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

Physiotherapy and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

COPD or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a common and important chronic condition which affects about 1.5 million people in the United Kingdom. Hospitalisation is common as around 25% of COPD sufferers are admitted each year with a worsening of their condition. Chest physiotherapy is routinely employed in an attempt to improve air entry or to assist in the removal of secretions, using various techniques including manual treatment, treatment with equipment and walking programmes. Two techniques, positive expiratory pressure (PEP) and intermittent positive pressure ventilation (IPPV), have shown an ability to increase the amount of sputum brought up in patients where sputum retention is a problem.

One treatment which physiotherapists routinely use with respiratory patients is to get them walking again, as fitness declines quickly with best rest when sick and getting up and about promotes clearing of secretions naturally by coughing. This improves blood gases, shortness of breath and physical stamina. Moderate scientific evidence exists that this treatment is effective in respiratory patients and most physiotherapy techniques have been shown to be safe rather than particularly effective. Percussion, the hitting of the chest with the hands, has not been shown to be effective and is used less and less also for safety concerns.

Falls and Healthy Bones

Falling in adults is an important matter with involvement of around 30% of people over sixty-five years old and half of those over eighty-five years. There are significant risks to falling for elderly people, with many much older people dying and or suffering loss of mobility or other problems. Ninety percent of hip fractures are caused by falling and this comes with a very high cost both personally and financially. Only twenty percent of people who fracture their hip recover well enough to attain their previous level of functional abilities which includes walking. There may be many reasons for a person falling and the evidence for the many interventions proposed being effective is not very good.

Physiotherapists prescribe exercise programmes as part of their main arsenal of skills, with good evidence that well designed programmes which include training balance and strength can be effective at reducing falls in the community. Patient access to assessment and treatment by a physiotherapist is however variable in the UK, with hip fracture patients likely to receive this (due to admission to hospital) but patients with non-hip fractures are much less likely to receive this even when admitted. Physios have a much greater role in this matter which they have not taken up.