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

Hammer toes

Hammer toes are a common deformity of the foot and often associated with more profound changes in the foot such as pes cavus where the inside foot arch is exaggerated. The small intrinsic foot muscles, which allow the toes to be kept straight as they grip the ground, weaken and the extensor muscles then pull the near part of the toe upwards. This makes the near joints of the toes bend up leading to a clawing of the toes. The extensor tendons can then shorten, leading to a permanent deformity where the person cannot get the toes flat down onto the ground any more.

There are a series of consequences from this deformity. The toes curl up and thereby take up much more room at the end of the shoe, causing the tops of the joints to suffer pressure against the shoe and develop sore areas or calluses. A more spacious toe box in the shoes can relieve this. The metatarsal heads suffer increased pressure from weight bearing and also develop calluses under the ball of the foot where the loading is greatest. In time these changes can lead to foot pain and require stretches or surgical correction.

Back Pain - Yellow Flags for Disability and Work Loss

Low back pain is one of the most common and disabling musculoskeletal conditions prevalent in the population, causing high degrees of work loss, suffering and expense. Back pain sufferers are affected by a variety of physical and psychological issues which affect the severity, duration and outcome of the back pain episode. The ideas of yellow flags, to add to red flags which are an indication of serious spinal pathology, has been formalised by work in New Zealand under the title of .Yellow Flags . Indicators for Work Loss and Disability.. These psychosocial factors are important and they are much stronger predictors of how well the person is going to turn out with their back pain than any of the physical factors.

Physiotherapists ask yellow flag questions to find out what their patients are thinking and thereby to be able to target their interventions more closely to the presenting problems. Typical yellow flag positive indications might be the belief that activity is harmful, the belief that pain means there is damage going on in the back and the idea that work is harmful. These beliefs are important in holding some people back from going back to doing normal activities.