Cancer…the word no one likes to hear as the cause of their pain and symptoms! Cancer affects tens of thousands of Kiwi’s every year! The data released from the Ministry of Health in December 2017 showed that in 2015 there was 23,149 New Zealanders newly diagnosed with Cancer and the split was roughly 50% between male and females. How can we as a community help? Bring on PINC & STEEL!

Who is PINC & STEEL and what do they do?

PINC&STEEL are a cancer rehabilitation trust set up to assist people affected by cancer through physical rehabilitation, the PINC helping the ladies and the STEEL helping the lads.

Move over cancer is a Nationwide Challenge to help fund raise for the PINC & STEEL.

The team here at Accelerate Physiotherapy are joining forces with Emma Ferris (Physiotherapist, Breathing Coach and the Founder of the Butterfly Effect) and putting on a fundraising night to support such a wonderful organisation. The evening will consist of a 1 hour Pilates class followed by an insightful talk from Emma. Emma will be talking on the Power of Effective Breathing and how this helps patients recover from dysfunctional breathing patterns, injury, stress, chronic fatigue, hyperventilation, depression and chronic pain – all things that people with cancer can be inflicted with as part of their cancer journey!

The details:

Where: Ascot Park Hotel

When: 8th May 2018

Time: 7pm for Pilates and speaker or 8pm for speaker only

Cost – Pilates plus speaker – $35 or Speaker only – 20$ (with all funds going towards supporting the PINC & STEEL trust)

Tickets: Available from          www.thebutterflyeffect.online or at Accelerate Physiotherapy on 60 Deveron Stret Invercargill, Ph: 032186583

From the team here at Accelerate we really hope you tell all your friends and family to come along to an evening out to support a wonderful organisation and raise some much needed funds for the people currently (and in the future) living their journey through cancer! We hope to see YOU there!

 

Monday the 14th of August was a day of celebration at Accelerate Physiotherapy. Lindsay Stephenson began her business with Anne Allen in 1987, called the Esk Street Physio clinic. Over the years, there has been three name changes (Stephenson Allen, Stephenson Murray, and now Accelerate Physiotherapy), and three different locations around Invercargill. A wee morning tea was put on, with some past faces of the clinic joining us. Plus some lovely messages from past staff were sent through, from those who weren’t able to make it. We wish Lindsay congratulations on her amazing achievement with the practice.

  

They say all good things must come to an end and it is true. My last day working for Accelerate Physiotherapy is on the 13^th May 2016 after working here for the past 4 years 2 months and 8 days.

It will be a bittersweet moment as I leave the clinic, my wonderful colleagues, my friends, family and New Zealand; as my Husband and I head off on an adventure overseas. We are heading over to the UK to start exploring and working around the world and we are unsure exactly when we will be back.

Over the past 4 years I have made many happy memories with the girls at Accelerate and I feel very privileged to have been able to play a part in the recovery and rehabilitation of the clients that I have seen over the years.

Everybody who walks though the clinic doors has a story and as a physiotherapist I enjoy hearing their story and finding a way that I will be able to help them get back to narrating and participating in their own story; as opposed to “sitting on the side lines” as is often the case when an injury is involved.

For the past 2 years I have been lucky enough to operate our satellite clinic in Tuatapere every Tuesday and Thursday and it has been great. The staff at the Tuatapere Medical Centre are wonderful and the community seems to enjoy having the physio service close by (unless they are receiving trigger point release, they don’t seem to enjoy that so much!).

So when I leave the clinic on Friday it will be with feelings of excitement, sadness, nervousness, anticipation, exhilaration, but most of all I will feel thankful. Thankful of the great times I have had, the wonderful people I have met and thankful that I have an amazing opportunity to spread my wings and fly.

So this good thing must come to an end but I cannot wait to see what good thing is coming next.

Until next time…and I shall leave my final words up to Arnie…”I’ll be back”

 Lucy Scurr

 

Office Workers Advice: returning to work following the holidays

Have you started to experience discomfort in your neck, arms or back with returning to work following the holiday period?

Now is a great time to take a look at your work habits and address this discomfort before it becomes a bigger problem.

Our bodies are not designed to sit for long periods of time, hold our arms in one position for too long or complete repetitive tasks such as typing or mouse work for prolonged periods.

So what can you do to avoid this occurring:

• Task variation: where possible vary your tasks as often as you can as this can alter your work position e.g. vary between hand written work, typing, mouse work, phone calls and meetings where possible
• Regular rest breaks: Ensure that you take all standard rest breaks and don’t get into the habit of eating at your desk. Time away from your desk and computer work station gives your muscles time to recover from the work that they have been doing.
• Micropauses: it is recommended that at least once every hour (ideally every 15 minutes) for 5-10 seconds you should STOP what you are doing, DROP your arms down by your side and gently SHAKE them to relax your muscles and help restore normal circulation
• Postural variation: take any opportunity to get up from your desk such as walk to the printer to collect your own printing, or go next door to discuss matters with your colleague rather than phoning or emailing
• Stretches: completing neck, arm and back stretches prior to your day starting and regularly throughout the day helps to prevent or reduce any muscle tension that may cause discomfort. Refer to www.habitatwork.co.nz for a range of appropriate exercises.

It is also important to ensure that your workstation is set up to suit your individual needs. Even the slightest adjustment to your chair, screen height, or desk layout can make a difference to your posture and any discomfort. If you require any assistance don’t hesitate to contact the team at Accelerate Physiotherapy to discuss the situation or arrange for an onsite ergonomic workstation assessment with your Physiotherapist.

 

Wow, another year has come to an end and preparations for Christmas are under way.  Seeing as we had a few new additions to the Accelerate family over the past year, we opted for a lunch time Christmas party this year which was held at Alana’s beautiful home in Otatara.

As with any Christmas party, there was always mountains of food and our eyes continue to assume that we haven’t eaten in weeks and it is inevitable that our plates end up overflowing with delicious food.  The boys were in control of the BBQ this year and the steak was cooked to perfection… cheers Matt.  We enjoyed meeting wee Leo for the first time (Lena’s wee bundle of joy) and it was  a pleasure to see Elliot (Sarah’s beautiful baby) again as well as catching up with these two Mumma’s who are currently on maternity leave.  The older children all seemed to enjoy running around Alana’s lovely big lawn.

We also had the pleasure of meeting and greeting our newest physio Tessa and her partner before she started work on the Wednesday following the party.

Everyone had a lovely time and ate like kings and needless to say we had plenty of nibbles for the next couple of days at work!

More recently we had a Secret Santa at work where everyone brought a gift along.  The game starts where you get to choose a gift out of the box and decide whether you want to steal someone else’s gift that they have already opened, swapping with your unopened gift, or you could open yours.  It turns out everyone was being far too nice and choosing to open theirs instead of stealing, so Dariel and Lucy shook things up a bit and stole from some of the other staff – in saying this the calibre of the gifts was very high this year so all the gifts were lovely even if you had your original gift stolen.

So in closing this wee blog, here at Accelerate Physio we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year

 

In recent months Accelerate has celebrated with being selected as a finalist in the Westpac  Southland Business Excellence  Awards in the Crowe Horwath Business (under 15FTE) category.

As Sarah Hannan CEO, of the Southland Chamber of Commerce, stated;

“The awards were introduced in 2013 and are held bi-annually. This year there were double the number entries from the inaugural event and the high calibre of entries made judging particularly difficult, with only a few points between finalists in many categories.

Southland Chamber of Commerce CEO Sarah Hannan, said there has been a depth and breadth of talent shown across a range of business sectors. “The awards are the regions platform to showcase and celebrate business excellence in all its forms.”

Entering the awards involved submitting an entry that included the clinics vision and plan, a review of the business’ strengths and what differentiates us in the community, risk management, community work as well as financial information over the past two years.

By doing this it gave us a good opportunity to review the business processes, strengths and weakness along with identification of possible opportunities for business development.

To celebrate being a finalist we took all our staff to the awards gala dinner on September 25^th at Ascot Park Hotel. Our team had a great night and enjoyed sharing in the success the business achieved as it couldn’t have been achieved without the great team we have working at Accelerate.

Our second celebration of success was at the Sunrise Rotary Club of Invercargill where Judy Wheeler was presented with a Pride of Workmanship Award on Friday 16^th October.

Judy’s nomination recognised the 13 years she has been with the company, her courteous and friendly manner that is an excellent first impression of the business,  attention to detail and the fact that she is accurate and conscientious with all her work tasks ensuring they are completed on time, even if it means working extra hours. Over-all Judy puts her all into her role and is a great asset to the business.

DDH, or ‘clicky hips’ as most people know it as, is a structural abnormality in the development of baby’s hip. Some babies are born with the defect which can be picked up at a hip check. However some, like Lily, get missed initially and don’t get picked up till later in their lives. Often it is picked up when children start to walk, and parents notice that the child has a limp or the child walks later in life than expected.

Luckily, sort of, I had concerns with Lily’s ability to jump in her jolly jumper and thought her legs were a different length when she was 4 months old. We were sent for an ultrasound at the hospital, and was told her left leg was permanently dislocated and therefore her hip hadn’t formed properly.

When Lily was 6 months old, she went into a spica cast – a cast from her nipples to her ankles. But, Lily quickly adapted and hasn’t minded being restricted. She is now 10 months and coming to the end of her spica journey. Lily’s hip has formed well and the specialist has said Lily shouldn’t need any further treatment. But she will be followed up until her adolescence. This is relatively minor compared to other children who have had numerous surgeries and casts. Also, if children are older when the deformity gets picked up, the children can be more upset as they can’t crawl, stand, or walk anymore.

Signs and risk factors for DDH include family history of DDH, first born, female, breech birth, leg length discrepancy, and uneven skinfolds on the legs or buttocks. If you have any concerns, make sure you talk to your plunket nurse or GP. If the deformity is picked up soon enough, the treatment is far easier on the child (and parents).

Lucy is the lucky physiotherapist who gets to travel through the beautiful Southland countryside out to Tuatapere twice a week, and once per fortnight on a Tuesday morning through to Ohai.

We have regular clinics in the Western Southland area to serve the farming and industry community and we are located in the medical centre in Tuatapere and Ohai. As we are situated in the medical centre, we are able to work in close contact with the medical staff to provide a holistic approach to health care.

The weather is usually kind to us and very rarely do we not make it out to Tuatapere.

Our usual hours in Tuatapere are 9.00-4.30 Tuesday and Thursday, and 9.30am onwards every second Tuesday in Ohai.

If you need any physiotherapy treatment or advice you can make an appointment through Accelerate Physiotherapy on 03 2186583 or by contacting Tuatapere Medical Centre on 03 2266123