Hawkes Physiotherapy Blog

So why does pain stay…..   How we are brought up to think about pain Basic pain physiology Differing aspects of pain and how they interact Now need to look at.....   The Healing process Why previous treatments only gave short term relief Pain that persists more than 3 months is termed chronic The system becomes easier to stimulate, changes occurring at the nerve endings, where the nerves join the spinal cord and in the brain As yet we do not know how to reverse these changes when they have been there for some time Pain: Major causes of pain are: Arthritis Disc problems   Surgery Mechanical disorders : – Poor posture Poor muscle tone Arthritis: You have an ongoing inflammatory process   At the same time you have the healing process occurring With the formation of scar tissue, leading to thickening of joints This tightens as its forming, leading to loss of movement Is a repair pro...

    Background   One in 50 people at some point in their lives and is common in young and middle-aged women. There are no outward signs, may look well but feel awful. Varies from day to day with pain level and can be mild or very severe Can be permanent or long standing. No long term damage is done physically     Symptoms   Ache or burn. Change location but more severe in areas of the body you use most Can also make you feel very tired.   Also can cause: difficulty sleeping headaches diarrhoea and abdominal pain feeling an urgent need to urinate difficulty concentrating feeling irritable poor circulation to your hands and feet painful periods depression or anxiety forgetfulness or confusion Obviously these symptoms could be from another cause so it is advisable to get checked out by y...

Lateral Epicondylitis (Tennis Elbow)   Definition Pain over the lateral aspect of the elbow that is aggravated by movement of the wrist, by direct palpation over the lateral epicondyle and by contraction of the extensor muscles of the wrist (Struijs et al, 2003) ‘The cardinal physical signs of lateral epicondylitis are pain to direct palpation over the lateral epicondyle and reproduction of pain and weakness during grip strength testing’ (Vicenzino,2003) Epidemiology 1-3% general population affected by tennis elbow (vicenzino, 2003) 4-7% per year in general practice is tennis elbow (Hamilton,1986) Equal prevalence in both genders but it lasts longer and is more severe is females ( Vicenzino & Wright 1995) 5% risk in populations who perform repetitive manual tasks (Chiang et al,1993) Aetiology (Causes) Degenerative changes of the tendon over time usually through repetitive overload, with insufficient r...

History   In the 1970's the California college of Paediatric medicine in San Francisco found a way to control dynamic motions of gait (walking) in stance. What they invented was an Orthotic device or insole. It became so popular that in the 1990's it became over utilised Retailers started to dispense what should be a medical device!     So what are the issues with current practice? There are many studies of biomechanics with an assumption that alteration of abnormal biomechanics will result in clinical benefit Typically Physiotherapists assess the area where the pain is and the joints either side of it. More rarely a Physio may have a look at the whole body including the feet. Podiatrists are sometime guilty of the opposite in that they look at the feet predominantly less the lower limb and even less likely the pelvis and above. Think about it! There is a chance that a neck problem could be caused from a foot postur...