First of all, a rather late but very heartfelt happy new year to everyone from all of us at SOC. We hope that 2017 has started well for you! Of course it’s not Chinese new year till 28th January, so at least we haven’t missed that!
Today’s blog was always going to have a celebratory theme – it’s Burn’s night today, 25th January, so warm greetings to all those with a bit of Scotland in them (our osteopath Jenny sends special thoughts to her former colleagues and friends in the #glasgowosteopaths in High Street, Glasgow and Lenzie!). The traditional Burns night gathering involves, as well as the honorable Haggis and neeps and tatties, a grand recitation of Burns’ poetry, toast to the haggis, a bagpipe player, plenty of whisky and sometimes a ceilidh (“kaylee”).
So we wanted to point out a couple of things:
If you are ceilidh-dancing – take care!!! It can get pretty wild as you “strip the willow” and dance the gay gordons and are swung round by your partners. It seems a silly thing to say, but don’t forget to breathe! Try to engage your core abdominal muscles throughout, as this will help you keep your balance and take the load off your limbs, hips and shoulders.
And wear soft comfortable shoes or pumps if you can – harder to balance on high heels: ceilidh isn’t Strictly! Incidentally, we awoke to news discussions today about high heels and how bad they are for the feet. “Not just the feet!” I found myself shouting at the radio.. Osteopaths and physios see the effects of long-term high heels on calf muscles, knees, hips and backs – something we will write about in the next blog. We’re not anti-high-heels, they look great! But they can take their toll..
Finally, if you play the bagpipes or any wind instrument, make sure you warm up well – stretch out your forearm muscles particularly and your shoulder and neck muscles – shoulder and neck rolls are good. Some gentle thoracic twists help open up joints between the ribs and spine, allowing for lovely long, deep breaths!
Have a great Wednesday, whatever you are up to. As the world seems a very complicated place right now and it’s easy to feel disheartened or worried, it helps to be grateful for small blessings and so we’ll finish with Burns’ true words!
Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit