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

Falls and Healthy Bones

Falling in adults is an important matter with involvement of around 30% of people over sixty-five years old and half of those over eighty-five years. There are significant risks to falling for elderly people, with many much older people dying and or suffering loss of mobility or other problems. Ninety percent of hip fractures are caused by falling and this comes with a very high cost both personally and financially. Only twenty percent of people who fracture their hip recover well enough to attain their previous level of functional abilities which includes walking. There may be many reasons for a person falling and the evidence for the many interventions proposed being effective is not very good.

Physiotherapists prescribe exercise programmes as part of their main arsenal of skills, with good evidence that well designed programmes which include training balance and strength can be effective at reducing falls in the community. Patient access to assessment and treatment by a physiotherapist is however variable in the UK, with hip fracture patients likely to receive this (due to admission to hospital) but patients with non-hip fractures are much less likely to receive this even when admitted. Physios have a much greater role in this matter which they have not taken up.

Physiotherapy and Falls

Falls are a problem at any age but particularly so in elderly due to the frequency and the severe potential problems which can result. The incidence of fractured neck of femur (fractured hips) in the elderly is considerable and carries significant risk of long term disability or death in people who are already frail and at the edge of independence. Falling is a complex problem which demands a multidisciplinary approach from health professionals to have any chance of success. As we get older our muscular, balance, joint, vision and hearing systems all change for the worse and reduce the speed and amount of information and postural change we are able to understand and accommodate at any time.

Physiotherapists assess and manage falls problems by assessing the medical history and present status of the patient, getting a social history from them and assessing their mental and physical status. The physio checks the patient's ability to see clearly and their awareness of the space around them which is impaired in many medical conditions. The patient is asked to get up and their balance reactions assessed, after which the physio will get them to walk to check for gait abnormalities or balance problems in dynamic activities such as gait.