HORAM PARISH COUNCIL – FEBRUARY 2023

DISTRICT AND PARISH ELECTIONS 4th May 2023 7am to 10am.

District and Parish Council elections are to be held on Thursday, 4th May 2023 from 7am. until 10pm.

The Government have, this year, introduced Voter Identification. All those persons entitled to vote must show an approved form of photo identification before voting in a polling station. A free Voter Authority Certificate will be available from the Electoral Registration Officer at Wealden District Council. Nomination Papers will be available from the Elections Office at Wealden District Council.

The deadline for new and existing Postal Vote/amendments to existing postal or proxy applications is 5pm on Tuesday 18th April 2023 and

The deadline for new applications to vote by proxy is 5pm. on Tuesday, 25th April 2023.

If you are interested in standing for the Parish Council you must be:

• 18 years of age or over;

• Be a qualifying Commonwealth, or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland or a relevant citizen of the European European Union and continues to be a local government election elector for the area of the parish; or

• you have, during the whole of the 12 months preceding that day occupied as owner or tenant any land or premises in that area; or

• your principal or only place of work during that 12 months have been in that area; or you have, during the whole of those 12 months resided either in the parish or within (4.8 km) of it.

Please contact the Clerk if you would like to know more about the role of a Parish Councillor.

OUR HORAM PCSO – EMAIL ADDRESS

If you wish to bring anything to the attention of our PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) for Horam (Cathy Gilling) please email catherine.gilling@sussex.police.uk.

There is a dedicated email address (roads.communications@sussex.police.uk) for reporting instances of speeding. However, for emergencies contact the Police by phoning 999.

PARISH CLERK - can be contacted either by e-mail: clerk@horam.com or 07900 576236. The offices will be open from 9.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. on a Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Sciatica - Simply

Sciatica is a common and often debilitating type of pain caused by compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve. There are several causes of this irritation, each causing a variety of symptoms and different severity of pain; each of these causes may require a different type of handling, treatment, and exercises. Have you ever had sciatica? You will know how painful and all-consuming it can be!

The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the body, being almost as thick as your little finger; going from the pelvis, through the buttocks, down the legs to the feet. There are two, each exiting either side of the spine between the 4th and 5th lumbar vertebrae just above the pelvis, joining with branches from the 1st - 3rd sacral segments, the triangular bone in the pelvis at the base of the spine. After leaving the pelvis it passes through the buttocks and travels down the back of the leg to the knee where it divides into 2 branches; the tibial nerve that travels down the back of the calf to the foot and the common peroneal nerve that travels down the front and side of the calf into the foot.

Muscles that receive motor input, i.e. about how to work, from the sciatic nerve are in the posterior thigh; the hamstrings, and the hamstring portion of the adductors. Divisions of the nerve indirectly innervate all the muscles of the leg and foot. The sciatic nerve passes under the piriformis muscle and rarely through it!

Skin receiving indirect sensory (feeling) innervation is the back and side of the leg, the side, sole, and top of the foot.

Common Symptoms are pain, burning, tingling, or numbness radiating down the leg or foot. Pain can also be from tight tense muscles that are part of the symptom or could also be part of the cause. The pain may be felt all along the path of the nerve or may skip parts and just be felt in the foot or calf. Often the nerve pain in the leg may mask any feeling of pain in the back.

Serious Causes need medical diagnosis and/or treatment.

• Loss of bladder or bowel control needs urgent attention.

• Progressive weakness in the lower limb, i.e. foot drop where you cannot lift your foot.

• Disc herniation where the disc swells and bulges pressing on nerves.

• Disc prolapse where the middle part of the disc, the nucleus pulposus bulges through the outer ring of the disc.

• Stenosis, narrowing of the spinal canal from a variety of causes.

• Spinal problems such as spondylolisthesis, where one vertebra slips forward over another, and cauda equina.

• Rare causes can be cysts, epidural veins, and tumours.

Less Serious Causes can also be debilitating and vary in intensity. Common causes can be postural imbalances, particularly from prolonged sitting or desk work with poor ergonomics; especially combined with a lack of proper/appropriate exercise. Couches are responsible for many back problems as they may not support your posture well and often encourage slouching. Myofascial imbalances, muscle spasms, minor accidents or injuries, inflammation, and postural/biomechanical changes, such as those in pregnancy can all cause sciatica.

Exercises with disc problems can depend on where the bulge is as to the exercise needed/tolerated. Many disc problems occur from bending forwards, e.g. lifting. In these cases, forward bending exercises can aggravate and what is needed is more strengthening and lengthening towards gentle backward bending. This is particularly true when you are unable to sit down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0O_SHJAO6c shows some simple sciatica stretches. The muscles along the entire nerve pathway as well as the back will need stretching and strengthening at some stage of recovery. Coming soon is another simple video of stretches and strengthening exercises for sciatica where you can bend forwards, including stretches of all related muscles along the nerve pathway.

Osteopathic Management Studies are conflicting regarding preferred management. Manipulative therapy showed useful for back pain though not always for sciatica. Targeted exercise and stretching can be helpful; bed rest is not helpful and staying active and strong is important in the long term; though debilitating pain of acute sciatica can make it difficult to exercise. Acupuncture dry needling to specific muscles helped as did targeted deep soft tissue massage.

We are happy to advise you on your health matters.

Lin Bridgeford DO KFRP MICAK MICRA FSCCO MSc

Registered Osteopath & Kinesiologist & Senior Yoga Teacher

Master Hypnosis and NLP Practitioner and Trainer, Sound Therapist

Aether Bios Clinic, Saltdean and Horam Healthcare Clinic, 01273 309557 07710 227038 www.osteo-info.co.uk YouTube search Aether Bios OR Lin Bridgeford , Instagram linbridgeford https://linbridgeford.wordpress.com contains all my articles as blogs