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

Degeneration of Intervertebral Discs

The terms degeneration and ageing when applied to intervertebral discs are not exactly the same thing, as degeneration implies damaging changes in disc structure while ageing changes may be incidental. However, degeneration is a lot more common in older rather than younger discs. Degeneration does involve things which ageing does not, such as larger structural changes in the annulus in the endplates. This structural change starts to occur in a person.s twenties and reaches its maximum in middle age. Because disc degeneration occurs more commonly in men and in the lower lumbar spine it is assumed to be related to mechanical stresses.

Changes which occur in the discs are tears in the annular fibres of various patterns, buckling of the inner annular fibres inwards towards the disc centre, greater bulging of the outer disc walls, loss of disc height, defects in the endplates which can include these bulging up into the vertebral body. Blood vessels and nerves can grow inwards along the annular tears as they are no longer opposed by the internal disc pressure. Degeneration may disrupt the disc.s ability to distribute the compression stresses evenly, leading to high levels of stress being applied to areas which are not designed to cope with this.

The Development of Chronic Neck Pain

Long term neck pain and disability is a difficult and perplexing problem, leading to high degrees of pain, suffering and loss of function in some patients. There are a serious of beliefs which may go with a higher risk of developing chronic pain after neck injury such as: the belief that the pain is due to a serious injury or tissue damage; resisting reassurance; equating hurt with harm and believing the pain will lead to disability; avoiding activities and movement due to the fear of damage; resting and remaining inactive whilst waiting for the pain to settle; expecting someone to cure the pain rather than taking on the responsibility oneself; withdrawing from social contact and becoming depressed.

These tendencies are referred to as .yellow flags. and predict to some extent the likelihood the person will suffer work loss and disability from their pain condition. These problems may develop steadily and without the person being aware of them, so they need identifying and dealing with as soon as possible. If a person is off work for a month with their neck pain then there is a risk of developing long term problems and a ten percent chance of still being off in a year.