International Therapist Autumn 2019

International

Therapist fht.org.uk

Supporting client health and wellbeing with reflexology

Breaking points Injury education for breakdancers

A foot in the door How to establish links with your local GP practice

Identifying your dream client Why marketing to everyone is marketing to no one PUBLISHED BY THE FHT ISSUE 130 (AUTUMN 2019) THE LEADING MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL THERAPISTS 01 cover_IT AUTUMN 2019_International Therapist 1

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CONTENTS

International

Therapist fht.org.uk

ISSUE 130 (AUTUMN 2019)

FEATURES 12

ON THE COVER

We look at some of the ways in which FHT reflexologist members are supporting their clients’ health and wellbeing

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40

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Steps to health

Full circle support Suzanne Ruggles, MFHT, talks about establishing the Full Circle Fund, an integrated service for patients with life-challenging illness

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Identifying your dream client Healthcare marketing coach Jill Woods explains why marketing to everyone is marketing to no one

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Being part of social prescribing Teresa Meekings, MFHT, talks about providing a therapy service as part of a social prescribing project

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REGULARS Your views

10

News update

18

Ask an expert

28

What’s new at FHT

32

Local group news

39

Essential oil profile Frankincense

46

Public affairs

60

Industry news

66

On the couch…

A look at how some industry suppliers are supporting the environment

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with Dr John Hughes, director of research at the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine

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Green products

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Dr Toh Wong offers advice on how therapists can get referrals from GPs

LEARNING ZONE 34

2019 FHT Conference Supporting the integrated healthcare agenda

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Getting your foot in the GP’s door

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Breaking points 2018 FHT Sports Therapist of the Year Nefeli Tsiouti discusses injuries in breaking

Medical A-Z Restless legs syndrome

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Research

MEMBERS’ PAGES

54

CPD questions and diary dates

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In the reading room and spiral quiz

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FHT learning

58

FHT accredited courses

A day in the life of…

Hazel Tudor, MFHT, complementary therapist and local group coordinator

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Members’ news special

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Reviews, competition and new products

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04/10/2019 10:35

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EDITOR’S WELCOME

WELCOME Federation of Holistic Therapists 18 Shakespeare Business Centre Hathaway Close, Eastleigh Hants SO50 4SR Contact T. 023 8062 4350 E. info@fht.org.uk W. fht.org.uk Editor Karen Young Deputy Editor Daniel Ralls Sub-editor James Hundleby Art Editor Sarah Auld Designer Callum Tomsett Picture Editor Charlie Hedges Advertising Annabel Boorman-Shiffer T. 020 7880 6230 fht@redactive.co.uk Deadlines – Winter 2020 (Issue 131) Editorial – 30 Oct Classified adverts – 3 Jan 2020 Display adverts – 7 Jan 2020 Published – 23 Jan 2020 Senior management team Beverly Bartlett; Jade Dannheimer; Julie McFadden; Annie Walling; Karen Young Governing Council President – Christopher Byrne Vice Presidents – Gerri Moore; Mary Dalgleish; Herman Fenton; Judith Hadley; Maria Mason Lay member – Helen Chambers FHT Expert Advisers Julian Baker, MFHT; Lynne Booth, MFHT; Lorraine Davis, FFHT; Christine Fisk; Sally Kay, FFHT; Cameron Reid, MFHT; Tina Reid; Neil Sheehan, MFHT; Denise Tiran The wrap your magazine has arrived in is 100% compostable. Please dispose of in your compost heap, or in food or garden waste bins where accepted by local authorities.

Do not place in plastic recycling.

O

ne of the greatest frustrations I have experienced since working at the FHT is having to temper what I write about our members’ amazing work when putting together certain communications.

Looking at the content of hundreds of articles, conversations, surveys and awards entries, my colleagues and I know very well the huge difference you are making to the health and wellbeing of people in your local community. The challenge we (and you) have is trying to promote this effectively, without falling on the wrong side of various regulations, authorities and CAM sceptics.

At the FHT, we fully understand the importance of evidence-based practice, and no therapist worth their salt would make claims to treat or cure a medical condition.

Ultimately, the problem lies with research: whether it’s a lack of it, a lack of the ‘right sort’ or, arguably, certain authorities ‘overlooking’ what is already available, if we want to make serious inroads into healthcare, we need to provide more of it.

The good news is that steps are being taken to build on the evidence base that already exists. As most of you know, the FHT is a corporate member of the AllParty Parliamentary Group for Integrated Healthcare and the Research Council for Complementary Medicine. Both organisations are currently discussing how to pool data from individual practitioners to help evidence the impact therapy interventions are having on clients’ symptoms (see page 46). We’ll keep you posted as things progress.

USEFUL FHT CONTACTS

That said, we were delighted to learn from our 2019 member survey that 15% of you are already using patient-reported outcome measures. In this issue alone, you’ll notice seven of our contributors highlighting the tools they have used to evaluate and audit their therapy services. This will all help build a stronger case for integrating complementary therapies into health and care.

In fact, in this issue you will find lots of articles celebrating members who are supporting people from all walks of life – from pregnant clients with birth anxiety through to adults and children still impacted by the terrible nuclear disaster that occurred in Chernobyl in 1986.

Please get in touch if you have any comments – your feedback is important to us.

Karen Young, Editor

International Therapist (IT) is printed on FSC® responsibly sourced paper. If you can bear to part with your copy of IT, please pass it on to a friend to read or recycle.

ACCREDITATION Annie Walling E. accreditation@fht.org.uk W. fht.org.uk/accreditation

INTERNATIONAL THERAPIST Karen Young E. kyoung@fht.org.uk W. fht.org.uk/IT

CPD REQUIREMENTS

MEMBERSHIP AND INSURANCE Beverly Bartlett E. bbartlett@fht.org.uk W. fht.org.uk

Heidi Hinton E. cpd@fht.org.uk W. fht.org.uk/cpd

PRESS AND MEDIA Karen Young E. kyoung@fht.org.uk W. fht.org.uk/press-and-media FOLLOW FHT ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, LINKEDIN & INSTAGRAM

FHT is a trading name of the Federation of Holistic Therapists, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under firm reference number 502095. You may check this on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA’s website, register.fca.org.uk or by contacting the FCA on T. 0800 111 6768. Registered in England and Wales, No. 02864349. Registered office: Chilworth Point, 1 Chilworth Road, Southampton SO16 7JQ. This issue of International Therapist has been published on behalf of the Federation of Holistic Therapists by Redactive Media Group, 78 Chamber Street, London E1 8BL. The Federation has taken all reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in the magazine. Except in respect of death or personal injury caused by the Federation’s negligence, the Federation shall not be liable, by reason of any error in or omission from the information contained in this or any previous editions of the magazine, for loss or damage whatsoever arising therefrom. Neither FHT, Redactive Media Group nor the authors can accept liability for errors or ommisions. Neither the Federation nor Redactive Media Group necessarily associates itself with any views that may be expressed in this magazine, to which readers are invited to submit articles of general interest for publication. Responsibility cannot be accepted for unsolicited manuscripts or transparencies. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form or by any means, whether electronic, mechanical or optical without written permission from the Federation.

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PRESIDENT’S WELCOME

WELCOME

I

hope you enjoyed a nice break over the summer holidays, either taking time out to relax or throwing yourself into a new challenge or adventure – or maybe a bit of both.

No doubt many of you will have children or grandchildren who have just started school, moved up a school, or gone on to college or university.

Some of you will have offspring who are just leaving the security of full-time education and are embarking on a new apprenticeship or career.

While these transitions in early life can be exciting, they can also be pretty nerve-racking, with new places and faces, new teachers and bosses, and new ‘playground rules’ – some formal, some not quite so formal. And while bullying is an ugly human trait that has been with us since the dawn of mankind, advances in technology mean that its thorny fingers can now reach into places that we previously considered safe, including corners of the family home.

As therapists, we can’t necessarily protect children and young adults from the various elements that constitute ‘growing up’ in a modern world, but we are well placed to support them along the way, helping them to manage stress and anxiety and showing them selfcare techniques to make them more resilient. If it’s not an area you’ve thought of specialising in, it’s certainly worth

considering if you enjoy working with younger people.

However, there is also the very real possibility that many adults are currently feeling an elevated level of stress and anxiety, unsure of what’s in store for us all as the UK moves towards exiting the European Union. At the time of writing, there are concerns over the implications of a no-deal Brexit, including its impact on our healthcare system.

In an open letter to MPs, The King’s Fund, Health Foundation and Nuffield Trust voice their collective concerns that leaving the EU without an agreement could ‘exacerbate the workforce crisis in health and care, drive up demand for already hard-pressed services, hinder the supply of medicines and other vital supplies, and stretch the public finances which pay for healthcare’.

No matter what side of the Brexit divide you sit, or what impact it has on the provision of healthcare and your practice as a therapist, the FHT will be here for you – helping to support you, supporting others.

Christopher Byrne, President

FHT GOVERNING COUNCIL

PRESIDENT Christopher Byrne ICAT (International Council of Acupuncture Therapists) and PACT (Professional Association of Clinical Therapists) FHT EXPERT ADVISERS Julian Baker, MFHT; Lynne Booth, MFHT; Lorraine Davis, FFHT; Christine Fisk; Sally Kay, FFHT; Maria Mason, MFHT; Cameron Reid, MFHT; Tina Reid; Neil Sheehan, MFHT; Denise Tiran

VICE PRESIDENTS Gerri Moore IFHB (International Federation of Health and Beauty Therapists)

Herman Fenton HFST (International Council of Health, Fitness and Sports Therapists)

Mary Dalgleish ICHT (International Council of Holistic Therapists)

LAY MEMBER Judith Hadley

Maria Mason

ATL (Association of Therapy Lecturers)

HBEF (Health and Beauty Employers Federation)

Helen Chambers (representing the interests of the public)

For biographies, please visit fht.org.uk/about-us 6

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HAVE YOUR SAY

Your views STAR COMMUNICATION

Life-saving knowledge Ringing the cancer alarm bells Last year, I hosted a networking lunch for events professionals and got talking to an attendee who later became a client.

She is a business woman in her mid-40s, a single mother to two teenage girls, with a hectic lifestyle and stressful job. She was desperate for some pampering and relaxation, following a particularly difficult period in which she had changed jobs and moved to a new house.

At the beginning of the massage, I noticed a large, irregular-shaped mole on her right shoulder. It raised alarm bells, played on my mind and worried me throughout the course of the treatment.

It was about 5cm in size, with shades of black, brown and pink clearly visible.

PICTURES: ISTOCK

Course cancellations

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Why do courses get cancelled? This is a question we are often asked as an FHT accredited course provider.

The main reason is lack of attendance.

It all boils down to economics. We have to cover our costs – room rent, advertising, instructors’ wages, accreditation fees, insurance, initial set-up costs, consumables, course literature, travel and hotel accommodation.

Many venues also charge booking and cancellation fees if we don’t give enough notice. All these costs add up, and we are unable to run courses at a loss.

Last year we cancelled seven courses due to low numbers. We had lots of people wanting courses but were met with ‘Can you do it on another day?’, ‘When are you

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At the end of the massage, while she was getting dressed, I consulted the Melanoma Taskforce’s guidance on the signs of skin cancer for wellbeing, hair and beauty professionals, which I had received from the FHT. It confirmed that my suspicion was justified, and I followed the ‘What to tell your clients’ advice to the letter.

The client booked an appointment with her GP and was promptly referred to a dermatologist, who took a biopsy and confirmed that it was malignant melanoma. She has had further specialist treatment to remove the rest of the cancer, and has been assured that it has not spread. She called me following the

coming to my town?’, ‘I’ll wait until you come to me before signing up’ and ‘You have cancelled the course in my town next week, I can now make it. Can you put it back on?’

Some people are not willing to travel more than a few miles to a course location.

However, lots of people have travelled long distances and I thank them.

We are in the process of finding more locations to provide courses but these take months to set up. Please help us and other course providers by being willing to travel a little further afield and understand that we simply can’t put on training everywhere, exactly when you want it.

All course providers will do what they can to put courses on, but if people don’t attend, we are unlikely to return to that location.

Help us by telling us where you want courses and we will endeavour to deliver courses where the demand is. Please talk to us.

Adrian Jenkinson, MFHT, WaveStone

diagnosis and subsequent ‘all clear’ to thank me for saving her life.

I am grateful that I was able to consult the mole and skin guidelines that I had received from the FHT, and that I was able to refer her to her GP without causing undue alarm.

This story illustrates perfectly the importance of therapists’ responsibility to refer when appropriate, and goes to show that you never really know how much impact you can have on someone’s life.

Emma Livingstone, MFHT For more about the warning signs of skin cancer, go to fht.org.uk/IT-130-melanoma

STAR COMMUNICATION

Returning to full strength In the next issue of International Therapist, the lucky member who wins our star communication prize will receive a copy of Pilates for Rehabilitation

by Samantha Wood, which contains customised solutions to impaired performance.

Get in contact for a chance to win (see details at top of opposite page).

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PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH WITH US...

Email kyoung@fht.org.uk Facebook facebook.com/fht.org.uk Instagram fht_org FHT website fht.org.uk Twitter @FHT_Org Write to 18 Shakespeare Business Centre, Hathaway Close, Eastleigh, Hants S050 4SR

Relaxation at Rowan Tree I volunteer at a large annual event in Pontypridd, where a team of therapists and I give free treatments to people who may not have otherwise experienced the benefits of complementary therapies.

During the 2015 event, although I didn’t know it at the time, I was spotted by Rhian Dash, who runs Rowan Tree Cancer Care, a small but rapidly expanding charity providing practical help for people affected by cancer. I received a phone call from Rhian a few weeks later, who invited me to join her team to temporarily cover for one of her therapists who was on long-term leave. The job involved working in doctors’ surgeries and giving treatments to people affected by cancer.

During therapy training, I was told that cancer sufferers Julie (second from must be free of the condition for a minimum of five years left) at Rowan Tree before any complementary treatments can be given. Even then, not every therapist is willing to give a treatment. It is unlikely, therefore, that these most needy of people have been getting a therapy treatment from therapists working in the private sector. However, Rowan Tree works with a wider team, including GPs, Macmillan nurses and cancer specialists.

I trained in complementary therapy and cancer care at Velindre Cancer Centre and completed a Macmillan Cancer Support course. It is so rewarding to give therapy treatments to those in most need of a little TLC and work with medical staff to publicise and popularise therapy treatments.

In the past, I’d heard of a few lucky therapists who worked in GP surgeries and always wondered how they got the job. I’ve now worked with Rowan Tree Cancer Care for almostt four years and can’t believe I am now one of these very fortunate therapists.

Julie Croad, MFHT

One small change is a positive change Thank you for a very interesting article in IT Spring 2019. Your sentence ‘One small change is a positive change’ resonated with me as it brings to life the ‘Think globally, act locally’ slogan.

As a mobile therapist, I found the following adjustments easy

to implement and very affordable.

Instead of bulky towels, I use sarongs to cover massage tables.

Sarongs use less water and detergent in the wash and are easier to transport than towels.

I also use electronic candles, which I can charge at home and take with me to a client’s premises, and most of my products are vegan.

The biggest secret is that I save money, time and effort, together with the environment.

Georgia Curry, MFHT

EVEN MORE GREAT IDEAS TO GO GREENER I’ve enjoyed the features on green ideas in the last couple of issues and was pleased to see the FHT was trialling a compostable wrapper for 1,000 copies of the Summer issue of International Therapist.

Some other ideas include: Switch to recycled paper products. If we don’t create the demand for recycled products, there isn’t the demand for raw material to be recycled.

Only buy recycled paper toilet roll, tissues, etc. It’s only going in the loo.

Swap your financial provider for a more ethical one (eg Co-op, Triodos) Where possible, walk and cycle to meetings and appointments Promote and organise UK retreats to reduce flying.

Anonymous Editor’s comment: We have now switched to a fully biodegradable wrapper for all issues of the magazine. Visit fht.org.uk/our-planet for more information.

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Aromatherapy awareness During Aromatherapy Awareness Week in June, I organised daily activities across social media to raise awareness of this therapy in Malaysia.

Activities included a series of posts on aromatherapy, including an introduction to aromatherapy, its history, its benefits and uses for essential oils, a free webinar (in Mandarin), a prize draw and special offers.

There was some good engagement, especially with the audience during the live webinar, which was followed by an entertaining question and answer session.

I am very happy and proud to have organised these activities for the entire week, and received many enquiries from the public, who visited my Facebook business page and web store.

I would like to continue with these activities, whether free or as paid classes, to share aromatherapy knowledge with others across my home country.

Kit Ying Seong, MFHT

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NEWS

Obesity in the UK to rise 73% by 2050 The number of people with obesity in the UK is expected to rise by 73% to 26 million by 2050, according to a report by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH).

The Health on the Shelf report states that 89.5% of products on display at children’s eye level in UK supermarkets are unhealthy, while 70% of products located in prominent areas within supermarkets are for food and drinks that contribute to children’s sugar and calorie intake.

Over a third of consumers say they buy unhealthy products because they are on special offer at supermarkets, and half believe there are more unhealthy products on

Postural sway doubles fracture risk

supermarket shelves than healthy products.

The RSPH suggests that supermarkets use cartoon characters on healthy products such as fruit and vegetables, introduce a healthy rewards scheme and cookery demonstrations, and provide greater shelf allocation to healthier products.

The government could also offer business rate reductions for retailers who take health seriously, and a healthy rating scheme, recording the proportion of healthy to unhealthy foods at supermarkets.

Access the full report at fht.org.uk/IT-130-obesity

Apathy: the forgotten symptom of dementia

Older women who sway while standing in an erect posture are vulnerable to fractures, with higher postural sways associated with increased risk, according to a study from the University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital.

Studying postural sway is important because it has shown an association with falls, which in turn are an important risk factor for fractures.

According to the results, women with the highest postural sway had a twice-higher risk for any fracture and for osteoporotic wrist, upper arm, spine or hip fracture compared with women with the lowest postural sway.

And a combination of high postural sway and low bone mineral density resulted in a five-times higher overall fracture risk and an 11-times higher osteoporotic fracture risk.

Read more at fht.org.uk/IT-130-sway

Apathy is the most common neuropsychiatric symptom of dementia, with a bigger impact on function than memory loss – yet it is under-researched and often forgotten in care.

Research led by the University of Exeter has found apathy in nearly half of all people with dementia, which is often distinct from depression.

Apathy is often ignored as it is less disruptive in care homes, for example, than symptoms such as aggression.

Defined by a loss of interest and emotions, it is linked with more severe dementia and worse clinical symptoms.

Data from 4,320 people with Alzheimer’s showed that 45% of patients presented with apathy, and 20% had persistent apathy over time.

Read more at blog.fht.org.uk

Welcome back to a long-lost knee bone Partially lost to human evolution, the fabella bone in the knee is making a comeback, according to an article published in the Journal of Anatomy.

This small independent bone located behind the lateral femoral condyle is common in

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non-human mammals.

It is absent in many humans who have lost the bone through evolution.

However, a recent systematic review examining medical literature over the past 150 years has found an increase in its prevalence. The fabella is now

three times more common than 100 years ago and is now present in 39% of people.

Scientists believe this could coincide with a global increase in human weight and height, which puts more pressure on the knee.

More at blog.fht.org.uk

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NEWS

Nearly a quarter of Brits drink plant-based milk

PSORIASIS REDUCES QUALITY OF LIFE Moderate sufferers of psoriasis rate their happiness as 5.1 out of 10, compared with the UK’s national average of 7.2 out of 10, according to research by Raconteur.

Furthermore, 73% report high stress, 40% experience loneliness, and 17% have lost 10 or more working hours because of their condition.

Read more at fht.org.uk/ IT-130-raconteur

34% OF BRITS ADMIT TO AGE DISCRIMINATION More than a third of British people have admitted to ageist behaviour, according to new research by Sun Life.

The Ageist Britain report found that people in their 30s from Southampton are most likely to discriminate against those over the age of 50.

Access the report at fht.org.uk/IT-130-ageism

PICTURES: ISTOCK; SHUTTERSTOCK

MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FALL SHORT ON DOMESTIC ABUSE As much as a third of mental health services lack policies to ask about domestic abuse, says a report from Agenda, the alliance for women and girls at risk.

The report also says that trusts lack proactive support for patients who disclose domestic abuse.

Access the report at fht.org.uk/IT-130-abuse

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As many as 23% of Britons now use plant-based milk, according to a study by market research group Mintel.

The plant-based revolution is being led by women between the ages of 16 to 24, with a third opting for an alternative to milk from cows, including almond, oat, coconut, pea and hemp milks. Volume sales of oat milk went up by 71% since 2017, with coconut up 16% and almond 10%.

However, plantbased milk still

accounted for just 8% of milk sales in 2018, and its use in cooking and hot drinks remains limited.

Emma Clifford of UK Food and Drink said: ‘Plant-based milk alternatives continue to make further inroads into the mainstream, with high levels of innovation activity.

‘Growth in this segment forms part of a much wider plant-based movement, driven by concerns around health, ethics and the environment, as well as by consumers’ love of variety in their diets.’

More at fht.org.uk/IT-130-milk

UK women simplify their skincare routines British women are increasingly reducing n their the number of products in 8% skincare routines, with 28% saying they now take a simpler approach, say researchers at Mintel.

Young millennials, aged 20 to 29, are leading the move away from multi-step facial skincare routines, with 54% simplifying their routiness over the past year.

The number of women using only a single product to cleanse their face has

risen by 3% over the last 12 months.

The proporti proportion of women using four or more products has dropped from 26% to 18% over the sam same period.

Facial cleansing washes, w wipes and toners are am among the products losing po popularity with UK women.

An make-up sales have And dwi dwindled because of a trend towar achieving naturally towards radiant sk skin.

Find out more at fht.org.uk/IT-130-skincare-routines

GP practices encouraged uraged to promote physical activity Sport England and the Royal College of General al Practitioners tive Practice (RCGP) have announced the launch of the Active omote the Charter, which celebrates GP practices that promote aff. benefits of physical activity to patients and staff.

A quarter of patients say they would be moree active if it was and has put recommended by a GP or nurse, so Sport England together a toolkit to help time-poor GPs raise the subject. ractices in the The charter aims to support around 8,000 practices ical activity for UK and raise awareness of the benefits of physical both mental and physical wellbeing. g when it ‘Busy GPs can’t be expected to do everything comes to getting the nation more active, but we can play a vital role in starting the conversation with patients,’ says Dr Andrew Boyd, RCGP clinical champion for physical activity and lifestyle.

Read more about the charter at fht.org.uk/IT-130-active-charter

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COMPLEMENTARY | Reflexology

WE LOOK AT JUST SOME OF THE MANY WAYS FHT REFLEXOLOGIST MEMBERS ARE SUPPORTING THEIR CLIENTS’ HEALTH AND WELLBEING

I

n the run-up to World Reflexology Week and our second FHT Integrated Healthcare Conference (fht.org.uk/ conference), we asked our reflexology members to provide us with an insight into their work so we could share some short case studies to highlight just some of the many ways this popular therapy is helping to improve the nation’s health.

PREGNANCY Feeling a little anxious about childbirth and what it will entail is perfectly natural. However, for some women, the fear is so great that it not only impacts their mental health and quality of life in the run-up to giving birth, but can affect the birthing process itself, including labour times and the level of pain they experience. Complementary therapies such as reflexology can potentially help

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Reflexology | COMPLEMENTARY

to reduce anxiety and fear prior to the onset of labour and improve a woman’s overall childbirth experience.

CASE STUDY

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Jane TomlinsonWightman, RM, MFHT In my role as the lead midwife for safe active birth (SAB) at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust, I set up a complementary therapy service in 2016, which includes reflexology.

The aim was to provide a personalised, holistic approach to supporting pregnant women suffering from birth anxiety and fear of childbirth. Women can fear childbirth for any number of reasons, but in those who are referred to the SAB service, it is not uncommon for us to see women who have had a previous traumatic birth experience, have tokophobia (a phobia of childbirth) or other mental health issues, who have suffered from sexual abuse or domestic violence, or who have obstetric complexities.

Women who opt to have reflexology as part of their birth plan receive weekly treatments at 37 weeks (to reduce the risk of premature onset labour) up until the birth of their baby. Anecdotally, we know that the treatment benefits experienced by these women include a reduction in the fear and anxiety of childbirth, and an improved birthing experience. It is also widely accepted that relaxation can help to reduce adrenaline, which intensifies labour pain.

However, it is also clear that other potential benefits of the service may include a reduction in analgesics, a reduction in the number of self-elected caesarean sections, and a reduction in post-traumatic stress disorder and postnatal depression – all of which can adversely impact birthing women and draw off valuable NHS resources.

In order to formally evaluate and continue the reflexology service provided at SAB, which is accessible to women across all socioeconomic groups (including those who might not be able to pay for such treatments), I am currently undertaking an internship with the National Institute for Health Research. This allows me to continue providing the service as a ‘research practitioner’, which is referred to as ‘implementation science’. So far, all is

“I find that he usually falls asleep during treatment and his tremors are reduced by the time I move to his left foot” going well and I look forward to sharing the top line results of this research work with other FHT members a little further down the line.

Jane’s client, Dr Joanne Price, says: ‘I have been fortunate enough to personally benefit from Jane’s expertise.

She offers years of midwifery experience alongside a passionate, knowledgeable approach to reflexology, which results in a holistic approach to pregnancyrelated anxiety.

‘My treatment programme was bespoke, adapting to changes in my emotional and physical state to address feelings of tension, fear and apprehension that had resulted from previous pregnancy experiences. I hope that in the future many more women will be fortunate enough to benefit from Jane’s expertise.’

Another client said: ‘I knew that my anxiety about the birth would impact my pregnancy and labour, but despite this I wasn’t able to control my anxiety. I would often be in tears during my antenatal appointments when discussing the labour.

I found reflexology sessions with Jane a massive benefit. Not only did I notice a difference in my anxiety levels following the sessions but they gave me something positive to focus on and look forward to, especially as I went over my due date and became more anxious about the delivery.’

PARKINSON’S DISEASE Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition. It develops when changes in the brain result in lower levels of the chemical dopamine being produced, which helps to control movement. The three main symptoms of the condition are tremor, slow movement and muscle stiffness.

Parkinson’s UK says: ‘Although there’s little scientific evidence that treatments or therapies can slow, stop or reverse the development of Parkinson’s, we have heard from many people with the condition who have had positive experiences of complementary therapies. We encourage anyone affected by the condition who is interested in complementary therapies to explore what works for them.’

CASE STUDY Kelly Foord, MFHT

SUPPORTING RESEARCH Dr Julie McCullough, MFHT, is a research associate at Ulster University.

As part of her PhD, she joined an established research team investigating the impact of antenatal refl exology on women experiencing stress caused by pregnancy-related low back and/or pelvic girdle pain. The results indicated that refl exology is safe for women in the third trimester of pregnancy, reduces pain and associated stress, and decreases the synthesis of the stress hormones beta-endorphin and cortisol.

In addition, the second stage of labour was 44 minutes shorter in the women who received refl exology, compared with those receiving standard care or a footbath. Read more about Julie’s research at fht.org.uk/refl exology-pregnancy

I have been treating Wol, a retired professor in his 60s, since April. I had met him previously in my capacity as a carer, and his wife suggested reflexology as a way to support him through his Parkinson’s disease.

He presents with advanced mobility issues and decreased peripheral vision, particularly affecting his right side, where symptoms of the disease are most prevalent. We have varied and interesting discussions on a number of topics; however, Wol experiences speech and language delay and often needs time to form words and sentences to express himself verbally.

His limiting motor skills also make tasks such as eating and putting shoes on a challenge. He is very determined and stays as active as possible, walking daily and performing physiotherapy exercises. All of his symptoms impact on his confidence

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COMPLEMENTARY | Reflexology

REFLEXOLOGY – THE BIG PICTURE and can often cause anxiety, which freezes him to the spot.

Wol has reflexology approximately every two weeks in his own home. During discussion, he reports feeling more relaxed and mobile on the days following reflexology, and that the treatments help him to sleep better. I find that he usually falls asleep during treatment and his tremors are reduced by the time I move to his left foot.

Parkinson’s sufferers often report ‘downtime’ between doses of the medication they take for the condition, which Wol describes as ‘brain fog’, and he says that reflexology helps with this too.

Working together, Wol and I have established that he prefers foot reflexology to hand reflexology. He benefits greatly from a full treatment, which is firm but gentle, with the knowledge that we can review and adjust this to reflect his changing needs.

Kelly’s client, Wol, says: ‘Reflexology makes me feel more relaxed and mobile’, and his wife adds: ‘Touch makes one feel valued and cared for.’

CANCER CARE The cancer journey can be long and unpredictable, bringing with it a raft of physical, mental and emotional challenges.

Reflexology and other complementary therapies can offer clients support every step of the way, from helping to relieve the stress and anxiety that often comes with a diagnosis, to improving sleep and helping them to cope with symptoms, treatment side effects, and ‘life after the all-clear’.

CASE STUDY Rachael Cavanagh, MFHT A woman in her 30s first came to see me between her first and second chemotherapy treatments following a diagnosis of breast cancer and a mastectomy. Initially sceptical that reflexology could help with her anxiety and ability to cope with the chemotherapy, she has found the sessions invaluable throughout the whole of her journey.

During treatment sessions, I used a combination of reflexology with relaxation techniques and mindfulness. To begin with, the aim was to get her through the stress that built up before each cycle of

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We’d like to say a huge thank you to those 188 members who took the time to complete our 2019 FHT Reflexology Survey. The information and comments you provided have helped to inform this article and will also assist the FHT in promoting the benefits of reflexology.

About our reflexology members...

10+ 5+

74%

of those members who responded to our survey have been practising refl exology for five or more years, and 56% have been practising for more than 10 years.

66%

have completed postgraduate training to enhance their refl exology skills: for example, facial reflexology, or refl exology in pregnancy or cancer care.

53%

provide treatments in their own home and 47% in their client’s home.

16%

use refl exology to support patients in hospices.

12%

work in a care home and 8% in an NHS hospital. 4% also work as nurses.

our reflexologists 81% ofdescribe their clients as people wanting to try a natural approach to managing their health (alongside medical care).

71%

of clients say they are seeking support for

long-term health conditions. However, reflexology isn’t just being used to help with pre-existing conditions, as nearly half (49%) of respondents say their clients take a preventative approach to their health, and 45% hope to improve their lifestyle as a whole.

90%

of respondents use reflexology

to support clients with stress and anxiety, including 42% with a diagnosed mental health problem. More than one-fifth (21%) have helped people affected by a traumatic event, including war and bereavement, and those who have received a troubling medical prognosis.

This gives insight into the demand for reflexology as a therapy to help improve quality of life and mental wellbeing.

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Reflexology | COMPLEMENTARY

Reflexology is, of course, also used to help support clients with physical conditions and symptoms.

67%

of respondents say they see clients experiencing pain

64%

with sleep problems

60%

with joint or mobility issues

52%

with cancer

About your clients…

While only 16% of respondents support patients in hospices, one-third (33%) see clients receiving palliative or end-of-life care, which could be to help both with physical symptoms and improving quality of life and easing anxiety at an understandably difficult time.

Patients are not necessarily the only clients our members see in NHS settings, as one-third (33%) provide treatments to health professionals committed to caring for others.

44%

see clients who are carers for family and friends.

9%

support those working in emergency services, including the police, fire and rescue, and paramedics.

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Refl exology also has its place in fertility and pregnancy, with 26% of respondents seeing couples who are struggling to conceive, and 29% supporting pregnant clients.

Our survey also shows that there are still financial barriers for clients to access therapies, with people with a disposable income more than twice as likely to see a reflexologist than those with a lower socioeconomic status.

More than one-fifth (21%) of our reflexologists offer subsidised fees to clients, 18% offer treatments on a voluntary basis and 18% have treatments funded by a charity.

chemotherapy. She also reported sleeping better after treatment and that it helped with the ‘deep ache’ in her bones that she experienced in her feet in particular as a result of the chemotherapy.

Once she was signed-off by her oncologist and declared ‘cancer-free’, her anxiety levels peaked. Left with an ongoing drug regime and the promise of a follow-up mammogram in six months’ time, she suddenly felt ‘on her own’. All of the emotion of the previous six months, and all the anxiety she held for the future, came out at once. While conventional medicine had successfully treated the cancer, there was little support offered to her going forward.

Continuing with her reflexology during this period proved crucial to this client and she told me just recently that if anything, it has been more beneficial now than it had been during her cancer treatment.

Reflexology has helped her get back on her feet, back to work and to re-evaluate what’s important to her. It has opened doors for her into other complementary therapies with colleagues at the centre I work at, and we support her as she continues to deal with post-cancer treatment anxiety.

Rachael’s client says: ‘I was very sceptical when I started treatment. However, the treatments have become part of my life. My stress/anxiety reduced significantly. When I had particularly bad weeks with chemo side effects, reflexology reduced them. I have also learnt so much about other complementary therapies. Thank you, Rachael. Reflexology has really changed my life.’

CASE STUDY Sally Kay, FFHT In 2012, I was awarded an FHT Excellence in Practice Award for my initial research into reflexology lymph drainage (RLD), a technique I developed to help with the management of secondary lymphoedema following breast cancer treatment.

Since then, I have been involved in further research with Cardiff Metropolitan University, generously funded by Welsh cancer charity Tenovus, and this work continues today, helping to build a strong evidence base for the practice of RLD. I have also had the privilege of teaching

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COMPLEMENTARY | Refl Yogaexology

“I really enjoyed my treatments and found my mood improving, my pain reducing and my sleep improving as the treatments progressed” the technique to hundreds of qualified reflexologists, given presentations at numerous national and international conferences, had a number of papers published in peer-reviewed journals (with more to follow), produced a DVD and, more recently, published a book so that more therapists can learn about RLD. Both I, and the reflexologists I have taught RLD to over the years, have seen consistent and life-changing treatment outcomes in many of our clients, and gathered some incredible testimonials and case studies along the way.

One of my very early clients was a 62-yearold female with lymphoedema in her right arm, following a mastectomy and full lymph-node clearance seven years ago. A baseline measurement in week one showed the volume of the swollen arm was 15% greater than the other arm, and it contained 358ml of excess fluid (which is heavier than a small bottle of water). The swelling was worse in the proximal section of the arm, and additional swelling was evident under the arm, around the back, the chest and in the shoulder.

She identified two areas of concern using a Measure Yourself Concerns and Wellbeing (MYCAW) questionnaire – swelling and aching. The swollen arm was weak and its range of movement restricted. Everyday living activities were affected: for example, she could not drive far, carry shopping or open a screwtop jar. The client received a 40-minute RLD treatment once a week, over a period of four weeks.

A total loss of 289ml excess fluid reduced the difference between the swollen and normal arm from 15.4% to just 3%. These results were supported by MYCAW data, which showed a significant improvement in swelling and aching, and ability to perform everyday tasks.

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Sally’s client says: ‘My right arm is much lighter now. Prior to starting my treatment, I had a lot of fluid at a pocket under my arm and this too has lessened.

Everything I struggled with – clothes, hobbies and driving – are no longer a problem. I’m not embarrassed to take a long-sleeved cardigan off, and I wear short or sleeveless blouses, which has given me my confidence back.’

FIBROMYALGIA Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that can cause widespread pain, extreme tiredness (fatigue) and sleep disturbance.

It is not fully understood what causes fibromyalgia, but research suggests that there’s an interaction between physical, neurological and psychological factors (Versus Arthritis, 2019).

Rather than being triggered by disease or an injury to the body, the pain experienced by people with fibromyalgia is thought to be caused by a problem with the way the brain and nervous system processes pain.

Depression and anxiety can also make the pain seem much worse. Reflexology can help clients to manage their symptoms, including pain.

CASE STUDY Anne Blee, MFHT I completed a case study involving a lady who suffered from fibromyalgia and was experiencing pain, low mood, poor sleep patterns and social isolation as a result of her condition.

Following a course of eight treatments, during which I combined limbic reflexology with reflexology lymphatic drainage, she experienced a number of improvements in her symptoms and quality of life, which we captured using the PHQ-9 depression test questionnaire, GAD-7 anxiety disorder assessment and FIQR fibromyalgia impact questionnaire.

Overall, she showed a significant reduction in pain and better mental health.

She also joined a support group for people affected by fibromyalgia and returned to hobbies that she had previously enjoyed, including gardening. This lady continues to visit me for monthly reflexology sessions to keep on top of her health and enjoys a better quality of life.

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Anne’s client, Mrs Townsend, says: ‘I struggled with fibromyalgia for long years and found my symptoms were not getting any easier with medication. Anne suggested reflexology and I thought I might as well give it a try. I really enjoyed my treatments and found my mood improving, my pain reducing and my sleep improving as the treatments progressed.

‘I am now getting out of the house more as I have more energy. I have started baking and crocheting again – activities that I enjoyed before fibromyalgia took over my life. I am more aware of my own body and how it is mapped on the feet and hands and can self-treat points between sessions.’

CASE STUDY Tim Paver, MFHT I have a client who originally came to me with complex health issues including joint pain, low energy levels, memory issues and thyroid problems, all of which a rheumatologist put down to fibromyalgia. As the main carer for her husband, the only medication she was taking to manage her symptoms was levothyroxine, for her thyroid.

Over a number of months, I have used both reflexology and aromatherapy to assist this client, to the point where she is now in very little pain, takes her dog for a walk every day, walks unaided, and no longer takes medication (recent blood tests show that her thyroid is functioning normally).

Her energy levels have also improved.

It’s a shame that reflexology and other complementary therapies are not more widely available for patients impacted by this debilitating illness, which I feel the NHS has pretty much given up on.

I know that it won’t work for everyone, but if it can help others in the same way that it’s helped this client, then that would be good progress.

Tim’s client says: ‘I used to get up on a morning like a tin man – as stiff as a board and in chronic pain, but due to the commitment of being a carer I didn’t take pain relief. Then I found Tim at soul2heal and I’m so glad I did. I now get six days out of seven pain-free and took thyroxine before treatment which I don’t use now.’

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MEMBERS’ QUESTIONS

Ask an expert FHT EXPERTS ADVISE ON PREGNANT CLIENTS, ENHANCED DISCLOSURES AND ACCEPTABLE CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

Q

Denise Tiran, FRCM, education director, Expectancy, and FHT Expert Adviser, says: When undertaking complementary therapy, a heavily pregnant woman should never be positioned in the supine position – which means lying flat on her

back, facing upwards. As the guidelines explain, this is because the weight of the heavy abdomen and fetus can compress the inferior vena cava and cause dizziness in the mother due to low blood pressure. It can also reduce oxygenation to the fetus.

If a heavily pregnant woman is positioned on her back, she needs to be propped up with at least two or three pillows, or the back

of the couch should be raised, so that she is in a semi-recumbent position. This eases pressure on the blood vessels, in which case both mother and baby should be fine.

Reflexology chairs (or garden chairs/ Lafumas) also put the woman into a semirecumbent position. There is the added benefit that the soft material of the reclining chair does not place so much pressure on the

Q

person’s criminal history, provided by the police and other government departments.

There are different levels of disclosure, but the relevant one for a professional therapist supporting their clients’ physical or mental health is an ‘enhanced disclosure’. However, under current legislation, it isn’t possible for a self-employed person to obtain an enhanced disclosure at their own request – it has to be done via an appropriate third party.

For many years, the FHT has ith linked up with a registered umbrella body, DDC Limited, to enable

self-employed members to obtain an enhanced disclosure. This allows members the option to provide evidence to potential clients and employers that they have been checked by the Disclosure and Barring Service (or an equivalent body) and are not included on any government-held lists or registers, or have any relevant criminal convictions that would deem them unsuitable to work as a therapist.

For a small ch charge, the FHT can provid a display certificate also provide accom to accompany the disclosure, verify verifying that the holder has com completed a recent check an is eligible to practise as and a therapist. FHT members w be able to publicly will d display this certificate and

I am a self-employed therapist and have recently been asked by a potential client if I’ve had a police check. How do I go about getting one?

Julie McFadden, FHT registrar and compliance manager, says: It’s more than likely that your potential client is referring to a ‘disclosure’, which is a document issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service (England and Wales), Disclosure Scotland or AccessNI (Northern Ireland).

Disclosures contain information about a

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PICTURES: ISTOCK

I recently completed a pregnancy massage course and I’m confused by the FHT’s guidelines on treating pregnant clients, which state ‘it is essential clients are not placed in the supine position in later pregnancy’. What if the client is propped up with pillows, in a semi-supine position, or receiving reflexology in a reclining chair?

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MEMBERS’ QUESTIONS

Q

One of my regular clients who is going through a particularly hard time recently mentioned ‘giving up’, because ‘probably no one would care’. While I’m conscious of professional boundaries, what can I say or do to help?

Stephen Buckley, head of information at Mind, says: If someone does decide to open up, it’s important to listen without judgement and accept their feelings. You may not understand their concerns, but try to understand that the feelings are very real to them. Remember, unless you’ve had appropriate training, you’re not an expert and you’re not expected to give expert advice. Instead, try asking if there’s anything you can do to help make them feel more comfortable at your clinic or salon.

It’s also a good idea to signpost them to professional support.

For more information, support and advice, please visit our website at mind.org.uk or call Mind’s Infoline on 0300 123 3393 (lines open Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm).

The Samaritans also provide free, confidential, 24-hour phone support on 116 123.

Q

mother’s back and allows enough ‘give’ to ensure that there is no compression of the vena cava.

If an expectant client becomes dizzy or breathless at any point during treatment, or if she tells you that her baby’s movements have suddenly changed, you must sit her up gently to encourage blood flow and oxygenation.

show it to existing or potential clients and employers.

As disclosures involve checks made against government records at a moment in time, the FHT certificate will be valid for a period of 24 months, after which members can apply to be re-checked to establish that no offences have been recorded since the disclosure was issued. The FHT will not retain or record details of disclosures made.

DISCLOSURE SCHEME For more information about the FHT’s disclosure scheme, visit fht.org.uk/disclosure-andbarring-vetting-scheme-dbs

I was excited to learn that clients can now submit testimonials for my FHT Directory profile page, but why won’t you publish any that mention how my treatments have helped to treat a particular condition?

Jade Dannheimer, FHT marketing manager, says: We’re pleased you’re excited about this new benefit for FHT members and Fellows who have opted in to the FHT Directory. Not only do we appreciate how important ‘word of mouth’ is when it comes to attracting new clients, adding content like this is also a great way to help increase your visibility in online search engines.

However, under the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) code, testimonials are viewed no differently to any other statements used for marketing purposes. It’s for this reason that the FHT won’t be able to publish any client testimonials that claim your therapy has helped to treat or relieve a medical condition, including pain, unless you can substantiate such a claim with robust evidence or research.

Your clients can, however, talk about the excellent and professional service they

received from you, and that the therapy supported or helped them to manage or cope with a particular health challenge.

Below are some example testimonials the FHT considers acceptable. However, please note that these have not been CAP-approved: ‘I’d been through a really stressful time and my friend recommended trying aromatherapy. The treatments have been a huge help – I’m sleeping a lot better, feel a lot less anxious about things in general and have a more positive outlook.’

‘I’d highly recommend John – he’s a really professional therapist and gives excellent treatments. Can’t wait for my next appointment!’

‘I started seeing Anne 10 years ago, when a back problem stopped me from playing squash, which I love. Regular massage treatments, along with some home exercises she gave me, helped to get me back on the court. I now see Anne monthly, just to help keep me in shape.’

‘Pat treated my mum when she was receiving palliative care at home. Mum always looked forward to what she called her ‘Pat time’ and would sleep peacefully at the end of each treatment. It was nice to see mum receive some enjoyment and comfort during this time. Thank you.’

Finally, please note that in order to be published on your FHT profile page, client testimonials must be genuine and verifiable.

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HOLISTIC CARE | Quality of life

Full circle support SUZANNE RUGGLES, MSc, DIPHE, MFHT, TALKS ABOUT ESTABLISHING THE FULL CIRCLE FUND, AN INTEGRATED SERVICE FOR PATIENTS WITH LIFE-CHALLENGING ILLNESS

‘I

t’s good news and bad news,’ my consultant said, as he diagnosed me with lupus. ‘The good news’, he informed me, was that ‘I looked well’. And the bad news? I wasn’t.

He went on to tell me I had an incurable illness, that my antibodies were dangerously high and, if left unchecked, my immune system could attack any organ or system in my body. He then said: ‘You’ve got to learn to manage your stress’ before explaining that 75% of the illnesses he saw, including mine, were linked to or exacerbated by stress.

I knew I was stressed but I thought it was just part of the territory of life. I had been building a successful design business for

six years and my clients included royalty, the V&A museum, Hollywood actors and international banks. I had just taken on a major financial commitment in the shape of a five-storey derelict building on the King’s Road in Chelsea. If it failed, my house was on the line.

I asked my consultant how I should go about managing my stress, confident that he’d have the solution. He replied: ‘I have no idea, but if you ever find out, let me know.’

Suddenly, I felt lost. I had just been given a frightening diagnosis, the treatment for which was steroids and if that failed, chemotherapy, and I had no idea how to help myself.

My mother sensed my distress and

confusion and suggested I should try some therapies that she had experienced. The first was energy medicine, which put me into an unexpected bubble of peacefulness.

After my first session, I had the best night’s sleep I could remember. The second was massage therapy with visualisation. The practitioner guided me to understand that the body will do all it can to return to a state of homeostasis but, if there is no let-up in stress, it cannot be expected to return to balance. I began to realise the impact of sustained stress and, crucially, what I could do to help myself.

I became increasingly fascinated by the connection between mind, body and health. I sold my gallery and trained in

PICTURES: PAUL MARTIN

WHY ‘FULL CIRCLE FUND’?

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I called it ‘Full Circle’ following a near-death experience caused by bacterial meningitis when the urgent need for this type of project was crystallised.

Full Circle became the vehicle for a hospital-based service providing a blueprint of excellence so every person facing a lifechallenging condition can receive the full circle of life-restoring, compassionate and expert support needed to preserve their spirit.

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Suzanne in discussion with a haematology nurse

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Quality of life | HOLISTIC CARE

AT A GLANCE The project started in 2001 and became a restricted fund within the hospital charity until 2015, when it became an independent charity, Full Circle Fund Therapies.

The aim is to provide an evidencebased integrative therapy project, which delivers safe, professional treatments to life-limited children and adults and their families in complex medical environments.

The project has supported more than 10,000 people. Many of the projects have been the first of their kind in the UK. The service supports patients at: St George’s University Hospital Foundation Trust including oncology, haematology, palliative care, paediatric medicine, intensive care units and neuro-surgery.

The Royal Sussex, Brighton and Sussex University Hospital Trust, currently supporting patients receiving cancer and palliative care.

We are developing plans to expand this project trust-wide.

The Full Circle team consists of 15 practitioners offering mind/ body interventions including massage, reflexology, reiki, clinical hypnotherapy and mindfulness.

Self-help therapies are also offered to empower patients, including relaxation techniques, clinical hypnotherapy, mindfulness, breath focus training and visualisation.

The charity has provided training to over 25 practitioners.

The Full Circle Fund team has received two awards: St George’s NHS Healthcare Trust’s Exceptional Award (2005) and St George’s NHS Values Award for Paediatric Medicine (2015).

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Full Circle on the children’s wards

various modalities which I personally had found to be helpful, including energy medicine, neuro-linguistic programming and reflexology.

A few years later, I started a degree in health psychology at Birkbeck University and went to Harvard to learn more about the science of relaxation, the relaxation response and positive psychology. In 2014 I graduated with a master’s in health sciences from St George’s Hospital Medical School.

SETTING UP A COMPLEMENTARY THERAPY SERVICE In December 2000, I found myself working at my local hospital – St George’s Hospital, London, one of the largest teaching hospitals in the UK. I was only meant to be there for a few months, working on an administrative project. I was in the hospital’s haematology and bone marrow transplant unit and immediately realised there was a need for complementary therapies; the majority of patients admitted had blood cancer and were in sealed isolation rooms, receiving high dose chemotherapy or bone marrow transplantation.

Another group of patients in this unit had sickle cell disorder. Those born with this devastating illness often have strokes in early childhood and have lived with excruciating pain throughout their lives, regularly missing months or years of school as a result of their illness. I was to learn that one of the known triggers for a sickle cell crisis (episode) was stress, and our focus to support this patient group was the first of its kind in the UK. A chance conversation on my first day

with the busy junior sister revealed more about the scale of the ‘human need’ for her patients. About her leukaemia patients, she commented: ‘It’s so tough for them, and there’s only so much we can do as nurses to help them get through the chemo and all the side effects. It can be so traumatic.’

When she asked what I did, her face lit up and she said: ‘We really need your therapies here, to support them – and us.’ We both understood a mountain lay ahead but when I spoke with the ward sister the next day, she called in the department’s professor. We agreed that I should write up a business plan.

The red tape was navigated, the model accepted and through ward funds (which are donations given by patients) it was agreed that a fund would be established.

This would eventually be named the Full Circle Fund, which became an independent charity in 2015.

Initially, it was myself as a practitioner and, as demand very quickly increased, I recruited another reflexologist, Jo Mead. I chose Jo as she was not only a well-trained practitioner but, crucially, a biomedical scientist. Jo’s ‘day job’ was to analyse blood samples of haematology patients, so she was able to converse with doctors at a scientific level, which turned out to be a pivotal decision.

It was early 2001 when she joined and the mood around complementary therapies – with the exception of a few amazing nurses – was at best neutral and at worst hostile.

However, little by little, we were able to elevate the perception of complementary therapy with the clinical personnel who hadn’t had the opportunity yet to

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HOLISTIC CARE | Quality of life

understand the professional level at which we operated.

Within two years, the project won the hospital’s prestigious NHS Exceptional Award. What made our first award even more special was that we were nominated by one of the haematology consultants, a world leading authority in sickle cell disorder.

It is a great responsibility to set up a project of this type and one I think about every day. Protecting and honouring, at all costs, the vulnerability of patients to whom we are referred, is always our starting point. Helping ‘science’ – be it doctors, nurses, physiotherapists or other healthcare professionals – to understand why, how and in which way an integrative approach can be helpful for their patients, remains a central focus of our project’s wider sharing.

Because I was supported and encouraged by senior nurses and a small but increasing number of consultants, I was able to keep Full Circle moving forwards in some of the most complex areas in medicine.

As time passed, Full Circle’s work and professional approach became known in other areas of the trust too.

A physiotherapist who had worked in haematology and was now working in paediatric medicine, asked for us to be referred to see one of her paralysed teenage patients in intensive care. Because of our reputation, we were cleared by the child’s consultant and family within 24 hours.

EVALUATING THE SERVICE Maybe because of my own experience of the confusion and vulnerability which accompanies a major illness, or maybe because of my former business experience as a designer, our model has always been to approach each element of our work using a ‘360-degree view’. Simply put, this means paying rigorous attention to every detail, including risk, and continually evaluating and assessing the service.

I’ve always been a collaborative worker, so sought advice at every step. The need for an evidence-based approach to our work has always been integral to the Full Circle vision. However, a small charity like ours has limited resources, so it wasn’t possible to consider any large scale research. So a pragmatic solution was designed.

I met the trust’s medical director and her sage advice at that time was: ‘Don’t stray into using research tools without ethics approval – start with service evaluations.’ We called in the audit and effectiveness team and they helped us design our first questionnaire, which we have used since 2010. In addition, for pain scores we currently use a visual analogue

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One of Full Circle’s Connecting Reiki with Medicine practitioners on the leukaemia unit

scale, which is a simple and validated measurement tool.

One notable finding that came out of this was that the symptoms in patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy – a progressive, debilitating and permanent form of nerve damage – were mitigated for an average of 24 hours following touch therapies, with patients consistently self-reporting a decrease in pain and reduction of numbness. We have continued looking into this area, thanks to specific funding, and our project now includes clinical hypnotherapy and mindfulness, and our findings are being prepared for publication.

When I look back, I am grateful my consultant mentioned stress to me because it planted a seed. Obviously I wish he had known more about it, so that he could have signposted me at the time, but at Full Circle we are hopeful that more clinicians will know about the role integrative therapies can play in the holistic care of their patients and safely signpost them to expert practitioners.

I got lucky. I found the right people at the right time and through it, was able to expand my knowledge outwards. To date, Full Circle has supported more than 10,000 babies, children and adults with a lifelimiting condition, and their families, and we are now working on plans and funding for projects at two children’s hospitals.

THE FULL CIRCLE SERVICE Currently we have a team of 15 highly skilled practitioners working in two hospitals, consisting of paid therapists and volunteers. They all undertake our in-depth induction process, mentoring and advanced training programme, which is to become a Full Circle hospital-based training/CPD course for qualified practitioners.

We have partnered with a leading US hospital to undertake research and have an honorary clinical director of education and strategy leading our research committee. We currently have many case studies being prepared for publication in peer-reviewed journals, and I presented the work of Full Circle at the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Integrated Healthcare, at which chair David Tredinnick MP said: ‘The Full Circle model should be rolled out nationally.’ We also hold two awards for our work in the NHS.

Suzanne Ruggles, MSc, DipHE, MFHT, is the founder and CEO of Full Circle Fund, which has been pioneering the importance of holistic, integrated support for hospital patients with life-challenging illnesses for over 15 years by providing a team of award-winning therapists. fullcirclefund.org.uk

LEARN MORE AT THE 2019 FHT CONFERENCE Suzanne will be giving a presentation about the work of the Full Circle Fund at our 2019 FHT Conference: Supporting the Integrated Healthcare Agenda on Friday 29 November at The King’s Fund. For more information, visit fht.org.uk/conference

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Promote your

The evaluation of healthcare is increasingly based on Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMS)

with

The Warwick Holistic Health Questionnaire is a valuable tool to assess complementary, alternative & integrative approaches to healthcare. Capturing outcomes of importance to clients and practitioners, the WHHQ uses positive statements to measure mental, physical, social and spiritual wellbeing.

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Easy to use for both you and your clients, the questionnaire can help you to discuss and monitor progress together.

The WHHQ is underpinned by academic research and was developed in conjunction with C.A.M. practitioners and clients.

For further information visit www.warwick.ac.uk/whhq

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02/10/2019 11:57

BUSINESS | Marketing

IDENTIFYING CLIENT HEALTHCARE MARKETING COACH JILL WOODS EXPLAINS WHY MARKETING TO EVERYONE IS MARKETING TO NO ONE

U

nfortunately, a lot of therapists are wasting time, money and energy on marketing that is not attracting the kind of clients they want to see more of. In this article, I’ll show you the one reason why, so that you don’t make the same mistake.

WHO IS YOUR DREAM CLIENT? First, I have a few questions for you. Do you know exactly who your dream client is? Do you know exactly who you want to see more of? Do you know what their pain points are?

What their favourite social media platform is and what hobbies they have? Do you know their name?

If you said no to any of these questions, I can guarantee that your marketing is not being anywhere near as effective as it could be.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BUYING To help me explain why, we first need to look at some psychology. None of us make a buying decision spontaneously, unless we are almost out of fuel and are passing a petrol station, or we want to read the

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paper. In those situations, we usually buy from the closest supplier.

For pretty much all other buying decisions, we go through some kind of selection process, either consciously or subconsciously. How we feel about a certain product or supplier really influences the buying decisions we make.

So to market your therapy services effectively, you need to make an emotional connection with your potential clients.

It’s really hard to do that if you’re trying to connect with everyone.

“You need to work out what the lifetime value of each client is for your business and from that, work out how many clients you need to make your practice viable”

LET’S LOOK AT FOUR POTENTIAL CLIENTS First, we have an older lady who is feeling isolated because her physical problem is stopping her getting out and about.

Moreover, her daughter, who wants to find her some help, is concerned about her mother and wants to find her a therapist who will be kind and understanding.

Second, we have a young mum who is anxious because she has a toddler with ongoing developmental problems. She is worried that her child will have serious longterm challenges.

Third, we have a competitive athlete who is feeling seriously frustrated by an ongoing injury that is preventing him from training and competing, and pushing him further back in the club rankings.

Finally, we have a teenage boy who is embarrassed by the problem he currently has. He is convinced it is very serious and is terrified to seek help but also worried that his friends might find out he has this problem.

Four very different clients. If you want to serve everyone, I just want you to consider how your website home page, email newsletter, window display, leaflets, social media profiles, business cards, advertisements, and so on are going to connect emotionally with all of these people, to the extent that they all see immediately that you are the therapist for them?

The simple answer is that they won’t.

They can’t. The text and images would have to be so diverse that the messages would be really diluted, and you would actually be attracting no one in particular, just a general swath of clients who live nearby.

DON’T PANIC Yes, targeting your marketing does mean that you won’t turn everyone into a client, and some people will end up looking elsewhere, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Let’s look at this from another angle.

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Marketing | BUSINESS

DO YOU WANT MORE OF THESE? Clients who routinely don’t attend their appointment Clients who are always late Clients who are mood-hoovers Clients who complain about your fees Clients who make your heart sink when you see them in the schedule Clients who want a magic-bullet solution Clients not prepared to help themselves Clients with conditions that you’re not comfortable treating or don’t enjoy treating.

Hopefully, the answer is no. You want to be selective so that you enjoy seeing clients and get great results for them.

Yes, you’re in this business to help people – so not helping everyone feels uncomfortable – but you’re also in the business of creating your own thriving happy practice. There will be practices locally that are better suited or more compatible with these people. They will not go without healthcare.

PICTURE: ISTOCK

WHAT ABOUT LOSING MONEY? Let’s address another concern, which is losing money by not treating everyone.

If we embrace turning some people away, how do you make up for that lost revenue?

If you target a specific group of clients, you are able to craft a service that they will love, be happy to pay for and tell other people about. You will become famous locally for the thing you do. You are never going to be famous and draw more clients towards you by being just a generic practice.

Let’s take our young mum as an example.

If she were your dream client, you could build a website that would really resonate

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with her, using images and words that connected with what she was feeling. You could create a practice environment full of furniture, plants, pictures, sounds, smells, facilities and nice touches that she and her toddler would love. You could hone your skills for treating children, so you get fantastic treatment outcomes. All of that would deliver such a ‘wow’ experience that you could be sure that she would happily pay, book repeat appointments and tell her young mum friends how fantastic your practice is.

But what if you think there aren’t enough young mums in your area to make that a viable business?

First, do you know how many clients you need to make your practice a thriving one? Most practices I work with don’t know that number. You need to work out what the lifetime value of each client is for your business and from that, work out how many clients you need to make your practice viable.

Second, when you start focusing on building your practice around one type of client, the following happens: Your service gets better and better in the eyes of those clients, they become raving fans and do a lot of your marketing for you, attracting more dream clients.

You are able to charge a price that reflects both the value your clients get from such a focused service and the quality and skill involved in delivering that service.

Jill Woods is a nonpractising podiatrist and healthcare marketing coach.

To help you further, Jill has created a ‘dream practice’ tick-list to help you start taking more action towards creating your own thriving happy practice. Download it here, for free: jillwoods.com/fht-bonus

You don’t just attract your dream clients (the dark blue heart). You attract people a lot like them (the inner white circle) and people quite like them (the green circle) and people who come because you’re their most convenient provider.

Over time, the ratio of ‘dream’, ‘a lot like’ and ‘quite like’ clients will shift, and you’ll get more and more dream clients.

Over time, you make more money, not less.

WHAT’S NEXT? If a lightbulb has come on and you realise you are marketing to everyone, you need to do the following: Identify exactly who your dream client is – notice the singular.

Create an avatar document where you describe them in huge detail (use images too) and give them a name. You need to be very clear on their emotional pain points.

Next, review all your promotional marketing to see if it is connecting emotionally with those dream clients. Use your client avatar to help you upgrade as you go.

Review your client experience (the service you provide from start to finish). Is every element of it delivering something that will wow your dream clients?

Hopefully, this article has shown how focusing on a specific group can make your marketing more effective.

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COMMUNITY HEALTH | Social prescribing

M BEING PART OF

y Care, My Way is a new integrated care service led by NHS West London clinical commissioning group (CCG), specifically designed to support the health and wellbeing of local people aged 65 and over, living with one or more longterm condition.

Organisations involved include GP surgeries, NHS hospitals and social care services, as well as a number of local charities and voluntary and community organisations, which form the social prescribing element of the service, coordinated by Kensington and Chelsea Social Council (KCSC).

My Care, My Way was designed by local patients, GPs and the community, with patients telling the CCG exactly what they wanted – from the type of services to be included in the social prescribing project (including complementary therapy) right down to the name of the service and the colour of the chairs.

WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP My complementary therapy service came to be part of the social prescribing project as a result of earlier work I had done with carers in an adjoining borough.

Olivia Leu, who was working at KCSC at the time, knew of this work and approached me in December 2015, explaining that West London CCG was setting up a social prescribing pilot project. She introduced me to a local organisation supporting people with disabilities, which had its own

SOCIAL PRESCRIBING TERESA MEEKINGS, MFHT, TALKS ABOUT PROVIDING A THERAPY SERVICE AS PART OF A SOCIAL PRESCRIBING PROJECT AND CREATING A COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY

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03/10/2019 15:33

Social prescribing | COMMUNITY HEALTH

small massage service and would be taking part in the project. I had been using Measure Yourself Concerns and Wellbeing (MYCAW), a patient-reported outcome measure, for a couple of years, so I had already gathered good evidence to highlight both the quality of the service and the difference that complementary therapies can make to health and wellbeing. There were clear advantages for both parties if we worked in partnership, so I was subcontracted to deliver treatments from the organisation’s centre.

When the project got under way, referrals came to us via KCSC, from case managers and health and social care assistants (HSCAs) who work with GPs and act as social prescribing link workers. We were able to offer onsite massage, reflexology, Indian head massage and reiki, but other support available through the social prescribing project included decluttering, befriending, exercise at home, walking support, income maximisation, respite for carers and art for people with dementia.

GETTING OFF THE GROUND The service took off slowly at first. I would sometimes see just three new clients a month, but as positive feedback from our clients started to roll in and GPs and link workers became more familiar with the social prescribing process, that soon changed. By December 2016, referral rates had doubled and were still rising for both the centre and home-based treatments, so additional delivery sites were added for centre-based referrals.

However, it was obvious that more was needed. Direct discussion with the CCG commissioner led to me and my small team of therapists being contracted to deliver 30-minute onsite massage and reflexology sessions at two integrated care centres.

Community Massage London certainly wishes to continue to be part of the project, and as our treatment outcome measures and patient feedback usually exceed targets, we are in with a good chance if the contract is rolled over for another year.

It has been an exciting time. Being involved in social prescribing means we can see the benefit of our work daily. We are regarded by some case managers and HSCAs as a second pair of eyes and ears, as our clients will tell us concerns that they don’t think to tell their GP, so we can encourage them to discuss this with their doctor, or ask if we can mention it to the HSCA to bring up with the GP on their behalf.

GATHERING EVIDENCE It is almost four years since the project got underway and we have built an even stronger evidence base. We use the patient activation measure (PAM) to monitor the progress of most clients. This looks at the knowledge, skills and confidence a person uses to manage their own health and care. PAM scores have the advantage of making it possible to put a cash value on service impact. Independent research,

by Envoy Partnership, covering just under 300 clients referred to us in 2018, has shown our complementary therapy work creates a value to the local healthcare system and patients of nearly threeand-a-half times the cost of the therapies. In addition, we know from using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and various case studies that we have a positive impact on mental wellbeing. We also continue to use MYCAW for other CCG-funded work, because it is uncomplicated and focusses on outcomes that are important to the client.

RIGHT TIME, RIGHT PLACE CREATING A SUSTAINABLE SERVICE Alongside this, I set up a community interest company (CIC) – Community Massage London.

Not only did this help to create a sustainable service, being a CIC-provided extra assurance to any statutory, voluntary and commercial sector organisations looking to work with us, as it demonstrates that our organisation is accountable, has an asset lock and transparent finances. In addition, we have a range of required policies in place that meet NHS standards, including for data protection.

Community Massage London has created a track record over the past year as the go-to organisation that provides high-quality, professional therapy services. We currently work with the following organisations: KCSC Self-Care Project/My Care, My Way – as outlined in this article Mental Health Self-Care – for people with mental health support needs Parkview Community Champions Monthly Unwind – open to all Earls Court Community Champions – for local people with alcohol and substance misuse problems Tenant and Resident Association – a monthly wellbeing project for residents.

SUPPORTING MY CARE, MY WAY The patients we have supported as part of the social prescribing project at My Care, My Way are those aged 65 or above with comorbidities. We have treated patients who are high-intensity users of health services – those with primary care mental health issues, those receiving palliative/end-of-life care, and patients with chronic pain, fibromyalgia, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart problems and a range of other conditions.

The whole social prescribing project has been running since 2016 and is funded until 2020, with the possibility of an extension.

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There were several things that came together to make this possible.

Through working with unpaid carers, I was in touch with the way that health and social care services were developing locally and had good connections with the local community sector. I already used MYCAW, along with qualitative feedback, to measure the impact of reflexology and massage, so I had evidence to build into a business case. West London CCG, for its part, was willing to invest in social prescribing, knowing that it would lead to longer-term efficiency and quality improvements. The CCG chair was an active member of the College of Medicine and the CCG commissioner was open to ideas and innovation. Perhaps most importantly, I was comfortable working in partnership with a range of organisations.

What we have accomplished has been ground-breaking.

Reflexology and massage therapy have struggled to find a mainstream role in the NHS and build an evidence base. Social prescribing was also quite new and unproven. This is changing, and social prescribing is now supported by government and has been rolled out nationally.

Every primary care network (PCN), a grouping of 30,000 to 50,000 patients, will have a social prescribing link worker funded by NHS England. Those PCNs may be managed across a whole CCG or council to create a social prescribing system, but they will still need to form links with their local voluntary and community sector to put together a social prescribing offering. Long term, the intention is that this saving will be invested in the front-line offering, but currently that is up to individual CCGs. Teresa Meekings, MFHT, provides a complementary therapy service as part of a social prescribing project, and has set up a community interest company, Community Massage London, at communitymassagelondon.co.uk For a social return investment evaluation of My Care, My Way, visit fht.org.uk/IT-130-Meekings

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04/10/2019 11:35

WHAT’S NEW

All speakers announced for the

If you haven’t yet booked your tickets for the 2019 FHT Conference, taking place on Friday 29 November at The King’s Fund, London, there are just a few weeks left to do so.

We’re delighted to bring together leading experts in research, education and health and social care at this special one-day event.

Our confirmed speakers include:

Dr John Hughes Director of research for the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine, University College London Hospital NHS Trust, and co-chair of the Research Council for Complementary Medicine

Dr Fiona Holland Senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Derby

Gwyn Featonby and Sarah Grant Members of the award-winning team at the NHS Natural Health School, based at Harrogate District Hospital, Harrogate and District Foundation Trust

Suzanne Ruggles Founder of the Full Circle Fund charity, providing evidence-based support in hospitals to those facing life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses

FHT in the e press

Dr Laura Marshall-Andrews GP and founder of the Brighton Health and Wellbeing Centre, a surgery with an integrated team of CTs

We are delighted to have contributed to a number of publications in recent months, helping to promote both the FHT and you, our members.

Recent highlights include the following: • Health and Wellbeing – In a threepage article written by the FHT, we look at how complementary therapies can help manage health and tackle common complaints.

• Natural Health – As part of a two-page feature, we talk about how sleep affects the skin and what type of beauty therapy products can support skin recovery. In the same issue, we also look at the health benefits of ginger.

• Calm Moment – FHT Vice President Mary Dalgleish recently shared her five favourite natural approaches to tackle common travel complaints.

Information on each of their talks can be found on the FHT website.

We will also be holding our annual FHT Excellence Awards on the day – shining a spotlight on real-life examples of how therapies can make a difference to the health and wellbeing of others.

The event will take place from 9am to 5pm and includes a buffet lunch, drinks reception and refreshments throughout the day.

There are some tickets still available (at time of writing) but tickets sold out early last year, so we strongly recommend booking now.

Find out more and secure your place at fht.org.uk/conference

Look out for more updates on the FHT blog and our social media channels, or see our advertising schedule at fht.org.uk/consumer-campaigns

Get your therapy practice off to a start for just £22 We produce business materials for members to promote their professional status. The new FHT Business Pack is the perfect starter kit, containing everything you need to impress prospective and existing clients.

The pack includes 100 appointment cards, 50 loyalty cards, 20 gift cards, 100 marketing leaflets, a membership

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cardholder and lanyard, and a cotton shopper to transport supplies to your clients’ homes or premises.

With 272 pieces of professionally produced materials for just £22, it’s really great value.

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Find out more and order your pack at shop.fht.org.uk

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Top blog The FHT blog brings you the latest therapy news, health information and business resources. Here are some top posts that readers have enjoyed in recent months:

Finalists announced

MASSAGE MAY HELP WITH RESTLESS LEGS SYNDROME

We’re delighted to announce the finalists for our prestigious 2019 FHT Excellence Awards, which showcase how professional therapy practitioners and trainers are making a difference to the health and wellbeing of others. This year’s finalists are:

Massage with olive oil could provide benefi ts to people with restless legs syndrome, according to a brand new study published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine.

FHT MEMBER TAMER MORSY WINS GOLD MEDAL AT MASSAGE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

FHT Complementary Therapist of the Year Rebecca Ayres • Julie Crossman • Jackie Hamilton • Emi Howe • Lorraine Millard • Louise Summerscales

WE ❤ OUR PLANET In the Spring issue of International Therapist, our ‘Green salon’ article focused on how you can make your therapy business more eco-friendly – but what about the FHT? How are we working to protect the planet?

CAMPAIGN ON RISKS OF COSMETIC PROCEDURES The government has recently launched a new campaign to raise awareness about the potential risks of cosmetic procedures and to help the public make an informed decision before having a treatment.

SIX WAYS AROMATHERAPY CAN HELP EVERYDAY AILMENTS

FHT Beauty Therapist of the Year Alison Day • Fiona Murphy • Joanna Taplin FHT Sports Therapist of the Year Rebecca Ayres • Alexandra Fraser • Emily Pollington FHT Student of the Year Elle Bussey • Samantha Killian • Philip Norton FHT Tutor of the Year Katherine Creighton Crook • Marie Duggan • Carol Samuel

Congratulations to Tamer Morsy, MFHT (pictured), who won the gold medal in the Freestyle Massage Western-inspired category at the World Championship in Massage, ahead of the US’s Patrick Arnold, who took silver, and fellow Brit and FHT member Slav Marinov bronze.

FHT SUPPORTS WELLBEING IN THE WORKPLACE

COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES BENEFICIAL FOR CLIENTS WITH ADVANCED CANCER

FHT Local Group Coordinator of the Year Dee Kelsall • Carina Stinchcombe • Hazel Tudor Thank you to everyone who entered or nominated in this year’s awards – the quality of entries was exceptional, and our judges were delighted to read about the incredible work you do.

Winners will be announced at the 2019 FHT Conference.

As aromatherapists celebrated Aromatherapy Awareness Week (10 to 16 June 2019), we look at six different ways this therapy can be used to help manage some common complaints that affect our overall health and wellbeing.

Aromatherapy, refl exology and massage can all benefi t clients with advanced cancer, according to a review published in Palliative Medicine.

At the FHT, we believe every workplace should be committed to supporting staff health and wellbeing, which is why we launched our own wellbeing month to remind us all of the importance of good physical and mental health.

To read more, visit fht.org.uk/blog and enter a title in the search box.

Support and resources for tutors and students The FHT has been ensuring high professional standards since 1962, helping tutors and students to achieve their aspirations and thrive in their career.

We’re still working hard to reach tutors across the country, both in further education colleges and private training schools, providing them with a range of support and resources to do just that.

This includes free copies of our

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Essential Therapist Guide, packed with useful information to help students now and when they’re newly qualified, informative talks to students in classrooms and at career fairs, and free copies of our popular International Therapist magazine.

If you’re a tutor and would like to request any of the above, visit fht.org.uk/tutors

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03/10/2019 15:37

NATURAL PRODUCTS | Environment

Fit Pit on its environmentally friendly natural deodorant Award-winning Fit Pit natural deodorant comes in a glass jar and is plastic-free.

As well as being free from aluminium, parabens and BPA, Fit Pit deodorant is 100% organic and suitable for vegans.

It goes on like a cream, with moisturising coconut oil and shea butter, leaving you with beautifully soft, healthy, odour-free underarms all day long.

Available in five scents for men, women and teenagers, a 100ml pot of Fit Pit will last for months. And when you’ve finished with your pot, the jars are returnable to stockists throughout the UK, where they are cleaned and reused.

Fit Pit is handmade in small batches by The Green Woman – proudly plastic-free since the company was founded in 2013.

Prices are £4/£10 for a 25ml/100ml pot, with gift sets available too. thegreenwoman.co.uk

Buddha Beauty on vegan and cruelty-free skincare

Vegan Wax Co on making handmade waxes in Wales

At Buddha Beauty, we make a full range of vegan and cruelty-free skincare and home fragrances, available to retail and trade customers. We now offer refill products so you can reuse your existing pump or spray cap over and over again.

Because the bottles are made from PET plastic, they can go into your regular recycling, along with the aluminium cap from the refill bottle, when no longer needed. Purchasing a refill product also has the added bonus of a £1 discount off the usual retail price.

The full Buddha Beauty range is vegan, and ingredients and packaging are all sourced in the UK where possible, helping to reduce the carbon footprint of each product.

The products we offer include facial scrubs, cleansers, toners and creams; hand and foot creams; body wash, oils, lotions and butters; bath salts and handmade soaps; massage oils; hair care; pulse point roller balls; candles, diffusers and room sprays; and much more. buddha-beauty.com

The Vegan Wax Co was set up in response to the demand for a high-quality product that has no animal content.

A solid oil blend made with shea butter, sunflower oil and a plant wax, Vegan Wax is designed to glide across the skin while keeping a good grip, making it ideal for massage and reflexology treatments.

Handmade in Wales in small batches using only the best ingredients, we supply both therapists and the public, as the wax makes a lovely body balm, leaving the skin soft and moisturised with no stickiness.

We use essential oils to meet the specific needs of your clients and present Vegan Wax in lovely reusable and recyclable tins.

Choose from Balance (with lavender, geranium and ylangylang), Ease (with black pepper, ginger and tea tree) or Rise (with cedarwood, juniper and rosemary), or our aroma-free option, called Naked.

Discounts and deals are available for training providers and charities. veganwax.co.uk

WE SPOKE TO SOME OF OUR VALUED ADVERTISERS ABOUT THEIR LATEST NATURAL PRODUCTS AND ANY STEPS THEY ARE TAKING TO SUPPORT THE ENVIRONMENT

The future is

GREEN 30

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PICTURES: ISTOCK

Environment | NATURAL PRODUCTS

Absolute Aromas on all things organic

Weleda on their new Skin Food Light product

Choosing organic has become more important than ever in recent years, with people wanting to shop more ethically and sustainably. Organic farming is known to be beneficial to wildlife and helps to maintain healthy soil, which is why we are always working hard to expand our range of organic products.

At Absolute Aromas, it’s important to us that our ingredients are completely natural and come from sustainable and ethical sources, which is why we visit lots of our suppliers and meet the farmers working the fields. We recently went to see our organic lavender farmer in France, who was so happy to show off the abundance of wildlife buzzing about the lavender flowers!

When buying organic, it’s important to check that the product is certified as organic.

The Soil Association is the UK’s largest organic certification body, with standards covering production methods and manufacturing processes, through to packaging and labelling, helping to ensure you are buying a truly organic product. absolute-aromas.com

As a long-standing fan of Weleda Skin Food, designer Victoria Beckham chose to partner with our original, sustainable, organic, clean beauty brand to offer her 40 models a moment of restorative care backstage at London Fashion Week.

For the VBSS20 show, Weleda provided therapeutic hand and forearm massages, with our experienced team of signature massage experts using the new Skin Food Light moisturiser on models.

The quickly absorbed lotion combines organic sunflower oil with skin-calming extracts of wild pansy, chamomile and calendula. Made with all the same much-loved ingredients as the Skin Food original with its clean, uplifting fragrance, Skin Food Light is more suited to onthe-go moisturisation, soaking in quickly to leave skin instantly nourished and smooth without any stickiness.

With acupressure points all over the hands, the therapeutic effects of hand massage – which help to relieve tension and promote relaxation – make it the ultimate portable treatment and perfect for a little backstage rest and relaxation. weleda.co.uk

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Land of Reiki on handmade flower essences from Brazil Land of Reiki and Aroma is proud to be the face of Florais de Saint Germain in the UK. Located in Brazil and founded in 1997 by Neide Margonari, Florais de Saint Germain offers a range of 89 flower essences and 17 ready-made formulas, based on flowers from the Atlantic Brazilian rainforest.

Each essence comes in a 10ml bottle and has a shelf life of up to five years.

The flower remedies and formulas are handmade, and no electrical machines are used during the production process to totally avoid any electrical interference.

Two of Florais de Saint Germain’s most popular products include: Emergency Formula – which is indicated for emergency situations including emotional trauma, accidents, and situations involving tension, stress and desperation.

Good Night’s Sleep – which combats excessive worry, insomnia and anxiety.

The Florais de Saint Germain range is also available in the US, Switzerland, France, China, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, Portugal, Monaco, Belgium, Liechtenstein and Mexico. landofreiki.co.uk

Base Formula on its ecofriendly oils and more At Base Formula, we supply premium quality, 100% pure and natural essential oils, hydrolats, carrier oils, aromatherapy massage oils and waxes, as well as a range of cosmetic bases and cosmetic ingredients that are ideal for making your own aromatherapy-based products for use in the treatment room* or at home.

We also offer a range of certified organic oils and bases, and the majority of our products are vegan-friendly. All products are ethically sourced and produced to the highest of standards using natural ingredients wherever we can. We are also committed to using ecofriendly, recycled and recyclable packaging where possible.

We are members of the Aromatherapy Trade Council, and so bound by its voluntary code of practice for safety, labelling and packaging, and our oils are subject to random testing and verification at independent laboratories.

FHT members can enjoy an article by Base Formula on making aromatherapybased cleaning products (fht.org.uk/IT-129greenclean) and a 10% discount on our products. baseformula.com * Editor’s note: FHT members must hold appropriate qualifications to make aromatherapy products for professional use.

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REGIONAL UPDATES

Local groups

A healthy, herbal walk for Coventry and Warwickshire The Coventry and Warwickshire FHT local group recently met at Ufton Fields nature reserve near Leamington Spa to enjoy a two-hour walk and hear all about the medicinal herbs that could be found there, write group coordinators Dan Searles and Helen Hudson.

Our guest speaker Susanne Goldsmith, a qualified medical herbalist, has given this talk many times before at the reserve,

North Birmingham’s insight into iridology Alan Payne came to our last meeting to talk about the fascinating topic of iridology, writes group coordinator Alison Clamp.

He described iridology and added that doctors in France and Russia commonly use it to help patients.

Alan showed a variety of slides depicting different eyes and how he interpreted the signs from the irises to guide people to help themselves. He doesn’t diagnose illnesses but indicates which body systems may need support from a change in lifestyle, a prescription of herbs or other strategies.

Emotions and personality can be identified by patterns in the iris, he said, and trauma can be seen as a pattern in time over an individual’s lifecycle.

This was such an interesting evening.

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so was well versed in helping us delve into its natural gifts.

We were fortunate enough to have a lovely summer’s evening for the walk and all learned interesting details about what the plants around us can do. For example, we found out that a mixture of yarrow, peppermint and elderflower can help stave off a cold.

Everyone enjoyed the evening and found it very interesting.

We hope to organise another walk in spring 2020.

Massage adaptation in Ayrshire We had a great meeting recently, with fellow member Maureen Bonner as our guest speaker, writes group coordinator Tracy Byron.

Maureen discussed adapting massage for clients at risk of lymphoedema, deep vein thrombosis and bone metastases. She also addressed the varying degrees of pressure and direction for use during massage for clients at risk of these conditions, as well as briefly touching on supports for comfort.

I was taped up to show the quadrants of the body to help discuss the flow of massage to and from lymph nodes, with the audience participating by sticking notes on me of their thoughts on pressure and massage direction. All in all, a great day full of information and learning.

We were also lucky to welcome some friends of mine who are college lecturers in the beauty and holistic field. They are taking away information to hopefully update some of the outdated information within the training curriculum. For example, some of the colleges still maintain that you cannot massage someone who has had cancer.

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REGIONAL UPDATES

North London explores the ‘seas of yin and yang’ The last North London local group meeting was fun and informative, with a talk on ‘Sea of yin and sea of yang channels, points, location and their functions’, writes group coordinator Sam Ma. The workshop covered two energy channels on

the human body from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

The ‘sea of yang’ channel contains the energetic function whereas the ‘sea of yin’ channel contains the nurturing function.

By invigorating certain

locations along these two channels this can re-balance the yin and yang, both mentally and for pathological issues.

Attendees enjoyed the meeting and have taken away lots of TCM information.

FIND YOUR LOCAL GROUP Local groups are a valuable hub for all those with a passion for therapies. Hear from excellent speakers about the latest therapies and business ideas, take part in outings and social events, enjoy treatment swaps and share best practice.

EAST MIDLANDS Alfreton Leicester Lincoln Northampton Nottingham EAST OF ENGLAND Colchester Ely Essex Hertfordshire Luton Newmarket Norwich IRELAND Donegal

Chester’s post-event massage eases pain of police runners In July, the Chester local group was invited to provide post-event massage to a group of runners at an event called the Snowdonia Seven, in Llanberis, writes group coordinator Dee Kelsall.

The event was a national event organised by the police force. Teams of four had to run 22 miles up seven peaks. They were certainly ready for their massage by the end!

Seven group members carried out 80 15-minute massages between them, at £5 per massage. The proceeds, £400, all went to the charity COPS (Care Of Police Survivors).

NORTH EAST Durham Newcastle Stockton-on-Tees NORTH WEST Blackpool Chester Lancaster Liverpool and Rainhill Manchester (North) Manchester (South) Wigan and Leigh NORTHERN IRELAND Belfast Lisburn Lisnaskea South Tyrone SCOTLAND Ayrshire Glasgow SOUTH EAST Basingstoke Brighton and Hove Chichester

Dartford, Gravesham and Medway Eastbourne and South Downs High Wycombe Horsham and Crawley Isle of Wight Kent (North) London (North) Oxfordshire (South) Reading and District Waterlooville Winchester Worthing SOUTH WEST Bath Bournemouth Bristol Exeter Gloucester Ipplepen Mendip Salisbury Swindon Taunton WALES Pontyclun and District Swansea Wrexham WEST MIDLANDS Birmingham (North) Birmingham (South) Coventry Hereford Stoke-on-Trent Stourbridge and Dudley Wolverhampton YORKSHIRE AND THE HUMBER Harrogate Kirklees and Calderdale Leeds Sheffield

CAN’T FIND A GROUP IN YOUR AREA? Why not become a local group coordinator? It is a very rewarding role, and there are a range of benefits available exclusively to coordinators. Go to fht.org.uk/create-your-own-local-group for more information.

MORE INFO For group contact details and information about forthcoming meetings, go to fht.org.uk/local-groups

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FRIDAY 29 NOVEMBER, 9AM - 5PM | THE KING’S FUND, LONDON

‘It might just inspire you to do things you never dreamed of.’

The 2019 FHT Conference is a special one-day event that will bring together leading experts in health, education and research to explore the future of integrated healthcare.

Taking place on Friday 29 November at The King’s Fund, London, the event is your opportunity to learn how you can be a part of the integrated health revolution.

Last year’s conference has recently been shortlisted by the 2019 Association Excellence Awards for Best New Association Conference or Event category, and this year’s event is shaping up to be just as inspiring.

Jackie Hamilton, MFHT, had this to say about last year’s event: ‘I was so motivated and inspired after attending last year’s FHT Conference, I went back to Norfolk, determined to make a difference. I formed a new Facebook group to unite likeminded therapists and promote integrated healthcare, became chair of my local GP surgery’s Patient Participation Group and started a charity called TherapyAid, which provides free therapy treatments to unpaid carers in our local community.

If you’re attending this year’s FHT Conference, go with this in mind: it might just inspire you to do things that you never dreamed of. It might just change your life.’

In addition to the talks, attendees will have ample opportunity to QHWZRUN ZLWK LQGXVWU\ ¿JXUHV DQG RWKHU WKHUDSLVWV, and members will receive 5 CPD points for attending the full day.

INT.Autumn2019.034-035.indd 2

01/10/2019 17:27

Programme* 9.00am

Registration and refreshments

9.30am

Welcome

9.45am

Dr John Hughes

John will be providing an overview of patient reported outcome measures 3520V WKH EHQHÂżWV DQG OLPLWDWLRQV RI 3520V DQG KRZ WKH GDWD FDQ EH XVHG to evaluate treatments and further integrated healthcare.

10.30am

Dr Fiona Holland

Fiona will give an overview of the impact of negative body image across different SRSXODWLRQV GHVFULEH WKH EHQHÂżWV RI GHYHORSLQJ DQG PDLQWDLQLQJ ERG\ HVWHHP and outline ways therapists can reinforce positive body image.

11.15am

Break

11.45am

Gwyn Featonby and Sarah Grant

Gwyn and Sarah will explain how they improved a hospital’s existing therapy VHUYLFH DQG IRXQGHG WKH ¿UVW 1+6 DSSURYHG DQG RZQHG WKHUDS\ VFKRRO 7KH\ ZLOO also discuss how they evaluate the service, the training it provides and how the model works.

12.30pm

Dr Laura Marshall-Andrews

Laura will give an overview of the therapy services available at an NHS GP surgery she founded, introduce the principles of ‘slow medicine’ and give tips on how therapists can link with health professionals in their community.

1.15pm

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2.15pm

Suzanne Ruggles, MSc, DipHE, MFHT

Suzanne will discuss how she set up an award-winning integrated therapy programme, the ground-breaking work it does, the importance of evaluating the VHUYLFH DQG WKH ÂżQGLQJV RI WKLV DQG KHU FROODERUDWLYH UHLNL UHVHDUFK ZLWK D OHDGLQJ hospital in the USA.

Sponsored by:

3.00pm

Refreshments

3.30pm

2019 FHT Excellence Awards presentation

4.15pm

Drinks reception

Tickets are just ÂŁ85 for FHT members and ÂŁ105 for non-members.

Attended by:

Spaces are limited and last year’s conference sold out, so we strongly recommend booking early to avoid disappointment.

Visit fht.org.uk/conference

to learn more and book your ticket

*FHT reserves the right to adjust talk subjects and timings where necessary

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COMPLEMENTARY THERAPY | Integrative health

Getting your foot in the GP’s door DR TOH WONG OFFERS ADVICE ON HOW THERAPISTS CAN GET REFERRALS FROM GPs

PICTURES: ISTOCK

T

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he healthcare landscape has changed rapidly with the introduction of universal personalised care, and social prescribing in particular.

Social prescribing started being publicised last year and has since become national policy.

This really is an opportune time for complementary therapists.

I’ve been working as a GP since 2006, and one of the first things I realised was how little I knew about musculoskeletal problems. I didn’t appreciate that it would make up 20% to 25% of all the problems I would see at the practice. I also didn’t realise I would be seeing another 20% of patients for mental health issues. Together, these groups represented nearly half of my patients, and I didn’t feel my training had prepared me for this. All I could do at the time was prescribe medication or refer. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not very satisfying for either party – referred patients have to wait for two months to see another health professional.

When it comes to pain, we also know that the longer you wait, the more likely it is to become chronic pain and for the patient to experience stress because of that. I would then end up prescribing painkillers and antiinflammatories, which was far from ideal.

As far as I know, there hasn’t been any research funded by drug companies to help cut down on pain medication. But we do know that they’ve lied to us. They have told us, many times, that our patients wouldn’t get addicted to certain medications, including painkillers, and we believed them.

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As GPs, we see a lot of people who come The turning point for me was when I back time and time again. There are many tried acupuncture. My patients were getting reasons for this, including feeling lonely better and for the first time in my medical and isolated, and often the doctor is not the career, I was able to take people off long-term best person to help them. It would be much pain medication. better for this patient to join a cooking class, Following this, I met Dr Naveed gardening group or walking group, that Akhtar, another GP who was interested in would connect them to people and address integrative health. Over the next few years, their underlying problem which may we visited a number of complementary be loneliness. therapy conferences and met many But where does complementary therapy practitioners who were doing innovative fit into social prescribing? The original idea things. They were spending time with their is that often the patient doesn’t even need clients and asking them all the questions to see a doctor: the journey starts with I wish GPs would ask, covering the person contacting their surgery all aspects of their health and entering a triage system. For and wellbeing. These example, they might say ‘I’ve therapists really wanted More than got back pain’ and then the to know about people patients will be told: ‘We have and the story behind a list of therapies and other their problems. interventions that we can The current of problems seen by Dr Wong offer you.’ These practitioners healthcare model are musculoskeletal and and services might be attached is not sustainable, mental health to the practice itself, or could with many medical be just down the road, at a small professionals on their clinic or similar site. I personally can knees. As GPs, Naveed offer acupuncture to patients, but I can’t and I were struggling, but had deal with every problem and I only have now discovered this untapped resource 10 minutes per patient, which is of complementary therapists that a lot of why I have an acupuncturist doctors just didn’t seem to know about. working at my practice.

This is one of the key reasons that we set up We’re particularly the Integrative Health Convention to bring lucky in Exeter, as the doctors and therapists together and start council has paid for conversations on improving the health of social prescribing our patients. services SOCIAL PRESCRIBING since 2016.

At around the same time, a new bill that What I would supported social prescribing was passed. suggest to FHT

40%

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Integrative health | COMPLEMENTARY THERAPY

members is that you go out and find your local social prescribing link worker and service provider. Find out what is going on in your community.

Visit your own GP surgery and find out who your local social prescribing link worker is and meet with them. Tell them: ‘This is who I am, and this is what I offer – please put me on your list.’ Emphasise your credentials – that you are qualified, insured, abide by a strict code of conduct, and you’re listed on the FHT’s Accredited Register, which is part of a governmentbacked programme.

You could offer to run a group or taster session for the link worker and any health professionals who would like to learn more about what you do. Initially, you may have to do this for free, so that they get

to understand what the therapy is, how it works, and how it can benefit patients. And the really exciting thing about the social prescribing initiative is that the link worker won’t be attached to just one GP practice, but a GP network that covers 30,000 to 50,000 people.

Introducing social prescribing and linking in to complementary therapy practitioners is one of the most important things that has happened at our GP practice. We used to have back-to-back appointments, but now we are getting free appointments during the day, unheard of before. It’s reduced consultations and people overusing our services. One patient in particular, who was isolated, would come in regularly. She is now volunteering, going to yoga classes and meeting

lots of people. I don’t see her very often now, which shows just how much an individual can benefit from social prescribing.

REGULATION I now know what complementary therapists do and it’s undervalued. Sadly, GPs don’t necessarily trust you. They don’t know about your qualifications and insurance and they may doubt your intentions. In medicine, statutory regulation comes with

“Find out what is going on in your community. Visit your own GP surgery and find out who your local social prescribing link worker is and meet with them”

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COMPLEMENTARY THERAPY | Integrative health

insurance and, as doctors, we wouldn’t dream of practising without insurance.

They don’t understand that some therapists have studied for three or four years and it could have cost them thousands of pounds to become qualified. They may not always appreciate the time you devote to continuing professional development and how many people you have helped.

It’s really important that FHT members belong to the Accredited Register, The but doctors don’t necessarily know wording in this about this programme, or that article is based on it’s backed by government. They a transcript of Dr also may not know that they can Wong’s talk at the refer patients to complementary 2019 FHT Training therapists on the Accredited Congress Register, which is in our General Medical Council (GMC) guidance.

WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO? Some doctors, such as those in hospitals, are very tightly regulated, while GPs enjoy more flexibility because they are almost all independent practitioners within the NHS. I am self-employed. I am a GP partner in a practice and employ salaried doctors.

If you’re looking for ways to link up with your local GPs, I would suggest speaking to the practice manager. Don’t try to contact the doctors directly, unless you know them well, because they simply don’t have the time. Ask the practice manager about staff meetings and whether it would be possible to give a short presentation and taster treatments at one of these. My practice is an average GP practice, with about 8,000 patients, and we have staff meetings every one or two months, with around 40 to 50 people attending. We’ve had complementary therapists who have offered to give 30-minute talks and we have said: ‘Yes, please.’ We want someone local because we are a local service.

RECIPROCITY Think about reciprocity. What I mean by this is that if you help people without expecting anything in return, you’ll find that they will help you back. Even if you don’t get referrals from attending practice meetings, you may find that the GP surgery staff will become clients of yours. Remember that the receptionist controls who comes in and who doesn’t, so they would be your first point of contact. Once you’ve presented at one staff meeting, you can do others. While you are there, you need to gain credibility. How do you gain credibility? You educate. Tell them about your individual background, the training you did and your qualifications,

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“Share what you know and expect nothing in return. Learn more and be part of something great” how long you’ve been practising, what your therapies involve, and what sort of health concerns you can help patients to manage – or not, which is just as important. In general practice, we know our limitations, that’s what defines general practice. And if you have evidence, that can be useful too.

SUCCESS STORIES Share your success stories. For example, that client who was in pain for months or years who has now improved and no longer needs medication. Doctors and other health professionals want to know what else they can do with the person who keeps coming back. People enjoy aromatherapy and massage, but they don’t necessarily understand these treatments or how they work. Tell them. Also tell them about the Accredited Register programme, your insurance and the GMC recommendations.

Print the information out and give it to them. It’s all online and they will be shocked. They’ll ask for the evidence and you can print this out too and show them.

Then, at the end (not at the start), you can give them your business cards and leaflets.

Although you don’t have to, you can also

offer the practice staff and patients a discount if they mention the GP practice when they book an appointment. They will really value that.

One therapist told me that she felt bad for doctors after watching a Panorama programme, saying ‘No one is looking after them’, so she said she’d offer one free massage session to the doctors at her local practice each month. I went back and told my colleagues and they said, ‘We would definitely have that’ because medical professionals are so stressed. And how can they refer anyone to you if they don’t understand what you do?

DIRECT COMMUNICATION Don’t waste time sending letters or emails, as reception is inundated with this sort of thing and simply don’t have time to read them. We go through 50 to 100 results letters a day, 30 to 50 hospital correspondence letters, and sign 100 to 200 prescriptions. You need to speak to people at the practice directly. Share what you know and expect nothing in return. Learn more and be part of something greater.

Dr Toh Wong is a general practitioner, GP trainer, medical acupuncturist, clinical hypnotherapist, NLP trainer, co-founder of Neurolinguistic Healthcare, convention organiser of the Integrative Health Convention, and council member of the College of Medicine and the British Medical Acupuncture Society.

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ESSENTIAL OIL PROFILE

FRANKINCENSE (Boswellia carteri)

A native to North Africa and Middle Eastern countries, Boswellia carteri is a hardy tree with pinnacle-shaped leaves and small white flowers. To produce the essential oil, incisions are made into the plant’s bark, releasing a milky-white sap which eventually solidifies into amber-brown coloured lumps of resin. This is then steam-distilled, producing a pale yellow oil with a woody, spicy aroma and base note.

Frankincense has been used since antiquity, playing an important role in the religious ceremonies and rituals of various ancient cultures.

The Egyptians used it as part of their embalming process and kohl, the black eye powder many of us associate with Cleopatra, was made from charred frankincense. It was also (and still is) used in incense.

Frankincense is a calming, balancing oil, and helps to slow down and deepen the breath, making it not just a useful aid for meditation, mindfulness and prayer, but also for chronic worriers or those who are anxious or have a nervous disposition. The oil can also be particularly valuable for respiratory complaints, mature or damaged skin and immunodeficiency.

Indications Ageing, anxiety, asthma, arthritis, bronchitis, catarrh, colds, coughs, cystitis, depression (nervous, postnatal), flatulence, genital infections, immunodeficiency, nervous agitation, palpitations, respiratory infections, rheumatism, scars, skin (mature/damaged), sports injuries, stress, ulcers, worrying, wounds, wrinkles.

Blends with Geranium, lavender, lemon, sandalwood.

Safety data Non-toxic. Non-irritant. Skin sensitisation if oxidised.

RESEARCH Radiotherapy and skin reactions Erythema and other skin reactions are often experienced by breast cancer patients receiving radiotherapy treatment.

A recent study (Togni et al, 2015) involving more than 100 patients evaluated the safety and efficacy of a base cream containing boswellic acids.

The results indicated that the use of a boswellia-based cream was well tolerated by patients, effective in reducing the use of topical corticosteroids, and reduced the grade of erythema and superficial skin symptoms. Access the full paper at bit.ly/ERMPS-Togni

Inflammatory diseases

Botanical family Buseraeae

PICTURE: ALAMY

Chemical composition Hydrocarbons – monoterpenes: α-pinene, α-thujene, limonene, p -cymene, sabinene, camphene, myrcene, α-terpinene, β-pinene, caryophyllene, myrcene.

Sesquiterpenes: α-guaiene, trans-caryophyllene Alcohols – octanol, farnesol Ketones – verbenone Esters – octyl acetate NB: The chemical composition of any

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essential oil can vary greatly, according to the plant species, climate, altitude and soil where the plant is grown; and when it is harvested. Refer to the manufacturer’s safety data sheet for a breakdown of an oil’s chemical profile.

Therapeutic properties Analgesic, antiarthritic, anticatarrhal, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiseptic, antispasmodic, astringent, bactericidal, carminative, cicatrizant, cytophylactic, diuretic, energising, expectorant, immunostimulant, mucolytic, sedative, vulnerary.

A paper published in the Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine (Hamidpour et al, 2013) provides a useful overview of how frankincense has been used in traditional and modern natural medicine for a variety of ailments, especially inflammatory diseases including asthma, arthritis, cerebral edema, chronic pain syndrome, chronic bowel diseases, cancer, and other illnesses. Access the full paper at bit.ly/JTCM-Hamidpour NB: Only members who hold an appropriate aromatherapy qualification, accepted by the FHT for membership and insurance purposes, can make, use and supply aromatherapy blends and other products containing essential oils.

REFERENCES For full references, go to fht.org.uk/IT-references

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SPORT | Breakdance

points NEFELI TSIOUTI, 2018 FHT SPORTS THERAPIST OF THE YEAR, DISCUSSES INJURIES IN BREAKING

B PICTURES: ALAMY

reaking – also known by the media as ‘breakdance’ – is one of the four main artistic elements of hip-hop culture, alongside MCing (emceeing), DJing (deejaying) and graffiti.

By 1980, breaking had already existed for a few years in New York, and by 1984 it had found its way to Canada, Europe and Japan (Banes, 1994).

Breakers eventually took to the floor when dancing in order to be more innovative and creative. Durden (2015) notes that influences have been attributed to James Brown, Jackie Wilson, martial arts films, other b-boys and gymnastics.

Moreover, as Durden explains, Brazilian capoeira (a fighting technique created by slaves, marked as a dance) was seen by breakers after the late 1980s, but there is an indirect influence of breaking movements from Afro-Caribbean and Latin American cultural heritage, along with early authentic jazz dance. They created new moves that led to what breaking is today, with all its creativity around style, complex footwork, freezes (poses) and power moves (acrobatics).

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WHY DO BREAKERS GET INJURED? Breakers are injured as a consequence of many factors, some analysed here:

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1

Extreme physicality

Breaking involves very complex movements, most of which are performed at high speed, with spontaneity (which sometimes means not having full control of the movement), and there are various ways to use the body, with very high levels of proprioception, neuromuscular control and biomechanical extremes.

2

Fitness level – physiology

3

Lack of breakingspecific education

In recent years, breaking has become popular as a dance genre and competition style. When breakers perform in a competition setting, known as a ‘battle’, their performance round will last between 20 and 50 seconds (the duration is usually not specifically defined, as it depends on the dancer), with a rest period which consists of the opponent’s round. In addition, the closer they get from preliminaries to the finals, the more rounds they have to perform in. But how fit are the breakers in order to be able to perform their full round, at full speed and energy, with such little rest?

As breaking is seen as street culture, it is not always in the mentality of the breakers to go to classes and get properly educated on how to protect their body, in what order they should learn all the dance moves, and what methods to use in order to prevent injuries.

Breaking-specific education, therefore, may benefit them more than doing another conditioning sport to keep fit.

4

Training methods

Most breakers start learning breaking from interactions such as social jams, from friends, being selftaught, but also from dance classes.

In dance classes, breakers have a dance teacher who guides their journey through breaking and what steps to follow to learn it. However, a large proportion of breakers don’t go to classes. Instead, they go to training spots where breakers gather, and that includes their practice session. This supports the ‘each one teach one’ mentality, where you can get help from your peers, but this also suggests that there is not necessarily an official ‘coach’ overseeing the activity of the youngsters.

This may lead to injuries, as sometimes the methods that the young and inexperienced breakers use have errors.

When practising in training spots, often there is not enough room, and one by one participants will ‘go in’ to take their turn.

By the time their turn comes, they might have cooled down and have to go all out again without being fully warmed up, which may also be another factor that could cause injuries.

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Breakdance | SPORT

5

Environment in competitions

Sometimes competitions can last hours, which means that the dancers have to keep hanging around, waiting to see if they have passed the preliminaries, and may suddenly hear their name being called to go and ‘battle’ for the next round.

This means that the breaker may not always be warmed up for that, but nothing will stop them, unfortunately. In addition, it is hard to be in a social event and to make time at the end to sit down and cool down, stretch and make sure the body rehabilitates after a very physically demanding day – this part is more often than not non-existent.

COMMON INJURIES Dancers generally see themselves as artists and not athletes, therefore the demand for physiological training that supplements the

art form they are practising does not always seem to be a priority for them, especially in comparison to skill acquisition and their goals for ‘getting a new move’. This has been the situation across contemporary dance techniques, as noted by Wyon (2009). With no literature to explain the physiological demands in breaking, a similar situation is present from an anecdotal perspective and through observations of various practice settings of breakers with different skill levels.

A large component of breaking movement vocabulary relies on the dancer lifting their body weight, not only on their legs (as in most upright dance styles), but also being upside down on different body parts, mostly focusing on the upper body, such as head, shoulder, elbow, wrist, upper back and other combinations of limbs and body parts.

Most case studies on breaking have been

reported by medical doctors without examining the causes of the injury and in addition, there has not been any research thus far on the physical fitness of breakers.

Therefore, there is a substantial gap in the dance science and medical research in breaking.

Ojofeitimi et al (2012) conducted a survey on injury incidence in several dance genres, including breaking, and concluded that there is a higher prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries among breakers than in non-breakers. In the same study, injury incidence in breakers averaged at 3.5 injuries per dancer within six months, a number higher than that of gymnasts.

However, it is not clear how these injuries are caused. In addition, the most common self-reported injury sites were foot/ankle, forearm/wrist, hand, hip and knee. This pattern matches with that reported by Kauther et al (2009), who found spine, knee, shoulder, skin and wrist/hand to be the most commonly reported injured parts of the body. An ‘Injury occurrence in breaking’ retrospective survey has been submitted for publication, which includes 320 breakers reporting about their lifestyle with regards to injury (Tsiouti and Wyon), but is unfortunately not yet available to include the data in this article.

PREVENTATIVE MEASURES As stated in Beck et al (2015), ‘previous research has explored the intensity of dance class, rehearsal and performance, and attempted to document the body’s physiological adaptation to these activities’.

However, there has been no research so far (apart from a couple of exceptions), which studies the energy requirements of such a demanding dance genre, such as breaking.

Research into these subjects will provide the fundamentals for effective methods of

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SPORT | Breakdance

systematic training with the application of science in order to prevent injuries and improve physical fitness.

THE BREAKALIGN METHOD The Breakalign method has been created in order to provide breakers with the physical and theoretical education necessary, as well as the tools that they need in order to not only prevent injury, but also achieve longer careers with a very strong body.

The Breakalign method was created between 2015 and 2017 by a team of dance scientists, sports coaches, physical therapists and doctors who are also breakers and dancers. The research process received funding by the Centre National de la Danse in Paris, an initiative that funds innovative research that will contribute to the development of professional dance.

The Project Breakalign team of specialists used that opportunity to understand how injuries occur in breaking. The first steps were to understand what the demand was from the dancers’ perspective. At a later stage, a list was developed of all the fundamental movements that are considered foundational steps in this dance genre. Later in the process, developed conditioning exercises were

Nefeli provides conditioning exercises for breakers

developed for each of those foundational movements or type of movements.

The development of this conditioning programme is an exercise programme that prepares the body for the breaking movement that it will do. It offers physical fitness, as well as awareness and education for the dancer about how to identify if they are physically ready to move on to learning a movement or if they should be doing some conditioning for it first, before trying to acquire the skill.

It is most common in breaking that dancers try to achieve the movement by doing the movement without supplemental

conditioning, and this is where problems start occurring. For breakers to remain injury-free and extend their careers, and to ensure sustainability in this profession, the Breakalign method educates and conditions the body to ensure longevity in their career.

CONCLUSION Breakers and breaking injuries have been under-researched, but more and more studies are shedding light, providing a growing evidence base for how to help this physically demanding group of dancers who have extraordinary skills.

HOW TO AVOID INJURY DURING BREAKING The five key elements to remember to keep fast and fit during power moves

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WARM-UP

COOL-DOWN

STRETCHING

CONDITIONING

EDUCATION

The warm-up is a habit that breakers tend to neglect, often because of the competition setting, where they may suddenly get called up to compete in the next round.

Research in sports and dance has generally shown the importance of warm-up for proper physical activity as well as prevention of injuries.

The cool-down is extremely neglected within the breaking community because it does not always ‘fit in’ within the social gatherings. It can be difficult to find time to do this because of the format of a social event, especially as training spots may also close early.

Stretching is usually only practised by those who are interested in the more acrobatic part of breaking (the power moves), as it is an essential aspect of their fitness that helps them achieve those movements.

However, it should be practised by all breakers, regardless of their strengths in the genre.

One of the most important preventative measures is being fit enough for what is practised.

Having mastered the fitness level needed is something that dancers neglect as they consider themselves artists. But the physicality needed to execute can demand a very high athletic level.

Breakers would benefit from an understanding of biomechanics of movement; anatomical locations that are important for movers; how the body works physiologically; how progressive overload and adaptations to movement work in order to progress; and generally the exercise science training principles.

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You can watch videos of the research process at fht.org.uk/IT-130-breakalign Nefeli Tsiouti, MFHT, MSc, is a dance scientist, sports massage therapist, choreographer and associate researcher at the Cyprus Musculoskeletal Sports Trauma Research Centre, and is studying for a BSc in physical therapy at the European University Cyprus. projectbreakalign.com

REFERENCES For full references and further reading, go to fht.org.uk/IT-references

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03/10/2019 15:43

LEARNING

Medical A-Z RESTLESS LEGS SYNDROME Restless legs syndrome (RLS), also known as Willis-Ekbom disease, is characterised by burning, prickling, aching or tickling sensations in the leg that urge movement (NHS, 2019; Peters, 2008).

CAUSES The cause of primary restless legs syndrome (RLS) is unknown in most cases, but it can run in families.

Some specialists believe that the condition could relate to the way the body processes dopamine, a chemical that plays a part in muscle movement.

In rare cases, an underlying health condition can cause secondary RLS. This can be triggered by kidney failure, pregnancy or iron deficiency anaemia.

In general, the condition is more likely to affect middle-aged women, although it can affect anyone at any age.

SYMPTOMS Clients with RLS experience an overwhelming urge to move their legs, particularly in the evening or at night.

They may experience burning, prickling, aching or tickling sensations in their thigh, calves and feet, which may also affect their arms. The discomfort leads to involuntary jerking movements in sleep. Symptom severity and frequency can vary.

PICTURES: ISTOCK; GETTY; BRIAN A JACKSON

ORTHODOX TREATMENT Lifestyle changes g can improve p rimary RLS. This symptoms of primary ing good sleeping includes adopting g smoking and habits, quitting sical activity increasing physical time. during the daytime.

Clients with secondary RLS may need medication evels of iron to control the levels and dopamine in the body. n deficiency Those with iron ust need anaemia may just nts iron supplements to eliminate all symptoms.

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SPORTS AND COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES Massage with olive oil could provide benefits to people with RLS, according to a study published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine (Nasiri et al, 2019). Scientists conducted a double-blind placebocontrolled trial with 60 participants with RLS, who were divided into olive oil and placebo groups. Participants in the olive oil group received a massage with olive oil twice a week, while those in the placebo group received a massage with liquid paraffin. The decline in total RLS severity was found to be more significant in the olive oil group when compared to the placebo.

Exercise could also help clients with RLS, according to one systematic review (Song et al, 2018). Scientists analysed data from a number of research databases to find evidence that exercise could improve RLS, depression, sleep quality and fatigue in haemodialysis patients. They found that exercise reduced the se severity of RLS, depression and fatigue in the patients.

Yoga may be an effective method for alleviating symptoms sym of RLS, according to a pilot study (I (Innes et al, 2013). Researchers recruited 13 w women with moderate to severe RLS who took part in an eight-week iyengar yoga programm programme. The preliminary findings suggested that yoga could be effective in reducing RLS ssymptom severity, reducing stress and imp improving sleep in women with the condition.

Acup Acupuncture is another therapy that could have potential for

the condition, according to a randomised controlled trial (Raissi et al, 2018). The study assigned 46 patients to one of two groups, receiving 10 sessions of either acupuncture plus 300mg of gabapentin or the medication alone for a period of four weeks. While both groups showed significant improvements, the combination of acupuncture and gabapentin had added therapeutic effects over gabapentin alone, including improvements in sleep disturbance.

NB: The information provided in this article is not all encompassing and intended as an overview only. It should not be used for the purposes of ‘diagnosis’. Members or clients presenting with any symptoms should always consult a GP or other relevant health practitioner. The advice of a doctor, pharmacist or other suitably qualified person should be sought before taking any form of medication or treatment.

REFERENCES For full references, go to fht.org.uk/IT-references

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03/10/2019 15:47

RESEARCH

Massage of premature babies enhances the mood of new mothers A PREMATURE BIRTH IS DEFINED AS A BABY BORN BEFORE WEEK 37 OF PREGNANCY

Massaging babies born prematurely can have a positive impact on the wellbeing of mothers, a study says (Lotfalipour, 2019).

Fifty-two mothers with babies born at 30 to 37 weeks were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. Mothers in the experimental group were asked to massage their babies daily alongside standard medical care, while those in the control group had standard care alone.

Mothers were asked to complete a questionnaire rating changes in 65 ‘mood factors’, including anxiety, depression and fatigue, on a five-point scale.

After giving the mothers an information pamphlet and training video, researchers conducted a massage training session for those in the experimental group.

They were then each asked to perform massage therapy on their babies for 15 minutes each day for five days.

Mood scores were consistent across groups at the beginning of the study, but there were significant differences by the end. Mothers who massaged their babies had a better mood than those who didn’t. They also experienced less anxiety, depression and fatigue.

Read more about the study at fht.org.uk/IT-130-research-Lotfalipour

REFERENCES For full references, go to fht.org.uk/IT-references

Yoga boosts body image in burn patients

PICTURES: ISTOCK

BODY IMAGE ENCOMPASSES OUR THOUGHTS, FEELINGS AND BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS OUR BODIES (HOLLAND, 2011)

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Yoga could be an important tool for boosting the self-esteem and body image of clients who have experienced burn injuries, a recent study finds (Ozdemir and Saritas, 2019).

A clinical trial involving 110 patients in a hospital’s adult burns unit compared yoga nidra therapy and standard medical care (experimental group) with standard medical care alone (control group). Patients in the experimental group had one-toone 30-minute yoga sessions three days a week for four weeks.

Individuals in both groups were asked to complete the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Body Image Scale.

Self-esteem across both groups was seen as ‘sufficient’ at the start of the test and body image was described as low, with discomfort in body perception. This is said to be common among burn patients, who may have scar tissue and amputated extremities, and often fear losing function of body parts and being judged negatively by others. By the end of the study, both self-esteem and body image scores in the yoga group were significantly higher than those in the control group.

Access the study at fht.org.uk/IT-130-research-Ozdemir

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Foam rolling improves jump performance THE COUNTERMOVEMENT JUMP IS ROUTINELY USED TO MONITOR ACUTE AND LONG-TERM CHANGES IN ATHLETE PERFORMANCE (HEISHMAN ET AL, 2019) Foam rolling improves jump performance in the later stages of recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage, a study finds (Drinkwater et al, 2019).

Eleven healthy young men induced muscle damage through six sets of 25 knee extensions before undergoing a foam-rolling intervention immediately after, and at 24, 48 and 72 hours, specifically targeting the quadriceps, adductors, iliotibial band, gluteals and hamstrings. The participants rolled their body weight along the roller at a rate of one rolling motion per second and focused on each target area for three minutes.

After each session, a series of measurements was taken, including mid-thigh circumference, pressure-pain threshold, range of motion and countermovement jump.

Foam rolling was most effective in improving jump performances in later recovery following eccentric exercise.

Read the full study at fht.org.uk/IT-130research-Drinkwater

FHT.ORG.UK

04/10/2019 10:44

RESEARCH

Reflexology reduces nausea severity THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT CAUSES OF NAUSEA, INCLUDING VIRUSES, MEDICATION, ANXIETY, PREGNANCY AND HAEMODIALYSIS Reflexology could reduce the severity of nausea induced by haemodialysis, according to a trial published in Complementary Therapy in Clinical Practice (NaseriSalahshour et al, 2019).

Researchers in Arak, Iran, conducted a randomised controlled trial in which 72 haemodialysis patients were assigned to an intervention or control group.

The intervention group had 30-minute reflexology treatments on the soles of the feet once per day for 12 days, one hour after haemodialysis, while foot massage was used in the control group.

The patients were asked to complete a

questionnaire (visual analogue scale) to assess the severity of nausea 15 minutes after the intervention and each day afterwards.

The results showed differences between the groups after treatments, with the severity of nausea significantly lower in the reflexology group on the third, sixth, ninth and 12th day after the intervention.

Haemodialysis can be stressful for patients, so it is thought that the reflexology may reduce the nausea indirectly by decreasing related symptoms such as anxiety, which could cause the nausea.

Access the full study at fht.org.uk/ IT-130-research-Naseri-Salahshour

Massage could help with constipation CONSTIPATION AFFECTS TWICE AS MANY WOMEN AS MEN, AND OLDER PEOPLE ARE THE MOST LIKELY AGE GROUP TO BE AFFECTED (NICE, 2013)

Abdominal massage could help clients with constipation, says a study published in the European Journal of Oncology Nursing (Yıldırım et al, 2019).

Scientists conducted a randomised controlled trial with 204 patients with constipation as a result of opioid medication, who were split into two equal groups. The intervention group were taught how to administer abdominal massage on themselves, in a clockwise

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direction over the intestines on the abdominal wall, which they performed twice a day for four weeks after breakfast and dinner. The control group received standard medical care, such as laxative suppositories and enemas. Both groups were asked to keep a ‘defecation diary’ and to complete three questionnaires, including the Bristol stool scale for evaluating stools and bowel habits, and the visual analogue scale, which contains questions about constipation, including severity, straining and pain.

Patients in the massage group reported significant improvements in stool consistency, straining during defecation, the feeling of incomplete emptying after defecation and experienced increased bowel movement. They also reported a reduction in the severity of constipation, pain, straining, gas and fullness in the rectum. However, the massage had no effect on the stool amount.

For the full study, go to fht.org.uk/IT-130-research-Yildirim

Mindfulness beneficial for lupus clients SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS IS A CHRONIC CONDITION WHERE THE IMMUNE SYSTEM ATTACKS HEALTHY CELLS, TISSUES AND ORGANS Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy can be used to improve mental health outcomes for clients with systemic lupus erythematosus, a pilot study suggests (Kim et al, 2019).

Following an earlier study that found that stress aggravated symptoms of lupus (Peralta-Ramirez et al, 2004), researchers at the Ajou University in Suwon, South Korea, conducted a pilot study to determine if mindfulness could help with this aspect of the condition.

Enrolling 25 patients with lupus who suffered from stress, the mindfulnessbased cognitive therapy programme was conducted in a group setting, led by two psychiatrists, with five groups, who met for two hours each week for six weeks.

The programme integrated East Asian meditation and western psychological practices, and participants were asked to complete a questionnaire at the beginning and end of the programme that assessed depression, anxiety, life satisfaction and stress.

The mindfulness programme reduced anxiety, depression and stress among the participants but did not reduce lupus disease activity.

As this was a small-scale study, the researchers recommend future studies involving a long-term intervention and a larger sample size.

Read the study abstract at fht.org.uk/IT-130-research-Kim

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04/10/2019 10:46

ORTS PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND PRACTICE

The FHT supports PGIH call to build evidence base As a long-standing corporate member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Integrated Healthcare (PGIH), the FHT is supportive of the recommendation made in PGIH’s recent report, Integrated Healthcare: Putting the Pieces Together: ‘Complementary, traditional and natural healthcare associations should take steps to educate and advise their members on the use of Measure Yourself Medical Outcome Profiles (MYMOP), and patient outcome measures should be collated by an independent central resource to identify for what conditions patients are seeking treatment, and with what outcomes.’

The Research Council for Complementary Medicine (RCCM), of which the FHT is also a member, is currently in talks with PGIH regarding independently collating and analysing patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) data gathered by members of complementary therapy associations, including the FHT. The FHT will keep its members updated of any progress in future communications and at the 2019 FHT Conference at The King’s Fund, London, this November, where the RCCM’s co-chair Dr John Hughes will be providing a talk about PROMs. • To access a copy of the PGIH report, visit fht.org.uk/PGIH-report

A tribute to Richard Eaton

• For more information about MYMOP, visit bris.ac.uk/primaryhealthcare/ resources/mymop • For more information about the FHT Conference, visit fht.org.uk/conference

New group to tackle beauty issues Following the formation of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Beauty, Aesthetics and Wellbeing in June, a new group of representatives from key industry organisations has been created to represent the interests of beauty therapists.

The FHT, National Beauty Federation, British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology, Cosmetic Executive Women, Habia, UK Spa Association, and Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery Association have now formed the Beauty Industry Organisations Group (BIOG).

At the group’s inaugural

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meeting, where FHT Vice President Gerri Moore represented the interests of the FHT’s beauty therapist members, the group discussed tackling industry issues.

A key objective includes ensuring clear pathways to Level 7 qualifications for beauty therapists. Promoting consumer safety is also high on the agenda, and ensuring that therapists understand the potential risks of non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

An immediate first step for BIOG is to carry out research on aesthetic treatments to identify where these are taking place, who is providing the treatments,

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what medical supervision is provided, and what training and qualifications practitioners have.

It is anticipated that the medical professions, through the Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners, will be invited to participate. The more comprehensive the research, the more it will be a valuable step in supporting the work of the new APPG. The group is also throwing its collective weight in support of calls for legislation to ban aesthetic treatments to under-18s, along with clearer guidelines to enable consumers to make an informed choice.

The FHT was very sad to hear that Richard Eaton passed away on 14 June.

Richard was author and editor of the excellent College of Medicine Complementary Medicine Roundup, providing useful information and links to research, reports and events of interest to not just College members, but anyone who shared his passion for holistic healthcare.

Despite his gentle approach and warm smile, Richard was a powerful voice for the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and integrated healthcare community. He tirelessly campaigned for a better understanding of CAM, for practitioners to have the freedom to practise and promote their services, and for more members of the public to be able to access CAM. A retired barrister, Richard and his wife Marion formerly owned a holistic health centre in East Sussex, where they provided facilities for 16 CAM practitioners. Richard also authored an e-book, Business Guide for Health Therapists: How to Find What You Need to Know – a clear demonstration of his commitment to supporting CAM practitioners.

Read a tribute from friend and colleague Dr Michael Dixon, at collegeofmedicine.org.uk/ college-of-medicine-tributeto-richard-eaton

FHT.ORG.UK

03/10/2019 15:48

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF...

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF… HAZEL TUDOR, MFHT, COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIST AND COORDINATOR OF THE WATERLOOVILLE LOCAL GROUP reduced my working days to Wednesdays and Thursdays, so I now have two full days of clients from 9am to 6.30pm.

9AM My first client arrives for a deep tissue back massage. He has been coming for ‘maintenance’ massage for many years and finds the treatments beneficial. Most of my clients have been coming to me for many years. After the session, they book their next appointment for either two or four weeks ahead.

10.15AM My next 6.40AM I awake to a lovely sunny morning, go downstairs to make tea and feed the blackbirds, which are already waiting in the garden. I take the tea back to bed and write my daily diary, which I have been doing for many years, on the events of the previous day.

7.15AM I go for a power walk around the parkland opposite my home. I walk for almost a mile so it does not take too long, then it’s back for a shower and breakfast. I try to keep the body moving, so go to pilates and zumba during the week.

8AM I check my appointment diary and set up my treatment room, which is in my home. It has its own separate entrance at the back, accessed through my garden. I have

client is a retired physio who has booked a facial.

I enjoy her visits as she is so knowledgeable about the body and muscles and often passes on excellent tips and interesting stories such as how much multitasking they had to do when go working in hospitals years ago.

11.30AM

Next is another regular, an elderly lady who enjoys her feet being looked after. I get quite a few mature clients who find it difficult to cut their nails, so I often put on a cream foot mask which can then be massaged into the feet, so when they leave they say they are walking on air.

12.30PM

My lunch break arrives, and my husband has everything ready for me (he is well trained since he has retired).

The weather is warm and sunny, and he has prepared a mixed salad from the garden, with fresh fruit.

1.30PM My next two clients are husband and wife. They both play racket sports, so they benefit from a good deep tissue massage on the back and arms.

They enjoy sitting in the garden by the summerhouse while their spouse is having their treatment. I love my garden and find it therapeutic, as I grow lots of vegetables, herbs and flowers.

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4PM My last client for today is one of my cancer patients from the Macmillan centre at our local hospital. I have been a volunteer therapist there for 16 years. The patients can have three free treatments at the centre, and they get so much benefit from therapies, which include massage, reflexology and reiki.

It really helps them cope with their cancer.

My former patient is now a regular weekly client, visiting my treatment room for a relaxing body massage.

5P 5PM I am in a rush now as ha our FHT local group I have m meeting this evening. My h husband has a quick meal r ready and helps me load m car with everything I my n need.

The meetings and sp speakers are arranged and boo booked in December, ready for th for the following year. We have sugges a suggestion chart where members can add their own thoughts and ideas that I follow up with research and booking speakers.

6.30PM

I arrive at the venue, the local technical college. The speaker tonight, Kelly Youren, will speak about naturopathic nutrition. I set up the room with the help of Jenny, who looks after the refreshments, and Sandi and Dianne, who book in the members. I am then free to meet and greet as I think it so important to welcome any new members. We had a good attendance of 27 people, who found it an interesting evening.

10PM Back home, I send a thank you email to the speaker. Tomorrow I will liaise with Jenny, our communications administrator, about the evening and the attendance sheets and prepare emails for our next meeting.

11PM A busy day, but one with lots of positive outcomes and a great local group evening. It is all worthwhile when everyone gives a big thank you when they leave.

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03/10/2019 15:49

MEMBERS’ NEWS SPECIAL

Beyond Chernobyl KAREN BRISCOMBE, MFHT, TALKS ABOUT SUPPORTING PEOPLE IN UKRAINE AT AN INTEGRATIVE HEALTH CENTRE SET UP FOR FAMILIES AFFECTED BY THE CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR DISASTER

I PICTURES: KAREN BRISCOMBE; ALAMY

have been an usui reiki master and FHT member since 2000, and this July I went to Ukraine for a week to give demonstrations and a talk about reiki.

I was joined by a friend and student of mine, Susan Molloy, who is an advanced reiki practitioner and Russian speaker.

I heard about a place called the Revival Centre through the work of two charities based near my home town of Saffron Walden in Essex: UK-Aid and British Aid for Deprived Children.

The Chernihiv Revival Rehabilitation Centre in Ukraine was set up in 1996 by

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Dr Vasily Pasichnyk, the regional head paediatrician, and his geneticist and neurologist wife, Dr Nataliya Zenchenko, as a personal project to help the children of families directly affected by the Chernobyl disaster and its devastating after-effects.

Chernobyl is just 68km away from the centre.

The centre has grown to offer support to children with complex special needs and genetic and neurological conditions from all over Ukraine. Throughout the year it offers a series of three-week intensive in-house stays with a programme of treatments designed for each child ranging from a series of medical consultations and testing, physiotherapy, music therapy and craftwork to massage, nutrition and pet therapy.

Local children are picked up in two donated minibuses to attend the centre for treatment sessions on a Monday to Friday basis. It is a personalised approach that is

unique in Ukraine. In 2010 it was recognised by the government and receives a small grant. However, the centre relies heavily on foreign sponsorship and donations to carry out the specialist work and run the clinic and therapy rooms.

A TASTE OF REIKI Following our presentation to the doctors and a second one to parents and children, we offered 15-minute seated reiki taster treatments to staff, parents and the children.

We spoke through an interpreter who works at the centre and were given a treatment room as our base for the week, where more than 100 sessions were completed. All sessions with children were given with the consent of parents and with parents present

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MEMBERS’ NEWS SPECIAL

Most recipients reported that they felt calmer and less stressed after a treatment.

Many liked it so much, they came back for another session the following day, including some of the children.

REIKI RELIEF The centre offers an outreach programme to a few former patients now living in the community, as it offers in-house care under licence until the patients reach 18 years old. We visited a man called Vitaly, whose mother was caught in the radiation cloud at Chernobyl when she was three months pregnant. He has extremely limited mobility and uses a donated

in the room, often receiving reiki at the same time.

The children were referred to us through the supervising doctor at the centre, who provided the necessary permission to carry out treatments and stamped our paperwork. Word soon got round and many members of staff were also booking in to experience reiki.

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“From reiki, many people find a measure of relief from stress created by work pressure and the hectic pace of modern family life”

electric wheelchair. His sight and hearing are deteriorating but a strong personality and sense of humour are evident and we enjoyed our conversation on cars – about which he is an expert. His mother went on to have two further children with no health complications. We were able to give both Vitaly and his mother a short treatment, which they both appreciated immensely. The centre also has a small hospice section built and funded solely from donations. At the time of our visit one child was being given palliative care.

We took a set of FHT reiki leaflets with us and our interpreter found the leaflet very useful. We emphasised to everyone at the outset that reiki makes no claims to heal but that many people find a measure of relief from stress created by work pressure and the hectic pace of modern family life. These people had added pressures of responsibility for unwell children who need constant care.

The doctors were particularly interested in the reduced level of anxiety and the way reiki appeared to calm some of the more agitated children in a short space of time.

We came away pleased we had been able to present reiki as a therapy option to many at the clinic.

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MEMBERS’ NEWS SPECIAL

Positive outcomes ANGELIKI PANTELI, MFHT, CONDUCTED RESEARCH TO EXAMINE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES IN A HOSPICE SETTING

The results were very encouraging. Out of 121 contacts with individual patients, 113 (93%) reported an improvement in their symptoms, with the remainder reporting no change. The mean ‘before’ score for the patients’ symptoms was 6.3 and the mean ‘after’ score was 3.5 – indicating that the treatment led to a mean reduction of 2.8 on the visual analogue scale (VAS). This corresponds to a 44% reduction in the severity of their symptoms relative to their starting point.

Statistically, this difference is highly significant (a two-tailed

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Emotional

Physical

Other

After

Pain

Anxiety

SOB

Before

Stress

8.0 7.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0

Out of 121 patients, 98 (81%) reported an improvement in their overall sense of wellbeing, with the remainder reporting no change.

The mean ‘before’ score was 60% and the mean ‘after’ score was 76% – an average improvement of 16% on this scale.

It was anticipated that the change in wellbeing may vary with the type of symptom. Thus an individual who is anxious may score higher in wellbeing improvement than someone who is fatigued. Figure 2 therefore summarises the changes in wellbeing by symptom. This shows that the biggest improvement (21%) was for patients describing their symptoms in general as physical or emotional.

Figure 2 Change in wellbeing by symptom

Emotional

Physical

After

Other

Before

Pain

9.0 8.0 7.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0

Anxiety

Data was collected from 121 patient contacts between January and August 2016. These contacts were with patients who attended at the same time each week over a period of 27 weeks. Patients labelled their symptoms in a variety of ways, and sometimes their main symptom would change from one session to the next. For the purpose of analysis, the reported symptoms were classified into seven groups as follows: Stress Shortness of breath (SOB) – including ‘breathlessness’ Anxiety – including feeling ‘troubled’ and having ‘nervousness’ and ‘fear of flying’ Pain – including ‘back pain’, ‘aching joints’ and ‘non-specific pain’ Other – including ‘tiredness’, ‘sleeplessness’ and ‘lack of energy’ Physical – where the patient did not specify any physical symptom Emotional – where the patient did not specify any emotional symptom.

Figure 1 Change in individual symptoms

SOB

THERAPEUTIC VALUE

paired sample t-test returns a value of 1.69 E-31). In clinical practice, it is common to treat a difference of 2.0 on a VAS as significant – which suggests that the treatment had therapeutic value.

Figure 1 illustrates the change by type of symptom. The biggest improvement, 4.1, was for patients experiencing stress as their main symptom.

Stress

I

have worked at St Wilfrid’s Hospice, Eastbourne, for nearly 15 years as a complementary therapist. I am part of a multidisciplinary team providing holistic care to patients with life-limiting illnesses, as well as supporting their families and loved ones.

Our team provides massage, aromatherapy, reflexology, reiki and relaxation techniques. We use these holistically for the therapeutic value in relieving patients’ symptoms and improving their quality of life. Relaxation plays a huge role in this and this was my initial motivation for starting a research group at St Wilfrid’s.

The main goal was to see whether, and to what extent, relaxation techniques in a group setting would ease patients’ symptoms and improve their sense of wellbeing.

We developed a form that asked patients to identify their main symptom and to score this on a scale from 0 (no symptom) to 10 (the worst it could be), both before and after the treatment. Patients were also asked to rate their wellbeing on a scale from 0% (no sense of wellbeing) to 100% (the best they could feel), again both before and after the treatment.

Overall, the results suggest that using relaxation techniques in a group setting can significantly ease patients’ symptoms (both physical and emotional) and improve their sense of wellbeing. Some symptoms were found to improve therapeutically more than others, which may be useful for future planning in service provision.

I am delighted to announce that my findings will be displayed on a poster in the exhibition hall at Hospice UK’s national conference in November. I submitted an abstract, which was independently peerreviewed and shortlisted from more than 360 abstracts.

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MEMBERS’ NEWS SPECIAL

Rediscovering lavender LUCY STEVENS, MFHT, REFLECTS ON HER RECENT TRIP TO LAVENDER FIELDS IN PROVENCE, FRANCE

T

his year, I followed a dream – to visit the lavender fields of Provence. As an aromatherapist, I spend much of my time with concentrated plant extracts. I love to understand the origin of these little bottles of magic by seeking out aromatic herbs, flowers, trees, grasses and so on in their natural environment. Not only does it help me to appreciate the process that goes into producing essential oils, it puts me in touch with where they come from.

One of the most frequently asked questions before my travels was: ‘Do they make oil from French lavender?’ Although I use lavender essential oil virtually every day, I had never really thought about the terms ‘English’, ‘French’ and ‘Spanish’ lavender. In brief, this is what I discovered.

There are around 50 varieties of lavender plant, with colours ranging from grey, silver or green leaves and purple, mauve, violet or blue flowers.

Lavandula stoechas (the tufty one with rabbit ears which we generally think of as French lavender) is also called Spanish lavender, Stoke lavender and

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butterfly lavender. It does yield essential oil, although I didn’t come across this in Provence.

Lavandula dentata is also known as French lavender, toothed lavender or fringed lavender and originated in Spain. Often grown in pots, it has serrated grey-green aromatic leaves and mauve flowers.

The lavender I came across in France was mostly Lavandula officinalis, known as English lavender.

PURPLE PATCH Provence is renowned as the capital of lavender. High-altitude lavender (also known as high elevation, highland or lavender fine population) can be grown at over 1,400m, and at this height it produces more esters, giving it extra-relaxing properties and a sometimes brighter, more fruity aroma. The highest I reached in my travels was 760m at Sault.

Lavender is also grown in France around the Luberon, Vercors, Baronnies and Verdon regions. As I was only there for a few days, I visited fields around the towns of Roussillon and up towards Sault. The Provence lavender fields are harvested during July, so visiting at the end of June meant that there were no crowds of tourists.

I loved seeing fields that were planted with young lavender yet to flower, along with purple fields spreading out into the horizon.

Even over a few days, some of the fields seemed to burst into colour.

The swaths of flowers with their silvery foliage in the fields were accompanied by an unmistakable sweet, aromatic fragrance which filled the dusty air. It was a hot spell and the aroma was intoxicating.

THE FRENCH WAY Driving around the villages, fields of lavender scattered the area, so there was much stopping and wandering around these fields, as long as the heat would allow.

I loved seeing the variations of purple, the lines of lavender stretching outwards.

A beautiful little boutique in Sault helped me to discover more about the different types of lavender. Just handling and smelling the essential oils, it was apparent how high the quality was here. Talking to the very knowledgeable women in the shop, I was advised to use the Lavandula officinalis and the aspic variety for therapeutic aromatherapy and to use lavandin for the home, to freshen laundry, or to make into a room spray. They also kindly checked to ensure that I had smelled the lavender flower water I was about to buy, produced during the distillation of the Lavandula officinalis. It smells different from the plant, or the essential oil. Just because something is extracted from a beautiful plant, doesn’t mean it is going to replicate the original aroma. Lavender water is an acquired taste.

I bought it, as it was the nicest one I’ve found.

One of my favourite observations of the trip was in beautiful Roussillon. I noticed the Pharmacie de Rousillon had a plaque outside that included ‘aromathérapie’ at the top of a list of its offerings. How different the French attitude is to aromatherapy.

Can you imagine, in England, a pharmacy with aromatherapy at the top of its list of offerings and drugs at the bottom?

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MEMBERS’ REVIEWS

WELEDA SKIN FOOD BODY BUTTER Skin Food Body Butter is formulated with a host of skin-caring ingredients to provide intensive moisturisation and nourishment.

IOANA-ALINA PAINTER, MFHT Weleda’s Skin Food Body 10/10 Butter is an amazing product. It leaves your skin feeling so smooth and moisturised.

It has a perfect texture and the scent is amazing, so sweet and refreshing. I would definitely recommend for anyone with dry skin.

CAROL ATHERTONHOY, MFHT I simply love this product.

10/10 It is rich, creamy and fragrant. It is all-yearround skin rejuvenation and is beneficial for all skin types. Not only is it a lovely, pampering all-over body butter, but I also use it as a massage cream for the hands, arms and feet. It feels luxurious to the touch and glides on, leaving the skin feeling soft, nourished and rejuvenated. A little goes a long way.

I cannot recommend it highly enough and my clients absolutely love it.

SUSAN MICHAELA TAYLOR, MFHT

COMBINING TOUCH AND RELAXATION SKILLS FOR CANCER CARE, BY ANN CARTER AND PETER MACKERETH This book promotes peace, calm and tranquillity in palliative care settings and bridges the gaps in the choices that can be offered to patients.

TINA PARE, AFHT

10/10

The author illustrates the HEARTS (Handson, Empathy, Aromas, Relaxation, Textures and Sound) Process, which gives more choice to the client and thus helps them feel in control of their treatment. This would be useful for those already qualified in complementary therapies but also those open to new ideas. A very good addition to the field of cancer care.

BEST BUY RRP: £18.95, available from weleda.co.uk

A really useful and interesting read for 8/10 anyone, therapist or carer, who wishes to learn and understand the HEARTS Process in palliative care and cancer settings. This book provides valuable insight with heart-warming case studies, recommendations and summaries. I feel the HEARTS skills can be used in any therapy setting.

MEMBER OFFER 25% discount on Combining Touch and Relaxation Skills for Cancer Care (RRP £19.99), when buying from singingdragon. com and using the code 9956000000 at checkout. Offer ends: 17 November 2019.

NEW PRODUCTS DONNA AND DERMOT HEAL,

BY HILDA KALAP

ELEMIS SUPERFOOD CICA CALM BOOSTER

REFLEXOLOGY LYMPH DRAINAGE, BY SALLY KAY

In this new children’s book

by Hilda Kalap, MFHT, we follow the adventures of Donna and her Jack Russell terrier Dermot as they demonstrate the power of complementary health.

The book, published by Charlesworth Publishing, features Donna using energy healing and massage to help friends with twisted ankles and broken arms, while Dermot uses his expertise in aromatherapy on insect bites, stings and sunburn. It is suitable for children aged four to nine.

Formulated with a calming blend of fermented cica and agave, this balancing prebiotic booster is engineered to help reduce sensitivity and redness caused by dryness.

The nutrient-rich broth of fermented rice water and green tea seed oil combined with a balancing prebiotic instantly absorbs to leave skin feeling soothed, while smoothing skin texture and minimising the appearance of pores.

Formulated for all skin types and ideal for sensitive skin, this booster can be applied morning or evening.

This book is an illustrated stepby-step guide to the Sally Kay method. Enjoy Sally’s personal journey from inspiration to innovation, from the ancient art of reflexology to the research and development of reflexology lymph drainage, a modern evidence-based method of reflexology.

Topics covered include the inspiration behind the technique, research, drainage function of the lymphatic system, foot maps for anatomical reflection, and real-life case studies.

PRICE: £5.99, available from hildakalap.com

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PRICE: £27, available from elemis.com

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PRICE: £42.99, available from amazon.co.uk

SEITAI (LYMPHATIC) SHIATSU, CUPPING AND GUA SHA FOR A HEALTHY IMMUNE SYSTEM, BY RICHARD GOLD This book provides detailed information on the principles and practice of techniques from East Asian medicine that vitalise the lymphatic system to get the immune system working at its optimal level.

Highlighting the significance of the omentum (a layer of peritoneum that surrounds abdominal organs), the book describes the dynamic physiological attributes of this mostly ignored component of human anatomy.

PRICE: £24.99, available from singingdragon.com

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MEMBERS’ REVIEWS

SPORTS MASSAGE FOR INJURY CARE, BY ROBERT E MCATEE Experienced sports therapist Robert McAtee explains the types of soft tissue injury most common in sport and explains why massage is valuable for musculoskeletal injuries.

TRACY FEETHAM, MFHT

10/10 Thoroughly enjoyed this book – very informative and easy to follow.

The author does an amazing job of breaking down common sports injuries and how to treat them, along with current best practices. The book offers treatment plans, precautions, relevant anatomy and assessments, alongside self-care options.

Certainly my new go-to book.

CLAIRE TAYLOR, MFHT 7/10 This book aims to serve as informative to both new sports massage therapists as well as experienced ones. I feel that parts one and two are realistically better aimed at newer therapists; however, it could serve as a reference book for all. The details on how to treat common injuries are well explained and easy to follow. The pictures are great and really help to explain the treatments and the self-help areas are good for aftercare advice.

MEMBER OFFER Members can receive a 20% discount on Sports Massage for Injury Care (RRP: £37.99) when purchasing from uk.humankinetics.com and using the code FHT20 at checkout.

Offer ends: 31 December 2019.

Competition Four lucky members will win a Physique Taping Starter kit, worth more than £40.

The FHT has worked in partnership with Physique for more than 10 years as a respected supplier of complementary therapy, sports therapy and sports healthcare products to therapists, medical professionals, consumers and elite sports teams. These include Saracens, GB Hockey, Portsmouth FC and Wasps Netball.

Physique has put together a taping starter kit, with a wide range of different tapes, to give prize winners the perfect kit for any taping requirement.

The taping starter kit includes: Tiger Tape zinc oxide strapping (2.5cm) x2 Tiger Tape zinc oxide strapping (3.8cm) x2 Tiger Tear EAB (7.5cm) x1 Tiger Rip Cohesive (7.5cm) x1 Tiger Club EAB strapping (5cm) x1 Tiger Wrap underwrap (6cm) x1 Tiger K tape (5cm) x1 Tiger Tan Tape Z/O (3.8cm) x1 Heel and Lace Pads x5 Hypafix (5cm) x1 Bandage scissors x1 All packed in a handy taping kit bag.

As a Partner Brand, Physique offers all FHT members a 10% discount on a great range of complementary therapy, massage and sports therapy essentials. fht.org.uk/physique TO ENTER, PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: How long have Physique and the FHT been working in partnership?

10+ years 5 years 1 year Simply email your name, address, membership number and answer to kyoung@fht.org.uk, typing ‘FHT Physique competition’ in the subject box.

Alternatively, send your answer and details on a postcard to: Physique Competition FHT, 18 Shakespeare Business Centre Hathaway Close Eastleigh Hampshire SO50 4SR The closing date is 20 November 2019.

For full competition terms and conditions, visit fht.org.uk/competitions

Please note that product descriptions featured on these pages are provided by the supplier/manufacturer.

THE MODERN ART AND SCIENCE OF MOBILITY, BY AURÉLIEN BROUSSALDERVAL AND STÉPHANE GANNEAU The Modern Art and Science of Mobility is packed with exercises and workouts, teaching readers how to understand, preserve and maintain the body.

Over 300 exercises cover a variety of techniques including stretching, massage and foam rolling.

These exercises are designed to help improve recovery, reduce pain, enhance mobility and activate muscles. It also helps to get readers thinking about how mobile you need to be to perform at your best.

PRICE: £26.99, available from uk.humankinetics.com

FHT.ORG.UK

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PRIZE WORTH MORE 0 THAN £4

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LEARNING

CPD questions

Fo r m o re in fo rm a ti o n ab h o w to g a in o u t p o in ts b y re C P D fl e o n y o u r fa v c ti n g o u ri a rt ic le s , v is te it fh t. o rg .u k /c pd

BELOW ARE QUESTIONS RELATING TO KEY ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE OF INTERNATIONAL THERAPIST. TO GAIN THREE CPD POINTS (UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED), ANSWER ONE OR MORE QUESTIONS RELATING TO THE SAME ARTICLE, USING A MINIMUM OF 300 WORDS IN TOTAL. IF YOU DON’T THINK THE QUESTIONS ARE HELPFUL, DON’T BE AFRAID TO POSE YOUR OWN TO ANY OF THE ARTICLES FEATURED IN THE MAGAZINE.

FEET FOR HEALTH (P12-16)

Q

We look at just a few of the ways FHT reflexologist members are supporting their clients’ health and wellbeing.

Reflecting on your own work, write a case study about a client whose health has benefited from reflexology.

Q

Tim Paver, MFHT, and Anne Blee, MFHT, talk about how they have used reflexology to support clients with fibromyalgia. Discuss how you would support a client with fibromyalgia or another specific health condition of your choice.

GETTING YOUR FOOT IN THE GP’S DOOR (P36-38)

Q

Dr Toh Wong offers tips on how to set up links with GP practices in the NHS. Reflecting on his article, come up with an action plan of the steps you could take to build a relationship and work with your local GP practice and social prescribing link worker.

2019 Diary Dates 24 October Royal Society of Medicine, London College of Medicine Food Conference collegeofmedicine.org.uk 27-28 November NEC Birmingham Therapy Expo therapyexpo.co.uk 29 November FHT The King’s Fund, London EVENT 2019 FHT Conference & Excellence Awards presentation fht.org.uk/2019-conference 29-30 March 2020 ExCeL London Professional Beauty London professionalbeauty.co.uk 24-26 April 2020 EventCity, Manchester Om Yoga Show Manchester manchester.omyogashow.com 3-4 May 2020 NEC Birmingham 2020 FHT Training Congress at the Holistic Health Show holistichealthshow.co.uk

TOP 10

FULL CIRCLE SUPPORT (P20-22)

Q

Suzanne Ruggles, MFHT, talks about establishing the Full Circle Fund, an integrated service for patients with life-challenging illness. If you work in an integrated health setting, tell us about what you do, who you work alongside and the sort of patients you support.

reasons for being an FHT member 1

Professional status and recognition.

2

Campaigning, promoting and protecting your interests as a professional therapist.

3

Professional representation.

4

The industry’s leading professional therapist magazine.

5

Tailor-made comprehensive therapist, salon and clinic insurance policies.

6

Discounted continued professional learning.

7

The UK’s largest local group network for therapists.

8

FHT-branded products and member discounts on therapy supplies.

9

Free listing on the FHT’s Accredited Register, independently approved by the Professional Standards Authority (if eligible).

BREAKING POINTS (P40-42)

Q

Nefeli Tsiouti, MFHT, discusses how breakers often lack injury-specific education. Write about another dance technique or sport where performers/ athletes often put themselves at risk, and how this can be managed.

Q

Reflecting on Nefeli’s article, formulate a treatment plan for a prospective client who has experienced a breaking injury.

2019 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEES* FHT Member: £62.99 FHT Associate: £68.24 Student Member**: £24.99 FHT Affiliate: £36.74 Overseas Member: from £73.49 Qualified Combined Medical Malpractice, Public and Products insurance: from £46.81

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FHT STAND & TRAINING

*Ask our membership team about paying by Direct Debit – it could save you 5% on membership fees. **Includes case study insurance cover. £24.99 deducted from full membership fee on qualifying and upgrading. Terms and conditions apply.

For membership and insurance information or an application pack, visit fht.org.uk or call 023 8062 4350.

FHT is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, Ref: No. 502095.

10

FHT is a not-for-profit organisation run by therapists, for therapists.

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LEARNING

In the reading room CASE STUDY: A CLIENT WITH SCIATICA

In the reading room section of the FHT website, you will find more than 450 therapy and business-related articles and research summaries, with more added regularly. Visit fht.org.uk/readingroom, log in and have a browse.

Sports massage therapist and personal trainer Zoe Myall, MFHT (right), shares a case study that highlights how she helped to improve the quality of life of a 59-year-old male client with sciatica.

She provides information about the client’s background and history, initial assessment, treatment plan and his progress across seven sessions. The article concludes with pictures and a short description for five different stretches Zoe showed her client to help ease tension and pain. fht.org.uk/IT-130-RR-sciatica

THE WEIRDEST DAY Freelance copywriter Kate Philbin provides a candid insight into spending the day in a dissection room with 20 therapists, under the careful tutelage of Caroline Barrow from the College of Body Science. Kate explains what it’s like to have the privilege of looking inside a human body: ‘There is no coding here, no labelling, no neat diagrammatical formatting. I found myself wondering how surgeons can make head or tail of it all and then realised that this is precisely why such training is so vital.’ fht.org.uk/IT-130-RR-weirdest day

FHT spiral no. 32

SELF-CARE: POSTURE AND EXERCISE FOR THERAPISTS Working as a therapist can be physically and emotionally demanding.

In this article, Ruth Reid, FFHT, provides some illustrated exercises, stretches, breathing and relaxation techniques that you can incorporate into your daily routine to help you stay happy, keep healthy in mind, develop a stronger body and help to prevent injury, to enjoy a long and fulfilling therapy career.

She concludes with some top tips, from checking the height of your couch to looking after your feet. fht.org.uk/IT-130-RR-self-care

TEST YOUR A&P KNOWLEDG E AND

WIN A £20 JOHN LEWIS GIF FT CARD

The winner and nine runners-up also win an FHT poster of their choice (see shop.fht.org. uk/collections/posters to see our range).

1

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Untitled-1

12

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16

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1

Write your answers in a spiral from the start, working in an anticlockwise direction, directiion, towards the centre of the grid. The last letter of each answer is the first letter of the next.

The shaded diagonal line will spell out a type of serious infection.

15

TO ENTER Simply email the word that appears in the diagonal shaded boxes to kyoung@fht.org.uk (writing ‘Autumn spiral’ in the subject box) or send your answer on a postcard to the usual FHT address. Please include your name, address and membership number. Standard competition terms and conditions apply (visit fht.org.uk/ competitions). Entries to be received no later than 20 November.

2

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CROSSWORD CLUES 1 2

3 4 5

Malignant - - - - - - - -, cancer associated with UV light (8) Skin condition characterised by comedones, papules, pustules and nodules (4,8) To ingest/allow food or drink to pass down the throat (7) Uterus (4) Arteries, capillaries and veins (5,7)

6 7

Area of the head where hair grows (5) - - - - - - - - - - major, muscle that adducts and medially rotates the arm (10) 8 Muscular wall that separates left and right sides of the heart (6) 9 Sleep hormone (9) 10 To ruin suit (anag.): nourishing, containing substances needed for growth and health (10)

11 Organ that digests food (7) 12 Abbreviation for an immunodeficiency virus (1,1,1) 13 Eject contents of clue 11 via the mouth (5) 14 Ingrowing - - - - - - - (7) 15 Leg, arm (4) 16 For example, a non-harmful tumour (6)

Where’s the solution for spiral no. 31?

We do not publish the spiral solutions in International Therapist, as completing spirals from the magazine can count towards your CPD (one CPD point per spiral quiz, a maximum of five points per year). Turn to page 65 for the name of the member who sent in the first correct spiral solution to be independently drawn from all eligible entries sent in by the allocated closing date for spiral no. 31 featured in issue 129 (Summer 2019).

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Expand your skill set and grow as a therapist with an FHT Hosted Course

CPD is a requirement for all FHT Members and Fellows, refreshing DQG GHYHORSLQJ \RXU WKHUDS\ VNLOOV DQG NQRZOHGJH &3' SRLQWV FDQ EH gained through a variety of activities, including courses, and a full guide can be found at fht.org.uk/CPD

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The FHT is committed to supporting every member with continuing professional GHYHORSPHQW &3' ZKDWHYHU \RXU ¿HOG Following popular demand, the FHT is hosting a range of courses in the coming PRQWKV WKDW \RX FDQ EH VXUH PHHW WKH KLJKHVW VWDQGDUGV Plus, FHT members get a discount of at least £10 on each course!

9-10 Nov

Oncology sleep ritual body treatment, Manchester

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16 Nov

Aromatherapy detox for cellulite, Hinckley Learn about the causes and pathology of cellulite as well as practical skills to GLPLQLVK LWV VLJQV XVLQJ DURPDWKHUDS\ HVVHQWLDO RLOV DQG FDUULHUV Price £110 FHT members / £125 non-members | CPD points 5

16 Nov

Postural assessment, London

Provide your clients with a new service by performing postural assessments and XQGHUVWDQGLQJ ZKDW \RXU REVHUYDWLRQV PHDQ ZKLFK FDQ KHOS LQIRUP \RXU WUHDWPHQW Price £120 FHT members / £130 non-members | CPD points 6

17 Nov

Postural correction, London

Help your clients improve their posture with practical skills to change pelvic, thoracic DQG QHFN SRVWXUH DV ZHOO DV WKH UDWLRQDOH EHKLQG WKH H[HUFLVHV SURYLGHG Price £120 FHT members / £130 non-members | CPD points 6

5V] (YVTH[OLYHW` MVY OLHKHJOLZ HUK TPNYHPULZ :[HɈVYKZOPYL Find out more about headaches and migraines and how aromatherapy can help VXIIHUHUV /HDUQ YDULRXV WUHDWPHQWV WR GHDO ZLWK WKHVH FRQGLWLRQV DQG PRUH Price £100 FHT members / £115 non-members | CPD points 5

1 Dec

Cancer awareness for holistic and beauty therapists, York

This CPD introduction to working with those affected by cancer covers the condition, WKH WUHDWPHQW VLGH HIIHFWV DQG WKH ZD\V LQ ZKLFK WKHUDSLVWV FDQ KHOS Price £85 FHT members / £100 non-members | CPD points 6

6 Dec

Dissection workshop, London

See the structure that you massage on a daily basis in King’s College dissection lab IRU D WKUHH KRXU ZRUNVKRS EHIRUH HQMR\LQJ WKH *RUGRQ 0XVHXP Price £145 FHT members / £155 non-members | CPD points ZLWK UHÀHFWLYH SUDFWLFH

+LJ -PYZ[ HPK MVY [OLYHWPZ[Z LTLYNLUJ` ÄYZ[ HPK H[ ^VYR 4PS[VU 2L`ULZ 7KLV FRXUVH ZKLFK FRYHUV WKH IXOO FRQWHQW RI WKH HPHUJHQF\ ¿UVW DLG DW ZRUN WUDLQLQJ LV VSHFL¿FDOO\ GHVLJQHG IRU WKHUDSLVWV LQ WKH WKHUDS\ DQG VDORQ HQYLURQPHQW Price £110 FHT members / £125 non-members | CPD points 6

14 Dec

EMM-tech short course, Maidstone

Discover how the EMMETT technique addresses pain and body movement with 11 PRYHV VSHFLDOO\ VHOHFWHG IURP WKH (00(77 WHFKQLTXH SUDFWLWLRQHU FRXUVH Price £110 FHT members / £125 non-members | CPD points 7

Courses key: Model required

Get a £20 discount on the total price when you book both consecutive courses

Visit fht.org.uk/courses

for our full list of courses and to book your place

$QG UHPHPEHU LI WKHUH¶V D FRXUVH \RX ZRXOG OLNH WR UXQ LQ \RXU DUHD ¿QG D JURXS RI WKHUDSLVWV DQG ZH FDQ ¿QG WKH VSHDNHU

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LEARNING

FHT accredited course provider news FHT ACCREDITED COURSE PROVIDERS OFFER NEW TOP TIPS ON YOUTUBE We were delighted to catch up with some of our FHT accredited course providers at the 2019 FHT Training Congress earlier this year, and are grateful to all those who contributed to the show’s success.

These included Dawn Morse of Core Elements and Julie Crossman from the NHS Natural Health School, who both

delivered fascinating talks to delegates.

We interviewed Dawn and Julie after their talks, and they kindly offered to share some of their top tips on video.

In the first video, Dawn talks about the benefits of dry cupping, and in the second Julie tells us how complementary therapists can support the NHS. The videos form part of a series of top tips videos, which can be found on the FHT YouTube channel at fht.org.uk/IT-130-FHT-videos

FHT accredited course providers IRELAND Churchtown Institute of Beauty & Holistic Training cibht.ie Q Deirdre Murray Holistic Training deirdremurray2@gmail.com SC Golden Egg Holistic goldeneggholistic.com Q Irish Institute of Nutrition & Health Ltd iinh.net Q Kerry School of Reflexology kerryreflexology.com Q Saint Martin’s College of Physical Therapy stmartinscollegecork.com SC Soul Balance Holistic Training soulbalance.com SC

SCOTLAND NEW Q Hailey Dallas Brows haileydallasbrows.com Q Myofascial Release UK – MFR UK myofascialrelease.co.uk SC Rosslyn Alternatives rosslynalternatives.co.uk SC Start with Touch Ltd startwithtouch.co.uk SC The Glasgow School of Massage theglasgowschoolofmassage.com Q Therapia School of Reflexology therapiagourock.com

NORTHERN IRELAND Angel Haven angelhaven.co.uk Q SC Body and Sole School of Complementary Therapies bodyandsoleschool.co.uk SC Elaine Curry with Calm Confident Kids calmconfidentkids.co.uk SC Dorothy Kelly Academy of Reflexology dorothykellyacademyofreflexology. com SC Logan Fertility Centre loganfertility.com Q

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Q New Beginnings School of Natural Therapies angelsanctuary.co.uk SC Sheila Nugent School of Reflexology sheilanugentschoolofreflexology.co.uk

NORTH WEST Acupuncture Training for Therapists Ltd acupuncturetrainingproviders.co.uk SC Alternatively Better alternativelybetter.co.uk NEW SC Angela Pollard Therapies angelapollardtherapies.co.uk SC Ashwood Beauty & Holistic Academy ashwoodacademy.co.uk Q Breathworks breathworks-mindfulness.co.uk Q SC British Academy of Crystal Healing britishacademyofcrystalhealing.co.uk SC Dawn Alderson & Co Training Academy dawnalderson.co.uk Q SC Dorn Method Academy UK (Jacqui Hamer) dornmethod.org SC Dorn Method Lake District dornmethodlakedistrict.co.uk SC Energy for Life energyforlife.today NEW SC Female Fitness Academy the-ffa.com Q Gaia School of Natural Health gaiaschool.org.uk Q SC KORE Academy Ltd koretherapy.com Q Reiki Tradition reikitradition.me.uk SC The Master Academy/ Urban Body Balance urbanbalance.co.uk Q The No1 Pain Relief Clinic theno1painreliefclinic.co.uk SC

NORTH EAST Anna-Louise Haigh anna-louisehaigh.com SC

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SC Aries Academy of Holistic Therapies ariesacademy.co.uk Q Eve’s Garden (Alison Valerie Peart) alipeart@hotmail.co.uk SC Jong Baik Education jongbaik.co.uk SC Kinesio UK kinesiotaping.co.uk SC NHS Natural Health School nhsnaturalhealthschool.co.uk Q SC Pain Care Clinic paincareclinic.co.uk SC Total Therapies Training totaltherapies.co.uk

EAST MIDLANDS SC Cameron Reid Training cameronreidtraining.co.uk SC Chi Medics™ chi-medics.com SC Extraordinary Kinesiology extraordinarychannels.com SC Fertility Massage fertilitymassage.co.uk SC Helen Mary Perkins helenperkins.com SC Infinity Training Academy infinitytrainingacademy.co.uk SC Lumiere College lumierecollege.co.uk Q Penny Price Aromatherapy Ltd penny-price.com SC Progressive Kinesiology Academy UK progressive-kinesiology.co.uk SC Routes to Healing sarahling1@googlemail.com Q Shirley Price International College of Aromatherapy shirleyprice.co.uk SC The Active School of Complementary Therapy ukmassagecourses.com SC Total Body Therapy gentlereleasetherapy.com Q Tri-Dosha tri-dosha.co.uk SC Vitali-Chi Headquarters v-chi.com Q

WEST MIDLANDS Ascent Therapies Training Academy ascent-therapies.co.uk SC Central School of Massage centralschoolmassage.com SC Chakrascension™ Centre chakrascension.org.uk SC Just BE (Butterfly Experience) with Jacqui Mexson jacqui.mexson@virginmedia.com Q Lorraine Davis Holistic Healthcare and Education Centre lorrainedavistraining.com SC Lymphoedema Training Academy Ltd lymph.org.uk Q Meridian School of Massage & Bodywork jlmeridian.co.uk SC Microsystems Therapies and Training annavenables.com Q Paadena School of Yoga & Thai Yoga Massage Therapy paadena.co.uk NEW SC Core Postural Alignment coreposturalalignment.com SC The UK Dorn Method Centre dornmethod.co.uk SC Time and Fitness for You timeandfitnessforyou.com/ bt-workshop SC Timeless Partnership Ltd timelesspartnership.co.uk SC Tranquil Heart Training Academy tranquilheart.co.uk SC

WALES NEW SC Angela Barton Green Complementary Therapies angelagreen99@yahoo.co.uk SC Coleman’s Complementary Therapies holisticsforautism.wordpress.com SC de Prez Training challengeconquered.com SC Dynamic Massage dynamicmassage.co.uk

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Q

SC

FHT accredited qualification(s)

Q Gaia Education gaiaeducation.com Q Glyndŵr University glyndwr.ac.uk Q SC Gower College Swansea gowercollegeswansea.ac.uk SC HB Training Wales Ltd hbtraining.org SC In The Pink! Therapies and Training inthepinktherapiesandtraining.co.uk SC Pembrokeshire College pembrokeshire.ac.uk Q SC Physiotherapy and Complementary Therapies Ltd nwcom.co.uk SC Sally Kay reflexologylymphdrainage.co.uk SC Seren Natural Fertility serennaturalfertility.co.uk Q SC TEACH Therapy teachtherapy.co.uk Q The School of Naturopathic Nutrition lovenaturopathy.co.uk SC The Wellbeing Centre wellbeingtherapycentre.com

SOUTH WEST NEW SC Abbigail LangstoneWring Weymouth Dorset dorsetclinicalreflexology.co.uk SC Advanced Massage School handsonclinic.co.uk SC Amethyst Trust amethysttrust.co.uk Q Barnes School of Sports Therapy barnesclinic-school.com Q SC Cheltenham School of Complementary Therapy & Beauty thetherapyschool.co.uk Q SC Core Elements coreelements.uk.com SC Cornish Wellessence Training – CWT cornishwellessence.co.uk SC Cotswold Academy of Health and Beauty cotswoldacademy.co.uk SC Devon Academy of Complementary Therapies devonacademy.co.uk Q Devon School of Massage and Bodywork lhbodywork.co.uk SC II Intuitive Ltd 2intuitive.co.uk SC JemmaCo Limited jemmaco.com/training SC LMC Training massagefordementia.co.uk SC Lovegrove Essentials Ltd lovegroveessentials.com SC Paula Ryland: School of Holistic Therapies paularyland.co.uk SC SpaNu Massage spanumassage.com SC Sue Chinn Holistic Training Academy suechinn@btinternet.com Q Sunshine Hair & Beauty Training Academy sunshinehairandbeauty.co.uk SC The Children’s Reflexology Programme kidsreflex.co.uk SC The Good Hand Holistic Therapy Instruction thegoodhand.info SC The Seed Institute theseedinstitute.co.uk SC Touchline Training Ltd touchlinetraining.co.uk

LEARNING FHT accredited short course(s)

SC Tranquillity Zone Training tranquillityzonetraining.co.uk Q University of St Mark & St John marjon.ac.uk SC Weston Hospicecare westonhospicecare.org.uk SC With Intention Healing withintention.co.uk

SOUTH EAST Academy of Advanced Beauty academyofadvancedbeauty.com SC Accredited Massage Courses Ltd accreditedmassagecourses.co.uk SC Aquamassage Ltd aquamassagetherapycushion.co.uk SC Ayurveda Institute of Europeayurvedainstitute.org Q SC Ayurveda Pura Academy ayurvedapura.com Q SC Brighton Holistics brightonholistics.co.uk SC Brighton School of Massage brightonschoolofmassage.co.uk SC Calming Influences Ltd calminginfluences.com Q Centre for Nutrition Education and Lifestyle Management cnelm.co.uk Q Cherubs Training Academy – Hampshire cherubsbabyhealth.com SC College of Classical Massage Ltd collegeofclassicalmassage.com SC CPD Health Course c/o European School of Osteopathy cpdhealthcourses.com Q SC Elemi Training elemitraining.co.uk SC Freedom Therapies Training freedomtherapies.co.uk SC Functional Reflex Therapy functionalreflextherapy.co.uk NEW SC Gladwell School of Massage gladwellschoolofmassage.com NEW SC Gong Bodywork doewarnes.co.uk SC Hatton Kalinowska jointpractice.co.uk SC Hawaiian Massage UK Training Centre huna-massage.com SC Holistic Beauty Academy holisticbeautyacademy.co.uk Q HypnoTC: The Hypnotherapy Training Company hypnotc.com SC Innamincka Training Services itsperou@depinaperou.plus.com SC Jane Sheehan footreading.com Q SC Jivita Ayurveda Ltd jivitaayurveda.com SC Key Workshops keyworkshops.co.uk SC Kneads Must/Kneader Massage (KOM) kneadsmust.com SC London College of Massage/Massageworks londoncollegeofmassage.co.uk Q London Institute of Thai Yoga Massage learntomassage.co.uk SC

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SC London School of Complementary Health Ltd lsch.co.uk Q Lucis College Ltd lucisgroup.com SC Mark Stevens, Hands on Holistics hands-on-holistics.com Q SC Mary Atkinson Holistic Therapy Courses maryatkinson.org.uk SC Neal’s Yard Remedies School of Natural Medicine nealsyardremedies.com SC On the Spot Training Centre sallymorris.co.uk Q Peter Symonds Adult and Higher Education College psc.ac.uk SC Purple Turtle Academy ptmassagetherapycourses.com SC Reflexmaster reflexmaster.co.uk SC RJ Buckle Associates rjbuckle.com SC School of Natural Therapies schoolofnaturaltherapies.co.uk Q SC Shared Beauty Secrets sharedbeautysecrets.com Q Shen Mantra shenmantra.com SC SKN-RG Academy skn-rg.com SC St Mary’s University College smuc.ac.uk/shortcourses SC Story Massage storymassage.co.uk SC The Holistic Academy holistic-academy.co.uk SC The Lancaster System lancastersystem.co.uk SC The School of Abdominal Sacral Massage abdominal-sacralmassage.com SC The Shakra Centre shakracentre.com SC Total Release Experience (TRE UK®) treuk.com SC TouchPro UK touchpro.co.uk SC Training4Healthcare training4healthcare.co.uk SC UnitedMind Ltd unitedmind.co.uk SC Wavestone Therapies Ltd thewavestone.co.uk SC Ziggie Bergman with the London School of Reflexology zonefacelift.com

NATIONAL Anatomy and Physiology Online anatomy-and-physiology-onlinecourses.co.uk SC Butterfly Touch Therapies butterflytouchtherapies.com Q SC Essential Training Solutions Ltd essential-training.co.uk SC Fertility Massage fertilitymassage.co.uk SC

Q SC Gateway Workshops gatewayworkshops.com Q Health Kinesiology UK hk-uk.co.uk SC Human Kinetics Europe Ltd uk.humankinetics.com SC Jennifer Young and Beauty Despite Cancer beautydespitecancer.co.uk SC Jenny Cox thebalanceprocedure.com Q SC London School of Massage londonschoolofmassage.co.uk Q Mind International Training Associates bodymindworkers.com Q Stonebridge Associated Colleges stonebridge.uk.com Q The College of Bowen Studies thebowentechnique.com SC The Chrysalis Effect thechrysaliseffect.com

INTERNATIONAL Akademi Ayu Jelita SDN BHD joanphang@yahoo.com SC Beijing ReStart Biotech Ltd 5restart.com Q Blossom & Berry Baby Massage & Yoga Training blossomandberry.com Q Cosmo Kemp School of Thai Yoga Massage cosmothaiyoga.com Q Health Coach Institute, LLC healthcoachinstitute.com SC Holistic Therapy Practice holistictherapypractice.com Q Institute of Transformational Nutrition (ITN) transformationalnutrition.com Q SC Jari Jari Spa jarijari.com.my SC Liddle Kidz Foundation liddlekidz.com NEW SC New Vision Therapy newvisiontherapy.co.uk SC PN Hands ON – Your Musculoskeletal Specialist yourmusculoskeletalspecialist.com SC PureAroma Healing Academy purearoma.com.tw SC RAPID NeuroFascial Reset rapidadhesionrelease.com Q Rinalda Therapeutic Kneads rinaldatherapeutickneads.com SC Rustic Nirvana PTE Ltd rusticnirvana.com SC Shenzhen Hui Yun Aroma Health Consulting Co. Ltd huimeichiang@gmail.com SC Shiny Forest Ltd shinyforest.com SC The Arvigo® Institute LLC arvigotherapy.com NEW Q The Glam Factory Salon & Academy the-glam-factory-salon-academy. business.site Q SC The Institute of Aromatherapy aromashoppe.com Q Wellness Cosmetology SDN BHD beaubelle.com SC

MORE INFO Please visit fht.org.uk/accreditation for more information about FHT accredited qualifications and short courses.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Weleda promotes wellbeing at London Fashion Week For more than a decade, Weleda has continued to host The Model Zone to promote the wellbeing of young models during London Fashion Week. Away from the media glare, this is a refuge in a secluded location, exclusively for models taking part in catwalk shows and presentations. Hundreds of models can relax with a complimentary Weleda facial or holistic body massage, eat healthily, wind down, benefit from natural skincare advice or holistic health consultations from Weleda homeopaths, and allow their skin to recover between shows. Models also take away an exclusive gift bag containing a selection of Weleda’s organic skincare products. weleda.co.uk

Train in lymphoedema management g and make a difference

FHT switches to biodegradable wrap for International Therapist We’re thrilled to report that we have switched from using LDPE plastic wrap to a potato starch wrap for International Therapist magazine.

There are no plasticisers or toxins in the starch wrap and, as a result, it is 100% biodegradable and fully compostable, making it more environmentally friendly than plastic alternatives. Please dispose of your wrap in your home composting bin or food/garden waste bins, where accepted by local authorities. fht.org.uk/our-planet

New face support cushions for couches A therapeutic masseuse in Lancashire has developed a face support cushion for use on therapy couches.

With over 18 years’ experience in the therapy industry, Kate Haslam, MFHT (pictured above), has worked alongside many talented therapists, osteopaths and physiotherapists. During this time, she found the need for an alternative to the standard face support cushion used.

Kate, who works at Muscle Therapy Massage in Rossendale, developed the TriCushion Face Support, made up of three separate, adjustable cushions: two cheek supports and a forehead support cushion, designed to protect the delicate eye area, avoiding smudged eye make-up and false eyelash disturbance, while offering great face support during treatment. (See advert on page 17.) muscletherapymassage.co.uk

PICTURE: ISTOCK

Six in 1,000 people live with lymphoedema in the UK, but what exactly is it and how can you help?

Lymphoedema is a chronic swelling that develops because of an impaired lymphatic system. It is most common in the limbs but can affect any part of the body. As a therapist, you may have come across lymphoedema more than you realise, or perhaps you have clients with swelling and are not sure how to help.

People are often told there is nothing that can be done to help, but there are treatments that can reduce and control the swelling.

Lymphoedema Training Academy has made it its mission to provide education and knowledge so that those affected have access to quality treatment and an improved quality of life. They are at the forefront of lymphoedema education worldwide, with their FHT accredited lymphoedema management training suitable for holistic therapists.

Their training is evidence-based, which ensures that you can effectively treat and support patients, and is delivered in a relaxed and friendly environment to help you get the most out of your learning journey. Learners are provided with full support so that you can add another treatment to your service, grow your business and change lives. lymph.org.uk

NB: The information featured on the industry news page is based on information supplied by the training providers and product manufacturers featured. Please always check with the FHT that courses will be covered for membership and insurance purposes before booking.

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CLASSIFIED

GENERAL CLASSIFIED USED THERAPY ITEMS FOR SALE Folding white massage couch with face hole, cover and carrying case. £60. Wendover, Aylesbury, Bucks.

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Buff. Excellent condition. Carry case. Face rest. £200. Rochdale, Manchester area.

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Excellent condition. £300.

Collection only. East Sussex.

Call Kathy T. 07871 910097.

TREATMENT ROOMS WANTED Level 3 reflexologist. FHT, AoR, CNHC. Treatment room needed in Cheshire area. E. info@ healingsolesreflexology.co.uk T. 07548 626534

JOB WANTED Experienced massage therapist looking for part-time role in a Brighton salon or therapy centre.

E. Essential-luxuries1@outlook. com T. 07984 660897

SITUATIONS VACANT Macmillan cancer unit requires volunteer therapists at QA Hospital, Portsmouth. Training given. Contact Hazel Tudor for more details. T. 02392 598259 Self-employed beauty/ holistic therapist wanted for busy Bristol salon. Full or part time.

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Volunteer therapists needed for busy clinical renal units around the North West. Salford, Wigan, Bolton, Oldham and Rochdale.

E. janet.cairnie@srft.nhs.uk T. 0161 206 4812 Members can advertise in International Therapist for free! Please complete our online form at fht.org.uk/classifieds or use the coupon printed on this page in previous issues of the magazine.

FHT DISCLAIMER: Please note that the inclusion of a product or training advert in International Therapist does not mean the FHT endorses that product or training, or that it will be automatically recognised for membership and/or insurance purposes by the FHT.

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TREATMENT ROOMS AVAILABLE Beautiful rooms available at purpose built, fully accessible therapy centre. Balham, SW London, close to Balham tube and train station. E. manager@ feelgoodbalham.co.uk Lovely treatment room available for rent in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. Suitable for many types of therapies. T. 07799 796190.

FHT, its Directors and staff accept no responsibility for the accuracy of any description within the classified section and members should ensure they are satisfied with goods and services offered/advertised before accepting/purchasing.

COMPETITION, SPIRAL AND PRIZE DRAW WINNERS INTERNATIONAL THERAPIST, ISSUE 129

WaveStone competition (p53) Sharon Berry, FFHT Michelle Beynon, MFHT Gill Greenwood, AfFHT Kirsty Hague, MFHT Jan Hoffmann, MFHT Jan Patton, MFHT Nichola Smith, MFHT Nefeli Tsiouti, MFHT Anna Wharton, MFHT Emma Wilson, MFHT

Spiral £20 John Lewis & FHT natural plant wax candle (p55) Winner Agatha Rotherham, MFHT Runners-up Claire Betteridge, MFHT Teresa Meekings, MFHT

BEFORE EMBARKING ON ANY PAID OR VOLUNTARY WORK OPPORTUNITY, WE STRONGLY ADVISE MEMBERS TO ENSURE THEY HAVE APPROPRIATE TRAINING, PREREQUISITES AND INSURANCE COVER (WITH THE FHT OR AN ALTERNATIVE PROVIDER) TO CARRY OUT THIS WORK.

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ON THE COUCH

Digging

for evidence WE CAUGHT UP WITH DR JOHN HUGHES TO TALK ACUPUNCTURE, RESEARCH, PROMs AND ROCK MUSIC

Q

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND…

I grew up in St Helens, an industrial town in the north of England. I completed my first degree in health sciences for complementary medicine at the University of Central Lancashire, where I worked as a research assistant for a year after graduating. I then completed a PhD at Manchester Metropolitan University before working as a research fellow at Liverpool University for more than seven years. In 2011, I moved to the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine (RLHIM), initially as the senior research coordinator and, for the last year, as director of research.

HAVE YOU ALWAYS HAD A KEEN INTEREST IN COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES AND INTEGRATED HEALTHCARE?

Q

Yes, since childhood. My mum, who retrained as a reflexologist when I was 11, exposed me to a number of complementary therapies while I was growing up. I completed my first degree with a view to going into private practice as an acupuncturist but found that I enjoyed conducting research so stayed in that field instead.

TELL ELL US ABOUT OUR WORK YOUR WITH MACMILLAN...

Q

Last year, r, we published a service evaluation of their mentary therapy complementary n for cancer patients, provision re recently completed a and more ty study of acupuncture for feasibility erapy patients, which radiotherapy is being written up for tion. We’re publication. rking also working togetherr to evaluatee icks aromasticks er for cancer patients..

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AND AS CO-CHAIR OF THE RESEARCH COUNCIL FOR COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE...

Q

Carol Granger and I took over from Professor Nicola Robinson at the start of the year. We recently held the CAMSTRAND conference, which showcases complementary therapy research, and we’re currently in discussions with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Integrated Healthcare regarding independently collating and analysing patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) data gathered from members of complementary therapy associations, including the FHT. This could provide useful evidence of the impact interventions on patients’ presenting symptoms.

YOU WILL BE GIVING A TALK ON PROMs AT THE FHT CONFERENCE IN NOVEMBER. DO YOU THINK THIS IS THE WAY FORWARD FOR GATHERING EVIDENCE FOR COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES?

Q

This comes back to my previous answer.

Yes, the development and use of PROMs is important within CAM research, as it enables researchers to better capture the effects of the interventions on concerns and symptoms that matter to the patient. There have been developments in CAM-specific PROMs recently, such as the Warwick Holistic Health Questionnaire (WHHQ), which will hopefully head up the next phase of PROMs and look more specifically at outcomes of importance to CAM users.

DO YOU THINK THE NHS LONG TERM PLAN AND ITS FOCUS ON UNIVERSAL PERSONALISED CARE WILL PROVIDE MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMPLEMENTARY THERAPISTS?

Q

Only time will tell, but I’m hopeful it will. I think the greater emphasis on selfmanagement within the NHS, as well as social prescribing, will also create potential opportunities for CAM practitioners.

Q

DO YOU HAVE ANY THERAPIES?

THERE IS AN INCREASING DEMAND FOR MORE EVIDENCE BASE FOR COMPLEMENTARY THERAPY INTERVENTIONS. WHAT SHAPE DO YOU THINK THIS NEEDS TO TAKE?

When I had sciatica last year, I treated myself pretty aggressively with acupuncture to rectify that!

We need to take a more pragmatic approach to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) research. This would involve evaluating interventions, as practised within clinical practice, and comparing these to usual care or conventional treatments, to see if there are any additional benefits.

We also need to be mindfu mindful of the outcome measures we use tto evaluate CAM interventions to ensure ensu changes that the patient perceives a and values are monitored. For exampl example, in some instances a CAM inte intervention might not reduce a symptom symptom, such as pain, but it might enable th the patient to cope with th the pain, regain thei their lives, and improve impr their overall q quality of life, an and we need to ens ensure that those effects are being measured durin during trials.

Most of my free time is spent with family and friends. That said, I listen to music a lot – classic rock mostly, especially Thin Lizzy and Roger Waters/ Pink Floyd. I’ve also been known to play the odd game of poker.

Q

Q

WHAT DO YOU DO TO RELAX AND UNWIND?

Dr John Hughes is director of research at the RLHIM, University College London Hospitals NHS Trust, and co-chair of the Research Council for Complementary Medicine. rccm.org.uk

LEARN MORE AT THE 2019 FHT CONFERENCE John will be giving a presentation on PROMs at our 2019 FHT Conference: Supporting the Integrated Healthcare Agenda on Friday 29 November at The King’s Fund. For more information, visit fht.org.uk/conference

FHT.ORG.UK

03/10/2019 15:56

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