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

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.

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.

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

The mechanical connection between the legs and the mass of the trunk occurs at the hip joints with their large socket and ball. The hip socket or acetabulum is a deep rounded structure with a rim of cartilage which closely holds the head of the femur, the large ball structure at the top of the thigh bone. As befits a joint where large forces are applied, the hip is stable, deep and has strong stabilising features. To permit fluid movement under considerable bodily loads the hip surfaces are covered with articular cartilage which confers almost friction-free motion under these loads. This is essential to the hip and the thickest cartilage is where the greatest forces are applied.Surrounding the head, socket and neck is the capsule of the hip joint which runs from the lip of the socket down over the head and neck to the base of the neck. It is a fibrous bag lined by synovial membrane which secretes the lubricating and nutritional fluid for the cartilage, and is strengthened by denser ban...

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