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

Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury

The anterior cruciate ligament is one of the four major ligaments of the knee joint and controls the forward and backward movement of the tibia on the femur as well as exerting rotatory control. It is a commonly injured structure especially in contact sports such as football or rugby but also in other activities where momentum is involved such as skiing. Injury usually follows an inward pressure on the knee combined with a rotation with the foot planted on the ground, with the sufferer often feeling or hearing a clear pop in the knee accompanied by significant pain.

Cruciate ligament rupture is almost always followed by the knee swelling up significantly in a few minutes as the injury bleeds into the knee. The acutely painful knee is managed by physiotherapists with ice, compression, bracing and gentle range of movement as soon as practical. Once the knee has settled from its acute stage it can be assessed for competence of the ligament. A cruciate deficient knee is usually unstable on rapid movement and turning and is often listed for reconstructive surgery. Physiotherapists rehabilitate the knee before the surgery to give the patient the best chance of coping with the long period of rehabilitation required post-operatively.

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.