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

Hypermobility

We are all born with a genetically determined type of fibrous tissue, the collagen material that makes us all or most of our ligaments, tendons, skin and discs. Our collagen varies greatly in the amount of extensibility it allows due partly due to the amount of elastic material included and the length of our tissues. Normal mobility varies from stiff jointed to very mobile and individuals who show very high degrees of flexibility of their joints are termed hypermobile. Hypermobility may be asymptomatic or can cause significant pain problems in other cases. Benign hypermobility syndrome BHS is diagnosed clinically by testing the patient's joint mobility.

The diagnostic tests are: the little finger can be pulled back to 90 degrees to the hand; with the wrist bent the thumb can be pulled back to touch the forearm; the elbows extend back beyond neutral; the knees extend back beyond neutral and the person can bend over with the knees straight and place their palms on the floor. Each joint gets a score of one if positive and this gives a score out of nine. The score indicates the degree of hypermobility the patient is exhibiting and helps decide whether the joint condition is relevant.

Disc Nutrition and Posture

The supply of nutritional substances to the inner parts of the discs is in general poor and a lack of this supply is connected with degenerative disc changes. Large differences in the compression forces inside an intervertebral disc can be generated by relatively small changes in posture. These changes have correspondingly large effects on fluid flow out of and into discs and on diffusion of metabolic agents into the disc. The effectiveness of the transport of these materials depends on how far they have to travel from the nearest blood vessel which is usually in the vertebral endplate (top or bottom of the disc).

When bending, the back of the disc walls is stretched and the fronts are compressed, with stretching making the wall thinner and therefore more easily crossed by nutrients. This brings more food supply into the central area of the rear of the disc, the area which receives least nutrition. Compression from movement also squeezes water from the disc and as it returns when the pressure is relieved the incoming water brings nutrients along with it. Changes from a lordosis to a flexed position regularly increase the fluid flow in and out of the disc, encouraging the transport of nutrients.