Although still considered by many as more of an ‘alternative’ therapy than physiotherapy, osteopathy has nevertheless gained great acceptance from the medical profession. Developed in the late 19th century by Andrew Taylor Still, osteopathy is based on the underlying principle that ’structure governs function’, and the therapy therefore relies primarily on manipulative techniques, these being mainly applied to the back and neck.
Central to the osteopathic concept is that much of the pain and disability affecting people stems from abnormalities in the function of the musculoskeletal system rather than in any identifiable or discernible pathology. According to osteopaths, impaired function in one part of the musculoskeletal system can exist without symptoms but may throw considerable strain on another part of the body.
Like physiotherapists, osteopaths build up a full picture of the patient’s particular dysfunction, which may have developed over a long period of time. Says the Osteopathic Information Service: “Osteopaths do not look on patients simply as back sufferers but as individuals with their own unique requirements. Treatment is designed to correct each individual’s mechanical and spinal problems in order to stimulate their own natural healing processes.”
A recent survey of osteopathic practices throughout the county revealed that more than half of the patients had sought help because of low back trouble.
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While you should always first seek advice from your doctor if you’re troubled by back symptoms, there are also many instances in which other therapies can be very helpful. In fact, your doctor may well refer you to a physiotherapist or, at times, suggest that you consult a practitioner of an alternative therapy as many of these have a proven track record in dealing very successfully with back problems.
The so-called ‘other’ treatments are normally divided into two main groups:
The ‘complementary’ therapies that work alongside of and often as virtually part of conventional medicine; and
The ‘alternative’ therapies which, as the label implies, offer an alternative to conventional medicine.
Although the distinction between the two types of therapies is usually quite clear, it can become somewhat blurred when looking solely at how effective some of these ‘other’ therapies can be in dealing with back problems. For example, the relatively little known Alexander Technique is usually considered to be an alternative therapy. However, because it concentrates upon posture, something that is so directly and obviously relevant to back troubles, this method is perhaps more ‘complementary’ than ‘alternative’ when it comes to difficulties involving the spine.
Rather than try to classify therapies as either complementary or alternative, it seemed more logical in this book to separate them into two groups depending upon how commonly they are employed in treating back problems.
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There are two drugs that doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital are using to cut back the amount of prolactin their patients produce during the last half of the month. One is Vitamin B6, or pyridoxine, which they estimate helps nearly sixty per cent of patients whose symptoms are depression, headaches or breast swelling (at the time of going to press the results of a properly controlled trial of pyridoxine has not yet been published). This vitamin had already been used successfully to treat some women on the Pill who developed depression and headaches. Taking the Pill can sometimes cause a shortage of Vitamin B6 and when this happens, your brain can’t make enough of a substance called 5-hydroxy-tryptamine, and when that happens you get depressed. Some doctors treat the depression by giving their patients more Vitamin B6. Others, who seem to me to have rather more sense, advise their patients that the Pill doesn’t suit them and persuade them to try some other form of contraception that doesn’t have side-effects. A leaflet on Vitamin B6 treatment can be obtained by sending a stamped, addressed envelope to PMT Clinic, Gynaecology Department, St Thomas’ Hospital, Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1. Pyridoxine is obtainable off prescription (as ‘Comploment’, which contains 100 mg of pyridoxine) but as the daily starting dose used at St Thomas’ is considerably lower it is obviously sensible to follow the recommendations given in this leaflet, if you decide to try it for yourself.
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When a system as complicated as this seems to be going wrong, it’s very difficult to pinpoint exactly which part is at fault. This is why there are no easy remedies for period pain and why
different doctors in different clinics suggest different treatments. There was a time, about twenty or thirty years ago, when the standard remedy for the cramps was a strong dose of aspirin. If that failed, and it usually did, the only other possibility was to refer the patient for the operation called a ‘D and C, standing for dilatation and currettage. This involved giving you a general anaesthetic and then stretching the neck of your womb and scraping out the inner lining. In most cases this seemed to reduce the pain for a few months, but for most women the effect didn’t last very long and soon they were suffering as much as ever. Doctors now don’t suggest this operation so readily.
After D and Cs there was quite a vogue for what were called psychosomatic illnesses. Rather a lot of doctors thought that period pain was all in the mind and that if you cultivated a healthy attitude towards it, it would go away. For a handful of women who were genuinely snarled up, this approach was a help. For the rest it was absolutely demoralizing; being told it’s all in the mind doesn’t cure the pain, it simply makes you feel guilty or abnormal. This is precisely why a point was made of establishing right at the beginning of this book that period pain has physical causes. The trouble is that we don’t know exactly what they are.
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If you suffer from being clumsy or off-balance at period time, you may find, to your cost, that your home is an extremely dangerous place. The trouble is that the hazards are so familiar that we don’t notice until it’s too late. And there’s no Safety Officer for women at home. You have to learn to be your own.
It would be good sense to spend time when your life is easier and better balanced checking all the danger points in your house and making them safe.
Are all the electrical fittings correctly wired; no points overloaded?
Are there any frayed wires anywhere?
Have you got into the habit of turning saucepan handles away from you as you cook, so that
you can’t knock into them and your children can’t grab at them?
Is the stair carpet safe, or could you catch your heel in a frayed patch?
Are knives and choppers always stored out of reach?
Is bleach tucked away on the highest shelf, in its own container, not transferred to an old
lemonade bottle?
Once you get into the habit of checking you’ll find it comes as second nature. And when you’re off-balance at least you will know that your house is as safe as you can make it.
You can actually make yourself safer by doing everything more slowly than you usually would. Remember to stay relaxed. Breathe in a lower gear if you start to get flustered. And don’t rush. It’s better to be late than unconscious.
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A hot bath is a great help at period time, not only because it keeps us sweet smelling, but because heat eases pain. As in everything else, we are all highly individual in the amount of heat we need. One woman’s hot bath will feel lukewarm to another. In Victorian times women used to be told that they couldn’t take a bath or wash their hair when they had a period, otherwise they’d catch cold and end up with pneumonia. Although we tend to mock such an idea today, it was actually sensible advice at the time it was given. In those days most bathrooms were unheated, hair was long and difficult to dry, and ordinary people’s homes did not have central heating. Now that most of us can keep our homes adequately warm, and dry ourselves and our hair thoroughly and quickly, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t bath as often as we like — providing we have a warm bathroom and the necessary supply of hot water.
A hot water bottle is a cheap form of warmth and there’s nothing to beat its comfort, especially when it can be applied quickly to a localized pain, like the one you feel low down in your abdomen, or in the small of your back. Some women make themselves into a hot water bottle sandwich, with bottles back and front. They find the double source of heat eases a lot of pain away. Many say the heat also helps them to relax. On the other hand there are some who find that direct heat is too exhausting to help them much, more evidence of how different we all are in the things we like and the things we need.
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A bloated stomach and fatigue caused by low blood sugar is another tricky combination. If your belly is distended with too much water, with the result that you can’t face a big meal, and yet at the same time your blood sugar is obviously low and you’re getting tired and snappy, what can you do? One possible compromise is to eat several small meals instead of one big one.
But make sure that they’re satisfying light snacks and not too stodgy. Sweet black coffee is a useful ally too, if you like it, and it doesn’t disagree with you, because besides being a quick pick-me-up it also acts as a mild diuretic and can get rid of some of that extra water for you. It helps to wear comfortable clothes too, things that don’t restrict your belly in any way. Your choice will be influenced by the amount of work you have to do. If your blood sugar is low and you’re resting, you won’t need quite so much food to replenish your stocks as you will if you are working hard. So once again the choice is yours. Only you know exactly what your circumstances are and how you can cope with them.
The sad thing is that if you suffer from two symptoms that clash there really aren’t any simple solutions. In the end you are faced with a difficult choice — to decide which of your two symptoms upsets you most — and then to treat that and put up with the other one. I know that’s not the answer you would like, but I’m afraid it’s the only one I can give you.
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A bed that’s too small is obviously not going to promote a good night’s sleep nor help provide your spine with the rest it needs to recuperate as much as possible from the previous day’s exertions.
When considering the size of your bed, take the following into account:
People don’t just lie in one position all night, but instead are almost continuously on the move. Research has shown that during a night’s sleep, most people toss and turn as many as 60 or 70 times – and your bed has to be large enough to allow for these movements without you ending up partly out of it.
On the average, we are now both taller and heavier than we were, the UK population having grown upwards and outwards in the past 30 years. Women have gained an extra 1.05kg (more than two pounds) in weight and 1.75cm (more than half an inch) in height. Men have put on an extra 3cms (more than an inch) in height. As we have changed, so have our bed requirements. While these increases seem minimal, they are nevertheless large enough to spell the difference between a bed that’s barely big enough and one that’s just too small for comfort.
The NBPA offers this advice: “A standard 4′6″ double bed only gives each person 2′3″ of space to sleep in – no more than a baby has in a cot! If you do suffer from a back problem, a squeezed and cramped night’s sleep on a bed that rates amongst the smallest standard size in Europe will not help.”
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