Hawkes Physiotherapy Blog

I often find my patients asking me this question before I have even assessed them: “Do you think that I should get a scan?” My typical response is "no or certainly not yet." They say "but won’t it show exactly what is wrong with me?” The problem is that the scan will show all the issues that you have, but what is relevant or just incidental? You see what is normal? Patients presume that we are all perfect with no abnormalities so a scan will show the single abnormality causing our pain. This simple isn't true. Here are some great examples of this point: In the knee, Cyteval (2008) actually found meniscal (cartilage) tears on MRI scans in 1 in 3 middle aged and elderly people and these individuals had no symptoms or pain at all and would consider themselves normal. A similar finding was also found by Beattie et al (2005), they found that 60% of pain free 20-68 year olds showed abnormalities in at least three of the four regions...

You wouldn't believe the amount of patients that I see, who come in and say:  “I've put my back out” or “I’m out of place or alignment” and then ask to be put “back in place”. Then again, maybe this is you? It depends on your experience of Physiotherapy, Osteopathy, Chiropractory. When I proceed to tell patients that these things don’t really happen in the human body, they will say “but such and such says it does and they cracked my back and I was back in place again and my pain went away”. Now I'm not saying that the treatment doesn't help. It does reduce pain & increases range of movement but it didn't crack you back into place for sure! I'm not saying things can't be out of normal anatomical alignment because they can but they generally don't move in and out quickly and sometimes they will never change. A persons alignment is down to lots of factors such as bone size and shape, joint surface contours, ligament shortening or laxit...

Now as you all know, at the elite level athletes have Physiotherapists, massage therapists, sports psychologists, strength and conditioning coaches, technical coaches, dietitians etc. etc. etc. Now in the world of elite sport, money and time are less of a problem, meaning all of the above is more possible. But clearly all of this is a necessity otherwise they wouldn't bother. So why do they bother? It improves training, improves performance, faster recovery times, reduces injury risk and gets them back much quicker. Now I'm not saying that all of this should be done to the letter in non elite sport as it wouldn't be possible but I think that elements are required and this is highlighted by what I see everyday. For example: I see runners who just run, nothing else and believe it or not, they get inured. I see athletes who have no recovery time and believe it or not, they also get injured. When athletes get injured they simply rest for a few days and the...

What is Osteoarthritis (OA): Osteoarthritis: Osteon means bone, Arthro means joints, Itis means inflammation. Now this terminology is technically incorrect and OA is actually not an inflammatory condition by nature and this is why some people now call it Osteoathrosis instead. The Osis part actually means degeneration, which is more accurate. So essentially breaking down the word tells us what it is, which is degeneration of the joint. More specifically it is degeneration of the articular cartilage of the joint. This is essentially damage and loss of cartilage until the joint is “bone on bone”. The bone actually starts to thicken and wear in response to the extra load on it, which causes bony outgrowths to form, called osteophytes. The synovium around the joint also thickens and produces extra fluid making the joint swell up. How common is OA? Osteoarthritis is very common, it affects about 80% of the population beyond the age of 55 years old (Kruger 2000). It was estimated t...

Well I've now been running Hawkes Physiotherapy for 18 months and it's going really well. So much so, that I've decided to take the plunge and take away the safety net, AKA: the NHS job.... Scary! Well, I had little choice as my working week had become just that, a "working week"! Eat, sleep and drink work! In anyone's book, a 75 hour working week can only go on for a small period of time!  So I enter a new era, which I am excited about. I can finally do the things that I always wanted to do and more the point, I now have the time to do them! My patients will reap the greatest benefit due to my increased capacity and flexibility. I can see them when suits their lifestyle without compromise. I will also have even more time to get stuck into the latest research findings in the Physio world. (Some may say I have this covered but you can never know too much in my book!) -   https://twitter.com/MathewHawkes Hopefully I can take my YouTube channel...

What is the Plantar Fascia? The Plantar fascia is a dense connective tissue, it isn’t a tendon or a ligament but it is similar to both (Boabighi et al 1993). It runs along the sole of the foot and forms a strong biomechanical link between the calcaneus (heel bone) and the toes. It is made up of medial, lateral and central bands and it is the medial band that is frequently implicated with injury (Kaya 1996).  The central band is the major structural and functional component and the lateral band is actually absent in some people (Wearing 2006). What does it do? The Plantar fascia makes the foot become a rigid structure ideal for propulsion by using the windlass mechanism. It is very clever because if the foot was always rigid then it would not be very good at shock absorption or be able to adapt and mould to the differing surfaces of the ground. The plantar fascia contains more fibroblasts than tendon or ligament. So it does more than just transmit force it is c...

What is ME? ME goes by many names: Myalgic Encephalopathy or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or “CFS” or Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome or “PVFS” or Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome or “CFIDS” (ME Association 2014). ME is a condition causing severe, debilitating fatigue, painful muscles & joints, sleep problems, gastric disturbances, poor memory & poor concentration (ME Association 2014). ME is different for everyone and there are reportedly different types. These are as follows: Short term and recovering slowly Up & Down Static Gradual worsening Prevalence of ME: Currently it is estimated that some 250,000 people in Britain are affected by ME (ME Association 2014). Anyone can get ME! The prevalence of ME among adults ranges from 0.2% to 2.6% (Prins et al 2006). It is more common in women than men. Onset is usually between the ages of 20 to the mid-40s. However children can also be affe...