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

Dangers of Alternative Medicines

A recent case at the Old Bailey has highlighted the fact that there is no such thing as a safe and natural medicine, as all such treatments come with potential risks. A Chinese Medicine practitioner has recently pleaded guilty to selling a banned substance to a person who has subsequently developed cancer and kidney failure. The medication was promoted as .safe and natural. and taken over a period of five years, exposing the patient to concentrations of aristolochic acid which is now a banned substance and should have only been provided under prescription anyhow at the time.

Chinese medicines have been routinely shown to contain significant levels of unwanted substances such as heavy metals and this case highlights the lack of regulation of this part of alternative medicine. Other areas of health practice with lower risks than some alternative treatments are heavily regulated in the UK but alternative practitioners are still able to prescribe drug treatments without the necessary knowledge and protocols to ensure their practice is safe. The actions of this particular drug in the body are not well understood, making its use with the uncertainty and unknown risks not matched by the more trivial reasons for using it.

Total Hip Replacement

Total hip replacement was the first of the joint replacements to be developed and has not been practiced for over forty years. The results overall have been very impressive with great improvements in the quality of life of patients, placing the intervention near the top of the most effective medical treatments. Osteoarthritis, the most common joint condition throughout the world, is the main reason for hip replacement. As the joint wears it will show increasing stiffness, pain , loss of range of motion and increasing limitation of functional abilities such as walking and getting up from chairs.

Hip replacement is performed by removing the upper part of the thigh bone which bears the ball, drilling a cavity down into the thigh bone, filling this with cement and introducing a metal component which again bears a ball at the top. The socket is enlarged to receive a plastic socket which then articulates with the ball of the other component. Patients are mobilised into standing or walking the day after surgery by the physiotherapist and an assistant, and are taught range of motion exercises for the hip and correct gait. Once independent in mobility patients are discharged home at between three and five days post surgery.