When Hannah Met Hannah…

“Humans are not made for sitting” Who knew? Hannah Burke did from Aspire Sports Therapy, who tells me sitting on your derriere all day does nothing for your posture.

As recruiters we spend the majority of our days sat down at a desk, to only go home at the end of a long day and sit down on the sofa to relax, and do it all again the day after that, and the day after that. At MET Marketing, we have a few “pacers” in the office, who if you gave them a fitbit would probably complete their ten thousand steps in the office alone. But if you’re like me, and continuously sit down (probably slouching) eventually it’s going to have an effect on our bodies.

Our job can be a stressful one at times when things don’t go to plan, so to help us relax we have a monthly office massage from Sports Therapist Hannah Burke. It’s only 15 minutes, but to get away from your desk and have your stiff shoulders massaged helps a lot more than you would think.

To give everyone an idea of how this helps us, and how it could help your staff and fellow office workers, I spoke to Hannah who told me about the benefits of the work she does and how exercise can improve your overall health and wellbeing.

An interesting perspective that Hannah gave me was comparing what she does to an MOT on your car. Sports Therapy massages are like an MOT for your body. You wouldn’t wait until your car had completely fallen to bits to get it serviced, so why would you for your body? Prevention is key and regular “ironing out” as she likes to call it can prevent injuries, and provide some much needed relaxation.

It’s quite well-known that exercise can improve your mood, and these magical things called endorphins are released which make you feel all happy and chirpy. Hannah says “when lactic acid builds up in the body, as well as toxins, exercise gets the blood pumping around your body and flushes those toxins out”. So all these silly “detoxes” that people do, like drinking copious amounts of green tea, can actually be better achieved by just getting off your backside.

The prospect of going to a gym after work might possibly be the worst idea ever to some, but Hannah says it doesn’t have to mean becoming a gym member “just getting out on your lunch for a walk, taking part in a class or local sports team can be far more appealing ways to improve our physical and mental health” and make new mates. Winning.

Sports therapy is not just for your big burly rugby players, to Hannah it should be for everyone. “Recovery is a big thing” says Hannah, not just your physically fit people. Even more so if you are in an office job, because before you know it those “niggles” that you’ve had will become a problem, and take even longer to recover from. Everyone would benefit from regular massages, and Hannah recommends one every 4-6 weeks, and when you think about it it’s not a massive commitment to make if it’s going to improve your overall physicality.

So if you think you, your team or anybody you know could benefit from a bit of a rub down, give Hannah a shout – she’s actually pretty damn good.

Hannah Bell