You may have heard of the term 'whiplash' but what does the word mean?

Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD) is a medical term given to a variety of symptoms which may follow a motor vehicle accident, for example, and include:

Neck pain - on one or more frequently both sides of the neck, either when moving the neck when sitting still or frequently both depending on the severity of the injury.

Dizziness - may occur when changing position or moving the head and neck.

Paraesthesia - aka pins and needles may occur about the neck, towards the head or sometimes down one or both arms.

Headaches - usually an unpleasant 'pressure' type of feeling, starting at the back of the head, either one side or both.

According to Professor Daniel Lieberman of Harvard University, mismatch diseases are caused by the discrepancy between our contemporary lifestyles and the original hunter-gatherer purposes for which the human body evolved.

Most of us are used to dentists telling us what to do so that our teeth will look good, and work properly.

But what many dentists don't realise is that a misaligned bite may also trigger your autonomic nervous system to send a fight-or-flight signal to your body, causing a domino effect of inflammation and stress.

To test your jaw alignment, relax your muscles with your mouth open and then slowly bite down. If your molars don't hit evenly just before your front teeth touch, your jaw may be misaligned.

Christmas is upon us, and it is time to eat, drink and be merry!

Here are some tips to ensure you enjoy Christmas and don't come out the other side feeling pretty awful. These are based on expert recommendations, research and personal experience.

Being mindful of these four pillars of health may help you enjoy this time of the year without missing any of the fun and festivities!

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.

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.