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

Muscle

Human muscle is classified into three types, smooth, striated and cardiac. Striated or skeletal muscle is the type we think about when we consider muscle, allowing us to contract with force, maintain posture and produce movement. Muscle is well supplied with blood and also with nerve endings which are able to continuously monitor the stresses and strains through the tissue. Pain nerve endings are present mainly in the fibrous sheaths which surround the muscle. The muscle is structured in bundles of fibres, each surrounded by a fibrous sheath which join together at the ends into tendinous tissue on its way to attachment to bone.

Muscle fibres can be orientated in various directions which gives the muscles different abilities as contractile structures. If the fibres are arranged longitudinally along the muscle it tends to be longer and to be able to contract more in length terms, while muscles in different configurations such as the fibres on a feather can generate higher degrees of force. Higher forces may be required in muscles which have to work against gravity and move the weight of the body. Muscles have three different types of fibres, named Type 1, 2A and 2B, with different functions.

Stress and Neck Pain

Neck pain causes problems in life, reducing our ability to do things, interrupting comfortable postures and interfering with our concentration. This causes stress and anxiety , a very typical response, and which can increase muscle tension and increase pain. The tension caused by stresses can increase the contraction levels in neck muscles and this spasm contributes towards muscle pain in all the overactive muscles. Figuring out what the stresses are and taking action to reduce them at this stage is very important and may help recovery. Mindfulness, controlled breathing and relaxation techniques may all be useful.

Mindfulness is a technique of placing yourself in the here and now with yourself and not judging yourself and the situation you are in, you just accept and experience it. Relaxation techniques are often practised lying down with a pillow under the knees to relax the low back area. Contracting each set of muscles from the feet up and then letting them go will provide a relaxation, with a guide from a relaxation CD or tape a useful adjunct. Controlled breathing by allowing the abdomen to rise as the diaphragm is used to inhale air in a slow rhythm can also be very relaxing.