Vital Ltd

25/04/2025

Come and see us at the The Kent Wellness Festival… we look forward to seeing you there! 🦶🏻🦶🏾🦶🦶🏼🦶🏿

27/10/2023

What would your foot scan look like?

29/09/2023

Check out our new and improved website! For the keen eye, there are a few savings to be had. Email through when you find them.

Leighann is your first port of call. Her amazing ability is to guide you to exactly what you need within Vital. She helps find the time that works best for you so you can put your health first.

21/06/2023

FREE KNEE CHECK!

Get an accurate medical diagnosis to help you put your health first. Find out what is actually going on and what you can do to correct the problem. Book in your free knee check today!

11/04/2023

What is medical acupuncture?
Medical acupuncture is the use of acupuncture that typically follows a diagnosis. It can be used to treat a wide range of health conditions, but the most common reason to try medical acupuncture is for pain relief and aiding rehabilitation.
A course of acupuncture usually creates longer-lasting pain relief than when a single treatment is used. Treatment might be once a week to begin with, then at longer intervals as the condition responds. A typical course of treatment lasts 6 to 12 sessions.

How does medical acupuncture work?
Needling specific body parts is thought to stimulate sensory nerves under the skin and in the muscles of the body. This results in the body producing natural substances, such as pain-relieving endorphins. It is thought that these naturally released substances are responsible for the beneficial effects experienced with acupuncture.

Does it hurt?
Acupuncture needles are usually made of sterilised, stainless steel, specially prepared for the purpose of acupuncture. They are very fine and usually only a couple of centimetres long. Because the needles are so fine, it won’t feel like having an injection or a blood test, which uses needles with a cutting edge.The sensation varies from person to person. Some people feel a slight sharpness, a tingling or a dull ache, whereas other people feel nothing at all.

Do I need medical acupuncture?
Well it entirely depends on your problem and how quickly you would like to recover? At VITAL we combine multiple different techniques to maximise your recovery and speed the process up. If you have musculoskeletal tightness that is affecting posture, creating pain at tendons or feels incredibly stiff; medical acupuncture may be for you. Book an initial consultation today to find out if medical acupuncture can help you!

08/04/2023

What are the warning signs of wearing a brace for too long?

Wearing a brace too long can be counterproductive. If a brace is worn too long, that can cause muscle weakening (atrophy) and de-conditioning of the surrounding ligaments, joints, and muscles; especially if daily exercises to strengthen the area are not done. This can set you back multiple weeks in your recovery time. Making your rehabilitation more expensive and taking longer to complete.

Warning signs of wearing a brace too long, after 2-8 weeks, include: increased feeling of weakness or stability when taking the brace off, a reduction in the functional level of a joint, increased pain in the joint without the brace, and an increased dependency on the brace for daily activities.

It is essential that you use braces as a very short term tool and not a permanent crutch. If you’re worried that you have worn a brace for too long and would like some guidance on what you can do about it, contact us at www.vitalltd.co.uk.

05/04/2023

IS WEARING A BRACE BAD FOR YOU?

Whether you have recently had an injury to your lower back, knee, or ankle or you are a weekend warrior that puts a brace on to allow you to participate in a weekend sport or activity, a brace can help you function better and help you get back on your path to a full recovery. If you need to wear a brace, you should also be working to strengthen the area you currently need to have supported. A brace should be a temporary solution, not the long-term fix to your injury or problem area. If you are not working to improve the injured area, you are creating a bigger problem that will cause more issues down the road.

How long can I wear a brace before seeking professional treatment? Is the amount of time different for different injuries/parts of the body?

The intent of wearing a brace is to provide temporary support and protection to a vulnerable joint or area of the body. It can take 1-2 days to reduce inflammation from an acute injury. It takes 6-12 weeks of daily exercise to strengthen muscles. So, it is reasonable to wear a brace for several days (~4-8 days) to help support a joint initially and prepare the body to reduce the dependency of a brace to support previously injured ligaments, muscles, and joints. However, any time you are wearing a brace you should be engaging in an exercise program, either in rehabilitation or at home. The amount of time you wear a brace should be reduced over a period of 1 week as the area heals and gets stronger, and you should be consulting with your physical therapist before self-treating.

Check out our next post in a few days that’ll highlight when you’ve been wearing a brace for too long and actually making your problem worse!

02/04/2023

Cortisone (steroid) injections may not be the answer for your joint pain

The use of cortisone injections in the muscles and joints to alleviate pain and inflammation is all too popular. But what many don’t know, are the long term issues, and even further damage that Cortisone may cause. Cortisone is one of many corticosteroid drugs that work as anti-inflammatories and short-term pain relievers.
When cortisone is injected into a joint, it can clump into crystals or leak into other parts of the body. This can actually cause pain rather than relieve it, and have hormone-like effects that make conditions like diabetes harder to control. There’s also the slight risk of the shots leading to an infection of the joint and repeated shots eventually damaging skin or other tissues

A study published in the journal Radiology and reported on in America, researchers observed that Cortisone shots accelerate patients’ osteoarthritis progression, subchondral insufficiency fracture, osteonecrosis, and rapid joint destruction with bone loss [1].

To really help your osteoarthritic conditions you need to assess why they developed in the first place. Correct the biomechanical cause and target the site of pain to maximise your rehabilitation. Book you initial consultation today by emailing contact@vitalltd.co.uk

[1] https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/17/health/steroid-injections-study-trnd/index.html

30/03/2023

Just 10% of back pain requires surgery!

There are a lot of potential pain generators in the spine: discs, bones, nerves, muscle, and arthritis. Not all of these sensitive areas and progressive problems can be fixed with surgery. In fact, more than 90 percent of back pain is successfully treated non-surgically and through dedicated rehabilitation.

As a sports injury and rehabilitation specialist, part of my role is to help treat patients with spine disorders without surgery. But an equally important responsibility is knowing who can benefit from back surgery and when is the best time to make that referral.

In complex cases and for certain conditions, surgery is the most appropriate and effective treatment. In most cases there are lots of different modalities that are incredibly effective. How we can help you understand what is most accurate for you would require a consultation. Then we could use:

- Spinal mobilisations
- Postural correction
- Medical acupuncture
- Cold laser therapy
- Shockwave
- Therapeutic ultrasound

Email contact@vitalltd.co.uk today to book in your consultation to put Your Health First!

27/03/2023

Can Herniated Discs Heal on Their Own?

You may get different answers to this question, depending on who you ask.
It is true that herniated disc symptoms can subside over time even without medical intervention. But does that mean the herniated disc has healed on its own?
As with so many things, the answer is incomplete. Yes, your symptoms may resolve, but this does not necessarily mean the herniated disc itself has healed.

How does a herniated disc cause pain?

Discs herniate either by rupturing the outer layer of the disc called the annulus, or breaking the endplate off the vertebral body (Rajasekaran, Spine 2013), allowing the soft gel-like center (the nucleus pulposus) to be ejected out. This gel can pinch or compress parts of the nerve sac, causing pain.
The herniated nucleus pulposus contains inflammatory proteins that can cause enough inflammation to affect the nearby nerve and cause what is commonly known as sciatica, or a radiculopathy.

Three main processes are thought to reduce the symptoms and pain caused by a lumbar herniated disc:
An immune response by your body. In some instances, your body may recognize the portion of the disc that has herniated as foreign material and attack it, reducing the fragment in size. The inflammatory proteins are also removed.
Absorption of water. The herniated fragment of the disc contains water. Over time this water will be absorbed by the body, causing the herniated segment to shrink in size. As it shrinks it may no longer affect the nearby nerve.
Natural disc mechanics. While controversial, some will argue that through extension exercises, the symptomatic portion of the disc can be moved inward toward the disc and from the spinal nerves.

Any of the above factors may help reduce the size of the herniation, which means your nerve root is less likely to be affected. In these situations, your disc hasn’t healed, per se, because your disc still has a herniation. Your symptoms, however, may subside due to an absence or reduction of inflammation and/or pressure near the nerve root.

Managing your herniated disc

If you have a herniated disc, the key question is not whether it will technically heal. Rather, the most important question is how you should focus your treatment and rehabilitation to reduce your acute symptoms and prevent future problems. Posture and incorrect loading over time has created this issue and can take time to correct. Focus on reducing inflammation to ensure maximum movement and making your life more comfortable. Then work on correcting the mechanics that caused this in the first place.

If you have recurrent symptoms from a herniated disc make sure you get help to get your health back on track.

24/03/2023

What is the best position for sleeping and lying down?

No matter what position you lie in, the pillow should be under your head, but not your shoulders, and should be a thickness that allows your head to be in a normal position.
-Try to sleep in a position that helps you maintain the curve in your back (such as on your back with a pillow under your knees or a lumbar roll under your lower back, or on your side with your knees slightly bent). Do not sleep on your side with your knees drawn up to your chest. You may want to avoid sleeping on your stomach, especially on a saggy mattress, since this can cause back strain and can be uncomfortable for your neck.
-Select a firm mattress and box spring set that does not sag. If necessary, place a board under your mattress. You can also place the mattress on the floor temporarily if necessary. If you've always slept on a soft surface, it may be more painful to change to a hard surface. Take the time to find the right mattress and box spring for your needs.
-Try using a back support (lumbar support) at night to make you more comfortable. A rolled sheet or towel tied around your waist may be helpful.
-When standing up from the lying position, turn on your side, draw up both knees and swing your legs on the side of the bed. Sit up by pushing yourself up with your hands. Avoid bending forward at your waist.

These recommendations will benefit most people who have back pain. If any of these guidelines causes an increase of pain or the spreading of pain to the legs, stop the activity and seek the advice of a specialist. Contact us at www.vitalltd.co.uk