Physiotherapists in Nottinghamshire treat many different conditions including the condition profiled below.

Simple Neck Exercises . Three

Whilst simple neck exercises are extremely valuable to correct postural abnormalities, lengthen shortened structures and relieve painful neck problems it is important to use the correct technique to get the best from them. Incorrect technique can make the exercises effectively useless or even worsen the problem or cause injury. There are four basic directions of neck exercises: front and back (flexion and extension); side to side (side flexion); rotation; retraction (tucking the head in a bit like a chicken does when it walks). All these movements need to be performed to put the cervical structures through their full movement.

The structures which make up the body do not respond well to fast movement or great forces applied in very short time periods. The aim with simple neck exercises is to get the joints to the extremes of their movement and give a gentle end range stretch to the anatomy. To achieve this the movement needs to be steady and slow, without jerking, and held at the end with a bit of extra effort for a few seconds. It is also useful to do just one movement at a time, the common behaviour of rotating the neck in large circles being both more likely to aggravate the joints and not getting the full movement of any of them.

Patellar Dislocation

The patella is a small bone embedded in the tendon of the quadriceps muscle which is the main power muscle controlling the knee. The patella has two facets at a slight angle on its under surface which articulate with the femoral condyles, the large rounded ends of the thigh bone at the knee. The outside femoral condyles is slightly larger in a frontwards direction and helps act to hold the patella in place. Due to the angle of the thigh bone coming down from the hip and then joining the tibia which is horizontal there is a bowstring effect as the quadriceps muscle contracts, pulling the kneecap sideways.

If the person rotates their leg with their weight on the foot, the sideways force on the kneecap can be enough to force it outwards over the condyle ridge and off its joint surface completely. This is immediately extremely painful and if the person straightens their knee the patella usually relocates itself automatically. Because the tissues on the inside of the knee have been stretched and torn as the kneecap dislocated the knee is usually kept straight in a splint or plaster for a few weeks to allow this area to tighten up as it heals.

Physiotherapists in Nottinghamshire have contributed some of the many articles on this site such as the one extracted below.

The skiing season is almost upon us and thousands of British people will go to the mountains and do hard exercise they are not used to. For a few this will be a difficult experience, with injuries and medical care. For many it will be sore muscles and painful joints which dominate the time on the snow.Muscle and joints strains dont have to part of your skiing holiday if you do some simple preparation. Many people forget that skiing is a very physically demanding activity and most of us are just not prepared for the levels of activity we want to perform.The fitter you are the better your performance in a hilly environment and it makes your skiing holiday safer. Its hard to fit in exercise time to a busy schedule but you can do it cheaply and quickly with 45 minutes and just your running gear.If you do any running on soft ground such as grass or parkland it will reduce the wear stress on your joints and its more fun than pavements and roads. Having a friend workout with you is also more ...

more Getting Fit for Skiing