Newman & Cohen Physiotherapists

27/10/2016

23/07/2013

Frontal Headache? Maybe its caused from you clenching your jaw? This trigger point in the masseter muscle has an interesting referral pattern...

05/07/2013

Osteoporosis lecture

01/07/2013

Ever wondered about the real cause of a cramp? Well, wonder no more - Dr Ross Tucker has broken it down for us! (via Runner's World) http://www.runnersworld.co.za/columns/ask-the-experts/the-real-cause-of-cramp/

11/06/2013

Did You Know: There are no super strong muscles in the hand. When you grip firmly, most of the power comes from muscles in the lower arm, linked to the bones of the hand by long tendons!

28/05/2013

Did You Know: Humans are born with 300 bones in their body, however when a person reaches adulthood they only have 206 bones. This occurs because many of them join together to make a single bone.

23/05/2013

Look at these trigger points in the infraspinatus... they refer into the back of the head (as in a headache), and down the front of the arm.

17/05/2013

Herniated Disk: Basic Information from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

A herniated (slipped) disk occurs when all or part of a disk in the spine is forced through a weakened part of the disk. This may place pressure on nearby nerves.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors
The bones (vertebrae) of the spinal column protect nerves that come out of the brain and travel down your back to form the spinal cord. Nerve roots are large nerves that branch out from the spinal cord and leave your spinal column between each vertebrae.

The spinal bones are separated by disks. These disks cushion the spinal column and put space between your vertebrae. The disks allow movement between the vertebrae, which lets you bend and reach.
• These disks may move out of place (herniate) or break open (rupture) from injury or strain. When this happens, there may be pressure on the spinal nerves. This can lead to pain, numbness, or weakness.
• The lower back (lumbar area) of the spine is the most common area for a slipped disk. The neck (cervical) disks are affected a small percentage of the time. The upper-to-mid-back (thoracic) disks are rarely involved.

Radiculopathy is any disease that affects the spinal nerve roots. A herniated disk is one cause of radiculopathy.

Slipped disks occur more often in middle-aged and older men, usually after strenuous activity. Other risk factors include conditions present at birth (congenital) that affect the size of the lumbar spinal canal.

Symptoms
Low back or neck pain can feel very different. It may feel like a mild tingling, dull ache, or a burning or pulsating pain. In some cases, the pain is severe enough that you are unable to move. You may also have numbness.
The pain most often occurs on one side of the body.
• With a slipped disk in your lower back, you may have sharp pain in one part of the leg, hip, or buttocks and numbness in other parts. You may also feel pain or numbness on the back of the calf or sole of the foot. The same leg may also feel weak.
• With a slipped disk in your neck, you may have pain when moving your neck, deep pain near or over the shoulder blade, or pain that moves to the upper arm, forearm, or (rarely) fingers. You can also have numbness along your shoulder, elbow, forearm, and fingers.
The pain often starts slowly. It may get worse:
• After standing or sitting
• At night
• When sneezing, coughing, or laughing
• When bending backwards or walking more than a few yards

You may also have weakness in certain muscles. Sometimes, you may not notice it until your doctor examines you. In other cases, you will notice that you have a hard time lifting your leg or arm, standing on your toes on one side, squeezing tightly with one of your hands, or other problems.

The pain, numbness, or weakness will often go away or improve a lot over a period of weeks to months.

Signs and tests
A careful physical exam and history is almost always the first step. Depending on where you have symptoms, your doctor will examine your neck, shoulder, arms, and hands, or your lower back, hips, legs, and feet.
Your doctor will check:
• For numbness or loss of feeling
• Your muscle reflexes, which may be slower or missing
• Your muscle strength, which may be weaker
• Your posture, or the way your spine curves
Your doctor may also ask you to:
• Sit, stand, and walk. While you walk, your doctor may ask you to try walking on your toes and then your heels.
• Bend forward, backward, and sideways
• Move your neck forward, backward, and sideways
• Raise your shoulders, elbow, wrist, and hand and check your strength during these tasks

Leg pain that occurs when you sit down on an exam table and lift your leg straight up usually suggests a slipped disk in your lower back.

In another test, you will bend your head forward and to the sides while the health care provider puts slight downward pressure on the top of your head. Increased pain or numbness during this test is usually a sign of pressure on a nerve in your neck.

DIAGNOSTIC TESTS
• EMG may be done to determine the exact nerve root that is involved.
• Myelogram may be done to determine the size and location of disk herniation.
• Nerve conduction velocity test may also be done.
• Spine MRI or spine CT will show that the herniated disk is pressing on the spinal canal.
• Spine x-ray may be done to rule out other causes of back or neck pain. However, it is not possible to diagnose a herniated disk by a spine x-ray alone.

Source: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Image from: chiropractic-help.com

14/05/2013

What Are Shin Splints? By Medical News Today

Shin splints, medically known as medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS), refers to pain in the shins - the front lower legs. It is an inflammatory condition of the front part of the tibia. The pain is brought on by strenuous activity, more commonly in stop-start sports such as squash, tennis or basketball. Running too much on hard surfaces is also a common cause of shin splints.

Shin splints have two main causes:
Exerting excessive pressure on the lower leg muscles
Excessive impact on the muscle
Pain is usually felt early on during the physical activity, dies down somewhat, and then returns later on, sometimes during the same exercise session; this may occur during a long run. The pain can gradually become so bad that the activity has to be abandoned altogether.

A serious mistake is to try to "run through the pain" if it is a shin pain. This type of pain usually means there is injury to the bone and/or surrounding tissue. Forcing it more may worsen the injury and make the pain more intense and longer lasting.

What are the signs and symptoms of shin splints?

A symptom is something the patient feels and describes, such as pain, dizziness, fatigue, or anxiety, while a sign is noticeable by everybody, including the doctor or nurse, such as a rash, swelling or discoloration.

The patient has a dull, aching pain in the front part of the lower leg. For some, the pain and discomfort emerge only during exercise, while for others it comes after the physical activity is over. Pain can also be there all the time.

The pain can be on either side of the shinbone, or in the muscle itself - this depends on the cause. Signs and symptoms related to shin splints may include:
Pain along the inner part of the lower leg
Tenderness or soreness along the inner part of the lower leg
Moderate swelling in the lower leg
Feet may feel numb and weak, because swollen muscles irritate the nerves
What are the causes of shin splints?

The main cause of shin splints is too much force on the shin bone and connective tissues that attach the bone to surrounding muscle. The excessive force is usually caused by:
Running downhill

Running on a slanted surfaces or uneven terrain

Running with inappropriate shoes, including proper shoes than have worn out

Taking part in sports that include bursts of speed and sudden stops

An increase in activity, intensity or period of exertion can easily lead to shin splints, if the muscles and tendons struggle to absorb the impact of the shock force, especially when they are tired.

Females have a higher risk of complications from shin splints, e.g. stress fractures, especially if their bone density is diminished, as may occur in osteoporosis.

People with flat feet or rigid arches have a higher risk of developing shin splints.

How to avoid shin splints
Use proper fitting shoes with good support

Make sure the insoles are shock-absorbing. If you have flat feet, good insoles are vital

Avoid hard surfaces, uneven terrain, or slanted slopes
Increase your intensity gradually

Make sure you warmed up properly before doing exercise

Full Article Here: http://bit.ly/10tjvP6
Written by Christian Nordqvist

03/05/2013

The Claim: Keeping a Wallet in Your Back Pocket Can Cause Sciatica

THE FACTS A wallet stuffed with business cards or scraps of paper might seem like more of an eyesore than a health hazard.

But one old bromide holds that a thick wallet - or even one that's not so thick - can harm the lower back for those sit on it for too long. And while experts says the fears are probably exaggerated, the wallet can definitely carry some hazards.

Although it was popularized by an episode of the "Seinfeld" series in the 1990's, the phenomenon was first described in a brief article in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1966, when credit cards were beginning to proliferate.

The report, about a lawyer who suffered aches and pains in the left leg, not far from a wallet growing thick with charge cards, referred to the condition as "credit-carditis."

Although that term never quite caught on, doctors say the condition has become increasingly common. Its onset is gradual, caused by an object that presses on the piriformis muscle in the buttocks, which is connected to the sciatic nerve, which runs down the leg.

Over time, a person can develop radiating pain in the back and hip area.

"Just the other day, I had to tell one patient with back pain to remove at least 20 years of stored data from his wallet," said Dr. Gerard P. Varlotta of the New York University School of Medicine.

Wallets are not the only culprits. Numerous case reports have linked the condition to various back-pocket objects like large handkerchiefs and golf balls.

THE BOTTOM LINE Keeping a thick wallet or object in the back pocket can gradually cause sciatica.

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR, New York Times