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

Simple Neck Exercises . Four

It is important to perform the neck exercises smoothly and slowly over a few seconds and to do each exercise on its own rather than combining two or more movements at once. Start with rotating the neck to the left as far as it will go and hold with a slight stretch at the end for a few seconds then return steadily to the starting position. Repeating this movement five or ten times can be followed by a short rest the practising turning to the right. This is the pattern for all the movements. Flexion involves letting the chin come forward until it rests almost on the chest as if someone is falling asleep in sitting up.

Extension involves looking up as far as one can although if that brings on dizziness it should be avoided. Side flexion is performed by allowing the ear to move towards the same side shoulder without rotating the head, with an accompanying firm stretch typical on the opposite side. Retractions or the .chicken movement. are more difficult to perform well. The face needs to be kept parallel to the vertical such as a wall as the head is drawn backwards with the chin pulled down slightly during the movement.

Trochanteric Bursitis

Pain on the side of the hip is a common complaint and often diagnosed as trochanteric bursitis, even though this diagnosis may not be verifiable. Lateral hip pain can be referred from the lumbar spine or the hip joint but in many cases the pain is located over the large bony prominence at the side of the hip, the greater trochanter. The tendons of several of the large buttock muscles come round and insert into the greater trochanter. On examination a physiotherapist might find great tenderness over the greater trochanter and over the nearby tendon, with pain on resisted hip abduction which stresses the tendons.

Symptoms are aggravated by walking, running or any activity which demands significant power from the buttock muscles. Initially the pain was thought to be inflammation in one of the lubricating sacs positioned between moving structures, known as bursae. Present ideas indicate that degenerative changes may occur within the tendon structures, causing a tendinosis which can be painful. Treatments can include physiotherapy to teach patients eccentric exercises to stress the tendons and force it to repair, steroid injections into the tendon areas which are painful or in severe cases a surgical release.