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

Thumb Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the commonest degenerative joint disease in the world and affects hundreds of millions of mostly older people. The incidence of osteoarthritis is partly related to genetic factors but mostly the older a person is the more likely they are to have some arthritic joints. Some joints are more susceptible to osteoarthritic changes and more troublesome when they are affected by this condition. At the base of the thumb is the junction between the first metacarpal and one of the carpal or wrist bones, the trapezium, and this joint is known as the first carpo-metacarpal joint or CMC joint.

The CMC joint is a complex, saddle shaped joint and a very important one for the function of the hand. The thumb is a vital part of normal hand use and disturbance of the thumb can badly affect the use of the whole hand. The thumb has to rotate round so if can work opposite the fingers and if the joint become osteoarthritic this is restricted. A bony swelling may be obvious on the outer border of the hand below the thumb and the movement is obviously limited. Treatment includes joint mobilisations by a physiotherapist, splinting, injections and surgery.

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.

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

Our sensory system conveys the information we need to our brains so we can make the right decisions in daily life. Huge amounts of information flow in to our brain at all times and we must decide the importance or otherwise of this. Hearing, touch and sight are clearly used by use to manage our responses to the challenges of normal life but there are other sensory modalities which are just as important in our mobility. The feelings coming in from all our bodily structures such as our muscles, ligaments, discs and joints are very important for normal movement function. Joint position sense is more specifically related to our joints and is also called proprioception.Waking up with a dead, completely numb arm is a good example of the loss of sensory input having a strong effect on what we can do. I woke up one night with an arm across my chest, making me hotter than I already was in bed. I was a bit irritable and moved the arm off my chest at least twice until I woke up a bit and began to...

more The Importance of Sensibility and Joint Position Sense