You may have heard of the common condition of hypothyroidism, also known as an underactive thyroid. But what exactly is the thyroid, what causes it to be underactive, and what effects might it have on your body? What is the thyroid? The thyroid is a gland in the neck, shaped like a butterfly, which regulates the hormones associated with regulating the body’s metabolism. A lack of these hormones, triiodothyronine and thyroxine, can cause many of the body’s normal functions to slow down.1 What causes hypothyroidism? The most common reason behind...

Have you ever had a cramp in your feet, toes or your legs? If you have, then you’ll know it takes a minute or two for it to go away. But when it does, it means you can feel your feet, toes or legs again, and you can stand up, wriggle your toes and walk again. When you’ve got cramp, you know about it, especially hand cramps, especially if you’re driving, writing, typing or using your hands at the time. Cramps in hands can happen just as much as cramps...

Cramping in the feet and toes is common. Although it can be inconvenient and painful – it’s usually nothing to worry about. However, if foot cramps are happening regularly, there might be an underlying cause. What do foot cramps feel like? A foot cramp can feel like a tearing sensation along the arch of your foot. Cramps can incorporate the top of the foot too, with pain curling from your ankle to your big toe joint. During a cramp, your foot may feel ‘locked’ into position. You might also feel...

If you have been suffering with painful shins, there is a chance that it could be shin splints. Shin splints are commonly used to describe any sort of shin pain, but shin splints are specifically caused by putting weight on your legs through exercise such as running.1 The good news is that they’re not serious and can be easily treated, with the right help. Fortunately for you – we have put together all the relevant information that you’ll need to help you recover. Over the course of the next article...

If you have experienced a sprained ankle, you’ll need to give it time to heal. Although, it’s also important to strengthen the muscles around the around it to allow it to recover properly and prevent further sprains. Once you have gone through a short rest period it’s thought that you may be able to start exercising a mild sprained ankle after a few days. This will obviously depend on how bad your sprain is – at this stage it’s important to listen to your body. Once you have taken some...

Sprain and strains can both be pretty painful, but what’s the difference? People often use these words interchangeably, but they’re not quite the same. Both sprains and strains are classed as soft tissue injuries, but the tissues they affect are different. What is a sprain? A sprain is a stretch or tear in a ligament, which are the tough bands of tissues connecting your bones together. What is a strain? A strain is a stretch or tear in a muscle or tendon. A tendon is the flexible tissue which connects...

When those gloomy winter nights transition into progressively brighter spring and summer, do you really need to be thinking about vitamin D? The aptly-named sunshine vitamin is recommended for everyone during winter, as we don’t get as much sun exposure – which our bodies need to make vitamin D. Do you need to take vitamin D in the summer when the sun is blazing in the sky? We should be ok - right? Not always, it seems! Discover why getting enough vitamin D is so important and why some of...

There are a group of vitamins that are vital to the body – known as essential vitamins. The body can’t function properly without them. The body can’t make essential vitamins by itself, so we must get them through our diet. However, even with the best intentions, it’s not always possible to get enough of the vitamins we need to keep our body functioning at its very best. Why do people take vitamins? Millions of people around the globe take vitamins to supplement their dietary intake and promote optimum health. It’s...

You might know a bit about vitamins, and may even take some every day, but do you really know what they are? We’ve got the answers to your vital vitamin questions: What are vitamins? Vitamins are compounds that our bodies need to work properly. Because we can’t make most of them, we have to get them from our diets. There are 13 vitamins altogether and they are classed as micronutrients because we only need them in small quantities, usually milligrams (mg) or micrograms (mcg or μg), every day.  One exception...