If you are searching for local County of Tyne And Wear physiotherapy practices, the clinics below are recommended. Please click on the practice name links for detailed descriptions of each clinic and the conditions in which they specialise.
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Physiotherapists in Tyne And Wear treat many different conditions including the condition profiled below.
Back Pain - Red Flags for Serious Conditions
Most people with back pain have just that, back pain secondary to injury, time and the mechanical stresses of holding a posture or performing an activity. However, a small proportion of people present with back pain when the underlying reason is a serious pathology of some sort. The signs that indicate that mechanical back pain may not be the reason for the patient's pain are called red flags. Physiotherapists routinely ask the red flag questions to try to exclude the likelihood of a patient having a serious underlying condition which might also be worsened by physio treatment. Examples of red flags for back pain are: age over 55 or under 20 when back pain first presents and significant trauma involved (like a fall).
Other red flags include: significant weight loss; significant night pain; use of steroids; a history of cancer; bladder or bowel disturbance and loss of sensation in the saddle area around the genitals and anus. A degree of judgement is required as the outcome of the questions is rarely clear cut and most red flag situations turn out not to be serious conditions but physios routinely evaluate these to ensure safe treatment and refer questionable cases on for medical evaluation.
Severe Arm Pain and Physiotherapy
Neck pain is very common but, like sciatica in the leg, severe arm pain is uncommon but distressing for the sufferer. Nerve root conditions are caused typically by compression or inflammation from a disc protrusion near to the nerve exit in the spinal column or by bony encroachment on the same areas in older people. Patients complain of severe pain in the arm, often worse below the elbow and into the hand, with a surging quality which is very unpleasant. Typically patients are not able to sleep with this so appear tired and miserable due to the loss of sleep and constant severe pain.
Physiotherapy management starts with a careful assessment of the neck and arm but this may be severely limited by the severity of the pain and the irritability, the ease by which the condition can be stirred up by minimal input. Initial treatment is aimed at pain relief with analgesia, restriction of aggravating activities and a collar at night to restrict neck movements. Once the pain begins to settle the patient is encouraged to start gentle exercises or the physiotherapist performs mobilisation techniques to put mechanical stresses through the joint to start the process of restoring the area's capacity to cope with stress.
Physiotherapists in Tyne And Wear have contributed some of the many articles on this site such as the one extracted below.
A diverticulum (called diverticula if there are more than one of them) is a protrusion of the inner lining of the intestine through the outer muscular coat to form a small pouch with a narrow neck. The commonest site for diverticula to develop is the lower left part of the colon. The presence of diverticula is often referred to as diverticulosis.What is the cause of diverticula?Some people are born with a diverticulum, most often from the small intestine. Most diverticula develop during later life and are more common with increasing age. In Britain over half the well population aged more than 70 years have diverticula of the large intestine. In some rural areas of the world, particularly in Africa, diverticula are rarely seen. The difference from western countries is not fully understood but is thought to be due to diet. The colon exists to process otherwise indigestible plant foods known as dietary fibre.In the west we eat less fibre than in other, primarily vegetarian, regions of the...
