Caroline Whittome Soft Tissue Therapy

As most of you know I am hopeless at posting regularly on social media. However I wanted to let you know I am currently enjoying participating in my first Zero Balancing course.

Zero Balancing, as as explained on https://zerobalancinguk.org/about-zero-balancing/
by Zero Balancing teacher Judith Sullivan,
works with the bones and joints, and with the energy that flows through them. We pay particular attention to those joints in the body that balance posture and movement. These joints naturally have a small range of motion, so when they become compromised the body has few options to resolve the restriction, compensating elsewhere. For example, an imbalance in the bones of the foot might present as pain and discomfort in the knee or hip. Zero Balancing directly addresses these joint imbalances, recognising that small changes in the function of key joints will produce a significant improvement in body ease and alignment.

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I have been fortunate to have received Zero Balancing treatment for acute bank pain, after 4 appointments my back pain dissipated and I have remained free from pain since. It’s incredibly gentle, nurturing and deeply respectful modality.

I am loving learning more about it and look forward in the months and years ahead to becoming a licensed ZB practitioner.

Also in June 2025 I will be taking my CST2 course, my second course in CranioSacral therapy, another very gentle and respectful modality. Never underestimate how powerful gentle therapeutic touch can be and how healing and grounding it is in this super busy world we live in. My belief is that this gentle approach, working with the body in trust is the most beneficial and rewarding way forward, working with a clients structure and soft tissue in a kind way. The results I see, the results my clients feel reinforce this on a weekly basis. It’s an absolute privilege and honour to help, nurture and support my clients.

What is Zero Balancing? - Zero Balancing UK So, what is Zero Balancing? Zero Balancing is a gentle yet powerful method of balancing body energy with body structure using skilled touch. It was developed by an American Osteopathic Physician, Dr Fritz Frederick Smith MD.

I am hugely proud of the work I do, I love helping and caring for others. This year I qualified as a Licenced Perrin Technique Practitioner helping those suffering from CFS/ME/ Fibromyalgia and Long Covid.

I have a few clients following The Perrin Technique and I have finally got round to updating my website with regards to this. Please have a read and share if you know anyone suffering from CFS/ME/ Fibromyalgia and Long Covid.

https://www.carolinewhittome.com/the-perrin-technique

People can find further information on The Perrin Technique FB page or website.

The work is immensely rewarding seeing the grip of CFS/ME/ Fibromyalgia and Long Covid loosen its grip.

I’m too late in my knowledge to have helped Evon Carter but I’ll never stop working to help and support others suffering as she did. My long term goal is to set up a charity called Sparkletastic in Evon’s memory so those who can’t afford private healthcare can still get the help and support they need and don’t disappear into the “Missing Millions”

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The Perrin Technique | carolinewhittome.com The Perrin Technique is a manual system of diagnosis and treatment that has helped many hundreds of patients with CFS/ME/ Fibromyalgia since 1989 and more recently those suffering from Long Covid too. I am a Licenced Perrin Practitioner and was trained by Dr Perrin himself in the pathology, applied....

Very proud to say after a lot of studying and an intense 4 days lectures and practical workshops I have now completed my CST1 (Craniosacral therapy 1) course.

Now the journey to solidify my learning starts before doing my CST2 either later this year or next 2025.

Huge respect for all the CST therapists out there as they have an incredible understanding of anatomy and physiology and their palpatory sensitivity and skills are immense.

I am very proud to say I have completed my training and am now a certified scar therapy practitioner! It’s been an hugely rewarding and interesting course.

It’s not just the actual physical scar(s) that directly benefit from treatment but also the affect on the surrounding soft tissue from any adhesions and fibrosis which can affect joints and mobility causing compensation measures. Often these cause more discomfort and pain than the physical direct scar itself.

It is not just new or immature scars (18-24 month old scars) but really mature scars that will benefit and feel the difference from scar therapy. I have a 14 year old c-section scar which has hugely benefited from treatment during the course. My knee and hip feel far freer and more comfortable than they have for years as the tethering and adhesions from the scar had been pulling on my knee and hip. Now that has been released a bit they feel far better which is amazing.

I am very excited to be starting a new course today to become a certified Scar Therapy Practitioner. It will be a privilege to help clients with their scars, reduce adhesions and fibrosis post injury, surgery or burn trauma.

This year I’ll be cycling 50k (not 100k) on 29th April for Women v Cancer Ride the Night challenge from Kempton Park Racecourse around London and back.

https://join.dream-challenges.com/fundraisers/carolinebullen

I’m hoping to raise a minimum of £150 and hopefully some lovely friends will be joining me on the night. We’ll be riding in memory of my friend Lornas friend Sue who recently very sadly passed away.

⭐️ Tri in the Park 2023 ⭐️

TITP 2023 run by Cheltenham Triathlon Club- will be held on Saturday 15th July 2023 - so if you, your children or anyone else you know would like to take part save the date and watch this space for notice of how to register for online entry which will open before Christmas.

My daughter Emily took part in it in 2019 and was so proud of her achievement and medal. I provided post massage support too.

This regional and national event has won awards and is fantastic opportunity for young, middling and older people to try a triathlon. A levels and abilities are welcome and the event is so so encouraging and supportive to all. The look of pride in everyone’s face who participates is absolutely fantastic.

Watch this space for more information

Today we’re in Windsor for the Spirit of Belron Challenge with 1,000 people from 34 countries and a further 7,000 virtual competitors raising £1.8 million to date for kids in Africa. Myself swimming, my father-in-law Steve Bullen biking and my husband Matt Bullen running on a team Sprint triathlon. Am slightly shocked at my swim time as my swim last week was 29 mins and today was 18:36 😁 very very happy with that. Steve did fantastically well on the bike leg as did Matt on the run. Safe to say I have been re-bitten by the triathlon bug 😁

I’m having a short break in my favourite part of the world, Ardaneasken in the Scottish Highlands. I’ll be back for the 1st week in May and look forward to seeing and helping my lovely clients again then. In the meantime here are some photos of this magnificent part of the world

Which Posture Are You?

It's quite a rare thing these days to see someone with posture A: Ideal Posture.

A few weeks ago I was out for dinner with my husband in London and in the whole of the restaurant I spotted one lady with Ideal Posture, she was sat with 5 other friends who were all partly slumped in their seats, backs curved, shoulders pronated. I really wanted to go up to her to say a heartfelt "well done" but didn't want to impose on their time, so stopped myself much to my husbands relief.

Try taking a full length selfie or ask someone to take a side on photo of you standing naturally and see which posture you think you are...then look around you and see how many people you can spot with Ideal Posture compared to those with forward head/pronated shoulders and text neck postures. Once you become aware of this it becomes easier to work on improving your own posture.

My next post will be all about the health benefits of good posture. It's my favourite topic! My children probably hate me now for correcting their posture all the time but hopefully when they are older they'll stand tall and look back and be glad I did.

DON'T RUN INTO TROUBLE!

As people are starting to ramp up their training plans I thought the following might be useful. Happy reading and happy running.

Did you know...

* The loading force/stress on the leg for each stride is 2.5-3x body weight

* There's a 79% chance of experiencing at least one injury in one year

* 80% of running injuries are from overuse - a mismatch between the resilience of the soft tissues and running load

* Novice runners (< 3 years' experience) are 2.2 times more likely to injure themselves.

* Nearly half of novice runners who experience an injury won't return to running again.

As I head towards my 50s this year I, like many friends of mine, have been suffering the symptoms of the peri-menopause and menopause. The symptoms are many and varied and can have a profound impact on your life through increased anxiety, aching joints, hot flushes to name but a few, all of which can really affect both the length and quality of our sleep.

The copy below is taken from an article written by Vicky Barbour, May 2021 and the attached articles further expand and will, I hope be interesting reading and helpful to those suffering the Menopause and those better wanting to understand and help their loved ones going through it.

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A study by Oliveira et al, concluded that regular massage therapy can help reduce any sleep related symptoms of peri-menopause and menopause by reducing the time that it takes to get to sleep and increasing the quality and length of deep sleep. In another study by Zhou et al, massage therapy was shown to have a significant improvement in 96% of people with insomnia.

Another study by Field et al showed that massage therapy decreases our levels of cortisol (stress hormone) by an average of 31% and increases our levels of serotonin and dopamine (the feel-good hormones) by an average of 28% and 31% respectively. During peri-menopause and menopause, women are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression and regular massage can therefore help alleviate these symptoms by reducing stress, boosting feel-good hormones and restoring feelings of being able to cope.

As many women can’t take HRT, or simply want to manage the symptoms of menopause naturally, massage is a fantastic therapy to incorporate into other lifestyle changes. Throughout this period of significant change, regular massage therapy ensures that women are taking time for themselves, taking time to relax, both mentally and physically, and benefiting from the therapeutic and supportive help that massage can provide.

Is is important, however, that women choose a Complementary Health Practitioner that has had the appropriate level of training to enable membership to the voluntary government regulator for complementary healthcare in the UK, the Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council. This is accredited by the Professional Standards Authority and set up by the government to improve standards and safety for the benefit of the public.