Bursitis. Learn more about it with #Physio4Fight

Picture from the Bone & Joint website.

Bursitis is inflammation of a bursa, a closed, fluid-filled sac that works as a cushion and gliding surface to reduce friction between tissues of the body (normally bone corners in close contact with the skin and other soft tissues). The most common causes of bursitis are injury (direct trauma), overuse, biomechanical unbalances that lead to overuse, but it can also be caused by infection.

There are many bursas in the human body, from the feet joints to the shoulders, hips and hands. Pain, swelling, and tenderness near a joint are the most common signs of bursitis. Bursitis can be treated with rest and medicines to help with the inflammation. Antibiotics are used if infection is found.

To help bring down swelling and pain you can:

• rest – try not to move the joint too much and avoid activities that put pressure on it
• use ice – gently hold an ice pack (or a bag of frozen peas) wrapped in a tea towel on the area for around 10 minutes at a time and repeat every few hours during the day
• take painkillers, to ease any pain
• Physiotherapy- helps to improve unbalances

It may also help to put extra cushions around the affected joint while you sleep, to help protect and support it. See your doctor if you have a high temperature, or you feel hot and shivery

Learn with #Physio4fight: Most common football injuries and how you can manage them

Football is the most popular sport in the world. But with sport, often comes injury. And unlike the pros, if you injure yourself during a match at your local park, there’s no medical team waiting for you .

Today we will discuss some of the most common injuries you might pick up on the pitch and what you can do to avoid theses injuries. It’s no surprise that the most common football injuries tend to affect your lower body due to tackling, running, shooting, twisting and turning, jumping or landing. You might also get an injury from using the same muscles repeatedly (overuse),

Ligament sprains (mainly ankle sprains)

Ligament sprains are the most common injury reported, accounting for more than 30 percent of all injuries, with the lateral ligaments of the ankle and medial collateral ligaments of the knee most commonly affected.

Concussions

Football is a sport that requires direct contact. With contact and competitive tackles we have trauma. Concussions make up 7.4 percent of all injuries in college football players.

Hamstrings strain

Your hamstrings are the three large and powerful muscles at the back of your thigh. They produce a driving force during acceleration when you run. Playing football often involves quick changes of pace, going from a complete stop to quick speed in just a couple of seconds. If your hamstrings don’t have enough length (from stretching) or strength, they can become quickly overloaded which could cause an injury.

To help prevent a hamstring strain, make sure to stretch them and use a foam roller regularly. A foam roller is a cylindrical device you use to massage and relieve sore and tight muscles. It can also help to work on strengthening your hamstring muscles using exercises such as deadlifts, leg curls and hamstring bridges, alongside some sport-specific speed drills.

Groin strain

When you’re on the pitch, kicking, twisting running or jumping could injure your inner thigh muscles (also known as your adductors), resulting in a groin strain. To help prevent getting a groin strain from football, be sure to stretch your inner thighs regularly and include strengthening exercises such as adductor side bridges and side lunges in your exercise routine.

ACL injury

When you’re on the pitch, kicking, twisting running or jumping could injure your inner thigh muscles (also known as your adductors), resulting in a groin strain. To help prevent getting a groin strain from football, be sure to stretch your inner thighs regularly and include strengthening exercises such as adductor side bridges and side lunges in your exercise routine.

Torn meniscus

When you play football, you’re often running on an uneven surface and have to change direction at a moment’s notice. This means that the ligaments which stabilise your ankle joint could become overstretched, and could cause your ankle to roll inwards or outwards.

 

New Concept of Tendinopathy: Scientific facts

In the past few years research and new insights into tendon pathology has seen our understanding grow. Recently most therapists have had to stop themselves from saying the old term of “tendonitis” and learn the new term “tendinopathy”.

But it is not just the new term that has changed.

New studies suggest that under periods of excessive load a tendon will pass through the following continuum (Thanks to work of Dr Jill Cook and Craig Purdam). Their 2009 paper outlined a model that describes 3 different stages of tendinopathy reactive tendinopathy, tendon dysrepair and degenerative tendinopathy. It is helpful to think of these as a ‘continuum’ rather than 3 completely distinct phases:

Normal Tendon

↓ (reversible)

Reactive Tendinopathy

↓ (reversible)

Tendon Dysrepair (Failed Healing)

↓ (reversible)

Degenerative Tendinopathy

↓ (irreversible)

Rupture/Tear

Causes of Tendinopathy?

Tendon injuries are usually the result of increased loads and overuse. This leads to changes within the tendon, which make it harder for it to cope. The injuries may occur in the mid-portion or, more commonly, in the insertion. At both sites the pathological changes of the tendon appear to be the same. Despite the common pathological changes within the tendon, different treatment approaches are used specific to the site of the problem, and this has been shown to have better outcomes.

Gender Differences in Pain and Pain Behavior: The Role of Catastrophizing

Women and men behave differently. What is a kind of common sense has been questioned and explained by science. In this particular case we are going to talk about pain.

In this article from Cognitive Therapy and Research some scientists studied gender differences in pain and pain behavior. Read the article here

This research examined gender differences in catastrophizing and pain in 80 healthy students (42 women, 38 men) who participated in an experimental pain procedure. Participants completed the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS; Sullivan, Bishop & Pivik, 1995) prior to immersing one arm in ice water for 1 minute. Participants were later interviewed to assess the strategies they used to cope with their pain. Independent raters examined videotape records and coded participants’ pain behavior during and following the ice water immersion. Results showed that women reported more intense pain and engaged in pain behavior for a longer period of time than men. When PCS scores were statistically controlled, gender was no longer a significant predictor of pain or pain behavior. For women, the helplessness subscale of the PCS contributed unique variance to the prediction of pain and pain behavior. For men, none of the PCS subscales contributed unique variance to the prediction of pain and pain behavior.

Pain is an interesting subject particularly for health professionals who are dealing with patients. New studies about pain (mainly chronic pain) have been changing the way that health professionals are thinking.  New methods to treat chronic low back pain are just an example. The old days where the recipe painkillers, lying down and surgeries were the only tool are gone.

Pain is a personal experience affected by multifactorial factors and recent studies have found that gender is one of these factors. However, new studies must be promoted to a better understanding about this complex subject.