Do you sometimes feel a pain in your hip or the outside of your knee after sitting for a while? Maybe when you stand up or when you run? It could be that you have a tight Iliotibial Band (ITB).

The ITB is a thick band of fascia that runs down the outside thigh. It starts at the top of your pelvis, runs over the hip and attaches to the outside of the knee. It also attaches to some of the buttock and hip muscles allowing it to co-ordinate how these muscles work to stabilise the hip and knee. Fluid sacs, called bursae, located at the hip and knee, provide cushioning between the ITB and the bones beneath. If the ITB is tight it can irritate the bursae causing inflammation and pain.

An inflamed bursa at the hip is called a Greater Trochanteric Bursitis and at the knee it is known as ITB Friction syndrome or Runners Knee.

The ITB shortens when sitting for prolonged periods. It can also tighten if the muscle is overworked. This occurs with sudden increases in exercise load or volume or if pelvic control is poor due to weak hip and glute muscles.

Because the ITB is a thick, fibrous band rather than an elastic muscle it requires a longer lighter stretch than most muscles. The use of a foam roller can also be quite helpful in increasing the flexibility in the ITB. A YouTube search of “foam roller + ITB” will yield videos of how this can be done.

For the fitness of you,
Linda Reilly

Orange will be celebrating one of Australia’s most iconic poets for the fifth time this year with the Banjo Paterson Australian Poetry Festival from 16th to 25th February. A.B ‘Banjo’ Paterson was born on the property “Narrambla” in the Orange region on 17th February 1864, and grew up to become one of Australia’s literary legends.

“Banjo’s country childhood had a strong influence on him, being considered the bard of the bush for iconic poems such as Waltzing Matilda, The Man From Snowy River and Clancy of the Overflow,” said Justin Byrne, festival chairman.

The Food & Wine Night Market on Friday 16th February will officially open the festival, and is one of six signature events: the Rotary Breaky & Poetry in the Park; Banjo’s Birthday Breakfast; the Banjo Paterson Night Market; Concert at Yeoval featuring Anne Kirkpatrick; the Emmaville Cottage Family Market Day; and the Banjo Paterson
Australian Poetry Competition.

For the second year, the festival is broadening its scope to embrace the Wiradjuri nation’s cultural heritage, to simultaneously acknowledge the traditions and culture of the first people with the region’s European pioneering heritage. Indigenous Cultural Tours will be hosting tours with local elders to ceremonial and sacred sites in the area.

The full festival program is available at www.banjopatersonfestival.com.au

Get Your Head Around Lice
It’s that time of year again so here’s a few facts and tips about head lice and treatments available.

FACTS
• Headlice are wingless insects that live, breed and feed on the human scalp. They have a 21-day life cycle.
• Headlice can’t jump or fly. Infestation occurs through direct contact – this can happen through play, swapping hats and cuddling.
• You only have to treat the affected child and not the whole family, unless they have headlice.
• Itchiness may not disappear immediately after treatment so keep checking the hair.

HINTS
• Tell your kids to not to swap hats in the playground to prevent infestation through contact.
• Long hair should be tied back. This makes it harder for lice to get access to the hair. If you have a girl, avoid sharing hairbrushes.
• Do a quick check every night. The faster you get on top of an infestation, the easier it is to treat.

TREATMENT
• Head lice live in the hair and go to the scalp to feed. Therefore, head lice products must be applied to all parts of the hair.
• Once treated, comb through the hair with a fine-tooth head lice comb. This will help to remove the dead eggs and lice, and possibly any eggs still living.
• No topical treatment kills 100% of the eggs, so treatment must involve two applications, seven days apart.

Insecticide resistance is common, so you need to check that the lice you comb out are dead. If successful, the lice will be dead within 20 minutes. If unsuccessful, the treatment has not worked and the lice are resistant to the product. For more advice, speak to one of our friendly team members in store.

With Parkes’ strategic location in the national transport network, a multi-media marketing campaign will target major logistics, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution companies to establish operations in our town.

The campaign, supported by the NSW Government’s Regional Growth – Marketing and Promotion Fund, follows the start of construction on the Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail project. “Parkes National Logistics Hub is set to be one of Australia’s largest and one of its most exciting greenfield developments,” said Parkes Shire Council’s General Manager, Kent Boyd. “This campaign will further highlight the great opportunities that exist in Parkes for importers, exporters and manufacturers.

“We are delighted to have several major logistics operators on board to champion the campaign, including SCT Logistics, Pacific National, Linfox and ARTC – all of whom call Parkes home, as well as industry leaders from the National Farmers’ Federation, Australian Railway Association and the Australian Logistics Council.”

The campaign integrates digital marketing, print media, video content, signage, social media and a new website to promote the benefit of Inland Rail and the opportunities for business to leverage from the Parkes National Logistics Hub to tap into new markets.

The campaign follows on from Parkes Shire Council’s cheeky social media pitch to Amazon in 2017, which attracted close to one million views and highlighted the fact that 80 per cent of Australia can be reached by road from the town within 24 hours.

The Parkes National Logistics Hub is a 600 hectare intermodal estate, uniquely positioned at the intersection of the East/West rail line, the North/South Newell Highway, and the new $10 billion Inland Rail. Potential investors can learn more about the Parkes National Logistics Hub and via Facebook and Twitter @ParkesHub, and download the Parkes Hub Prospectus via the website www.parkeshub.com.au.

Valentine’s Day is the one day of the year that is solely dedicated to love and companionship. For many this day involves spoiling each other with flowers, cards, teddy bears and chocolates while others prefer to surprise each other with a small gift or a night out to the movies or dinner.

The day originated at the Roman Festival Lupercalia when women would put their names in an urn and have them drawn out by a man they would be committed to for the next year, and more often than not these matches ended up in marriage.

Romance is a key factor to a healthy relationship and helps to keep the spark alive between couples. Even if you are away on the day a simple phone call or a card with your name and a small gift will still show your affection and commitment to the one you love.

Some ideas to surprise your loved one this year would be to let them sleep in, bring them breakfast in bed. In the language of flowers a single red rose or a bouquet of roses says ‘I love you’. It is important to tell the ones we love how much they mean to us before it is too late. No matter what you do, just celebrate with your loved one and spoil them!

Running from the bottom of Tasmania to the tip of Cape York might sound like an impossible mission, but a resident of Birdsville in Outback Australia has set herself this challenge to raise awareness of bowl cancer.

Parkes will be part of the Running for Bums challenge with Jenna Brook running through our town on 27th March. Jenna will be covering in excess of 4,500km and plans to complete the epic journey in around four months. Her aim is to start a lot of conversations along the way. Bowel cancer is the second biggest cancer killer in Australia, and not enough people talk about it.

Jenna hasn’t always been a runner – in fact she has never really been a consistent one until this idea popped into her head. In 2012 she walked 435km across the Simpson Desert, and has since finished two 250km ultra marathons at a
snail’s pace. Jenna will also be spreading the message of how moving and keeping active can play an important
role in the fight against bowel cancer.

Jenna is inviting local community groups, runners, or wellness groups to organise an event for when she reaches Parkes. Contact her on Facebook or on her website at https://runningforbums.wordpress.com/.