Hawkes Physiotherapy Blog

What is massage? Definition: “The rubbing and kneading of muscles and joints of the body with the hands, especially to relieve tension or pain.” What types of massage are there? Remedial  massage: This is massage to aid the recovery of particular injuries or specific problems. General preventative massage: This is a deep massage to give relaxation to any muscles that are found to be holding excessive tension. This is a very good type of massage to help to prevent injury  by relaxing tense muscles that are more liable to injure. Effleurage: A deep massage aimed to help to clear fluid from the tissues by assisting it up the lymph vessels to the lymph nodes. Sports massage: “Sports Massage (also referred to as soft tissue massage) is the management, manipulation and rehabilitation of soft tissues of the body including muscles, ligaments and tendons.” (Sports Massage Association). Sports massage is really just massage tech...

Shoulder pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal conditions accounting for between 7 -26% of G.P consultations in the UK & a Frozen shoulder, (adhesive capsulitis) affects  up to 5% of the population (Page & Labbe 2010). In the diabetic population this increases to 10-20%! What is a Frozen shoulder? Strictly speaking a Frozen shoulder isn’t an injury, it is more of an autoimmune response. That response causes the tissues around the joint to stiffen, scar tissue forms, and shoulder movements become difficult and painful. Frozen shoulder comes on gradually and takes between 18 to 35 months to resolve. It is considered to have 3 phases: Phase 1: This is where pain is the predominant factor. Essentially pain limits the movement. If you were unconscious then you would have good movement. However because the pain is so high the joint starts to stiffen up. This phase can last for 6 months to a year. Phase 2:  This is when the acute pa...