Yoga for chronic pain: Sufferers of chronic pain are sometimes fearful of exercise, believing it will exacerbate their pain. However, the opposite is often the case. Dublin-based yoga teacher Adrienne Crowe runs yoga classes which are gentle and supportive for those with chronic pain conditions.
The classes aim to develop strength, flexibility and range of movement in all joints - using guided imagery to involve damaged parts of the body. Contact her at Seraph, The Yoga Studio, 15 Heytesbury St, Dublin 8, tel: 01 4539971 or email info@seraph.ie for more details of autumn classes which begin in early September.
FUNDRAISING WALK: The walking routes throughout Spain which lead to Santiago de Compostela have been walked by people the world over as part of personal pilgrimages. The National Children's Hospital in Tallaght is now inviting would-be pilgrims to join them on a fundraising trip from the Pyrenees mountains to Santiago de Compostela from October 2nd-9th. The trip is suitable for those who are moderately fit as participants will only walk about 140 kilometres in total. For more information and booking forms, tel: 01- 4142373.
SWISS SKIN: Swiss researchers have used skin composed from foetal skin cells to treat eight children with deep burns. Patrick Hohlfeld at the University Hospital of Lausanne developed a bank of foetal skin cells from a single donation of foetal skin.
All the children recruited into the study had been candidates for traditional skin grafting. Swatches of foetal skin, abundant in stem cells, were placed on the children's lesions and bandaged.
Researchers found that all wounds closed in about two weeks. According to Hohlfeld, the new technique could prove a turning point in the treatment of severe burns.