For the first time in history, despite advances in medical care, the predicted lifespan of our children is less than ours as adults.

Why? .....poor diet and a lack of exercise according to the experts.

Some of the best evidence we have on what we should be eating, to enjoy a healthy and long life, comes from cookbooks written before the 1950s. The type of food our grandmothers were preparing.

There are millions of pages, derived from these old cookbooks, which describe what was being eaten and how it was prepared, at a time when people were living longer than they are now.

This question came to mind again today when a client of mine pointed out that in her opinion, and many others, physio was the same as massage treatment....at least when seeking private treatment.

This comment got me thinking about public perceptions and expectations when attending a physiotherapist for treatment for a pain condition.

I had to gently explain that we learn more than just massage during our minimum of four years of undergraduate education at university. Furthermore, massage therapy, while useful for some, usually only results in short term pain relief. That said, meeting expectations and respecting patient preferences is all part of best practice.

As many of my clients will know, I am a strong proponent of a ketogenic dietary approach.

Why?... because of very positive personal experiences and sound science to back it up as a very healthy way to eat!

For those who may not be familiar with 'going keto,' it is all about training your body to be less reliant on sugar and starches and instead burning fat and ketones for energy.

Sounds strange, well not really. In ancestral times when food was scarce, and carbohydrates were less abundant, our bodies used this system to keep us fit and healthy.

Not only does keto make weight management very easy, but there are other significant health benefits.

You are doing the high-intensity spinning classes, three to four times a week, you feel pretty good afterwards. Why?...because you have triggered a physically induced stress response, you have taken your body into the red zone, the fight or flight state. Your body releases adrenaline, cortisol, endorphins and insulin which, like some magic mix cocktail, leave you buzzing....like you might after having outrun a sabre-toothed tiger with eyes on you for lunch.

Our Winter Term, starting on the 18th of November, is booking up fast.

I would like to take this opportunity, ahead of the new term, to remind our regular attendees and new clients how to get the most from your PhysioPilates.

Breathing - Something that might seem very simple, but can have a considerable effect on our exercise and movement. The pattern of breathing we use during PhysioPilates helps with the activation of our transversus abdominis (our deep lower tummy muscle) and pelvic floor muscles. By focusing on getting an excellent lateral expansion of our chest during inhalation, we can help reduce and minimise tension from building around the neck and shoulders, which can occur with more shallow breaths.

We start to lose muscle mass from the age of 30. This phenomenon occurs more rapidly in those who are sedentary and sit long periods each day.

As we age, we also become more susceptible to muscle imbalance, where some muscles tighten, and others weaken to create increased joint stress and injury. Muscle imbalance is a big issue for golfers, for example.

As we age, muscle recovery also takes longer after a bout of exercise or physical strain. While recovering, the muscles are in a weakened state and prone to injury.

It is essential to make every effort to maintain and even improve muscle function as we age through correctly prescribed exercise, diet, advice and treatment if required.

Those who train too hard, too often are weakening due to overload of the nervous and immune systems. Furthermore, inadequate periods of recovery leading to ‘weakness windows’ during which they inevitably continue to train. The result is pain, reduced muscle fibre recruitment and an inability to perform basic tests of functional strength, such as the grip and jump tests. So we have active, seemingly fit people, perhaps with large muscles but who lack fundamental strength.

Let me start off by answering - almost definitely....I’ll tell you why.

I often hear golfers swooning over the effortless-looking swings of pros and low amateurs. You hear the go-to phrases often wistfully uttered after a long drive, or a dialled in a wedge.

“They make it look so easy”

“Wouldn’t you love to be able to hit the ball like that?”

“I’d hurt myself if I tried to do that”

This is then, in the majority of cases, followed up by a wild slice and a pattern of footprints on the tee box that would confuse a Russian ballerina.

We live in an age of immediate gratification, usually at the touch of a button. It has to be quick, effective and more often than not, the cheaper the better.

News flash! The human body does not work that way. We cannot download a software update to remove all bugs and fix the problems.

The human body takes time to heal, there is usually no quick fix, no app to provide a cure. In fact, given how we are abusing our bodies with poor diets, too much or too little or too much exercise, and stress, it is now taking even longer for bodies to heal.