Lower arm pain is suffered by a large number of people and work days lost every year stand at five million days. This is from a combination of conditions such as neck pain and arm pain, RSI or repetitive strain injury, tendonitis, golfers elbow and tennis elbow.
The University of Aberdeen is beginning a trial in the summer in an attempt to figure out the best treatment for this type of arm pain. Arthritis Research UK has awarded them £640k to look into the relative merits of physiotherapy, keeping active and resting.
Quick access or fast track physiotherapy will be compared against typical provision in the NHS for which there is usually a wait of six or eight weeks.
Pain in the lower arm is common and around half of the patients seen by their GP for this are still complaining of the same pain a year later. Typical treatment is with physiotherapy and advice to refrain from the aggravating activity but it is not known if this is a helpful or harmful strategy overall.
The trial will soon be recruiting the 500 patients they need from Aberdeen, Bath, Cambridge, Southampton and Brighton.
Glasgow physiotherapists know the importance of arm pain syndromes to their patients and keep up with the latest treatments to reduce or abolish lower arm pain. |
