City Osteopaths

09/10/2026

🔥 Feeling the burn during exercise? It’s not lactic acid!

For years, we’ve been told that the burning sensation in our muscles during intense exercise is caused by a build-up of “lactic acid”. But research tells a different story.

🧪 At the normal pH of our tissues, what we actually produce is lactate, not a build-up of lactic acid. Rather than simply being a waste product, lactate can also be used by the body as a source of energy.

So what causes that familiar burn? 🔥

During intense exercise, working muscles undergo several chemical changes. Specialised nerve endings detect a combination of these changes, contributing to the burning sensation we experience when exercising hard.

🤔 And what about soreness the next day?

That’s different again. The aching and stiffness that can appear 12–24 hours after unfamiliar or strenuous exercise is known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). It is associated with microscopic changes and the resulting inflammatory and repair processes within muscle tissue, particularly after exercise your body isn’t accustomed to. DOMS often feels most noticeable around 24–72 hours after exercise.

⚠️ Know when it may be more than normal exercise soreness.
A temporary muscular burn during challenging exercise and some soreness afterwards can be normal. However, symptoms that are more intense than the usual exercise burn, feel unusual, or continue beyond 48 hours without improving may warrant assessment for a possible injury.

Getting a problem checked can help you understand what’s going on before continuing to train and potentially making it worse.

👐 Our osteopaths assess musculoskeletal and sports-related problems and can advise you on appropriate treatment and return to activity.

📅 Book an appointment with us:
https://clientportal.uk.zandahealth.com/clientportal/cityosteopaths/home

📖 Read the full article from The Conversation:
https://theconversation.com/feeling-the-burn-its-not-lactic-acid-291432

01/10/2026

🌟 Every Movement Counts: Helping Under-5s Get Active

The updated UK Chief Medical Officers’ Physical Activity Guidelines for Early Years (2026) are a helpful reminder that movement in the first five years isn’t just about “exercise” — everyday play and activity count too.

Being active from an early age can support healthy muscles and bones, movement and coordination, brain development and learning, sleep, and social skills. And it doesn’t need to be complicated or highly structured. 💚

Simple ways to build more movement into the day include tummy time and floor play for babies 👶, dancing to favourite songs 🎵, walking or scooting instead of taking the car for short journeys 🛴, trips to the playground 🌳, throwing and catching a ball ⚽, messy play, swimming, climbing and simply giving children plenty of opportunities to explore and move.

The key message from the new guidance is wonderfully simple: Get strong. Move more. Break up inactivity. Small bursts of activity throughout the day can all contribute.

Of course, every child develops at their own pace. If your child seems to be finding physical activity difficult, is reluctant or uncomfortable when moving, or you have concerns about their movement or motor development, we’re here to help.

Our osteopath Jennifer has expertise in baby and paediatric care and can assess your child’s movement and development, discuss any concerns you may have, and advise on appropriate next steps. 👶🧸

To book an appointment with us, visit:
https://clientportal.uk.zandahealth.com/clientportal/cityosteopaths/home

25/09/2026

How can you exercise for half the time and get the same benefit? ⏱️💪

“I don’t have enough time” is one of the most common barriers to exercise. But a review published in Sports Medicine looked at how strength training could be made more time-efficient while still supporting improvements in strength and muscle growth.

🏋️The researchers recommend prioritising bilateral, multi-joint exercises — movements that work several muscle groups and both sides of the body together — through a full dynamic movement. For example:

🦵 1x leg-pushing exercise — such as a squat or leg press

⬅️ 1x upper-body pulling exercise — such as a pull-up or seated row

➡️ 1x upper-body pushing exercise — such as a bench press

These three movement patterns can target all the major muscle groups, making them a useful foundation when exercise time is limited.

⏱️ Could you cut your workout time roughly in half?
The review found that the following advanced techniques can roughly halve training time compared with traditional training.

Supersets 🔄 involve performing two exercises one after another with little or no rest between them — for example, alternating an upper-body pushing exercise with a pulling exercise.

Drop sets 📉 involve completing a set, reducing the weight and immediately continuing with another set, with little or no rest. This can pack a substantial amount of work into a short period.

Rest-pause training ⏸️ breaks a set into smaller sections using very short, planned rest periods — often around 20 seconds — allowing more repetitions to be completed in less overall time.

These techniques can be demanding and aren’t appropriate for everyone or every exercise – especially heavy compound free-weight exercises such as squats and bench press.

💡 The takeaway? You don’t necessarily need lengthy gym sessions to make your strength training worthwhile.

Choosing exercises carefully and structuring your sessions efficiently could help you achieve a meaningful amount of training in considerably less time.

Simon and Daniel are trained in exercise advice and can help with individual training programmes, exercise progression or managing an injury that is getting in the way of your training.

📅 To book an appointment with us, visit:
https://clientportal.uk.zandahealth.com/clientportal/cityosteopaths

18/09/2026

🏋️ Worried you’re “doing it wrong” at the gym?

If you’re new to the gym, it can sometimes feel as though there are 100 rules for every exercise.

Where should your feet be? 🤔
How wide should your grip be?
Should you lift for 2 seconds or 3?
Is your technique perfect?

The good news is that you probably don’t need to obsess over every little detail.

A 2024 review looking at resistance-training technique and muscle growth found that there’s surprisingly limited research showing that very specific rules about body position and movement patterns are essential for muscle growth. It also found that quite a wide range of repetition speeds can produce similar results.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38249086/

💪 So, particularly if you’re a beginner, don’t let the pursuit of “perfect form” stop you from exercising.

Learning sensible, safe technique is still worthwhile, but you don’t have to move like a textbook illustration for your training to count.

For most people, building the habit of turning up consistently, training with a meaningful level of effort and gradually progressing, matters far more than worrying about tiny differences in technique.

There is an important caveat. 👇

If you’re already well trained, have a specific performance or muscle-building goal, or you’re exercising as part of rehabilitation from an injury, the details of exercise selection, technique, range of motion, load and programming can become much more important.

So if gym anxiety is keeping you away because you’re worried you won’t know what you’re doing:

Start. Keep it sensible. Keep showing up. Get stronger over time. 🏋️‍♀️

You can refine the details as you gain experience.

If pain or injury is making you unsure about returning to exercise, or you want specific guidance on how to exercise, our osteopaths can assess you and recommend a suitable approach to rehabilitation.

📅 Book an appointment with us via our website:
https://clientportal.uk.zandahealth.com/clientportal/cityosteopaths/home

11/09/2026

🤰 “Don’t Bump the Bump” — Keep Moving During Pregnancy 💗

Being active during pregnancy isn’t just about keeping fit. The updated UK Chief Medical Officers’ Physical Activity Guidelines (2026) highlight that physical activity has a range of benefits during pregnancy — and reassuringly state there is “no evidence of harm” when following the guidance.

Regular physical activity can help to prevent diabetes of pregnancy, reduce problems associated with high blood pressure, help control weight gain and improve fitness. It can also improve sleep and mood — particularly welcome when pregnancy starts making a comfortable night’s sleep more difficult! 😴🌙

The recommendation is to aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week throughout pregnancy, alongside muscle-strengthening activities twice a week. Already active? Keep going. Not currently active? Start gradually. 🚶‍♀️🏊‍♀️

The key message is reassuring: every activity counts and every minute counts. Listen to your body, adapt your activities as your pregnancy progresses and, as the guidelines neatly put it, “Don’t bump the bump.” 🤰✨

At City Osteopaths, we also support women experiencing pregnancy-related musculoskeletal aches and discomfort. If you’d like to book an appointment with us, visit:

https://clientportal.uk.zandahealth.com/clientportal/cityosteopaths/home

04/09/2026

🏋️ How long should you rest between sets at the gym?

It’s easy for a gym session to become longer than planned — particularly when rest periods are based on when we feel ready to go again. But could simply watching the clock make your training more efficient? ⏱️

A study compared self-selected rest periods with a fixed rest of around 2 minutes in resistance-trained adults. After 8 weeks of lower-body resistance training, both groups achieved broadly similar improvements in muscle size, strength and muscular endurance.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11503322/

The big difference? Time. ⌛

Those using fixed rest periods completed their workouts in approximately 29% less time on average. The researchers concluded that a timed rest interval of around 2 minutes appears sufficient for maximising lower-body adaptations while substantially reducing session duration.

💡 Want to make your gym session even more time-efficient?
One practical option is to use alternating or “split” sets. Rather than sitting for the whole rest period, you can train a different, non-competing body area before returning to the original exercise — for example:

Chest → legs → chest → legs or biceps → triceps → biceps → triceps

This can help you fit more exercise into the available time while still allowing the first muscle group some recovery.

If you need any help with your training or recovering from an injury, book an appointment with one of our expert osteopaths

https://clientportal.uk.zandahealth.com/clientportal/cityosteopaths

28/08/2026

🏃‍♀️ Updated Physical Activity Guidelines for Children & Young People 🚲

The UK Chief Medical Officers’ 2026 guidance is a useful reminder that being active doesn’t have to mean structured sport or exercise.

For children and young people aged 5–18, the guidance recommends aiming for an average of at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day across the week. ⏱️

🌟 What counts?
There are plenty of ways to get moving — from playing, walking and running to swimming, cycling, climbing, dancing, PE and sport. Activities should make children breathe faster and feel warmer, with movement spread throughout the day.

💪 Across the week, children and young people should also include activities that help develop movement skills and muscle and bone strength, while looking for opportunities to reduce inactivity and increase activity.

Regular physical activity can support healthy muscles and bones, co-ordination, fitness, sleep, concentration and learning, as well as confidence and social skills. 😊

For parents and carers, the key message is to make movement varied, enjoyable and achievable. Small opportunities to be active throughout the day can all contribute towards the weekly average.

At City Osteopaths, we support children and young people with a range of musculoskeletal concerns. If pain, discomfort or an injury is making activity difficult, you can book an appointment with us via our website:

https://clientportal.uk.zandahealth.com/clientportal/cityosteopaths

21/08/2026

❤️ Heart Rate Variability: a useful number — but not a number to worry about

If you wear a smartwatch or fitness tracker, you may have come across Heart Rate Variability (HRV).

HRV measures the small variations in time between successive heartbeats. Rather than simply telling us how fast the heart is beating, it can provide useful information about how the autonomic nervous system is responding to things such as exercise, recovery, sleep and stress. 📈

A fascinating 2026 review describes HRV as one of the most informative non-invasive biomarkers of cardiovascular and neurophysiological regulation, with applications extending from cardiovascular health to monitoring fatigue, stress and recovery.

🔬 Read the open-access research here:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12872-026-05543-z

⌚ So should we all be watching our HRV?

Fitness trackers can be excellent tools. They can help us notice patterns, monitor activity and recovery, set goals and — perhaps most importantly — provide a little extra motivation to get moving. 🚶‍♀️🏃‍♂️

But there is an important caveat.

Consumer wearables aren't medical-grade ECGs, measurements can be affected by factors including movement and sensor contact, and individual trends are often more meaningful than becoming preoccupied with one isolated reading.

And sometimes all that health data can have the opposite of its intended effect. Constantly checking sleep scores, heart rate, HRV, steps and “readiness” can make some people feel more anxious rather than healthier. 😟

This interesting article from The Conversation explores that problem:

👉 Why your wearable health tracker can make you feel anxious:
https://theconversation.com/why-your-wearable-health-tracker-can-make-you-feel-anxious-283637

Our view? Let your tracker support healthy behaviour, rather than dictate how you feel. 🌿

Use it to encourage regular movement, recognise longer-term patterns and celebrate progress — but don't let a disappointing score convince you that you've had a bad night's sleep, a poor workout or an unhealthy day before you've even got out of bed.

Technology can provide useful information. It shouldn't become another source of stress.

While wearables provide reassurance for some people, for others they increase health anxiety.

14/08/2026

🚶 Every minute counts when it comes to movement

New physical activity guidance for adults and older adults reinforces a simple but important message: any level of activity can bring health benefits — and it’s never too late to start. 💚

Regular physical activity can help to:
😴 Improve sleep
🧠 Manage stress
⚖️ Maintain a healthy weight
😊 Improve quality of life
❤️ Reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes
💪 Keep muscles, bones and joints strong
🦴 Support balance and reduce the risk of falls as we get older

The guidance recommends aiming for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, or a combination of the two. Strengthening activities are recommended on at least 2 days per week, with older adults also encouraged to work on balance twice a week.

But perhaps the most useful message is that you don’t have to do everything at once. Every minute counts. Breaking up long periods of sitting and finding manageable ways to move more throughout your day can all contribute. 🚶‍♀️🌿

Whether it’s walking, swimming, cycling, gardening, taking the stairs or another activity you enjoy, finding movement that works for you can be a valuable investment in your long-term health and wellbeing.

If pain, stiffness or a musculoskeletal problem is making it difficult to stay active, our osteopaths can assess your individual circumstances and discuss appropriate ways to support your movement and function.

📅 Book an appointment with us via our website:
https://clientportal.uk.zandahealth.com/clientportal/cityosteopaths

24/07/2026

🏃‍♂️🍝 Race day starts the day before… not at breakfast!

If you've got a marathon, sportive, triathlon or long-distance event coming up, don't make the mistake of trying to "carb load" on the morning of the event.

New research has shown that even very high carbohydrate intake (10 g per kg of body weight) doesn't fully restore muscle glycogen for at least 12 hours after hard exercise. While the liver's glycogen stores recovered quickly, the muscles – the fuel tank you'll rely on during endurance exercise – were still only around 70% replenished after 12 hours.

https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/JP289115

💡 What does this mean?
A big bowl of porridge or pasta on race morning will raise your blood glucose (sugar) for a quick energy boost, but it won’t give your muscles enough time to store the energy they’ll need for longer events. Effective carbohydrate loading needs to begin at least the day before your event.

✅ Plan your meals ahead.
✅ Eat carbohydrate-rich foods the day before.
✅ Think of race-day breakfast as a final top-up—not the main fuel load.

Whether you're training for your first 10K or your next marathon, good preparation can make all the difference. 🏅

If training niggles or injuries are getting in the way of your goals, book an appointment with us via our website:
https://clientportal.uk.zandahealth.com/clientportal/cityosteopaths