Maggi Barnard

The Parkes Red Cross branch has come to the rescue of parents and carers with a new and much needed initiative.
The Red Cross officially opened its brand new parents/carers room at its Church Street premises on Wednesday offering a safe and welcoming environment for changing nappies, feeding or just some quiet from the business outside.

The room is the idea of committee member Alison Dixon and the very first of its kind among Red Cross branches. “It is a fantastic idea and great for the community and families,” said Megan Norton, Senior Administration Officer of the greater western region who had come from Wagga for the opening.

President Norma Oliver said the idea would not have become a reality without the help and donations of the community. They were able to convert a junk room into the beautiful facility with a basin with hot water, a fridge, couch, carpeted floor, toys, nappies and other items. There is also an outside play area.

Donations were received by Northparkes Mines ($2,000 for the plumbing), Terry Brothers (carpet), Philip Dixon (laying of carpet), Paul Woods (manual labour), Ian Rowe (electrical work) and several Red Cross members who made donations.

“It is amazing to see this facility and that the money was used to benefit locals,” said Michelle Wetherell from Northparkes Mines. “As a mother of a three-year-old I know how much this will mean to parents.” Councillor Pat Smith said it’s been needed for a long time. “It is just amazing and great that the Red Cross has done this for our community.”

The room will be open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 3pm and on Fridays from 9am to 3pm. “We would love to have it open every day, but do not have enough volunteers at the moment for that,” said Secretary Allison Woods.

By Maggi Barnard

The RAAF Roulettes were in Parkes on Saturday for the Band Together Farmers concert. It was their second time
in Parkes this year. The Parkes Aero Club (PAC) presented the Roulettes a signed photo of “The Dish” flypast of the
first visit in April for the Parkes Aero Spectacular. Pictured (L-R) are FLTLT Des Hales (R5), FLTLT Owen Rose (R3), SQNLDR Jay Tuffley (R1, Roulettes Aerobatic Team Leader), FLTLT Daniel Price (R2), Wade McConnell (new PAC President) and FLTLT Dan Armstrong (R7).

With the weather warming up swimming is an ideal way to get a full body workout. Overuse injuries in the shoulder and neck are common though, due to the repetitive nature of swimming.

The shoulder is a ball and socket joint with a ring of cartilage around the socket to make the joint more stable. Around this is a loose joint capsule that is reinforced with ligaments and muscles. Because the shoulder is a very mobile joint it relies on the action of these muscles and ligaments to maintain stability. These muscles are called the rotator cuff and consist of four muscles that work together to keep your shoulder centred in its socket.

So, if swimming strengthens the shoulder muscles why do so many swimmers have shoulder problems?

The simple answer is due to the repetitive nature of swimming. The more complex answer lies in the fact that many swimmers don’t have good stroke technique and those that do can still have problems because the swim stroke (in particular freestyle), mainly strengthens the shoulder internal rotators and adductors. This causes muscle imbalance,
leaving the scapular stabilisers and external rotators relatively weak and joint laxity increases. The rotator cuff then must work harder to keep the shoulder centred in the socket. When the already relatively weakened external rotators fatigue, the ball of the shoulder joint moves forward and the tendon of the rotator cuff muscles is pinched between the bones as the hand is raised above shoulder height.

Next column I will cover some practical ways to prevent this happening and what to do if you already have impingement problems.

For the fitness of you.
Linda Reilly