Physiotherapy for pain and injury in London
Some will argue that manual therapy — joint and/or soft tissue techniques — has no role in chronic pain. I disagree. Why? (In no particular order) 1. Touch is normal and it is something that we do when we care. 2. Hands on treatment is expected when you visit a physiotherapist or physical therapist. 3. […]
Many people with persisting and chronic pain elect to have an intervention for pain relief. This can include steroid injections, facet joint injections, nerve root blocks, epidurals, denervations and sympathetic blocks to name but a few. These procedures are usually administered by a pain consultant (a doctor who specialises in pain management), an orthopaedic surgeon, […]
The rehabilitation journey following an injury must be traveled with full commitment and completed. Usually when we talk about rehabilitation, it is the exercises that are focused upon: the movement, the task, the goal and how much to do. Nothing wrong with this of course as the training parameters are important to understand the effects […]
I see a number of cases of cervical dystonia (spasmodic torticollis) that features awkward posturing and movement of the head and neck. This can be painful and have consequences for normal activities. We rely upon being able to orientate ourselves to our environment by controlling our head and gaze direction and then responding appropriately. Primary dystonia has no […]
Sustaining an injury is commonplace in sport. What happens in the first few minutes, hours and days can play a big part in how well we recover. The injury needs to be diagnosed and understood, for example an ankle twisting beyond the normal range of movement that results in a sprained ligament. As important is […]
Understanding pain mechanisms is the key to effective treatment. The mechanisms that have been studied, written about in science journals and discussed with patients include nociceptive pain, inflammatory pain, neuropathic pain and central sensitisation. Elucidating which are playing a role in the patient’s experience allows the doctor to prescribe the right medication and the modern […]
As a physiotherapist I frequently use my hands to treat the joints and tissues. It comes with the territory, everyone expects hands-on therapy and it does helps to reduce tension and pain. Most likely, the pain relief from joint mobilisation is due to descending mechanisms that include those that are powered by serotonin and noradrenaline […]
Chronic pain is a real problem in the sporting world. The effects of not being able to participate are far reaching, especially when sport is your profession. There are a huge numbers of clinics offering treatments to deal with pain and injury and in many cases the problem improves. However, there are those who do […]
To the skier, the thought of watching friends and family clumping off in their boots towards the lift whilst sitting with a leg up, packed with ice and the daily paper, is intensely frustrating. Injuries happen. In many cases with the right early treatment, perhaps surgery and definitely a thorough rehabilitation programme, the symptoms resolve […]
I once had a conversation with a member of staff who told me that she was ‘just a receptionist’. Anyone who has considered the patient journey will realise that this statement is untrue. There is no ‘just’. There are important people involved with the patient’s experience from the start, and usually the receptionist is the […]
Running in the woods today I was taken back to school days when we would go down to the habitat to learn about nature. Our enthusiastic science teacher, whose laboratory experiments would invariably go wrong, led us down the hill, across the playing fields and into a small wooded area that surrounded a murky pond. […]
Back pain is very common and most people will experience it. Many reasons are given for back pain, usually blaming the discs (they are not discs but rather amazing structures that work with the vertebrae to allow movement and force transduction — they are also very robust), joints, muscles and posture. The simple fact is […]