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

Tendon-Bone and Ligament-Bone Conditions . Mechanical Factors

Problems with the junctions between bone and ligaments or tendons can occur because of mechanical rather than inflammatory factors, with overuse injuries, trauma and sport examples of causative factors. MRI scanning may show a pathological change in the insertion or enthesis but the differences between changes caused by inflammation and mechanical factors is not great. It is fairly clear at the Achilles tendon as changes caused by mechanical factors occur two to six centimetres above the insertion while inflammatory changes will occur at the insertion itself. Degenerative changes in the insertions may give similar effects to the changes from inflammation.

Enthesis in osteoarthritis may show the same, if more limited, changes which occur in inflammatory conditions. Modern investigations have improved our knowledge of these conditions, with spinal problems best imaged by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and areas of the body which are more easily reached can better be checked out using ultrasound. Swelling of the bony areas around the insertion can be present on scanning, as is soft tissue swelling of the enthesis and its surrounding region. However, a normal MRI and a negative blood test do not exclude an inflammatory arthritis as both tests are not specific enough.

Dangers of Alternative Medicines

A recent case at the Old Bailey has highlighted the fact that there is no such thing as a safe and natural medicine, as all such treatments come with potential risks. A Chinese Medicine practitioner has recently pleaded guilty to selling a banned substance to a person who has subsequently developed cancer and kidney failure. The medication was promoted as .safe and natural. and taken over a period of five years, exposing the patient to concentrations of aristolochic acid which is now a banned substance and should have only been provided under prescription anyhow at the time.

Chinese medicines have been routinely shown to contain significant levels of unwanted substances such as heavy metals and this case highlights the lack of regulation of this part of alternative medicine. Other areas of health practice with lower risks than some alternative treatments are heavily regulated in the UK but alternative practitioners are still able to prescribe drug treatments without the necessary knowledge and protocols to ensure their practice is safe. The actions of this particular drug in the body are not well understood, making its use with the uncertainty and unknown risks not matched by the more trivial reasons for using it.