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

Losing and Gaining Muscle

Muscle is a dynamic tissue, changing greatly to accommodate to changing requirements. If a person.s leg is immobilised the thickness of the quadriceps muscle decreases by 15-20% in six weeks as the Type 1 muscle fibres reduce their protein production. This is the reason why immobilisation of a fracture or sprain is kept to an absolute minimum as losses of muscle and bone tissue are important, with joint stiffness another potential damaging side effect. Muscle will also respond quickly and strongly to increases in loading, with a maximum weight to be lifted increasing by 100% over a 12 month training period.

Much of the increased strength of muscle is due to hypertrophy of the muscle fibres, although other factors contributing are muscle endurance and learned coordination of the movement. A 30% increase of muscle mass can occur in four days after a muscle is overloaded in a stretched position, indicating the speed by which this part of the musculoskeletal system can adapt to new conditions. Exactly what makes muscles increase in strength is under discussion, but unexpectedly high activity, particularly in eccentric contractions, can cause the exercise induced damage which leads to repair and hypertrophy.

Total Knee Replacement

Joint replacement is one of the most successful medical technical interventions with the highest quality of life improvements of any treatments. The most common reason for having a knee replacement is the occurrence of osteoarthritis, the typical age related joint change which occurs in many millions of people around the world. Osteoarthritis causes joint pain, stiffness, gradually increasing loss of range of movement and difficulties with walking, climbing stairs and rising from sitting. If conservative treatments are not successful and there is significant disability associated with continual pain and difficult sleeping then joint replacement may be considered.

In knee replacement the joint surfaces are replaced by stainless steels components and a plastic liner is inserted between them and on the back of the patella. The operation takes up to two hours and the person is typically seen and mobilised up into standing or walking the next day by the physiotherapist and an assistant. Rehabilitation with the physios is now very important, with exercise practice, gait supervision and functional activities. Length of stay in hospital varies between three and seven days with routine referral to physiotherapy on discharge to work on range of movement and strength.