It’s horribly hot in Indonesia, the concrete reflects the heat like an oven in urban Jakarta. At best you will feel drained and sluggish all day, at worst you will faint (sadly, talking by experience). The locals take it graciously but the bule, the whites, need some pick-up.
So during my stay in Indonesia we often went to a minor, shabby, smelly shopping mall with a massage parlour hidden upstairs. Not a tourist trap – you can find those in the fancy hotels and they’re always really beautiful girls; this was a no-English-spoken, modest place for locals only, with only male massagers. How do you communicate with your local massage practitioner then? Well, you don’t (or you do by pulling faces and sometimes giving little OW!s).

The place is one big, long and narrow hall, with low lights, dark wood and high white curtains dividing the massage cubicles. Each person gets two young male massagers. You think this looks interesting and very like an old Emmanuelle movie, but you’ll stop grinning when the two devils start silently working on you, starting from each toe.
Eek! Gentle it is not. They pull, push, poke, snap (they won’t leave any single toe or finger alone until it pops with a sound they deem acceptable), then they prod into the flesh of your sole, then vigorously knead your legs, in lovely synchrony (the elegance of their movements distracts you from the discomfort they’re causing by prodding deep with their fingers). After the legs they make you sit up, lift your arms up and start the whole process again from each phalanx of your fingers, to the palm, to the arms (which they stretch behind you until you signal you’re a bit in pain), then they meticulously prod down the length of your spine, fingers digging in quite a bit. Last thing is the head, which they stretch on both sides, down and back, then you get a nice nasty scalp rub. The whole process takes one hour, which you spend in fear the first time (“where are they going to hurt me now?” “gosh, I’ll have bruises tomorrow”), and more and more relaxed the following times, when you know the procedure and your body doesn’t pull a resistance. Still, it isn’t delicate, pretty or feathery – although there were always locals loudly snoring throughout, I guess a lifetime of having fingers poking you makes it really relaxing.

After tea and some relaxation time on chaise longues, you step out in the smelly, sticky heat of Jakarta and you’re BUZZING. You want to go to the swimming pool, run a marathon, learn boxing or flamenco, and you’re OK with walking home instead of taking the usual air-conditioned taxi because you don’t care about the heat (this is quite a big deal and you surprise yourself). The natural high lasts for a couple of hours. Best thing about Jakarta.

Paola Sorrentino is a freelance translator.

Newspapers have recently reported a story about a lawsuit by two Virgin Atlantic employees against their employer because they developed RSI (repetitive strain injury) while working in the Clubhouse Lounge at Heathrow providing massages for businessmen. The employees won £300K in compensation arguing that they developed RSI during working hours and that they were not given regular breaks. In a nutshell, the employers failed in their duty of care towards their staff wellbeing.

There’s quite a few lessons to be learned from this lawsuit, so here’s my thoughts on the matter.

RSI is a very debilitating condition that can be extremely painful. Computer programmers and journalists for tend to suffer from it as they spend several hours typing without a break and if their injuries become chronic their ability to work becomes severely compromised.

The Virgin Atlantic court case has set a precedent so now staff members can sue for RSI they developed during working hours.

There was obviously a breakdown in communications between the Virgin Atlantic therapists and their employer. The therapists should have demanded better working conditions including regular breaks and should have negotiated with the clients to be able to perform a massage treatment safely without compromising heir personal health. It has been reported that the massage clients practically bullied the therapists into providing a stronger pressure than was strictly necessary. Doing so severely damages a therapist’s hands. Not only wrists, forearms and shoulders can become painful and inflamed, but general back pain can develop.

Massage and beauty therapists must look after their health in the first place, they are supposed to lead by example.

Employees in general have their responsibilities: they must negotiate with their employer so that they are not spending more than one hour at the time a the computer or other activity that would cause repetitive strain without a one-five minute break.

There’s some clear messages from this story: the Virgin Atlantic lawsuit should ring alarm bells with employers as repetitive strain injuries at work could potentially cost companies some serious money. It would be much more cost-effective to invest in Employee Assistance Programmes and a proper wellbeing strategy that includes offering yoga or exercise classes in the workplace and regular massage treatments for staff.

Venue information here: Energya Therapies on Qype. Please review your treatment on Qype.

Paola Bassanese, director of Energya Ltd www.energya.co.uk, is preparing a study on how massage therapy can help scoliosis sufferers. The main research assumption is that massage can significantly reduce discomfort and back pain in people with a pronounced curvature in their spine.
If you are interested in participating in this study and can commit for 6 months to receive free massage therapy once a week please get in touch: paola@energya.co.uk.

Sometimes nature needs a helping hand

I was diagnosed with scoliosis as a teenager. So, statistically speaking, I was ticking all the boxes as a scoliosis sufferer because:

• scoliosis affects mostly young girls (80% of the cases)
• scoliosis develops mostly during puberty.

My spine had a 45 degree curvature and when I was told I had to undergo surgery I panicked (and so did my mother). As a teenager, the last thing you need is to give your peers yet another excuse to mock you.

Not only I needed to have surgery, but I was also told I had to wear a brace for one year after the operation (not a good look). If untreated, my scoliosis would aggravate in a matter of months and it would have left me in a serious debilitating condition with severe complications to my breathing, blood circulation and nervous system.

Spinal surgery is extremely invasive and high risk as  a small minority of surgery patients can become paralysed. My surgery straightened the thoracic part of my spine which was more affected and a Harrington rod was attached to my vertebrae from T4 to L1.

After my operation I was bed-bound for 1 month and was not allowed to sit up for a few weeks  (this was the hospital policy in Italy, where I had the operation; in the UK you are told to sit up the day after the operation).

After being dismissed from the hospital I had physiotherapy but I was unimpressed with the low levels of motivation and care the State-paid physiotherapists had.

The worst part of the recovery programme was being told what I was NOT allowed to do:

• parachuting (ahem, not that I had planned to do it anyway…)
• long distance running
• boxing
• martial arts

I have always been rebellious so I set off on a mission to challenge all these limitations.

Over the years, I enthusiastically threw myself into all sorts of fun and exciting activities (DISCLAIMER: ALWAYS CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR WHAT ACTIVITIES YOU ARE ALLOWED TO PERFORM IF YOU HAVE SCOLIOSIS).

My list of achievements grew bigger and bigger:

• climbed Machu Picchu in Peru
• street dance performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London
• paragliding in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• kick boxing classes at the gym

I set up my own business, Energya, as a way to raise awareness of health and wellbeing issues. As a massage therapist, I put my body through a lot of physical challenges and I love it, although I will not be able to practise massage in the long term because of wear and tear.

I have a support team of fellow massage therapists, physiotherapists, osteopaths and chiropractors who look after my back and I have been symptom-free for years.

I hope my story will inspire others who suffer from scoliosis.

Sometimes nature needs a helping hand

As a scoliosis sufferer myself, I know how disheartening it can be to be told that your child/you have scoliosis. Scoliosis is a severe curvature of the spine that can have grave consequences if untreated. I was operated in Italy as a teenager and my thoracic spine is held together in place with a Harrington rod. Thanks to regular exercise, Pilates, chiropractic adjustments, osteopathy treatments and massage I am completely pain free and go through my daily life without even thinking I might have a back problem.
If you have scoliosis, don’t suffer in silence: get a referral from a GP to see a specialist and catch it while it’s still in its early phases if possible.
More work has to be done to educate children and teachers in schools to spot this problem early.
Adults with scoliosis can also considerably reduce the amount of pain and discomfort by having regular treatment.
I will be at The Back Show in Earls Court on Sunday 4th October. Feel free to contact me at paola@energya.co.uk

Recommended reading: Energya’s fitness page.

back pain

The British Chiropractic Association and The London Paper have quoted  a 2009 research study stating that 72% of people in the UK have had and/or are still suffering from back pain. The study has revealed that 1/3 of the interviewees spend approximately 15 hours a day sitting.