Help yourself to as much Rhubarb as you can handle. A volutary donation to Dove House will be gratefully accepted.

Patients at our Beverely, Cottingham and Driffield surgeries were invited to help themselves to apples and, if they felt so moved, to leave a donation in the Dove House collection box.

A huge thank you to eveyone who participated.

We raised a grand total of £199.70! for Dove House, a fantastic result.

We hope eveyone enjoyed their pies and crumbles and look forward to further success this year. Who says money doesn’t grow on trees!

Top Tips for Gardeners Spring 2012 

Osteopaths are often very busy during the Spring. One of the main reasons for this is people who have been inactive over the Winter months starting to work in the garden. Here are some tips and advice to help you avoid problems: 

1. Warm up – gardening is a form of exercise which can be beneficial to your general fitness. It gets you out in the fresh air and you use muscles which you don’t necessarily use with other activities. However, like other forms of exercise you need to let your body warm up.         

• Lighter jobs first: It is a good idea to do some light tasks first for example dead heading flowers or some light pruning.
• Move on to some more vigorous activity: Next you may want to do some weeding or perhaps cutting the grass. 
• Then the heavier stuff: once you are warm you can have a go at some digging    
• And towards the end of a session: Go back to some lighter tasks

2.  Take Breaks – It is a good idea to take a break every 20 minutes or so. It may be just a lean on your spade while you have a breather or it could be a sit down and a cup of tea while admiring your handiwork.
3. Rotate jobs – If you are panning a long session in the garden think of doing some of your warm activities as mention above then mow perhaps half the lawn, then do some hedge trimming, then some digging, go back and finish the lawn, a bit more hedge trimming and finish with some light weeding.  Patients often say that they find they can get more done in a day by rotating jobs because they don’t go on till they are exhausted with any one task.
4. Use appropriate clothing and footwear – On cold days make sure you have enough layers on. Your muscles will work better and are less likely to be strained if they are warm. If you work up a sweat you can always take some off.                                                                                                                        

• Boots or Wellies?: A good pair of strong boots can be excellent for digging and forking. Wellies are great when it is wet underfoot but can get uncomfortable if you are wearing them for several  hours.                             
• Gloves:  Protect your hands with decent gloves. A good pair of gloves can protect you from thorns and blisters. Always wear gloves when using chemicals such as weedkillers.                                                                 
• Kneeling pads and mats: A wide variety of kneeling mats are available as well as strap on knee pads of trousers with sewn-in knee protection. If  you are kneeling for long periods without knee protection you knees can get quite sore especially on hard ground and surfaces. Some patients we see develop housemaid’s knee (or pre-patella bursitis) from kneeling too long without protection.

5. Use the right tools for the job – The tools you use can increase or lessen your chances of strains and sprains.                                                                           

• Long handled tools: Spades, Forks, Hoes etc with longer handles provide more leverage which reduces the need to bend and saves strain on your back.               Long-handled loppers can make pruning bigger branches much easier.            
•  Keep your tools sharp: Using sharp secateurs, shears, loppers, pruning knives, hoes  etc make the job much easier.                                                                                
• Consider power tools: Power tools can make a tough job much easier but make sure you have the correct safety gear and know how to use it properly. Electric and Petrol hedge trimmers can be a big time saver. Powered mowers and ride-ons for large lawns can save a lot of effort. Chains saws make light work of tree pruning and lopping but beware, they are also very dangerous in inexperienced hands.

6. If you get into trouble seek advice – If you find you have run into trouble after over-doing it in the garden don’t ignore it. Seek medical advice or contact you local osteopath. We find that injuries which are attended to quickly are generally much quicker to recover.  Some patients we see have had problems for many weeks, months or even years. Although we can often still help with long-standing problems they do take longer to get better.

copyright 2012 Wadsworth Osteopaths

www.wadsworthosteopaths.co.uk

Our surgeries in Beverley, Cottingham, Driffield and Hull are not all open for each Bank holiday. Call reception (01482) 875004 or email rgw@wadsworthosteopaths.co.uk for details.

1        OPEN              Good Friday April 22^nd

2        CLOSED         Easter Monday April 25^th

3        OPEN              Royal Wedding Friday April 29^th

4        OPEN              May Day Monday May 2^nd 

5        OPEN              May 30^th Bank Holiday

 Full reception service will not be available for all bank holidays. When reception is not staffed you will be trasferred to our back-up service when you call the main reception number.

Alternatively you can call 0774 771 0317

www.wadsworthosteopath.co.uk

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