Hawkes Physiotherapy Blog

Everyone gets a little stressed from time to time but do you know what impact this has on your body? You may have heard about Cortisol in relation to stress. Well Cortisol is actually a Glucocorticoid and stress triggers the release of Glucocorticoid and Catecholamine. These hormones have been found to delay wound and injury healing (Gouina and Kiecolt-Glasera 2011). These hormones have also been shown to reduce local Cytokine production, which is extremely important in the inflammatory process and therefore healing (Broadbent et al 2003). It has also been found that stress reduces important healing related compounds such as Matrix metalloproteinase, which is important for early healing. On the other side of the coin, Oxytocin and Vasopressin have been found to increase healing rate by surpressing Cortisol and there may be a direct impact to healing itself. These Hypothalamic peptides are linked to social bonding (Gouin et al 2010). So this could mean that having s...

Heard of Cubital Tunnel Syndrome? Probably not but you may have heard of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Well they are similar but Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is in the wrist and hand whereas Cubital Tunnel Syndrome is in the Elbow. What is Cubital Tunnel Syndrome? Basically it is a compression neuropathy, which means that a nerve is "trapped”. The nerve at fault in this case is the ulna nerve and where it gets “trapped” is in the cubital tunnel of the elbow: See the below picture: How common is it? It is the second most common compression neuropathy in the upper limb (Palmer & Hughes 2009). What causes it? A common cause is frequent bending of the elbow or constant repetitive pressure on the elbow itself. This then irritates the nerve and it is irritated too much then it becomes a “neuropathy”. What are the symptoms? The patient will complain of pain and numbness in the ring and little finger and weakness is common. If left untreated then this ...

Play Golf? No? Well you don’t have to, in fact I don’t think that I have ever seen a sufferer of Golfer’s elbow who actually played golf! Actually, to get Golfer’s elbow as a golfer there must be a flaw in your technique. Amazingly tennis players who generate a lot of top spin on their forehand are a greater risk! What is Golfer’s elbow? Golfer’s elbow is an injury to the common flexor-pronator origin on the Humerus bone, more precisely the Pronator Teres and the Flexor Carpi Radialis origins (Nirshal 1993). Golfer’s elbow is also known as pitchers elbow in the USA but the medical term has always been Medial Epicondylitis although as with all tendon pathologies this has been changed due to evidence on the inflammatory make up of tendon injury.  Immunohistological studies have shown that long-standing epicondylitis is associated with degeneration of the tissue instead of an inflammatory process (Ljung et al 1999). So other names that have been touted things like...