Firstly, a very Happy New Year to all my readers and followers! I hope that everyone had a fun and relaxing Christmas and New Year – I don’t know about you, but it feels like it was a long time ago already!

New Opening Hours
Due to increasing demand, I’m going to be offering an extra block of appointments on Fridays, from 3rd February onwards. I’ll be opening early in the morning and running through to lunchtime, meaning that I’ll be available:

Mondays = 2:15pm – 9:00pm @ Lace Market Clinic
Tuesdays = 6:00pm – 9:00pm @ Bushido MMA
Thursdays = 6:00pm – 9:00pm @ Bushido MMA
Fridays = 8:15am – 1:30pm @ Lace Market Clinic

Enjoy the rest of January – am I the only one who’s hoping for snow?

As the festive season approaches, what better gift to give than a Sports Massage Voucher!

Vouchers are available for individual aapointments at £35 each. You can pay online via Paypal and I’ll send out a voucher in the post, so that you can treat that special someone. Vouchers are valid for 12 months.

For more information, visit the Sports Massage Gift Voucher page.

I’ve recently completed KT1 and KT2 training meaning that I’m now a qualified Kinesio Taping Practitioner! You may not know it by name but you’ve probably seen athletes and sports people wearing the brightly coloured pink or blue tape – it’s also available in black and beige!

Kinesiotaping (also known as K-Tape) is a relatively new technique that helps muscle function, lymphatic drainage, circulation and range of movement both after an injury and when getting over any long term pain or discomfort. It’s really popular with sportspeople and high profile users have included David Beckham and Lance Armstrong but possibly the most famous users were the beach volleyball players at the last summer olympics!

I’ve written a bit more about kinesiotaping here but if you’d like to know more, just give me a call.

Went to a fabulous lecture at the weekend from Harrow-based osteopath Tom Hewetson, who has been team osteopath to both London Wasps and England U18 rugby teams.

We covered athletic taping/strapping techniques and fundamentals as well as looking at the fascinating world of K-Tape or kinesio-tape. This is a technique that is taking the sporting world by storm but also has limitless possibilities in a non-sporting environment. Next time you see an athlete wearing black, pink or blue tape on their arm, leg, back or shoulder – that’s K-Tape.

Tom’s written a book which comes highly recommended. You can buy it through Amazon: An Illustrated Guide To Taping Techniques: Principles and Practice.

I’m a big fan of TED Talks, it really is a rich, diverse and massively interesting collection of videos on all kinds of topics from cutting-edge medicine to technology to magic. Once you start watching videos, time just starts to fly by!

I found this one earlier in the week which stresses the importance of touch in medicine but also listening and observing too. It also features a fantastic story about the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes – check it out:

One of the best things about this job is working with people from all kinds of backgrounds: office workers, professional fighters, musicians, lecturers, retired ladies and gentleman and many, many more.

A new client of mine is an actor and is appearing in a new play at the Nottingham Arts Theatre from the 27th of September. Its a production of Alan Ayckbourn’s comedy “Family Circles”. Check it out: http://www.nottingham-theatre.co.uk/natmain/whats-on?name=Family-Circles&show=89965

I was suffering from repeated bouts of intense chest/back pain and after several incorrect diagnoses by my GP, I was slowly coming to the end of my tether!  I visited Rich for a second opinion and during our session he listened intently as I explained my symptoms in detail. This in conjunction with physical examination (which my doctor had completely failed to do!) led Rich to suggest a possible problem with my gall bladder. I returned to my GP with the confidence to demand further tests and after being referred for an ultrasound scan, discovered that I had gallstones and would require surgery. The relief at finally finding out the cause of my problem was huge!

I cannot thank Rich enough for his thorough and caring approach. Finally discovering that there is a way to prevent the ongoing pain will be life changing.

I am immensely proud to announce the birth of my son, Theordore George. Weighing in at a healthy 8lb 14oz, he’s only been here 9 days and has already turned everything upside down!

Welcome to the world Teddy.

More often than not, I find myself recommending products to my clients to help speed up their rehabilitation and stay injury free.

To make life a little easier, I’ve now added a page to this site with links to some key products available from Amazon:

www.nottingham-massage.com/shop

I’ll be adding to this with more products as I come across them, so keep coming back to see what’s new.

I’m very excited to announce that I’m now part of a new venture called the Combat Sports Clinic. Setup and conceived by top ranked female MMA fighter (and friend) Rosi Sexton, CSC has been setup to bring together therapists and professionals with a particular interest in combat sports.

As some of you may know, I’ve been involved with martial arts since the age of 14, with a history of training in karate, aikido, thai boxing, Brazilian ju-jitsu, submission wrestling and mixed martial arts (MMA). I’ve also treated many martial artists, from dedicated hobbyists to competing amateurs to top level professional fighters.

CSC is literally brand new but is already growing and developing with guest bloggers and contributors from all sides of the sport. Most exciting for a tech-head like me is the iPhone app that has been produced. You can download it from iTunes here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/combat-sports-clinic/id445265606?mt=8

I’ll be contributing regular blogs to the site on all manner of topics and hopefully will even be supplying some videos to appear on the site and app too. Really looking forward to it!!