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

Physiotherapy and Elderly People

The number of elderly people is increasing strongly in all the industrialised states of the world and the health challenges which come with this are considerable. Physiotherapists have a large role to play both in hospitals once an elderly person is admitted and with elderly people in the community. Once admitted an elderly patient is seen by the physiotherapist if a respiratory, neurological or mobility problem is identified. Physios specialising in elderly care are trained to understand, assess and treat patients who may have a series of co-existing medical conditions as well as difficulties understanding or expressing themselves.

Elderly people are particularly vulnerable to drug reactions, being away from their normal surroundings and being immobilised for any length of time. Complications can quickly occur such as chest infections, pressure sores, confusion and loss of mobility and independence. Physios assess and treat these problems and routinely mobilise patients who have compromised mobility. In the community physiotherapists may visit the elderly in their homes and advise on mobility, safety and functional issues. Physios also take exercise classes in the community for balance and falls prevention, and for bone density to counter the increasing incidence of osteoporosis in elderly women.

Muscle

Human muscle is classified into three types, smooth, striated and cardiac. Striated or skeletal muscle is the type we think about when we consider muscle, allowing us to contract with force, maintain posture and produce movement. Muscle is well supplied with blood and also with nerve endings which are able to continuously monitor the stresses and strains through the tissue. Pain nerve endings are present mainly in the fibrous sheaths which surround the muscle. The muscle is structured in bundles of fibres, each surrounded by a fibrous sheath which join together at the ends into tendinous tissue on its way to attachment to bone.

Muscle fibres can be orientated in various directions which gives the muscles different abilities as contractile structures. If the fibres are arranged longitudinally along the muscle it tends to be longer and to be able to contract more in length terms, while muscles in different configurations such as the fibres on a feather can generate higher degrees of force. Higher forces may be required in muscles which have to work against gravity and move the weight of the body. Muscles have three different types of fibres, named Type 1, 2A and 2B, with different functions.