Author: Cumberland Physiotherapy

Positional Vertigo

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CUMBERLAND PHYSIOTHERAPY PARRAMATTA:

What is it?

Vertigo, the feeling that you are moving even though you aren’t, is an unpleasant yet common experience caused by a variety of conditions. It may surprise you to learn that in some cases your physiotherapist is actually able to treat vertigo.

The process of telling whether we are moving or still involves many parts of the nervous system, including the inner ear. The vestibulocochlear nerve sends information about head movement to the brain, where it is processed. However, certain conditions can disrupt this process, causing the brain to perceive movement when there is none. Physiotherapists may be able to help with a specific type of vertigo called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV).

What are the symptoms?

BPPV, also known as positional vertigo, causes dizziness only when the head moves in certain positions or directions. People with BPPV often experience dizziness and nausea when rolling over in bed or looking upwards, as well as lightheadedness and disturbance of balance. While BPPV can occur for no reason, it is often seen after a recent head trauma, respiratory infection, or airplane travel, as these conditions can disrupt the inner ear’s normal function.

How does it happen?

The symptoms of BPPV can be explained by a disruption in the signal sent by the semi-circular canals of the inner ear to the brain. These canals are positioned in different directions and filled with fluid. As the head moves, the fluid in each canal moves differently, depending on the head’s orientation. Receptors pick up this movement direction and speed, sending the message to the brain. However, sometimes small calcium crystals in the utricle, where the three semi-circular canals meet, can become dislodged and move into the semi-circular canals, disrupting the fluid and obscuring the messages to the brain.

What is the treatment?

If your doctor has diagnosed you with BPPV, they or your physiotherapist can show you a series of movements to help dislodge the calcium crystals and move them away from the semi-circular canal. You may also be asked to perform exercises to prevent the crystals from returning. Usually, only one or two treatments are needed for symptom resolution, although some cases may require more.

If you think you have vertigo, it is important to be assessed by a medical professional, as there are many conditions that can cause these symptoms and correct diagnosis is necessary before treatment. None of the information in this article is a replacement for proper medical advice. Always see a medical professional for advice on your condition.

Can you Train your Balance?

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CUMBERLAND PHYSIOTHERAPY PARRAMATTA: Maintaining balance is a complex process that your body does automatically. The body uses various systems to maintain balance, and if one system fails, the others compensate to keep you stable. You may not notice a deterioration in your balance until you’re in a challenging situation

Our bodies have three systems that work together to keep us balanced: our vision, our inner ear, and our ability to sense the position and movement of our joints, muscles, and tendons, known as proprioception. Our eyes provide visual information about the world around us, while the inner ear helps us maintain our balance by detecting changes in our head’s position. Meanwhile, receptors in our joints, muscles, and tendons help us understand where our body is in space and how it is moving.

Poor balance can cause falls, broken bones, and serious injuries. The good news is that you can usually improve your balance with just a little practice. Here are a few quick tips you can try.

1. Maintain good posture: Good posture helps align your body, which is important for balance. Stand up straight with your shoulders back and head up. Avoid slouching or leaning to one side as it can throw off your balance.

2. Practice standing on one leg: Standing on one leg may seem easy, but it can be challenging if you’re not used to it. Start near a wall or hold onto a sturdy surface for balance. Gradually try standing on one leg without support. This exercise improves proprioception, which is your body’s ability to sense where it is in space.

3. Strengthen your core muscles: Core muscles located in your abdomen, back, and hips help stabilize your body and keep you upright. Strengthening them through exercises like planks, side planks, and bridges can improve your balance.

4. Regularly Challenge your balance: Notice what the limits of your balance are and see if you can improve on this gradually every day. Setting small goals for yourself can result in large improvements in your balance over time.

Talk to your physiotherapist about creating a personalised program to improve your balance. Your physiotherapist is an expert who can evaluate which aspects of your balance need improvement and how to do it. They can assess which exercises are most appropriate for you, regardless of your fitness level or age. 

What Causes Joint and Muscle Stiffness?

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 Joint and muscle stiffness can be felt in any part of the body. While it may be accompanied by pain, this is not always the case and can have many different causes. Feelings of stiffness can be easy to ignore, however, they can be a sign that you are at increased risk of injury or pain. Here are a few reasons why you might be feeling a little bit less flexible.

Muscle Weakness

Muscle stiffness can be a sign that strength is missing. Our body will prioritise stability over flexibility if our muscles don’t have the ability to provide both. This means that your muscles will be a bit tighter and stiffer to compensate for any weakness. If you are feeling a little tight and sore, your physiotherapist can help to identify any muscles that maybe need strength targeting to help with feelings of tightness.

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)

Many of us are familiar with post-exercise pain and stiffness. This is a somewhat protective mechanism to help you recover from a bout of increased exercise. This kind of stiffness will be present in muscles that have been used recently and usually lasts for just a day or two. This kind of stiffness usually goes away on its own, although it can be quite uncomfortable, this is usually nothing to be too concerned with. Your physiotherapists can help you with tips to avoid DOMS in your regular workouts.

Lack of movement

Along with muscle weakness, inactivity can lead to joint stiffness. Joints need to move through their full range regularly to maintain their flexibility, as anyone who has kept their joints still in a cast will know. Lack of movement can lead to a reduction of blood flow and nutrients also impacting joint health. Your physiotherapists can help you to identify any joints that are not moving well and advise you on how to restore joint flexibility. Activities such as Pilates aim to help you move all of your joints through their full range safely and maintain flexibility. 

Arthritis

Stiffness is the hallmark of arthritis, often noticeable as increased stiffness on waking that progresses gradually over time. Pain and stiffness caused by arthritis can often be helped by a targeted muscle strengthening program to help support the joints.

Speak to your physio about any tightness or inflexibility and see how they can help you feel your best. 

Cervicogenic Headache

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CUMBERLAND PHYSIOTHERAPY PARRAMATTA:

What is it?

Headaches are a generic term for any pain in the cranial region. They can be caused by a variety of factors and there are many different types. A severe headache can stop you in your tracks and be severely debilitating. One kind of headache that is commonly treated by physiotherapists is cervicogenic headache or a headache that originates from the neck.

What are the symptoms?

The pain of a cervicogenic headache is usually unilateral (on one side), and often described as a dull or aching pain that can be felt in the neck, head, and sometimes the face. It can also be accompanied by other symptoms such as neck stiffness, limited range of motion in the neck, and tenderness in the neck or scalp.

How does it happen?

Cervicogenic headache is an example of referred pain, where dysfunction of the structures in the neck cause pain to be felt in a different location. The most common reason for this pain to be felt are joint and muscle stiffness around the cervical spine.

Tight muscles can develop trigger points that refer pain into the cranial region in a typical pattern. Headaches can also be caused by irritated nerves that originate in the spine and travel into the head. Whiplash following a trauma such as a car accident is known to cause ongoing neck-related headaches without treatment.

How is it diagnosed?

Diagnosis of a cervicogenic headache can be difficult as it needs to be differentiated from other forms of headache such as migraine, tension headaches and sinus headaches. Your physiotherapist will perform a thorough assessment to determine the origins of your headaches. Some signs that headaches are caused by cervical dysfunction include muscle tightness, joint limitations, concurrent neck pain and poor posture.

What is the treatment?

Treatment for neck-related headaches is aimed at correcting any dysfunction, restoring movement and flexibility to stiff joints and muscles and addressing any postural vulnerabilities.

None of the information in this article is a replacement for proper medical advice. Always see a medical professional for advice on your condition.

Growing Pains

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CUMBERLAND PHYSIOTHERAPY PARRAMATTA:

Are growing pains real?

The short answer is that yes, growing pains are a real and usually harmless part of childhood. Though poorly understood, they are recognized as a common phenomenon occurring most often between the ages of 3 and 12. The pain is commonly felt in both legs, particularly at night with no clear cause of pain. As yet no one is able to explain why they happen but growing pains are thought to be a normal response of a growing body as it adapts to new heights, sizes, strengths and skills. 

Does this mean I can ignore my child’s pain?

Not so fast. While growing pains are harmless and usually transient, there are many childhood illnesses and conditions that do require professional assessment and, if left untreated, can cause serious harm. These include but are not limited to; Juvenile arthritis, childhood cancers (which often first present as knee or jaw pain), developmental hip dysplasia (abnormality of the hip joint), Perthes disease and a variety of other musculoskeletal disorders. 

While it’s true that children are generally more resilient and heal well, they are also 

vulnerable to injuries just like adults. All serious strains and sprains should be rehabilitated correctly to ensure no long-term problems occur down the track. Many childhood pains can also be relieved with physiotherapy in the short term even if the child will eventually grow out of the pain. 

How can I tell if pain is abnormal?

Unfortunately, unless you are a trained professional you won’t be able to tell. If there is any doubt in your mind always contact a physiotherapist or doctor. Many clinicians have great respect for a parent’s intuition and acknowledge that parents are usually very good at knowing if something is wrong with their child. 

Even if you’re sure nothing is wrong, there are a few signs and symptoms that you should take particular notice of. pain that is severe, pain that occurs suddenly without an obvious cause, pain that is one sided, pain that affects your child’s activity levels, causes a limp or is associated with signs of general illness/fever. 

Constant, severe and unrelenting pain is a serious sign that should be investigated at any age. If you’re worried, the first step is to consult a physiotherapist or general practitioner. 

None of the information in this article is a replacement for proper medical advice. Always see a medical professional for advice on your injury. 

 

Physio Tips for Comfortable Travel

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CUMBERLAND PHYSIOTHERAPY PARRAMATTA: Travel can be one of the most enjoyable aspects of life, however if a trip away comes with the risk of increased pain and soreness, the excitement can be thoroughly diminished. Many people will even avoid travel altogether if their symptoms are exacerbated too much by long seated periods. If you are unlucky enough to fall into this category, here are a few tips from your physiotherapist that might help make long trips a little more comfortable.

Lower back pain is the chief complaint of most travellers. To avoid low back pain, try the following tips:

1) Adjust the seat angle. 

If you are able, tilt the seat slightly down towards your feet, not towards your hips. Ideally, your knees should be level with your hips, or even slightly lower. A footrest to lift your knees can also help.

2) Lift the height of the whole seat. This will assist with tip #1 by lifting the whole body away from the floor. When your hips are less bent, it is easier for your back to sit comfortably in an upright position.

3) Use a lower back support. 

Many cars nowadays come equipped with in-built lumbar supports. Often this support is a generic design and not fitted for your specific shape or height. A proper lumbar pillow, or even a rolled towel in the small of the back, can be more effective in maintaining the natural arch of your spine. This relieves pressure through your intervertebral discs, spinal ligaments, and spinal muscles.

Neck discomfort is easier to improve when tips for lower back are implemented first. Some very easy tips to reduce neck pain are as follows:

1) Use a travel pillow. 

If travelling on an airplane, try wearing the pillow backwards or sideways. This assists in supporting the head in a slightly better position when you rest or sleep, which helps to reduce the stress placed on the muscles, ligaments and joints within the neck.

2) Every hour, perform 10 chin tucks. 

This is easiest to perform correctly if you sit tall and press your chin straight backwards, lengthening the back of your neck. Do not tuck the chin to the chest. This exercise stretches the small postural muscles at the base of the skull, relaxing them.

The tips above are only suggestions. If you find they are helpful, continue performing them throughout your travels. However, if any of the above tips cause you pain or discomfort, it is advisable to seek your physiotherapist’s opinion.

Olecranon Bursitis

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CUMBERLAND PHYSIOTHERAPY PARRAMATTA:

What is it? 

Bursae are small sacs of fluid found throughout the body. These bursae produce synovial fluid and act to reduce friction between muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones as they move over each other. Bursae are located at strategic points, typically where there are higher points of stress. If a bursa is injured or irritated, it can become inflamed, painful, red and swollen and this condition is referred to as bursitis. 

One bursa that is commonly affected is the olecranon bursa, which sits just over the hard bony process at the base of the elbow. Olecranon bursitis refers to inflammation of the bursa at this point and is a common condition, particularly in men between the ages of 30-60.

What causes it?

Olecranon bursitis has a few different causes including trauma, overuse and infection. A sharp blow to the elbow, through a fall or hit, might damage the bursa leading to bursitis. In other cases, the bursa can be infected by bacteria, which enter the body through a small skin tear. Bursitis can also develop slowly through friction of the nearby muscles that cause the bursa to become irritated and inflamed.

What are the symptoms?

The hallmark of this condition is a painful, red, swollen elbow. Typically pain is worst when resting on the tip of the elbow and/or with elbow movements, particularly when bending or straightening the elbow fully. The pain often lasts a few months and may not go away on its own. The pain may build up gradually, or come on suddenly, depending on the cause. Bursitis caused by infection (septic bursitis) may also be associated with general feelings of illness such as fatigue, fever and body aches.

What is the treatment?

As there are many different causes of this condition, accurate diagnosis is essential. Your physiotherapist is able to distinguish between olecranon bursitis and similar conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or fibromyalgia. Septic bursitis will need to be treated by a medical professional who will determine the best course of action. All types of bursitis can be managed initially with a RICE protocol to reduce pain and swelling (Rest, ice, compression and elevation). Mechanical causes of bursitis can require more in-depth identification of the factors that may have led to the development of this condition. 

Your physiotherapist is able to address these factors plus provide taping support to unload the bursa along with manual therapy and an exercise program. If this is unsuccessful, cortisone injections are often used to reduce pain and inflammation. In severe cases where the pain persists despite all other attempts at treatment, the bursa can be surgically removed in a procedure called a bursectomy. Once the pain has subsided your physiotherapist is also able to help prevent any further recurrence. 

None of the information in this article is a replacement for proper medical advice. Always see a medical professional for advice on your individual injury.

Should You Have a Joint Replacement?

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CUMBERLAND PHYSIOTHERAPY PARRAMATTA: One of the most impressive healthcare developments in history is the humble joint replacement. Many people are able to take a joint that is extremely painful and dysfunctional and give it a whole new lease on life. 

The improvements in this surgery over the last few decades have meant that success rates for joint replacement surgery, particularly hip and knee replacements are even higher than ever. If you are struggling with joint pain related to arthritis, it can be difficult to know when to make the move. Here are a few things to consider before going for that surgical consult.

Don’t assume pain is permanent once you hear the word arthritis

Pain is a complex beast and is usually never caused by one single thing. Most people will have some amount of arthritis in their joints past the age of 50, whether or not this is what is causing your pain will be unclear without first seeking physiotherapy treatment. 

Many people have some level of degeneration in their joints without experiencing much discomfort at all. It’s possible that an analysis of biomechanics, strengthening and manual therapy could all improve your symptoms significantly, even if osteoarthritis is present. A trial of physiotherapy treatment is recommended before surgery in most cases.

Pre-surgical strength and fitness are important

This means two things, first of all, your strength or exercise program before surgery will set you up for much better results. The second thing is that choosing when to have the surgery means not necessarily waiting until the pain is unbearable before going ahead, as time spent in significant pain can reduce your overall strength and fitness while also putting more stress on other joints. 

Research the risks and side effects 

While surgical outcomes are continually improving, no surgery comes without risks and some people will have ongoing pain and stiffness even after their surgery. It is important to make an informed decision about when and if you should have a joint replacement. 

If you are considering a joint replacement, speak to your physiotherapist about all the ways they can support you through your journey and help you come to an informed decision about what is right for you.

None of the information in this article is a replacement for proper medical advice. Always see a medical professional for advice on your individual injury.

Focus on Improving Your Posture

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CUMBERLAND PHYSIOTHERAPY PARRAMATTA: For most of us, screen time and sitting go hand in hand and both are only increasing as our lives move online. While short periods in any posture aren’t harmful, a lack of movement combined with long periods spent in hunched positions can lead to spinal pain, headaches and even shoulder pain. If you’re noticing yourself needing to spend more time in front of a screen, here are a few tips that can help you to keep flexible and avoid pain. 

Set movement breaks

Posture in itself isn’t always a problem. Spending long periods of time in these postures without taking breaks is a little more problematic. When your body is so used to one position, muscles may become shorter and joints a little stiffer, making it harder to move out of this posture and cause pain and discomfort.

You can break up your day by setting a timer to move and take a break every 20-30 minutes. Using these short breaks for movement is a great way to both help focus at work and keep your body more flexible.

Setup your work and home environment properly

Adjusting your work station or setting up a place to relax at home where to you can avoid a hunched posture can help you to reduce time in the same posture. Your physiotherapist can give you tips for how to setup your home and office environment correctly.

Take stock of your time spent sitting

Time in the car, time on your computer and time on the couch can all quickly add up without you realising. By accounting for the amount of time you spend sitting, you can find more ways to move. For example, if you notice that you’re sitting down as soon as you get home, try swapping out watching an episode to relax for a walk while listening to a podcast.

Ask your physio for specific stretches

If you can identify the posture you spend the most time in, your physio can help you to develop a specific exercise and stretching program to counteract these positions most directly and keep you strong and flexible.

None of the information in this article is a replacement for proper medical advice. Always see a medical professional for advice on your individual injury.

Tips for Successful New Year’s Resolutions

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CUMBERLAND PHYSIOTHERAPY PARRAMATTA:The start of the new year is an exciting time where many of us feel inspired to set goals with the aim to improve our health, finances and overall wellbeing. Many of us have tried to set goals before. and found that even with the best intentions, the new found enthusiasm doesn’t last long and we are back to old habits. Here are a few tips to help you keep your New Year’s Resolutions for longer and reach the goals you do want to set for yourself. 

Start before the New Year.

Many of us put off setting goals until New Year’s Eve, especially with Christmas and New Year’s Parties making healthy living seem a little more out of reach. However, starting your resolutions earlier can actually be a great idea. This means you already have momentum once the new year arrives and are ready to continue on. Another benefit to starting your goals early is that this will encourage you to go a little lighter throughout the holidays, rather than writing off the entire month.

Let go of ‘all or nothing thinking’

The problem with many diets and exercise programs is that once you miss a day at the gym or have a day or extras food or drinks, this is seen as failure, which can lead to feeling like giving up altogether. Strict regimes are both unrealistic and unhealthy and don’t leave a lot of room for fun and flexibility.

Track your progress

One of the best ways to stick to a new routine is to keep track of how often you show up. Start a checklist and tick off ever day that you stick to your new routine. It only takes 21 days for a new habit to form, which means if you are able to keep it up for just 21 days, you’ve done most of the hard work.

Get your niggles checked out

Nothing will stop a new exercise program faster than pain or injury. Unfortunately, small niggles do often become more problematic when you start asking more from your body. Pop to your physio for advice on how to avoid any injuries if you are taking up a new sport and get those small aches and pains sorted out.

Ask your physio for more tips on how to plan and stick to your New Year’s Goals. Happy New Year from our team! None of the information in this article is a replacement for proper medical advice. Always see a medical professional for advice on your individual injury.