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

Time and Muscle Degeneration

Ageing is associated with decreases in both muscle bulk and strength, varying with different muscles in the body and with which side is the dominant one. The loss of the capacity of muscle is greater in men than in women and also in people who are less active physically. Hormone changes, reduced rates of protein production and poor dietary intake can all contribute. Physiotherapists can reverse this process by instituting a resisted exercise programme at the higher intensity level. Older people can respond to muscle training although older muscles do react less strongly to stimulation and take longer to recover and strengthen after exercise sessions.

Older muscles also suffer from a variety of other changes: a reduction in the ability to use energy to produce force; an increase in the fibrous tissue content which can increase stiffness. Along with the reduction in the ability to know where the joints are at any one moment the elderly suffer from slower reactions and poorer muscle control, with weaker and more easily tired muscles. This can lead in very elderly people to a loss of independence and increasing frailty. Perhaps because of its good blood supply, muscle is mostly able to regenerate itself and remain strong.

Bone and Ageing

Bone loss occurs much more rapidly than the equivalent process in muscle tissues, with reductions in hormone production and in activity playing a part. After the menopause, the reduction in hormone production in women can result in lowered bone density which is initially termed osteopoenia and then osteoporosis when the bone approaches the levels where it will fracture easily during normal activity. Bone loss affects the trabecular honeycomb bone more than the denser outer cortical bone and also the vertical struts more than the horizontal ones. Once one of the struts is broken it does not repair.

Because they are made up of large amounts of trabecular bones, the spinal bones are often badly affected by osteoporosis, with the process eventually allowing a buckling of the upper and lower surfaces of the vertebrae. The fronts of the vertebrae are more vulnerable to fracture as the trabeculae lose more mass in this area. Physiotherapists teach weight bearing exercises to counteract bone loss and drug therapies can halt breakdown and even increase bone mass. Getting our bone mass up to a high level during younger years so that the steady loss with age does not become important may be the best strategy.