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

Shin Splints

Shin splints (also called medial tibial stress syndrome) is the name given to a complaint of pain and disability in the calf area, especially the anterior and lateral area, during sport or other heavy activity. Runners commonly exhibit this problem and the diagnosis of a stress fracture in the area needs to be excluded. This appears to be a chronic exertional syndrome related to compartment syndromes, where the relatively inextensible anatomical compartments in the leg suffer increased pressure due to increased vascular input. The exact reasons why this process leads to pain on activity have not been discovered.

Patients with shin splints complain of pain or tightness in the calf during exercise, with the pain being aching, burning or cramping. The affected part of the leg may feel full and this feeling gradually increase as the activity continues, being related to the degree of exertion or the length of time it is maintained for. Pain typically settles with rest and the person thinks the problem may then go away, but then it reoccurs when the activity is returned to. The leg may feel weak and under less obvious control, with pins and needles or other abnormal feelings possible in the region supplied by an involved nerve.

Supraspinatus Tendonitis of the Shoulder

The shoulder joint is controlled by a group of muscles known as the rotator cuff which originate from the scapula or shoulder blade and travel outwards until they become tendons and insert into the top of the arm bone. The cuff stabilises and holds the large ball of the arm bone in place on the small socket as the shoulder goes through its very large range of motion. Without the rotator cuff the large and powerful deltoid muscle would just pull the shoulder area upwards rather than lift the arm above the head. The supraspinatus muscle is one of the cuff group and its tendon runs just underneath the bony arch above the arm bone to attach to the outside.

If the shoulder is used repetitively for an unaccustomed activity the tendon can impinge on the bony arch above and become inflamed and painful. This is supraspinatus tendonitis, a condition which can be acutely painful or more chronically restricting for the use of the shoulder. Physiotherapy treatment consists of ultrasound or frictions to the tender area and correction of any shoulder muscle imbalances. Further treatment includes corticosteroid injections to reduce the inflammation and if severe enough, investigation to look for rotator cuff tendon tears.