Physiotherapists in Buckinghamshire treat many different conditions including the condition profiled below.

Examination of the Injured Wrist

Initial examination of a person with a wrist injury involves visual inspection of the wrist compare to the other one, as some people have relatively abnormal wrist structure and limited movements. Bruising and swelling may be present as may be one of the typical deformities due to fractures of the distal forearm bones. Palpation of the bony anatomy systematically allows a closer determination of the location of any acute injury such as a fracture. The typical deformity of a Colles fracture is the so-called .dinner fork. deformity where the end of the wrist is angled upwards and the fingers form the prongs of the fork.

In the Smith fracture where the end of the wrist is pushed downwards the deformity is known as a .garden spade. deformity. It is important to examine the remainder of the upper limb including the shoulder, elbow and wrist to exclude other injuries or fractures, with the patient's report of where they have pain a very useful guide. The patency of the arterial systems in the forearm and arm are also assessed as vascular damage can occur from fracture fragments. The three nerves which pass down the arm and supply the feeling and muscles of the hand should also assessed for damage.

Ice Treatment and Physiotherapy

Ice and other cold treatments are important techniques in the armoury of physiotherapists and useful for a wide range of conditions. The major use of cold therapy or cryotherapy is to reduce and control inflammation and swelling in recent or acute injuries to the musculoskeletal system. In the first few days after injury heat will increase the metabolic rate and may aggravate the injury while cold will do the opposite and also provide some pain relief. Pain relief is important as a reduction in pain is not only pleasant for the patient but allows them to move the part and contract the muscles more effectively, beginning rehabilitation of the area.

Ice should not be directly applied to the skin, especially if packs from a freezer are used, as this may cause an ice burn which is a form of skin damage. Patients are assessed by the physiotherapist for safety and a layer of wet material is placed inbetween the skin and the ice pack. The skin is checked at intervals to make sure it is not reacting badly to the cold and the treatment time may be up to twenty minutes. Compression may be more important than cold and often they are combined.

Physiotherapists in Buckinghamshire have contributed some of the many articles on this site such as the one extracted below.

The physiotherapist will typically begin the examination even before the patient takes off any of their clothes by observing the usual posture they tend to adopt. Posture of the shoulders may be slumped and rounded, forcing a stretch from the neck and shoulder blade muscles which might add to the possibility of this syndrome occurring. The physiotherapist will examine the neck''s ability to reach full range of motion and may increase the testing stresses by compressing the neck whilst it is in a combination of movements. This can bring on the symptoms if normal testing does not.The vascular and nervous supply to the arm will typically be examined, with particular attention to the muscles and nerves of the lower parts of the brachial plexus, which are most commonly involved. Compression of the venous system can result in the affected arm being swollen and bluer in colour while if the arterial part of the vascular system is compressed the results are different. In this case the arm can b...

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