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

Fatigue or Tiredness - Managing the Condition

Fatigue is difficult to manage as the underlying cause is not clear and the pattern of the condition can be unpredictable. Patients are taught to manage their tiredness via behavioural techniques such resting, planning activity carefully and pacing to avoid overdoing at any one time. They may often do nothing for a day before they know they have to accomplish some physical task such as a visit to hospital or a social outing. Patients may also prioritise their activity strictly and work at concentrating on the normal aspects of life to keep things as natural as possible.

Patients may also solicit the help and support of those closest to them to cooperate in getting as much done as normally as they can, but despite all these things patients typically report that they cannot manage well and that the tiredness remains as bad as ever. Fatigue is not well recognised as important by many health workers and patients may feel that insufficient notice is paid to this very disabling part of their musculoskeletal condition. As the condition is difficult to manage there may be few helpful suggestions even if the health professional does recognise the importance of the symptom.

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.

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

Compartment syndrome occurs when excessive pressure develops in one of the body''s compartments, exceeding the arterial pressure entering the compartment and so preventing blood from flowing in to supply the tissues. This can cause severe problems including great pain and tissue death if it is not treated quickly. This problem occurs mostly in the lower leg and in the forearm, where the muscles are all enclosed in a soft tissue section called a compartment, with the walls made up of bone and strong connective tissue called fascia. This makes the compartment inextensible and liable to pressure build up in certain circumstances.The most common cause of compartment syndrome is a fracture of the tibia but there are other potential causes which include tissue crush injuries, tight dressings and plasters, other fractures and damage to blood vessels. If the syndrome develops the signs and symptoms are a loss of feeling in the area, loss of pulses and loss of the ability to move the limb. Surg...

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