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

Pain Management

Pain is a common and unwelcome symptom of many injuries and conditions, although there are some serious conditions and diseases which do not cause pain. Acute pain is typically secondary to injury and tissue damage, short term, easily treatable and very likely to settle with time back to normal. Chronic pain is long term, not well related to tissue abnormalities, not easily treated and does not settle down with time. It is for these more difficult types of pain that the discipline of pain management has become an important part of medical care.

Many types of pain are not directly treatable in terms of the underlying cause being treatable, or in many cases even understood. Pain management consultants concentrate on treating the pain itself as a pathological entity rather than any assumed underlying abnormality. They have a selection of specialised medications and can perform procedures such as nerve blocks and epidurals as well as referring to their therapy teams which typically include physiotherapists and clinical psychologists. Assessment of these patients is complex as physical, social, familial, work and psychological factors may all be important in explaining the levels of pain and disability suffered by the patient.

Flat Feet

It is common for patients to present with progressive flat foot deformity, also known as pes planus. However, despite it being common there the causes and treatments are still under debate. Adult acquired flat foot is most likely to be caused by an imbalance between the active arch maintenance structures and the passive arch maintenance structures. The foot may have been normal at some stage and something has changed to bring on the process of flattening of the arches. The posterior tibial tendon plays a strong role in actively maintaining the inner arch and a dysfunction or weakness of this structure is thought to be important in flat foot.

However, the ligaments binding the medial arch together and maintaining its structure may also be deficient in some way, leading to flat foot problems. The spring ligament, a strong ligament running between the calcaneus (heel bone) and the navicular, supports the head of the ankle bone (talus) and stops its slipping downwards, thereby maintaining the arch of the foot. Deficiency of this ligament complex is thought to be equally important to problems with the posterior tibial tendon. Treatment typically starts with insoles and modified footwear and progresses to foot surgery.