Extreme lengths for some Alone time

Daddy Day Care started out brilliantly with real enthusiasm by all of us. I looked at it as a once in a life time chance to catch up on time missed out in the previous 6 years with our three boys. And they too seemed equally excited about the prospect of having Dad around a…

Media making a Bags of Back Pain

  I opened my Twitter feed one morning last week to one of these sensationalist, scare mongering headlines; the type that health professionals trying to help people overcome pain absolutely loathe. It was an article warning of the long term dangers of school going children carrying heavy school bags and how 1/3 of parents thought their…

Flossing, Exercise and Chocolate Cake

When I go to my dentist she tells me that I need to floss. I hate flossing. To be honest I don’t floss. Not unless I have an upcoming appointment. Then I do. Vigorously. Now she knows I haven’t been flossing. She’s not a mind reader but there are tell-tale signs. The angry indentations on…

Making Time for Sleep and Recovery

It’s 5:25am and I’m already on my second coffee. The agonising wails of my teething 10 month old has the whole family up an hour already. Proper up. Not to mention attending to two ‘wee-wee’s’ during the night, only one of which was legit. The other was a false alarm or in other words a way of getting…

Are Smart Phones becoming a pain in the neck?

There are alarming reports of the upsurge of the amount of teenagers and children presenting to their GP and indeed physiotherapist with neck pain. First up neck pain in general is very common and usually nothing to worry about with adults. As we get older and some degenerative changes occur it will affect up to 70% of…

Concussion Confusion

There is a funny, yet worrying, story told from the 1980 All Ireland football final. As the Kerry players enter the tunnel at half time Mike Sheehy is commended for his contribution with a goal in the opening half. “Nice goal”, says the Doc. “Goal? What goal?”, replies Mike. The team doctor showed concern and…

Treat children like children, not mini adults

“Sure stick him in corner forward. He’ll have the beating of their corner back for pace”, said every gaelic football club manager ever as the rising 16 year old star makes his premature debut for the senior team. Often times this 16 year old might not even be that particularly talented, numbers are just low on the day and…