Hannah Beard is an Osteopath working out of Eccleshall, and we catch up with her to find out about how she helps people, and how things like stress literally can make our joints hurt.
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00:00So we're here in Eccleshaw and we're here with family osteopath Hannah Beard.
00:05Hello. What is an osteopath? It's to do with the back isn't it? Although I've
00:11learned it's not just to do with the back. So an osteopath is a professional
00:15who's trained to degree level to use their hands to help you with pain and
00:20that might be pain in your back, your knee, your neck, your shoulder, your foot, your jaw.
00:24And we use hands-on therapy so you might have seen the cracking videos on TikTok. We could do that
00:33but we can also do massage articulation. I like to work through the tummy to help with back pain
00:39and there's lots of ways you can help manage pain. You know what, you mentioned those cracking videos
00:44and you're right I have seen them and I've also seen a dog ones where they do it. Is that just,
00:50is that like a very effective direct route of treatment the cracking method or is that just
00:56for TikTok? If it's safe obviously people like to hear a sound because it sounds like something's
01:01happened and what that is is just a joint space gapping and that is a nice technique because
01:06it can be done quickly, it can be done without pain and it can change things quite quickly. So
01:11like if you've got a joint that stops moving as a unit as a single unit and moves as a block
01:17that shifts forces up and down to your neck and shoulder or to your lower back. So if you can gap
01:21those joints and remind them that they can move individually you spread the force and it takes
01:25the pain off and the pressure off and allows it to get nutrition more easily. So it is a useful
01:30technique but not everyone is suitable. Yeah yeah when you do see people doing it I do think oh well
01:36this could go horribly wrong you've got to know what you're doing haven't you? Yeah and you don't always
01:39get a noise so sometimes you think these videos are probably a bit enhanced. Yeah I can well imagine
01:45yeah. So you personally when did you think that this is what I want to do and you know where did
01:50your interest in it come from? Well um whenever we had a problem in our family with back pain we'd go
01:56to see an osteopath so I'd seen my mum have treatment my sister have treatment I've had treatment
02:00um I was actually teaching in Liverpool at the time and finding it really stressful job thinking
02:06I cannot be a teacher till I'm 65. Yeah. I've had an interest in medicine thought thought about
02:11a physio or doctor but not really quite settled on it and um I went to see my sister get a second
02:17opinion with an osteopath and I thought wow this ticks all the boxes it's a profession you have a skill
02:23you're working with people it's lifelong learning um you know and I thought actually this could be
02:28the thing that really works well for me. Yeah. And then I retrained um with the help of my teaching
02:33degree and I haven't looked back since. So you mentioned your family there kind of all having
02:39some treatment with the back so can I can back if we can it be a genetic thing is that often how it
02:46works? Yes for some people um they've got the well the gene for an osteoarthritis um but I would like
02:52to say that having arthritis doesn't mean you'll live in pain. Yeah. A lot of people might scan 100
02:58people and find that some we've all got a degree of wear and tear on our spine or disc bulges
03:03but that doesn't actually predicate who's in pain and so I think pain pain can be situational so if
03:11you've had a bereavement if you've had an increase in stress or a change in the lifestyle or you've
03:15had a baby or you've had a sporting injury and now you're losing a bit of muscle mass I think those
03:20things can be more important to look at when you're trying to help someone than is it arthritis but for
03:25some people yes they've got a family history and their arthritis is fairly severe but I'd like to think
03:31I can help those people as well. Yeah now that's interesting like you say so a lot of us have
03:36got arthritis but that doesn't necessarily mean we're in pain but a period of stress in our life
03:41that can affect literally how the body inflammation and so on in the body and that can cause that pain
03:47then for that period. Absolutely so um being in pain means that you probably don't eat as well you don't
03:53sleep as well you have increased muscle tension in your body and you'll be holding yourself differently
03:58obviously being in pain is stressful in itself and all those factors can mean that you get stuck in
04:04a cycle of pain rather than it resolving as it might have done before on its own. Yeah so does that stand
04:10to reason that if there's a period of stress has caused that inflammation that pain to start that
04:17once they're over that period of stress that that should subside? Absolutely yeah and sometimes people
04:23just need time and sometimes we can help speed that up but I would say that you know my mid-life office
04:30workers you know in a management job more possibly have more pain and more um more disability than some
04:37of our retired patients who suddenly have obviously had a change in and how they how their days are and
04:43they're much less stressed and therefore their pain is different. And you were saying actually you see a lot more
04:48kind of people that are office workers than manual workers and I guess with the advent of all this you
04:53know home working and a lot more IT based jobs a lot of us are becoming more sedentary now aren't we
05:00which is it's never a good thing I'm guessing. Yeah and it's it's often about um your diversity and
05:06movement so you can sit and you can stand and but if you're stuck in one position for a long period of
05:10time and that might be standing or it is more likely sitting then yeah that can have a real impact on your
05:15joint health and the pressure that goes through your joints your muscular tone and you know how
05:22nutrients get flushed around your body so yeah sometimes desk-based office workers are some of
05:27my trickier patients to get ready to get right. Yeah and is it mostly the back that you see people
05:33coming to you with and suffering with? I think that's what osteopaths are most well known for it's
05:38what we see the most of but that's shortly followed by neck pain shoulder pain and knee pain it's something
05:44I see sort of weekly but predominantly what brings people in is their back it might be they've had
05:49an ankle injury you know five years ago and that's upset their back so I'm always looking for why so
05:54I would always start with the spine more often than not I will travel away to other parts to try and help
06:00figure out why the back's struggling and also to help get you out of pain. So as a professional
06:07what do you do to kind of keep your body healthy you know do you make sure you do yoga do you make
06:16do you do sports or just make sure you're walking is there anything that you do that perhaps we can
06:20steal a few tips off? Absolutely so diversity and movement is it so I go to the gym I do weights and
06:29circuits I walk my dog I run but I definitely have rest days as well yeah I think it's important to
06:35realise that you know swimming walking your dog gardening housework all of these count as physical
06:42activity but it's good to listen to your body so if I'm feeling really tired and I'm still aching
06:48I might go for a walk rather than going to the gym so I think listening to your body is probably the best
06:53tip I can give you and be confident that you know what you need. And what about this thing where you
06:58know we it's perhaps we it's the first time we've had a bit of back trouble and it used to be very much
07:03oh you better lie up and yeah but then now we kind of hear no no keep moving keep moving which
07:09one is it is it somewhere in between or? So I would say keep moving keep with relative rest so for some
07:16people with acute back pain when it's really sore and maybe it's got you stuck forward absolutely get
07:20down on your bed with a pillow between your knees and ice back on your back for 10 minutes every hour if
07:25that helps but yes don't take to your bed try and keep moving I say to my patients potter at work top
07:31height when you feel tired maybe lie down rather than sit but then get back up again use a nice
07:37pack if you need to take painkillers you can do you know paracetamol and ibuprofen on your friend
07:42if you're not sleeping and paracetamol before bed will help you to do that definitely take it and then
07:48seek help if it's not resolving in a week if you're not getting better on your own within a week then I
07:53would say seek help you don't have to put up with the pain that you're feeling. Great stuff and don't forget guys
07:58seek help we're here in Eccleshore with the wonderful Hannah Beard so check her out guys thank you.