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

Treatments for Acute Neck Pain

A collar used to be recommended for neck injuries but are only suggested now if the injury is very severe or the spine is unstable. Keeping the neck in collar over a long period can increase the stiffness and pain, although wearing a more flexible .beanie. type collar at night only may improve a patient.s sleep. Overall, collars are to be avoided for the best chances of a quick recovery. Using cold on the area over the first forty eight hours or so may be useful to reduce pain, with the best technique to use a packet of frozen peas inside a wet tea towel for ten minutes or so, repeated regularly.

Placing a frozen object on the skin could give a cold burn so a wet tea towel should always be used between the cold and the skin. After 48 hours heat can be used for pain relief and to relax muscles, and many people prefer this at any stage, using a hot water bottle or heat pack or having a bath. Heat can burn the skin so the same precautions should apply, putting something between the object and the skin if needed, and limiting the time initially.

Flexion Wrist Fracture

Fractures of the last inch of the radius and ulna make up seventy-five percent of all wrist injuries and require careful assessment and treatment to ensure a good functional outcome. The hand is a very important part and any residual disability can have long term functional consequences. A fall on an outstretched hand (FOOSH) often results in a Colles fracture but it can also result in a flexion fracture which is called a reversed Colles fracture or a Smith fracture. This latter type of fracture is much less common than the Colles fracture and is generally used to describe a fracture of the end of the radius which results in the fragment being displaced in a palmar direction.

This injury is commonly caused by falling onto the hand with the palm facing upward and the wrist tending to be forced into flexion. The hand stays in place on the ground as the forearm rotates inwards under the force of the fall, generating the fracture. This fracture can also be produced by punching something with the wrist in a slightly bent position. Overall management is the same as for Colles fracture, with realignment of the bony fragments and immobilisation.