Blog

Pilates for Golf in Manhattan New York

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 01:34:00 GMT

By Michelle Funder

In late May I completed a Pilates for Golf seminar in Manhattan New York. The course went for two and a half days and was based at the Waldorf Astoria and Chelsea Heights Golf club driving range on Manhattan Island. The course focused on the fundamentals of the golf swing and what muscles need to be strengthened and stabilizedto help achieve greater golfing results and reduce injury.

Golf is a tough game that involves walking up to a small ball and using nearly every muscle in our body to explosively, in a controlled manner, hit the ball a certain distance and direction. The golf swing uses all different types of muscular contraction to control speed, force and accuracy. If there is a weak muscular link in the chain of our golf swing it can cause injury and more frustratingly poor golf shots. The idea behind pilates for golf is to work on the deep stabilizing muscles of the entire body, balance and flexibility to decrease errors and injuries.

We did practical work at the Chelsea Heights golf club driving range, putting our golfing pilates principals into practice. The driving range is on the banks of the Hudson River and is featured in a lot of Hollywood films. One of the great features of the driving range is an automatic ball machine that delivers the ball straight onto the mat for hitting, whilst this may seem like a ‘lazy’ feature it certainly helps prevent low back injuries.

I learnt a lot of new stretches and exercises that can be done specifically before, during and after a golf game whilst at the course. We also applied the theory of golf to different pilates exercises that can be done on the trapeze table, reformer and mat work during clinical pilates classes.

If you are interested in learning more about clinical pilates or specifically clinical pilates for golf please feel free to call the clinic on 9818 -7738.

An African Adventure

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:29:00 GMT

Dr Sarah Hand

B.App.Sc,(Clin.Sc.),B.Ost.Sc.

Last month I made a long anticipated trip to Tanzania for some sun, safari and a little bit of volunteering. I had the best of both worlds - I stayed with one of my closest friends Carley Andrews, who has lived in Arusha for the past four years and so had the benefit of lots of local knowledge, while also seeing things through the eyes of a "mzungu" (the local Swahili reference to "white people"). There is no doubting the collision of ideals in Africa; the staggering beauty of the Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater regions against the obvious poverty that the majority of the country lives in.

I was lucky enough to spend some of my time visiting a few of the local volunteering projects. The kids at the Ujamaa Children's Home, founded and run by Carley herself, are such bright, beautiful beings it is

amazing to think that they have had a far from perfect beginnings to life. Irene, Sabina and Kelvin, the three eldest children, have no living parents. Five year old twins Ally and Halima lost their mother to HIV and their father, dying from AIDS, is too ill to care for them. Ally also has HIV, but since coming to live at Ujamaa a little over a year ago and receiving proper medical care his health has improved significantly. They all attend local school and excel academically, with nine year old Kelvin finishing last year at the top of his class! You can find more information and ways to help Ujamaa Children's home at www.ujamaachildren.com.

Another place I visited was Cradle of Love (www.cradleoflove.com), a home for babies and toddlers who have been orphaned, abandoned at birth or whose mothers have died during childbirth or from HIV, with their remaining family unable to meet the demands of caring for a newborn. In a place that exists purely because of such tragedy, it is a surprisingly heartening experience to spend time feeding, caring for and playing with these babies. The overriding feeling is one of positivity that these children are being cared for so well, when the alternative is awful to even think about.

And no visit to Africa is complete without going on safari! Despite it being in the midst of rainy season our group, led by our fantastic guide Sam, was lucky enough to have near perfect weather for exploring the Serengeti. As for the animals, you name it - we saw it! A herd of 55 elephants while on a dawn game drive, a leopard hunting a wildebeest, a newborn baby giraffe with it's umbilical cord still dangling form his belly, a pride of fierce-looking but ultimately sleepy lions and an entire pool full of hippos! Looking back through my photographs, as 'normal life' resumes and everyday tasks take over, it actually becomes more and more amazing that I was there, literally within arms' reach of an elephant.

Working with Rowing VIS athletes at the Australian Rowing National Championships

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 03:05:00 GMT

I spent one week in West Lakes Adelaide working with the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) athletes whilst they were competing in the Australian National Rowing Championships. I was part of the support team for the athletes that consisted of sports scientists, strength and conditioning coaches, and rowing coaches. My role involved treating the athletes pre and post racing over the week and also to help the sports scientists when they were organizing cool down post racing.

It was a great experience working with the athletes, majority of which had represented Australia at the past Olympic games. It was fantastic being part of a professional elite team with access to all the leading equipment in sports science. As a practitioner it is always a challenge helping elite sports people with their injuries when they have to perform, I found this very rewarding.

All the athletes did really well during the regatta and are currently in Sydney undergoing trials for the next Australian team. Due to work commitments I could not be in Sydney to help them. I am looking forward to working with the athletes in the future though.

Michelle Funder

Welcome to our new website!!

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:17:00 GMT

Welcome to our new Chapel Street Osteopathy website. This website will aim to provide lots of information about the treatment of back and neck pain, as well as to discuss topics relevant to the Ostoepathic profession and the community.

This may include such topics as increased Medicare access for Osteopaths, or the ability to have improved referral rights for test such as ultrasounds and CT scans.

So keep an eye on the posts, and I hope that you will find some information relevant to you or any complaint that you may have.

Also, please feel free to contact us via the website, as there may be a topic that you wish to discuss in more detail.

So, thanks for dropping by, and I hope to hear from you soon!

Kristian van Staveren.

Chapel Street Osteopathy.