Physiotherapists in Bristol treat many different conditions including the issues profiled below.

Total Knee Replacement

Joint replacement is one of the most successful medical technical interventions with the highest quality of life improvements of any treatments. The most common reason for having a knee replacement is the occurrence of osteoarthritis, the typical age related joint change which occurs in many millions of people around the world. Osteoarthritis causes joint pain, stiffness, gradually increasing loss of range of movement and difficulties with walking, climbing stairs and rising from sitting. If conservative treatments are not successful and there is significant disability associated with continual pain and difficult sleeping then joint replacement may be considered.

In knee replacement the joint surfaces are replaced by stainless steels components and a plastic liner is inserted between them and on the back of the patella. The operation takes up to two hours and the person is typically seen and mobilised up into standing or walking the next day by the physiotherapist and an assistant. Rehabilitation with the physios is now very important, with exercise practice, gait supervision and functional activities. Length of stay in hospital varies between three and seven days with routine referral to physiotherapy on discharge to work on range of movement and strength.

Frozen Shoulder

Frozen shoulder is a troublesome and enigmatic condition which affects mostly middle aged people and causes significant pain and disability. As our shoulders age they become more vulnerable to injury or damage and in some cases this develops into the pain condition known as frozen shoulder. A sudden movement or small tweak of the shoulder may result in the area becoming more and more painful until the pain is very severe and interrupting sleep. This is the pain stage of frozen shoulder which is followed by the painful and stiff phase where the pain eases to some extent and the shoulder becomes restricted in movement.

Later in the process the pain recedes and the shoulder remains with just the joint stiffness so the person cannot lift their arm up far. The process may take two years or so to go through and the person may not regain their full shoulder movement. In the painful period physiotherapy is aimed at relieving the pain by gentle mobilisations and exercise and progressed to working at the joint stiffness as the pain recedes. Later physiotherapy involves stronger mobilisation techniques and stretching to ease out the strong soft tissue restrictions which have developed.