Conditions We Treat

> Back Pain

Everyone has experienced back pain at some stage of their life – perhaps it has lasted just a day, but some of the bad bouts have resulted in bed rest for some time.

And everyone, but everyone, knows the best person to get you better. The problem is that everyone is different and needs to be treated as such.

We need to find out what is causing the problem. We will watch you walk, bend over, or watch any movement that seems to be bringing on the pain. We will test any muscle or soft tissue that may be causing the problem as well as individual spinal segments that may be contributory.

Then we may stretch out, mobilize, tape, acupuncture or use any other technique up our sleeve to come up with the solution. I’m sure you have all heard about ‘core stability’. It is such an overused statement, yet it is so underused. It is well proved that if you switch on your stability muscles and get them on automatic pilot, the chances of your back pain returning become slim to nil. Pilates is now the buzzword and the buzztherapy for teaching these muscles to work. We offer 1 on 1 work with a Pilates instructor should this be a good option, if those muscles are buried too deep in the memory bank!

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> Shoulder Pain

Shoulder problems are either of the acute injury sort or the long standing ‘won’t go away’ sort. The acute sudden onset shoulder pain is usually caused by a traumatic injury, whether it be from a sport, a fall on the outstretched hand (called a FOOSH) or a repetitive action. These injuries are really painful with loss of movement and decrease in strength.

The long standing problems are more the norm that we see – the ones that bother us in bed or reaching in the cupboard or fridge to pick something up. As a rule of thumb, if it’s your shoulder that hurts, then it is most likely your shoulder at fault. But if it’s the back of your shoulder or down your arm or up into your neck, then there is probably a neck/spinal component involved as well.

It’s important to come up with the right analysis of the problem. Often poor posture is involved which causes muscle imbalances, stability problems and ultimately a shoulder/arm that moves improperly.

We re-educate these muscles to improve posture and regain normal movement. Mobilization work around the spine works well and believe it or not, in these cases we rarely even touch the shoulder. If it’s a problem at work, then an ergonomic assessment may be necessary so that this problem does not reappear.

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> Neck Pain and Headaches

Everyone knows about a pain in the neck. There are also a lot of accompanying symptoms such as headaches, ringing in the ears, arm and hand pain &/or pins and needles.

A lot of the time there can be a precipitating event such as a slip and fall or whiplash, but sometimes it can be a nagging pain that has been there for some time.

Manual therapy as well as acupuncture and IMS can be very helpful in controlling the pain as well as improving your sitting posture with specific exercises. Proper pillow(s) are also an important way of alleviating neck problems.

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> Knee Pain

1 in 4 of us will feel knee pain at some point in our lives. It can be a result of an accident or post surgical from a ACL reconstruction or meniscal tear. Or the knee can be the victim of what happens either above or below it. The knee cap is the bone that moves the most in the body and it moves according to the forces that guide it. Therefore a thorough examination of the entire lower quadrant can be very useful in determining the cause of the knee pain. A large number of runners present to us with more unusual knee symptomology that must be thoroughly assessed.

Manual therapy as well as a host of other tools will help resolve your knee pain depending on the cause of your problem.

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> Ankles/Feet

Ankles and feet are the key to balance and mobility. If poor feedback is going back to the brain about where we are in space, then we are more prone to falling…not good in our cold slippery climate at times.

A good diagnosis is important to understand why you are getting the pain, particularly if it is not simply a result of a roll over on your ankle.

It is important to maximize feedback from our feet and we have a lot of tools to help maximize this. It is important to check our whole body alignment, Achilles tightness, neural flexibility and gait analysis. And we can’t forget to check out footwear – that can really help or hinder our walking pattern.

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> Upper Limb Related Pain(s)

Achy backs, sore shoulders, fuzzy hands, pain down the arm, headaches – these are all symptoms of problems that must be analyzed from an entire upper quadrant assessment. Certain postures such as computers, reading papers, driving, carrying groceries probably exacerbate the symptoms.

Other related symptoms that usually present in the clinic may be tennis or golfers elbow, carpal tunnel, dequervains syndrome.

We need to look centrally at the stability from the neck and shoulders. If there is control here, then you are less likely to overuse your arms and hands. There is local treatment to be done to help control the immediate pain and inflammation, but ultimately, work will need to be done to help stabilize and get better postural control. This may take longer than you expect especially if the problem has been there for awhile, because nervous tissue is more irritable and sensitive than other tissues.

The work station may have to be assessed as it can relate to your pain and pathology. And we don’t want to see this pain return. This can be arranged through your physiotherapist.

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