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Welcome
 Welcome to the sixth edition of our newsletter. We aim to give you health updates, bits of science and recent findings in the health field, news from our clinics, and offers - so please read on. |
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Link between Diet and Behaviour - official
 The Parliamentary Food and Health Forum has concluded that poor diet is a significant contributor to crime, aggression, depression and poor school performance. The forum urged the government to encourage children to eat more fish and whole foods, high in essential fats, vitamins and minerals.
Patrick Holford, director of the educational charity, Food for the Brain said “Less than half a percent of all money for medical research is spent on nutrition. Many doctors have little training in this area and don’t know that improving diet and supplementing specific nutrients often works as well, if not better than drugs for treating depression and mental illness." Recent research cited by the charity:
“Optimum nutrition is a forgotten factor in mental health today” says Professor David Smith, chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Food for the Brain Foundation and Emeritus Professor at Oxford University. Download the report (43 pages!) by the Parliamentary Food and Health Forum here. |
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Brain training game helps maths scores
 Infant school children in Scotland took part in a ten week programme to assess the effectiveness of the Nintendo DS programme ‘Brain training academy’ on their Maths ability. After using the game for 20 minutes each morning, their maths scores rose by 10% . The study was carried out by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS), the organisation responsible for curriculum develoment, who are providing 480 Nintendo DS consoles for the project, with 30 going to each school.
See the full article here.
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Exercise and immunity
Exercise is good for you, but more is not necessarily better. An inverted U relationship exists between exercise volume / intensity and oxidative stress. Too little exercise will not be sufficient to lower oxidative stress but too much will increase it, leading to dangerous free radical formation. This is demonstrated by studies which show an increased incidence of upper respiratory tract infection with exhaustive endurance exercise such as ultra distance running (Fatouros 2004, Med Sci Sports Ex. 36(12)2065)
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Safety in the gym
Clinic director Chris Norris is a regular contributor to leading fitness magazine Ultrafit. For this edition he looks at gym injuries focusing on the squat exercise and knee pain, groin pain during a sit-up and elbow pain with triceps exercises. Download his article from the Norris Associates website here
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Garlic and MRSA
 The active component of common garlic, Allicin has been shown to be effective in treating the superbug MRSA. Allicin creams are distributed in the UK by Allimax (www allicin.co.uk). Allicin liquid spray contains a concentration of 1000ppm (parts per million) and can be sprayed into an open wound. When the wound begins to heal a red layer of new skin develops, and spray usage should be stopped as it can irritate new skin growth. Allicin cream contains 500ppm allicin and the manufacturers claim that at this concentration all tested strains of MRSA have been eradicated. The cream is applied around the edge of the wound.
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Research into muscle balance
 Clinic director Chris Norris is an external lecturer and past examiner at the University of Salford. Through his links there he has investigated aspects of posture and muscle balance, in particular how tightness in the hamstring muscles can effect pelvic tilt. This effect has implications for those who used forward bending activities at work because alteration in pelvic tilt can make the development of low back pain more likely. His research articles (Norris and Matthews 2005, 2006) can be downloaded from the Norris Associates website here
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Holistic therapies expanded at Sale clinic
Norris associates have expanded their holistic therapies service at their Sale clinic, with the appointment of an additional holistic therapist, Jacqui Hyman. In addition to our current treatments which include sports massage and reflexology, Jacqui will offer aromatherapy, hot stone massage, Thai Massage, and Indian head massage. Holistic therapies are available in the daytime, evening, and on Saturday mornings.
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New service - ultrasound scanning
 Norris associates now uses ultrasound scanning for tissue evaluation of musculoskeletal injuries. Located at our Sale clinic, the DP-6600 unit produces clear black and white images of underlying tissue. Ultrasound imaging is a dynamic test, - that is you can actually see tissue moving (as opposed to an X-ray for example which gives a static image). The dynamic nature of this type of ultrasound enables us to see muscles contracting and tendons moving. One use of this technology is to help patients re-train their muscles after back injury for core stability exercise. Please note we do not offer a diagnostic ultrasound service.
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Norris Associates
We can be found in Congleton or Sale:
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