On 3 April this year Sophie Day, 24, twisted her right foot as she landed after climbing a gate on her family farm. ‘It ached, but I carried on as normal,’ Sophie says. ‘The next day my knee was so swollen that I could hardly walk.’ An x-ray revealed no fracture and her GP organised an MRI . However, despite being fast-tracked, she had to wait for more than two months to have the scan. Meanwhile, she was prescribed a painkiller and an anti-inflammatory, plus physiotherapy to strengthen the ligaments and muscles. ‘The drugs made me feel so awful that I stopped them after two days,’ she says. ‘My father consulted his book of homeopathic remedies and I took bryonia 30C three times daily for ten days, which helped the pain.’

Sophie, who works with children, was told her knee could take up to nine months to heal and might need surgery. ‘I’d had to stop work because I was on crutches, so I was desperate,’ she says. At that point, I suggested Sophie try the supplement LQ Liquid Health Joint Care/£24.99 for 10 x 50 ml bottles (at victoriahealth.com), which combines well-researched ingredients including glucosamine, chondroitin, marine collagen and hyaluronic acid.

After taking the product for two months, Sophie finally had her MRI scan. ‘The specialist physiotherapist was amazed at how quickly my knee had healed. The ligaments were seriously stretched when I slipped, but the scan showed they were returning to normal,’ she says. By early July – three months after her injury – Sophie could walk without crutches, drive and is now back at work. ‘It’s great stuff, which I will definitely continue to take,’ she says.

HAIR LOSS HELP

‘Will I lose my hair?’ is the first question asked by many women faced with chemotherapy for breast cancer treatment. Some even consider not having chemo because of it. A new online initiative called ‘You are not defined by your hair’, launched by GHD with the charity Breast Cancer Now, offers expert styling advice and tutorials for women with treatment-related hair loss. Tutorials cover the four main stages of the process, with tips on how to tie a headscarf, trim and style a wig, manage regrowth and compensate for brow and lash loss. Three women who feature in the tutorials talk about their experiences:

Helen Weller, 34, wears a shop-bought wig, which GHD hair expert Zoe Irwin helped her to style. ‘I started to lose my long hair after my second round of chemo and, eventually, asked my friend to shave it off. I cried because you want to look good, even when everything inside is falling apart,’ she says. ‘I really care about my hair and I’ve learnt so much about styling a wig.’

Sue Stannard, 63, grappled with regrowth after chemo. ‘My hair grew back grey, coarse and curly – it looked like a cross between a thistle and a loo brush,’ she says. ‘Having top London hairstylist Adam Reed help me manage and look after my new hair has been very important to me. Being glammed up has always been key for my confidence.’

Indira Jayasuriya, 39, confesses her main concern when she was first diagnosed was the loss of her hair. 'I wept inconsolably when my hair fell out in the shower,’ she says. ‘I’ve definitely struggled with my appearance in the eight years since I became ill. I just couldn’t get on with wigs, so learning how to tie a headscarf with fashion stylist Lily Russo has been fantastic.’