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

The Curves of the Spine

A quick look at anyone's spine from the side clearly indicates that the spine is not a dead straight structure but has a series of curve. There are four spinal curves, the cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral. The neck curve begins to develop when the young child starts to try and lift the head up to look around, while the lumbar curve may be secondary to an upright gait. During walking the curves vary in regular amounts and this may be so that the spine can absorb and release energy, allowing the curves to be increased and decreased rather than the spine just suffers compression. This makes the curve system a form of shock absorber.

During the gait cycles the large muscles of the abdomen and back are working hard to stop large changes in the spinal curves occurring as this would adversely affect stability, and it is these tendons that the energy is stored which would otherwise just be applied to the spine. Walking involves jarring up and down movements which could be harmful if they were transmitted up through the spine and arrived at the head. These forces are lessened by the absorption of forces which the curves provide.

Thumb Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the commonest degenerative joint disease in the world and affects hundreds of millions of mostly older people. The incidence of osteoarthritis is partly related to genetic factors but mostly the older a person is the more likely they are to have some arthritic joints. Some joints are more susceptible to osteoarthritic changes and more troublesome when they are affected by this condition. At the base of the thumb is the junction between the first metacarpal and one of the carpal or wrist bones, the trapezium, and this joint is known as the first carpo-metacarpal joint or CMC joint.

The CMC joint is a complex, saddle shaped joint and a very important one for the function of the hand. The thumb is a vital part of normal hand use and disturbance of the thumb can badly affect the use of the whole hand. The thumb has to rotate round so if can work opposite the fingers and if the joint become osteoarthritic this is restricted. A bony swelling may be obvious on the outer border of the hand below the thumb and the movement is obviously limited. Treatment includes joint mobilisations by a physiotherapist, splinting, injections and surgery.