Another week closer to the magical date when the ‘C’ word will disappear! Craig chats movies and more with actor Jason Flemyng, Michael welcomes you to thoracic park (sorry…), and a gift from Alex at Kew for every reader!

Clinic Updates
Ticking over as we go. A few of the team will be pinching some long weekends to recharge and we will have some finalisation to Easter hours hopefully by next week (if you want us to open – let us know!)

In Tooting, Zara has switched her Wednesday afternoon shift to a Tuesday afternoon shift.

With our changes to appointment times, we are running full diaries for many of our practitioners – please ensure you book your schedule ahead of time to avoid disappointment.

Podcasts
This week’s Chiro.London Pod, proudly fuelled by Ground Coffee Society, features actor and total dude Jason Flemyng joining Craig for a chat. Having worked with the likes of Guy Ritchie, Sean Connery and Brad Pitt, Jason shares some tales from behind the scenes (and a decent Connery impression), but also discusses deeper subjects including his recovery from addiction, his philanthropy and how he’s benefited from chiropractic.

You can check it out on our website, or on Spotify, Apple and Google, too.

Vertebra of the Week
We move on to a new section this week in Michael’s tour of your spine.

From here on out we will be looking at the thoracic spine, or the middle part of the back. The T-spine is somewhat limited in movement as it has the ribs and ribcage connected to it. On each vertebra, one pair of ribs extend and come around to connect at the front to the breastbone (sternum). This is, for one, because it provides a lot of stability, but it also helps protect the space for the heart, lungs, liver and all other vital organs.

In mammals the number of thoracic vertebrae can vary widely, from 9 up to as many as 25. We humans fall right in the middle with 12.

T1
T1 is the 8th vertebra in the spine and the first of the thoracic region. The nerve exiting from T1 affects the arms from the elbows down, including the wrists and fingers, but also feeds into nerves at the top of the chest and innervate the oesophagus and trachea.

If the T1 nerve is damaged or there is a problem with it, possible symptoms you might feel include: cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, and pain in the lower arms, wrists and hands.

If you missed Michael’s overview of the cervical (neck) spine, you can check out his video rundown here.

Shameless Plug
I’m throwing it over to Alex Williams, our physical therapist in Kew, to talk about how he can help you get ahead of any lil niggles before they escalate.

Hi, I'm Alex. I provide soft tissue therapy to release areas of tension and knots in your body at our Kew clinic. I have been seeing a lot of people lately with tight upper and lower backs due to the demands of home working and, in general, a lot less natural movement as well.

However, given the positive turn in the weather and the lighter days, people are becoming more active, so I thought it would be good to offer some help to those of you who are getting a bit more motivated to get those bodies moving!

I offer physical therapy with the aim of seeing patterns to pre-empt potential for injury. If you’ve gotten a bit carried away and need some help being put back together, not to worry, I can help get you back onto your feet so you can do the things you love and enjoy.

I stay in contact with all of the chiros, so my services can complement what you are trying to achieve with them. Whether you are returning from an injury or looking for some relaxation to remove the tension in your body, I would be happy to help!

I have stolen Drew’s plug for this week and would like to offer £15 off any first visit with me – just mention this email and make sure you jump on my table before the end of March, 2021! You can email or call us on 0208 948 2744 to book.

Well, that’s us done for another week – stay safe and stay sensible until next week!

Drew