you the chance to observe the main current as it swings into eddies behind rocks, branches or bridges. The water strongly flows one way then flows into the space created by the obstacle filling it up and flowing the other way. Between the two flows you can see and feel swirls of current called vortexes. They look remarkably like the idea of chakras. Perhaps a chakra is simply an eddy line between the energy current that flows down the spine and the currents that flow back up through the fluid movements in the human body? The Hindu concepts introduced the Ida, the cooling energy that flowed down the left side of the spine and the Pingala the heating energy that flowed up the right side of the spine. I find an distinction between left and right artificial but what they are saying is that the two energies interweave with each other. Fritz Frederick Smith points out that the Western concept sees the spine as a rod with a series of curves. Bend the curve one way and you introduce a rotation. Bend it the other way and you introduce another rotation. This makes the idea of chakras as moveable not sited in one place but changing with the changing positions of our bodies.
Chakras could also co-incide with nerve junctions or an intersecting bundle of nerves called a plexus. The sacral plexus, the lumbar plexus, the mesenteric plexus and the Pekinje fibres in the heart are anatomical terms that did not exist in Hindu mythology so they used terms that were familiar to them.
What surprises me is that in the West we love to think of ideas that sound mysterious and life changing, they make us feel good about ourselves. We don't seem to question whether these ideas are limited in their scope and could benefit from recent huge strides forwards in how our brains work.
In the class when we came to the pelvic chakra, the colour bright orange, I found myself thinking; What shape is a chakra, is it a wheel or a ball? If it is a ball then is it like a garden water feature or does it rotate on an axis. If there is one chakra for the testicles or ovaries what happens if you have your ovaries taken out or one bursts? or if you have one burst. Has the chakra gone with it or been thrown out of balance? Don't you need two chakras, one for each organ? The colours associated with them sound very much like the colours that Neurolinguistic Programmers use. Perhaps NLP borrowed them from Hinduism? The power of imagery is strong and does change our approach to life.
Paddling a canoe on a river gives you the chance to observe the main current as it swings into eddies behind rocks, branches or bridges. The water strongly flows one way then flows into the space created by the obstacle filling it up and flowing the other way. Between the two flows you can see and feel swirls of current called vortexes. They look remarkably like the idea of chakras. Perhaps a chakra is simply an eddy line between the energy current that flows down the spine and the currents that flow back up through the fluid movements in the human body? The Hindu concepts introduced the Ida, the cooling energy that flowed down the left side of the spine and the Pingala the heating energy that flowed up the right side of the spine. I find an distinction between left and right artificial but what they are saying is that the two energies interweave with each other. Fritz Frederick Smith points out that the Western concept sees the spine as a rod with a series of curves. Bend the curve one way and you introduce a rotation. Bend it the other way and you introduce another rotation. This makes the idea of chakras as moveable not sited in one place but changing with the changing positions of our bodies.
Chakras could also co-incide with nerve junctions or an intersecting bundle of nerves called a plexus. The sacral plexus, the lumbar plexus, the mesenteric plexus and the Pekinje fibres in the heart are anatomical terms that did not exist in Hindu mythology so they used terms that were familiar to them.
What surprises me is that in the West we love to think of ideas that sound mysterious and life changing, they make us feel good about ourselves. We don't seem to question whether these ideas are limited in their scope and could benefit from recent huge strides forwards in how our brains work.
Friday, 15 April 2011
Keeping chickens
if you want laying hens choose a smaller bird usually a first cross hybrid. A hen is any female bird. A chicken is a domesticated bird. Pure breeds tend to be heavier and consume more feed but put on weight faster. Layers produce best in their first two years so choose pullets if you are starting off.
Their biggest dangers are disease, foxes and rats.
Hens are messy so be careful if you think they can range free in the garden. Their pooh can carry salmonella, e. coli and the gut contains campylobacter, all dangerous food poisoning organisms. Ducks carry even more salmonella. Be careful if you have young children.
If you want them to stay healthy the water supply must be fresh and not allow them to step into it. Food should come from a feeder not just thrown onto the ground. Or only throw a little never allowing it to go mouldy.
They also need grit or shell sand in the scratching soil. Grit keeps the crop healthy and allows them to digest their food. Sand containing shells is ideal as it contains enough calcium to keep the eggshells strong.
At night chickens will roost according to their pecking order or hierarchy. If you have a cockerel it will choose the top perch. Other hens will choose perches according to their size and dominance. Give them a choice.
Foxes can devastate a flock and will kill indiscriminately. If the hens are free range they must be shut in at night.
Hens need dry, clean nesting boxes to produce healthy eggs. Ducks lay anywhere and their eggs are often dirty. Nor do their have a membrane inside the shell. Rats will steal eggs if they can. Signs of rats are grease marks, big droppings and chewed wood. Only metal plates in key areas can keep rats out. Leaving food on the ground and water out is a sure way to encourage rats.
Once a year hens will go into moult for up to 2 months. Their feathers look scrawny and fall out. Don't worry they are simply renewing and resting. They will go off laying for a while; they simply need water and healthy feed. Seaweed is a great feed if you wash off the salt first. They will pick through for insects and shells.
Hens also need light to produce eggs. Light stimulates the pituitary gland which in turns stimulates follicle stimulating hormone which in turn releases the eggs into the oviduct. Their ideal lighting for laying. We used to keep them in the Orkney Islands with continuous natural light in mid-summer and hardly any in mid-winter. I put a timer in the hen house and found by experiment that 15 hours of daylight gave us the maximum egg laying potential.
Although a chicken will lay for many years their greatest potential is the first two years. If you are commercially minded and feed conscious it would be best to cull them in the third year or when production drops off (excluding the moulting time). If you keep a cockerel you can breed your own but be aware that not everyone likes a fertil egg with a little spot in it. Some breeds often go broody. We used to keep a bantam that loved to sit but hardly ever produced eggs. The sex of the bird is determined by the temperature of the breast. She produced 8 cockerels in a row, she was a hot bird!
Cockerels grow fast but eat a lot. I could cull them at 6 to 8 months making a great table bird.
Some cockerels like Marans, (grey speckled with spurs) can be very aggressive. I always carried a bamboo cane to fence them off. If you want to cull a bird, go quietly into the hen house at night. Creep up behind them, grab the legs and swing them upside down. They will remain quiet. place two fingers behind the head and hold the body with the other hand. Quickly dislocate the neck. This is instantaneous with no blood and no panic. Drain the blood out before plucking and cleaning. Some people steam or singe the feathers before plucking. If you want a Halal bird hold the neck downwards, twist it and cut the artery with a knife. The heart will naturally pump the blood out and give you clean meat. Be aware that the gut it the most dangerous part for food poisoning organisms. Avoid cutting into the gut and avoid piercing the green or yellow gall bladder.
In summary decide whether your chickens are mainly going to be pets or whether you need the eggs.
Do you want them for the table? If so choose pure breeds. Do you want them for laying? If so choose golden comet, black rock or White leghorns for white eggs. If you want chocolate brown eggs choose some Marans.
Their biggest dangers are disease, foxes and rats.
Hens are messy so be careful if you think they can range free in the garden. Their pooh can carry salmonella, e. coli and the gut contains campylobacter, all dangerous food poisoning organisms. Ducks carry even more salmonella. Be careful if you have young children.
If you want them to stay healthy the water supply must be fresh and not allow them to step into it. Food should come from a feeder not just thrown onto the ground. Or only throw a little never allowing it to go mouldy.
They also need grit or shell sand in the scratching soil. Grit keeps the crop healthy and allows them to digest their food. Sand containing shells is ideal as it contains enough calcium to keep the eggshells strong.
At night chickens will roost according to their pecking order or hierarchy. If you have a cockerel it will choose the top perch. Other hens will choose perches according to their size and dominance. Give them a choice.
Foxes can devastate a flock and will kill indiscriminately. If the hens are free range they must be shut in at night.
Hens need dry, clean nesting boxes to produce healthy eggs. Ducks lay anywhere and their eggs are often dirty. Nor do their have a membrane inside the shell. Rats will steal eggs if they can. Signs of rats are grease marks, big droppings and chewed wood. Only metal plates in key areas can keep rats out. Leaving food on the ground and water out is a sure way to encourage rats.
Once a year hens will go into moult for up to 2 months. Their feathers look scrawny and fall out. Don't worry they are simply renewing and resting. They will go off laying for a while; they simply need water and healthy feed. Seaweed is a great feed if you wash off the salt first. They will pick through for insects and shells.
Hens also need light to produce eggs. Light stimulates the pituitary gland which in turns stimulates follicle stimulating hormone which in turn releases the eggs into the oviduct. Their ideal lighting for laying. We used to keep them in the Orkney Islands with continuous natural light in mid-summer and hardly any in mid-winter. I put a timer in the hen house and found by experiment that 15 hours of daylight gave us the maximum egg laying potential.
Although a chicken will lay for many years their greatest potential is the first two years. If you are commercially minded and feed conscious it would be best to cull them in the third year or when production drops off (excluding the moulting time). If you keep a cockerel you can breed your own but be aware that not everyone likes a fertil egg with a little spot in it. Some breeds often go broody. We used to keep a bantam that loved to sit but hardly ever produced eggs. The sex of the bird is determined by the temperature of the breast. She produced 8 cockerels in a row, she was a hot bird!
Cockerels grow fast but eat a lot. I could cull them at 6 to 8 months making a great table bird.
Some cockerels like Marans, (grey speckled with spurs) can be very aggressive. I always carried a bamboo cane to fence them off. If you want to cull a bird, go quietly into the hen house at night. Creep up behind them, grab the legs and swing them upside down. They will remain quiet. place two fingers behind the head and hold the body with the other hand. Quickly dislocate the neck. This is instantaneous with no blood and no panic. Drain the blood out before plucking and cleaning. Some people steam or singe the feathers before plucking. If you want a Halal bird hold the neck downwards, twist it and cut the artery with a knife. The heart will naturally pump the blood out and give you clean meat. Be aware that the gut it the most dangerous part for food poisoning organisms. Avoid cutting into the gut and avoid piercing the green or yellow gall bladder.
In summary decide whether your chickens are mainly going to be pets or whether you need the eggs.
Do you want them for the table? If so choose pure breeds. Do you want them for laying? If so choose golden comet, black rock or White leghorns for white eggs. If you want chocolate brown eggs choose some Marans.
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Canoeing on the rivers Wye & Usk, February 2011
In February the canoeists and kayakers descend on the Welsh rivers before the fishing season restricts access to these wonderful waters. Four of us set off from Builth Wells. Two people, Chris and Alison, I had never met before. They turned out to be great company. It's amazing how quickly you bond when you are so dependent on each other for your safety, your health, and the strong teamwork needed to paddle rough water. Chris hitched a ride in Joanna's boat. Alison and I paddled solo in our lighter boats. We covered about 20 km of the beautiful river Wye. Most of it was too wide to scout ahead so we cautiously took each rapid as it came. There is a famous slot called Hell Hole, the name is designed to strike fear into newcomers to canoeing. I sent Chris an E mail the night before to let him know that I have never seen an incident at Hell Hole, but other rapids make groups complacent. Sure enough, three of us took a long swim not long after the start. Alison competently took charge. Once on the bank we took off our outer clothes off, swung them around, squeezed them out and put them back on again. By the end of the afternoon we were all paddling more confidently and feeling warmer.
On Friday evening we joined the rest of the group at a Bunkhouse in Brecon.
The Canal Barn Bunkhouse, Brecon
Mainstream is a group of canoeists, mainly Christians, who love to meet outdoors and enjoy God's wonderful creation together. Anyone is welcome if they don't mind getting wet.
The second day we paddled the Usk from Sennybridge with a group of kayakers. Some were nervous simply looking at the river. Some were old hands. Everyone supported and helped each other out.
It was great to see how quickly everyone talked and shared their lives with each other. Every job got done without complaint. People were free to go to the pub, spend time alone or join in with a time of worship in the evening. We were privileged to have Peter Hollingsworth with us. He shared some songs that he had written to well known tunes.
On the Sunday most of the group took a shorter day. Three of us chose to spend longer on the river Usk, covering 18 km to Crickhowell. Once we had past the get out point the river grew bigger and simply got better and better. In the end the sun came out to round off a glorious weekend.
One reflection on the weekend is how when the adrenaline is flowing we can't always distinguish between excitement and fear. One friend was a very competent canoeist but still felt afraid. We covered their boat as best we could but in the end you have to ask yourself, What is the worst that could happen? Has it happened yet? Personally I take that fear emotion and drill it down into my non-conscious. I rehearse success in my mind and make no room for so called failure. Failure might simply be a long swim. Even that can be turned into a brilliant memory and a great story.
Thanks to everyone for such a supportive weekend.
Contact Chris for more information about Mainstream
For help with pain & injuries & to save money on your residential bills & business overheads
The Canal Barn Bunkhouse, Brecon
Mainstream is a group of canoeists, mainly Christians, who love to meet outdoors and enjoy God's wonderful creation together. Anyone is welcome if they don't mind getting wet.
The second day we paddled the Usk from Sennybridge with a group of kayakers. Some were nervous simply looking at the river. Some were old hands. Everyone supported and helped each other out.
It was great to see how quickly everyone talked and shared their lives with each other. Every job got done without complaint. People were free to go to the pub, spend time alone or join in with a time of worship in the evening. We were privileged to have Peter Hollingsworth with us. He shared some songs that he had written to well known tunes.
On the Sunday most of the group took a shorter day. Three of us chose to spend longer on the river Usk, covering 18 km to Crickhowell. Once we had past the get out point the river grew bigger and simply got better and better. In the end the sun came out to round off a glorious weekend.
Thanks to everyone for such a supportive weekend.
Contact Chris for more information about Mainstream
For help with pain & injuries & to save money on your residential bills & business overheads
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Repetitive strain injury, tennis elbow, golfer's elbow
This last week three people have come to see me with tennis elbow. Tennis elbow is an inflammation of the tendons that originate from the outer bone on the elbow. It is often caused by holding the hand or forearm in the same position for long periods of time. In all three cases the people had been holding an
i phone or blackberry in their left hand for long periods of time while keying in with their right hand.
What is It?
In your hands the little finger (pinkie) and the thumb are mainly served by muscles in the hand itself. The three middle fingers are served by muscles in the forearm. If you believe in design that is very clever because it gives you a palm to hold things with. The forearm muscles have long tendons that run through the carpal bones in the wrists. There are 8 carpal bones that glide over each other. With repetitive use the tendon sheaths might become inflamed (tenosynovitis - inflammation of the synovial fluid in the sheath), or become 'gritty' (tendonitis - inflammation of the tendons). If your muscles are held in a shortened state for too long they become 'ropy' and lose their ability to stretch. They pull strongly on the tendons that attach them to the bones in the elbow causing golfer's elbow (on the inner elbow), or tennis elbow (on the outer elbow.
Causes - gripping or holding something for too long, cocking the wrist back too far in the back swing for golf, holding a tennis racquet with too small a grip, very small repetitive movements.
Treatments include:
i phone or blackberry in their left hand for long periods of time while keying in with their right hand.
What is It?
In your hands the little finger (pinkie) and the thumb are mainly served by muscles in the hand itself. The three middle fingers are served by muscles in the forearm. If you believe in design that is very clever because it gives you a palm to hold things with. The forearm muscles have long tendons that run through the carpal bones in the wrists. There are 8 carpal bones that glide over each other. With repetitive use the tendon sheaths might become inflamed (tenosynovitis - inflammation of the synovial fluid in the sheath), or become 'gritty' (tendonitis - inflammation of the tendons). If your muscles are held in a shortened state for too long they become 'ropy' and lose their ability to stretch. They pull strongly on the tendons that attach them to the bones in the elbow causing golfer's elbow (on the inner elbow), or tennis elbow (on the outer elbow.
Causes - gripping or holding something for too long, cocking the wrist back too far in the back swing for golf, holding a tennis racquet with too small a grip, very small repetitive movements.
Treatments include:
- Massaging the forearms very deeply and slowly yourself, or by someone else
- Placing an ice cube or two on the tender area until it melts
- Drumming with your hands and wrists to loosen them up and use the forearm muscles
- Acupuncture, laser or ultrasound
- Changing your habits to avoid static positions; muscles hate stressed inactivity
- Trying to learn to swap hands for different tasks
- Opening up your hands and fingers strongly e.g. ten times, numerous times a day
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