With the cooler weather and the start of the new school year the Costa del Sol returns to “normal”! And so we return to our usual schedule and work pattern as well. Before the summer we started our new seminar format. And WOW what a response! So we start again this week! Wednesday 18 September – 11.30 And we start with one of my FAVOURITE topics!!! Your FEET!! As everyone…
Earlier this month I had a gentleman come in complaining of long term (5+ years!!) pain in his knee. He’d had 2 rounds of surgery on the knee with no improvement. During my assessment I found that he had an even longer history of lower back pain and hip pain. So rather than focus on his knee, we focused on his back, I taught him a couple of little tricks…
So over the last few weeks I’ve talked about lower back pain and sciatica in particular. I’ve also been talking about those conditions that can sometimes get bundled up in a general “sciatica” muddle like Iliotibial Band Syndrome. (it’s ok, you can go read them, I’ll wait!) And today we are going to look at another one of those conditions that can cause similar symptoms – Piriformis Syndrome. This may…
ACL issues are common in many athletes, professional or keen amateur – sudden twisting, over extension, falls, a bad landing or sudden stops . . . these can all cause ligament injuries. But only 1 in 3 patients return to their sport! A shocking and often unnecessary statistic. What is the ACL? The ACL is the anterior cruciate ligament and connects the thigh bone to the shin bone in the…
When we were discussing seminar topics the one suggested left and right was Sciatica! This is obviously a topic people think about in connection with physiotherapy. And I was looking back at the articles I’ve written for the EWN and my own blog over the last decade and realised, I have NEVER written about sciatica!! So here goes, my first EVER article about sciatica! Fingers crossed! What is it? Sciatica…
4 out of 5 people will experience back pain. Chronic lower back pain is becoming a big problem affecting over 18 million people in the UK preventing many from working. So what is the solution? Lumbar Fusion Surgery? The Backcare Charity states that; “Very few people require back surgery. Such surgery is only essential when there are extreme symptoms such as a paralysis of the bladder and bowel or loss…
The wonderful, glorious thing about medicine is that it is constantly improving and changing. But it means that keeping up to date on what really works is a job in itself. A British Medical Journal article once estimated that family doctors needed to do 60 hours of reading a WEEK just to have a broad understanding of the changes involved. And that is literally life and death. Is it any…
Your body works as a whole unit. A team. And that “work” of moving you forward still needs to be done even if one part doesn’t function that great. So another area picks up the slack. And when that part of the team doing the extra work gets too tired? You get pain. Now, if this is the situation it doesn’t matter how much fabulous treatment you get in the…
Every year, in January and over the summer I am contacted by physiotherapists who have read this article which I wrote a very looooooooong time ago. So I thought it time to update this a little with the information that I generally add when I get the emails! Estelle Mitchell, a UK-qualified physiotherapist with more than 26 *ahem, it’s more like 40 now! years’ experience, came to work in southern…
You’ve woken up and looked at yourself in the mirror, one half of your face has dropped and you are unable to make it move. Your first thought is, “OMG I’ve had a stroke!” Check FAST F – Face drooping A – Arm Weakness S – Speech Difficulty T – Time to call an ambulance (dial 061 in Andalucia) If these don’t apply then you could have a facial palsy…