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

Pain Behaviours

When we hurt ourselves it is usual for us to give some indication of the fact that we are injured and these behaviours we exhibit are caused pain behaviours. Typical pain behaviours are non-verbal such as groaning or moaning, grimacing, holding the painful part, lying down, seeking a space away from people or taking painkillers. These behaviours are normal and are a form of communication, letting other people know we have a problem so that they can help us if we require some assistance to manage our injury. These behaviours allow others to assist us more quickly than if we had to think about it and ask them, which would be difficult immediately after a painful injury.

However, such pain behaviours can become chronic, a sort of ingrained habit, and people may use them to communicate daily to people around them about how they are doing that day. This type of communication, being non-verbal, can be misconstrued as it is not clear what is being communicated, leading to incorrect guesses and unwanted actions. Non-assertive communication can be very irritating for those around the person as it is never clear what they want and when something is done it is wrong.

Skin Burn after Cryotherapy

Cryotherapy, also called cold therapy or ice therapy, is a common modality of self treatment and routinely used in physiotherapy for acute injuries. However, partial thickness skin burns have been known to occur after cryotherapy and this therapy needs to be carefully managed to prevent doing patients harm. When cold is applied to the skin it responds initially with vasoconstriction, reducing the amount of blood in the area to conserve heat. As the cold persists this is followed by vasodilation as the circulation to the area is increased to bring warmth to the area and prevent tissue damage.

If cold then persists for a long time the circulation may be withdrawn more permanently, allowing an area of skin to be exposed to cold for a time when it has no blood supply to keep it warm and alive. This can result in local death of the skin, an ice burn or frostbite. Physiotherapists are aware of this danger, assess the patient for skin sensibility and apply cold carefully with supervision. The use of cold packs taken from a freezer (at minus 18 degrees) is not safe directly on the skin and a wet towelling material should always be put between the pack and the skin.