Pure Sports Medicine on o ering a wide range of treatments

A wide range of treatments are available at the Canary Wharf facility, which operates in a risk-assessed, Covid-secure manner Above, Pure Sports Medicine has extensive facilities to help its clients recover from injuries

new runners, or people increasing the amount of running, which can result in a range of injuries to the chilles tendon, lower ankle injuries or knee problems.

“ s a company, we ve always seen a number of desk-related problems and we’re now seeing more of those, but issues that differ slightly from the norm.

“ eople will still be suffering from lower back pain, shoulder pain and neck pain but these seem to be centred on the desk settings at home.

“They are largely related to inactivity and a lack of movement. Being crouched over your desk at home is no different from being crouched over your desk at the o ce, but at work, you have the commute and lots of natural breaks where you’re walking 10 or 15 yards – a distance not normally available at home.

“The old saying in physiotherapy is: ‘Your next posture is your best posture’. If you stand for long periods of time, you will get as many problems as if you sit for long periods of time.

“Neither is bad, but the measure of the balance between the two is key. For people at home, we try to get people into a neutral posture when they are sitting.

“We would review their desk

That’s what sets us apart really – we are the most comprehensive o ering in the UK to have all those services under one roof

Adam Goode, Pure Sports Medicine

postures, but it’s primarily about extremes of movement and posture. If, along the way, we then change their habits and their day-to-day routines, by putting in some structures, that’s the positive thing that people actually need.”

Covid-19 is the health issue on most people’s minds right now and, in addition to offering virtual services, Pure Sports Medicine has also developed a programme to help those still dealing with ongoing symptoms after contracting the disease.

“Long Covid is a very complex issue, and it affects everybody in different ways, said dam.

“Our programme looks to assess where people are in their recovery from a bout of Covid, how that has in uenced them, whether psychologically or via cardio-respiratory distress – do they have fatigue-type symptoms, or muscular issues?

“Long Covid is not just a respiratory issue, there’s the psychology of it and the weakness. Dealing with it takes specialist provision and planning for a safe, functional return.

“The vaccine has been developed so quickly because there’s a lot of collaboration at the moment. lot of time and effort are being invested in understanding these conditions. We have nearly a year’s worth of data already to go on and we have a number of fingers in a number of pies at the moment to do with healthcare forums – we are party to the developments on the medical treatments.

“It’s an area that’s really going to be evolving and that’s why we’re in a really good place to in uence people positively if they are suffering.

Prices for treatment vary depending on the service provided but include an hour’s strength and conditioning one-to-one for £98 or Pilates for £85. Other services include massage therapy and diet and nutrition programmes. n initial, minute consultation with Pure Sports Medicine medical director and consultant rheumatologist Dr John Etherington, for those suffering with Long Covid, costs £260.

virtual viewpoint

by Chris Ezekiel

Will you know whether you’re conversing with a person or a machine in the future?

What does the future look like for chatbots? At Creative Virtual, our arti cial intelligence-powered conversational chatbots (V-Person) are able to converse with users in a highly personalised way across all channels – even completing transactions.

They are also deployed within contact centres as virtual contact centre agents, listening into conversations and advising humans on the best answer or next best action. The most e ective deployments are where the AI and humans work in harmony to provide the best possible customer experience. In 2021 and beyond, as such conversational chatbots and humans become even more integrated, the line between people and machines will become even more blurred.

AI-based chatbots will become an integral part of all the interactions we have with some companies, and the organisation and customer will not even have to think about the distinction.

The days of separate channels and disparate conversations are numbered. Contact will become one continuous, personalised interaction. Chatbots will also grow in popularity outside of customer service. We will have our own personal “ AI-based chatbots will become an integral part of all the interactions we have with some systems to take care of life’s mundane companies operations. They will be Chris Ezekiel, Creative Virtual having conversations with our friends (or their chatbots) when we’re sleeping. They will be ultra-connected via the internet of things, from fridges to chairs. They will extend our personal capabilities to 24/7.

There are dangers though. Today, we see instances where people are not sure if they’re communicating with a person or bot. Imagine a world where we’re not sure if we’re talking to a loved one or their chatbot. Could this be the tipping point where machines become more human and people become immortal?

Chris Ezekiel is founder and CEO of customer engagement solutions specialist Creative Virtual based at West India Quay’s Cannon Workshops

Scan this code for more information about Creative Virtual or follow @creativevirtual and @chrisezekiel on Twitter

by Jon Massey

One of the few pleasures to be found in lockdown is cooking. But where to get fresh ideas? Fortunately Canary Wharf Group has teamed up with culinary social enterprise Migrateful to solve this problem, offering a quintet of recipe cards available to download online until the end of March.

Founded in 2017 by Jess Thompson, the charity runs cookery classes led by refugees, asylum seekers and migrants struggling to integrate and get jobs.

While based in Brixton, the idea for Migrateful came while Jess was working with refugee women in Tower Hamlets and, before the pandemic, the charity hosted sold-out sessions in Canary Wharf for those living or working locally.

Jess said: “It started when I was running a skills exchange project with them.

“The women were all very qualified but were unemployed because their qualifications didn t count in this country and there were language barriers.

“I asked everyone in the group to name a skill they would like to share with their community. All of them said they d be happy to teach people to cook because that was something they felt confident doing.

“In that room there were women from all over the world, so I was sure there were lots of people in this country who would love to learn how to cook their amazing cuisines.”

the right ingredients

“We take our chefs through a four-to-six month training programme to train them to become professional cookery class teachers,” said Jess.

“They then go on to teach our customers. The idea was this would be a platform for them to go on and get other work that they d be more confident and their level of English would have improved. Also it was to get them out of isolation and to help their mental health.

“There s also the benefit to our customers who attend the cookery classes – that helps address negative perceptions of migration in the UK – seeing it as something really to be celebrated. It was a way to support refugees in feeling welcome in this country and we d started running cookery classes in person all over London before the pandemic.”

Scan this code for more info on Migrateful

fed the grateful

how cooking a Migrateful recipe or taking part in one of its classes can break the grind of lockdown and support refugees in the UK

going digital

Jess said: “Since the pandemic, we ve pivoted to online classes. It s actually been a real success story for the organisation.

“We re running twice as many classes as we were before the pandemic, on oom, and we re often sold out. The lockdown has really Jess Thompson founded the social enterprise in 2017 Migrateful gives refugees, asylum seekers and migrants a chance to share their culinary skills

helped our sales because everybody is cooking at home and it s a nice way for people to link up with friends and family in different homes.

“We normally have about 12 participants in a class – the refugee chefs will take them through the steps and tell them stories about their country.”

how it works

“Customers get sent the list of ingredients before the class and the chef then goes through the recipe step-bystep,” said Jess.

“ veryone s cooking the