Lakky Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Clinic

11/07/2023

Pain in the bum☹️, Piriformis syndrome or deep gluteal syndrome🤔?

By definition Piriformis syndrome is the compression of the sciatic nerve by a deep muscle seated in the buttock called Piriformis. When the nerve gets compressed and irritated patients experience symptoms like pins & needles or loss of feeling and strength in the distribution of the irritated nerve⚠️.

The condition that we mentioned before is really rare😓, the vast majority of people that we see in our practice only have deep aching buttock pain with often referred pain to the posterior thigh👍.

It is worth nothing that there are many different causes of buttock pain such as bursitis, tendinopathy and muscular injury. Many of these problems are not involving ☝️the sciatica nerve!

The most common cause of deep buttock pain is muscle fatigue or tightness. This problem occurs when the muscles are weak, and the demand is higher than their capacity😰.

Today we will provide you some tips that hopefully 🌈 will help you in the short-term:

- Temporarily reduce ✋all the activities that are aggravating your buttock pain. If running or walking is painful, temporarily decrease your running🏃 or walking 🚶volume to tolerable levels.
- Avoid prolonged sitting or standing and try to change positions as often as possible🧘.
- Seating on a well-cushioned pillow can make sitting a bit more bearable💺.
- If you have pain during sleeping, try to sleep using a pillow between your legs👌.

Self-massage with a tennis ball or foam roller, massage, heat therapy, acupuncture, are only a few examples of treatment💆 that can help you in the short-term.

Useful exercises for short-term relief, see pictures: try these exercises on the painful side and when you feel pulling hold for 20 sec. Repeat 2/3 times.

To avoid muscle or tendon pain the only real long-term solution is by improving your strength 💪 and stamina 🏋️. Feel free to speak to a physiotherapist to have a tailored and personalised exercises program and why not a bit of treatment which always helps🤗!

19/12/2022

Shin Splints (MTSS) and an effective treatment.

MTSS is a common injury in athletes and all populations involved in sports activities “especially runners” 🏃.

This is a challenging condition to treat because we know really little about it!🤔

The MTSS is a problem characterised by pain in the middle and lower end of the tibial “the inside part of lower leg area”. The pain is provoked by activities. Like many other musculoskeletal pathologies this is commonly provoked by doing too much without enough rest. 🔌

Because this is an “overload pathology” without necessarily the presence of a trauma or damage, the majority of patients think they can recover quickly, but this is not true 🙍. Evidence suggests that it can take up to 3 months or more to resolve this problem.⚕️

There are no specific guideline to approach this problem but we have a few things to suggest during the initial stage:

Running diary, log your run ! 🗒️
Date – Distance – Pace – Discomfort / pain “rate your pain on a scale of 0 to 10.
No more than 3 runs over the week
Max 6 min. x Km
Don’t run if the pain is more than 2/10.

If you are struggling to not run every day, consider a substitution with any low impact activities like Cross trainer, swimming, cycling. 🚴

Longer slow runs 🚶are better than short fast runs 🏃in the first 2 weeks of rehab.

After 2 weeks try to progress as below:

2 slow-pace long runs
1 shorter and slightly faster run
Pain must be maximum 2/10.

Relapses and periods where things can go wrong are part of the healing / loading process and we suggest speaking with your physiotherapist if these occur. Your physiotherapist 🧐can recognise other underlying issues that can be addressed with specific exercises and treatment. There are evidence that physical therapy such as External Shock Wave Therapy 🎯can be a valid solution to reduce pain and shortening recovery time.

pain

14/12/2022

Shin Splint and an effective treatment:

MTSS is a common injury in athlete and all populations involved in sports activities “especially runners”.

Unfortunately, this is a really challenging condition to treat because we know really little about it!

The MTSS is a painful condition characterised by pain in the middle and lower end of the tibial “the inside part of lower leg area”. The pain is provoked by activities.

Like many other musculoskeletal pathologies this is commonly provoked by excessive load and this is considered a precursor stage for stress fracture.

Because this is an “overload pathology” without necessarily the presence of a trauma or damage, the majority of patients think they can recover quickly, but this is not true. Evidence suggests that it can take up to 3 months to resolve this problem and in some tough cases it can take half a year!

There are no specific guideline to approach this pathology but we have a few things to suggest during the initial stage:

Running log / Diary, log your run !
Date – Distance – Pace – Discomfort / pain “rate your pain on a scale of 0 to 10.
No more than 3 runs over the week
Max 6 min. x Km
Don’t run if the pain is more than 2/10.

Taking a detailed record it may help your physiotherapist to collect useful information and plan your rehab.

If you are struggling to not run every day, consider a substitution with any low impact activities? like Cross trainer, swimming, cycling.

Longer slow runs are better than short fast runs in the first 2 weeks of rehab.

Progression during running training according to pain tolerance and improvement during the first 2 weeks.

2 slow-pace long runs
1 shorter and slightly faster run
Pain must be maximum 2/10.

Relapses and periods where things can go wrong are part of the healing / loading process and we suggest speaking with your physiotherapist if these occur. Your physiotherapist can recognise other underlying issues that can be addressed with specific exercises and off course offer a personalised treatment. There are evidence that physical therapy such as External Shock Wave Therapy can be a valid solution to reduce pain and shortening recovery time.

03/11/2022

Hope you all had a lovely Halloween weekend 🎃

We are glad to inform you that Ms. Nehal Patel, our Team Lead Physiotherapist is now back seeing clients face-to-face in our Basingstoke and Farnborough clinics 🏣

A lot of our previous clients 👨‍👩‍👧 have contacted us asking when Nehal is returning as they have missed 😦her valued expertise and services.

So, if you wish to book an appointment, please call 📞us on 07841912520 or email 🧑‍💻us on [email protected] and Nehal would be more than happy to help 🙋🏻‍♀️ you again!

Take care and we hope you have a great week ahead! 🤗 clinic Physiotherapy

26/08/2022

Have you ever woken up 🛌 or experienced lumbar pain after doing a sudden awkward movement 🤸? Now I am in a lot of pain😰 and my spine is stiff, should I rest or try to be active?🤔

According to the guidelines for acute LBP, the common advice is to remain active🚶 and avoid bed/sofa rest🛌.

The patient that stays active normally experiences more benefit in pain relief and functional improvement 👌compared to the patient that rests and avoids movement because of pain and fear🥺. It is important to understand that pain does not mean harm or further damage.

Experiencing stiffness🔨 around the injured body part is absolutely normal👌, your body is only trying to protect the area🛑! If the stiffness persists, we need to definitively take action 🎯and Physiotherapy can help to break this guarding and protective behaviour🧐.

Feel free to continue all the activities that you can tolerate 👍, walking🚶, cycling🚴, light gym exercises🏋️, and swimming🏊.

What exercises can be done to reduce pain, gain movement and motion in the initial stage?🤔

- Pelvic Tilt

On your hands and knees, hands under your shoulders and knees under your hips.
Maintaining neutral position in your upper and mid back, round and arch your lower back by tilting your pelvis.

- Child's Pose

On your hands and knees.
Move backwards, bringing your buttocks towards your heels, lower your forearms to the floor and let your back round. Hold the position for a moment while breathing smoothly.

- Supine twist

Lying on your back with knees together and bent.
Slowly roll your knees from side to side keeping your upper trunk still.

- Lateral pelvic tilt ( pelvic piston)

Lying on your back with knees together and bent.
Slowly roll your knees from side to side keeping your upper trunk still.

15/06/2022

Have you experienced sudden groin pain?😫

You may have a groin strain ⚠️ which is a common injury encountered frequently in all the sports 🤸 that involve twisting, turning, and sprinting.  

There are two different types of common problems in this area🤔. The first one is the injury or strain of the tendon & muscular component which normally occurs as a result of a sudden movement or direct blunt⚡.

The second one affects predominantly the tendon and it is considered a cumulative disorder leading eventually to a long-term condition🏃, like the eventuality where too much activity causes a series of tendon microtrauma over time⏲️. 

Am I having a serious problem?🤕

The injury can have different levels of severity🧐:

Grade 1 👍low degree of pain with no loss of function or strength. 

Grade 2 😕severe pain and weakness. 

Grade 3 😩complete functional loss.

What can be done?🤔

Rest✋, Ice❄️, compression🤕, and analgesia💊 (painkillers & anti-inflammatory) should be enough to control the pain. ⚕️

When the pain is under control you should start minimizing the effects of immobilization, regaining full range of motion🧘, and restoring full muscle strength🏋️. 

It is important exercises are performed in a pain-free range of motion☮️.

As the rehab progresses, mild pain can be allowed⚠️ only if it’s subsides immediately after the cessation of training😕.

Slowly ⏲️you should try to increase the load 🏋️and shift towards specific strength-training exercises aiming at muscle/tendon recovery⚕️. 

Gradual return to sports 🏌️activity in some cases can take up to 3-6 months📅.

10/05/2022

Have you developed a constant neck tightness/tension aggravated by pain or discomfort? 🤔

Please, do not be alarmed🌈 as you may be suffering from a treatable condition called Upper-Crossed syndrome.🧐

Normally this condition starts as a result of a muscular imbalance🏋️ that affects in particular muscles localized in the neck, upper back, and chest. In the long term, this muscular imbalance could lead to a secondary problem causing dysfunction⚠️ at the level of the vertebrae localized in the spine “neck & thorax”.

When a specific group of muscles becomes weak and others short and stiff🛠️, joints in the neck may start to move abnormally and this causes side effects such as pain and inflammation.💥

The cause of this syndrome varies but often this is a problem posture related💻. This is particularly true in person where the problem starts gradually with no history of trauma, fall or injury.

Evaluating a person with such a disorder is a complex task 👩‍⚕️and takes a comprehensive and holistic approach where the clinician should evaluate alignment factors “posture”, muscles activation “strength/tightness”, movement pattern factors “range of movement and coordination”.

The treatment is normally divided into 3 different stages. The aim of the initial stage is to correct the muscular imbalance “relax what is tight 💆 and reinforce 🏋️what is weak”.  The aim of the second stage is to re-establish and correct or normalize the neck function ⚕️“improve range of movement and restore good movement pattern”. When 1-2 stages have been accomplished the 3rd stage is necessary to maintain the result achieved🧘. 

08/04/2022

Job opportunity for a Physiotherapist!

Lakky Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Clinic is looking for an experienced Permanent Musculoskeletal physiotherapist to join our team of an ESP and 3 Physiotherapists in Hampshire (Basingstoke and Farnborough) clinics.

This role with be suitable for a highly motivated MSK Physiotherapist, with minimum experience of 3 years working in MSK field in UK who wishes to develop and progress their skills and career in a Private Practice on a long-term basis.

This is ideally a full-time permanent post for 40 hours/week, but both, part-time and full-time hours would be considered.

Your salary is TBC depending on experience, will include annual leave and there will be employer’s contribution to pension and CPD opportunities.

Please contact us on 07841912520 for any further queries or email us your CV on [email protected]

05/04/2022

Are you experiencing knee pain with catching or locking episodes? 😕 You might be suffering from a meniscal source of pain.🤔

The menisci are C-shaped cartilaginous structures located inside the knee joint. They provide joint stability, shock absorption and joint lubrification. ⚠️They also play a relevant role in “proprioception” which means they can provide useful information about joint position and movement during sports🏌️ or daily activities,🚶.

Having a problem with these structures can inevitably lead to developing a dysfunctional joint. 💥

Do I need surgery, what can I do if this problem occurs?!🤕

Nonoperative therapy ,👌 is often times the mainstay of treatment, and the initial focus is to relieve knee pain⚕️, to do so we suggest:
- limit activities that instigate or exacerbate symptoms for a specific period of time.🤚
- Consider the use of medication – NSAIDs.💊
- Start a tailored physical therapy program with the aim to provide pain relief and improve joint mechanical function.🧐

Do menisci heal?⚕️

There are some areas of these menisci that have blood supply and if the problem is on those areas you can expect a possible healing process🌈. Having the problem does not mean you will necessarily experience these symptoms, moreover, not seeing a longstanding improvement without the need for surgery.🔨

For patients who don’t improve with physiotherapy, surgery can provide short-term gains regarding pain relief, especially when combined with an effective, regular physiotherapy program.

08/03/2022

Cupping therapy also known as a vacuum cupping is an effective method of releasing toxins ☣️“muscle catabolism/impurities” from your body tissue.

The technique consist in the use of suction cups applied to the tissue that the therapist wants targeting 🎯.

The vacuum effect will enhance blood flow 🚑 under the cups draws toxins away from the nearby tissue towards the surface for elimination 🧹.

Cupping helps to increase the blood flow to sore areas in muscles and provide to them the necessary nutrients which can promotes healing⚕️.

It can be helpful as a pain relief💆 for many musculoskeletal disorders by exciting small nerves inside this tissue so that they release pain-killing chemicals⚕️.

The treatment can help reducing muscular restriction🤸, scars, adhesions eventually improved range of motion🧘.

24/11/2018