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

Forward Bending Actions Which Can Injure The Spine

In normal circumstances people bend their lumbar spines by 80-100% of the available movement when they bend over to the floor to pick things up. Adding an awkward movement such as to one side increases the stretch on the facet joint of the other side. This indicates that it is easy to get to the maximum bend limit of the lower spine by doing something easy like reaching down to the feet to put on shoes. Long periods of remaining flexed, such as sitting for a long car journey, forces the ligaments to relax, decreasing the protective muscular mechanisms and increasing the chances of suffering a disc prolapse.

If the muscles get tired by repetitive actions of lifting or bending over then their protective care of the spine is also diminished. In the anatomical examination of spines after death there has been shown to be a 20% incidence of rupture of the ligaments which connect the spines of the individual vertebrae at the back. As these ligaments are fully stretched when the spine is fully bent it is likely that bending injuries due to too much flexion of the spine are very common as people are suddenly forced into bend by an accidental movement.

The Shoulder

The human shoulder is a design of great functional ability and ingenuity, designed entirely around placing our hands in the places we want them to be. The hand is the tool with which we connect with the world and we need to be able to place it in a great variety of positions so we can manipulate objects. The shoulder contributes to a very large extent to our ability to do this and to achieve this goal it has an extremely large range of motion permitting great flexibility. However, in satisfying the requirement for flexibility it sacrifices stability.

To allow the large range of motion the shoulder is designed with a relatively small socket and a very large ball, the head of the arm bone. The shoulder capsule, the fibrous ligamentous bag which surrounds and supports the joint, is relatively lax and contributes little to stability. The nervous and muscular systems have the job of keeping the large humeral head balanced on the small glenoid cavity (shoulder socket). The large shoulder muscles are more concerned with gross movements of the shoulder, and it is the rotator cuff muscles which perform much of the stabilising work of the joint.