So one of my very favourite pieces of equipment is my Electro Lymphatic Drainage machine. It’s one of those things I use all the time but I don’t seem to talk about it very much, maybe because it has such an awful name! Contrary to what the name implies it doesn’t hurt, I don’t stick anything into you, yes it does use electricity (but so does my computer and my…
Missing your outdoor sports? Struggling to keep up your rehab after an injury or post-surgery recovery? Stress + inactivity + a less than ideal working from home/desk set up woken up an old pain? Worried about how to get help? Let’s go through what you can do to stay active and painfree even when you can’t leave the house. Resources Got an internet connection? You’re all set! Right now YouTube…
This lovely lady came to see me a few months ago. She’d been in pain a long time and so frustrated with her situation. She only had a few days before they were leaving on a big trip and so we had a tight deadline to work to! She and her husband sat on our terrace, talking and thinking (having one of Emmie’s special coffees!) for over an hour while…
If you have pain in the knee or back you probably think something is wrong with your knee or back. In most cases this is probably correct but sometimes the brain gets confused making you think that one part of the body hurts when in fact, the real source of trouble is elsewhere. This curious (and clinically important) phenomenon is known as referred pain. I’ve been talking a lot lately…
So over the last few weeks I’ve talked about lower back pain and sciatica in particular. I’ve also been talking about those conditions that can sometimes get bundled up in a general “sciatica” muddle like Iliotibial Band Syndrome. (it’s ok, you can go read them, I’ll wait!) And today we are going to look at another one of those conditions that can cause similar symptoms – Piriformis Syndrome. This may…
When we were discussing seminar topics the one suggested left and right was Sciatica! This is obviously a topic people think about in connection with physiotherapy. And I was looking back at the articles I’ve written for the EWN and my own blog over the last decade and realised, I have NEVER written about sciatica!! So here goes, my first EVER article about sciatica! Fingers crossed! What is it? Sciatica…
4 out of 5 people will experience back pain. Chronic lower back pain is becoming a big problem affecting over 18 million people in the UK preventing many from working. So what is the solution? Lumbar Fusion Surgery? The Backcare Charity states that; “Very few people require back surgery. Such surgery is only essential when there are extreme symptoms such as a paralysis of the bladder and bowel or loss…
With Easter / Semana Santa coming many people are driving long distances – either home for the summer or arriving here for the warmer weather. And long distance driving often results in back pain. Are you sitting comfortably? The seats themselves don’t always help – lowered, tipped back seats make the legs too straight, placing strain on the hamstrings, pelvis and lower back. The neck then tilts forward to look…
The wonderful, glorious thing about medicine is that it is constantly improving and changing. But it means that keeping up to date on what really works is a job in itself. A British Medical Journal article once estimated that family doctors needed to do 60 hours of reading a WEEK just to have a broad understanding of the changes involved. And that is literally life and death. Is it any…
Your body works as a whole unit. A team. And that “work” of moving you forward still needs to be done even if one part doesn’t function that great. So another area picks up the slack. And when that part of the team doing the extra work gets too tired? You get pain. Now, if this is the situation it doesn’t matter how much fabulous treatment you get in the…