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

Meniscal Tears

Each knee has a pair of interesting structures inside it known as the menisci, more commonly called the knee cartilages. They are cartilaginous structures a bit like banked tracks and attached to the top of the tibia on each side of the knee. Their upper curves surfaces accommodate the large curved condyles of the end of the femur which otherwise would have to articulate solely with the flat upper tibial surface. The function of the menisci is not entirely clear but they may have to do with distributing synovial fluid around the joint, giving the brain feedback on where exactly the knee is during activities or easing force transmission across the joint as it fills in the gaps between the two joint surfaces.

During movements of the knee the large femoral condyles can pinch the menisci against the tibial surfaces and cause tears in the substance of the meniscus. A small tear from the outside of the structure can cause a flap which is called a .parrot beak. tear. If the tear is horizontal along the plane of the meniscus and does not reach the edge then a flap can be produced which is known as a .bucket handle. tear.

Allodynia . An Abnormal Pain

Most of the pain we feel is .normal. in terms of being similar to what other people feel in similar situations of injury and damage. We get a standard pain after being injured which is the result of the tissue injury and the changes which automatically occur within the central nervous system in response to the incoming pain barrages. Our pains are proportionally related to the amount of unpleasant input we suffer and we only respond with pain to what we expect would be a painful stimulus. This is referred to as nociceptive pain and is the normal kind we suffer from in the way we expect to suffer in certain cases.

Allodynia is a painful response to a normally non-painful stimulus, such as touching, wind passing over a part of the body or the pressure of the water from a shower. Normally the result of a nerve injury but also occurring in pain syndromes such as fibromyalgia, allodynia is an abnormal pain response due to changes within the central nervous system. A heightened, amplified pain response is generated inside the spinal cord or brain, giving the sufferer a high level of very unpleasant pain in response to a trivial stimulus.