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

Rehabilitation after Hip Replacement

Hip replacement is aimed at restoring the ability of a person with an arthritic hip to walk, rise from chairs, manage stairs and crouch. Pre-assessment starts the process with education of the patient about what they should expect so they can cooperate with the process. Exercises are taught to maintain the ranges of motion and keep up muscle strength around the joint. Gait correction is given and a walking aid provided as appropriate. The day after the operation the physiotherapist and an assistant will get the patient up into standing and walking. Gentle range of movement exercises to encourage hip flexion and the ability to move the leg in the bed is encouraged.

Once the patient is able to get up with assistance they are taught to get out of the bed independently and perform as natural as possible a gait pattern, within the weight bearing instructions of the surgeon and physiotherapist. Patients are encouraged to walk longer distances steadily to build up their stamina and taught to manage a set of stairs safely. If there is evidence of muscle weakness around the hip then exercises may be prescribed, but much of the necessary muscle power around the hip will be restored by normal activity.

Muscle Fibre Types

Muscle has three main fibre types which are specialised for different functional abilities. Type 1 muscle fibres, also known as slow twitch fibres, have a good capillary supply and use a mostly aerobic energy system. Type 2 fibres use a non-aerobic energy system more typically and in general the proportion of Type 1 to Type 2 fibres is fixed genetically in an individual. Muscle cells don.t turn over like many other body cells, the muscle continues for the life of the person. Muscles get larger and stronger by the individual muscle cells gaining mass and the number of muscle cells does not change.

Muscles are very adaptive tissues and can respond to altered work demands very much more quickly than other tissues, enabling us to build up the ability to do something new in a short time. The way the muscles are exercised has strong effects on the way muscles adapt to the new stresses. If endurance training is performed, with lower weights and higher repetitions, the largest changes are in the Type 1 slow twitch fibres which exhibit increases in their blood supply and in the enzyme systems which deliver energy. This allows these muscle fibres to contract for longer periods without tiring.