Coventry and District Osteoporosis Support Group

Our public meetings are now held at St John the Baptist Church Hall in Coventry City Centre, on the corner of Spon Street and Corporation Street. To find the exact location, visit www.multimap.com and type in the postcode CV1 3AY. The area is extremely well served by local buses as well as Park and Ride both North and South.  (Bus 48 from Nuneaton stops nearby.)  Admission is usually £2.50 and covers refreshments.

Thursday, 24th February 2011

2 - 3.30 pm

St John the Baptist Church Hall,

Corner Spon Street and Corporation Street

Coventry CV1 3AY

Addressing back problems

Karen Stewart, Warwickshire Physiotherapist

Back problems plague nearly everyone affected by osteoporosis.  Most of us have vertebral fractures either in the small of the back (the lumbar area) or higher in the spine (the thoracic area), and most of us have at one time or another had to deal with discomfort at the least and considerable pain at worst.  Karen will bring along a model spine to demonstrate how the spine works and then suggest strategies for managing back problems.  There should be something for everyone. 

There is parking in nearby Hill Street for disabled badge holders; many city buses, including Park and Ride North and South, stop within yards of the church.

Contact Lynne Adams on

024 7667 6683 for more details.

                              ***TRAINING EVENT***

          CAN YOU HELP US SPREAD AN IMPORTANT HEALTH MESSAGE?

       OSTEOPOROSIS is a condition, mainly of the elderly, which causes fragile bones which break easily. This can lead at best to a little discomfort and loss of height, and at worst to severe restrictions on quality of life. (You may be familiar with the sight of an elderly woman bent almost double because of multiple spinal fractures.) At least half of all women and one-fifth of all men over the age of 50 will break at least one bone because of osteoporosis. Most people are unaware that they have it until it has disabled them in some way.

    The Coventry and District Osteoporosis Support Group is running a Train the Trainers project. We are looking for women or men who would be willing to come to a FREE half day on

                                             Thursday, 10th March 2011

                                     from 10am to 1pm followed by lunch

                                                               at

                      Warwick Road United Reformed Church Hall, Large Room

                              Warwick Row, Coventry City Centre CV1 1EX

when we will talk about all the issues which can lead to osteoporosis and how to deal with them. It will be a small group of about 12 people. We would hope for a very lively session with lots of questions and discussion. We would then equip our future 'trainers' with materials to help them spread the word within their communities and we'd offer support whenever needed. If the first training session is successful, we hope to follow it up with others.

    If you are interested, would you please leave your name with Harjeet Matharu at Voluntary Action Coventry or contact me, Lynne Adams, on 024 76676683 or by email at noslynne@yahoo.co.uk. We've seen this project work in other parts of the country, so we're looking forward to a good response in Coventry.

Report and Photos from June 2010 Meeting

 EXTEND June 2010: Vijay Kumar leads our group.Vijay Kumar, who leads several EXTEND classes across the city, worked us surprisingly hard using music and an assortment of very simple exercise aids.   Just working against your own body weight can be quite a challenge, we found.  One EXTEND June 2010: Vijay Kumar leads us.person commented that everyone was smiling, so we obviously enjoyed it and several were inspired to have a look at Vijay's classes or those offered in other EXTEND June 2010venues. 

Report from November 2009 Meeting

 Eileen GilmourEileen Gilmour, MBAcC, who practises acupuncture at the Suffolk Clinic in Earlsdon, gave us a fascinating insight into this ancient art.

Quoting from her handout: "Traditional acupuncture is a system of medicine which has been used effectively for over two thousand years to relieve many health conditions, including pain.  Chinese medicine views any sympton of illness as due to an imbalance in the person's vital energy or "qi".  Needles are inserted into specific points on the body to restore the balance and free the flow of this vital energy."

  Barbara Gill feels the warmth of a moxa cynlinderOther techniques such as moxibustion (burning a cone or cylinder of the herb moxa or mugwort near an acupuncture point for added stimulation), cupping and massage may be used to reinforce the treatment.  (See the photo on the right.)

"Pain occurs when there is a blockage to the flow of vital energy in the body.  Acupuncture treatment will help the energy flow more smoothly in the channels.  It also works on a deeper level to alleviate feelings such as stress, anxiety, depression and frustration which contribute to the experience of pain.

Recent research supports the use of traditional acupuncture as an effective treatment for lower back pain.  NICE -- the National Institute for Clinical Excellence -- has recently recommended acupuncture as a viable treatment option for this condition."

Eileen's initial consultation time is an hour and a half, when she tries to get a holisitic view of the patient.  Usually there is some treatment on this visit, followed up, ideally, by at least seven one-hour treatments.  Many conditions need this much time before there is improvement.

To contact her phone the Suffolk Cinic on 024 76715698 or her mobile 07799 736304.