Western News: March 18, 2021

WESTERN NEWS Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Thursday March 18 2021 5
for hungry-to-learn Fiona
“We have people rock up and
say: ‘I want to learn more about
my family, I think they came
from Denmark.’ So people
who are interested in searching
that area have a meeting, share
ideas and tips on how or where
to find things.”
The process was not always
simple seeing as 80 per cent
of information could not be
found online, but having the
internet nonetheless definitely
made things easier.
“We used to have to go and
write letters, visit places to get
information but now you’ve
got lots of information online,”
she said.
But most genealogists were
not interested in just a list of
facts – the importance of social
history built a much better picture
of how that person lived.
Putting the facts together
and shaping it into a story
“makes it far more fun.”
“It’s always nice to put your
person in a place with what
else was happening in the
world at that time. A list of
facts is a bit boring,” she said.
“Most of the real genealogists
aren’t just interested in
names and the date of birth,
marriage and death. They
actually want to learn more
about people, what they did,
where they lived and why they
shifted countries.”
Over the years, the branch
has seen a rise in people wanting
to know more about where
they came from through the
avenue of DNA testing.
“We’re also finding people
are related to each other within
the branch through DNA
which is fun,” she said.
But DNA testing did not
always have the most desirable
results.
Although people could trace
their ethnicity or find birth
families if they were adopted,
finding out they were not
related to someone was “devastating.”
“There are brick walls that
will never be solved,” Lees
said.
“But for some people, the
downside with DNA is showing
that who you thought was
your father, actually wasn’t.
That has been really devastating.”
Lees shares her addiction of
family history with her husband,
David, throughout 40
years of marriage.
The mutual understanding
meant date nights were a little
more interesting in odd places
like cemeteries and libraries.
For Lees, that passion was
wanting to know more about
where she came from and what
influences made her the person
she is today,
But knowing your roots can
also be essential to one’s own
survival.
“For some, it might even be
a health component. Heart
attacks, strokes or Alzheimer’s
might run in the family.
Looking at what people died
of might be a push for some
people.”
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HEALTH & AWARENESS
Joint pain: Do I have arthritis or
could it be mainly my muscles?
The team at Physical Sense in Sydenham
sees clients with a range of symptoms but
many of their middle-aged and senior clients
visit complaining of pain in one of their joints.
Physiotherapist Ietje van Stolk suggests
that a major part of the pain could be due
to muscle pain rather than simply arthritis.
“Even if an x-ray shows arthritis, the reason
for the pain may be the muscles around
the joint,” she explains. The images show
how a muscle knot (the crosses) in a back
muscle can give hip pain (aches and pain
are the red areas in the drawings), a knot
in a muscle on the back of the shoulder
blade can give a deep pain in the front of
the shoulder and a muscle knot all the way
near the groin can give an ache in the knee
(especially at night in bed).
Ietje recalls one case where an 89 year
old client with severe arthritis who walked
with a stick, told her, “I will end up in
a wheelchair, I cannot put any weight
through my right leg due to pain in my hip
and buttock”. “Within 4 treatments, she
was walking with her stick but without the
severe pain,” says Ietje. “The arthritis was
one of the factors that made her muscles
spasm but the other was that older people
move less and the flexed position the hip
is in when we sit is particularly bad for
the hip.” Ietje is happy with the fact that
although the client was 89 and could have
been “given up on” or told to live with the
pain, she made a difference to her health
and wellbeing.
The same lack of movement can be the
reason for your knee pain or your shoulder
pain and the same few treatments could
make a huge difference for you.
At Physical Sense, hands-on techniques
(massage and triggerpoint deactivation
techniques) are used to release the muscles.
The client also gets a home exercise
program designed to mobilize and stretch
the joint, strengthen the important core
muscles and increase general strength and
SHOULDER
PAIN
KNEE PAIN
(the crosses are the areas of the muscle spasms, the red areas is where the pain is felt)
balance. They teach a movement sequence
that stretches the joint in all directions
whilst the client is able to lie safely on their
bed, perfect for older or less mobile clients.
In many cases having the muscles
released and being taught how to maintain
it, is enough to stay on top of the problem.
HIP PAIN
If severe arthritis is the underlying cause,
some maintenance therapy may be
necessary, but that is often more affordable
and, for older patients, better tolerated
than surgery. After only one treatment you
should know that it will work for you. Call
and only pay $50 on that treament.
Physical Sense Gym and Physio is located at 300 Colombo Street, Sydenham. The Blue Line Bus stops in front of the
door and there is ample parking. To enquire about joint pain treatment, phone 377-2577 or visit www.triggerpoints.co.nz