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

Spinal Posture

Spinal posture can mean two main things, one being the shape and orientation of the curves in the spine and two being the angle that the whole spine is aligned to the vertical. The minimum of muscle activity occurs when the trunk is balanced directly above the pelvis and any deviation from this requires muscle activity to increase to maintain position. As the main moving muscles of the spine are orientated lengthways like the spine itself, when they contract they generate significant compression forces through the spine. Contraction of these muscles in easy standing or sitting still generates forces through the lumbar spine that are twice the body weight above the area.

In sitting it makes little difference to the degree of muscle activity whether the lumbar spine is held arched to some degree (lumbar lordosis) or flexed (bent), the key point is whether the spine is vertically aligned or not. So leaning back with a lordosis or forwards with a flexed spine both generate high muscle forces, whilst sitting upright in either posture does not. Sitting positions all flex the lumbar spine, with the lower two lumbar levels being significantly flexed in these postures, even to the maximum of their movement.

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.