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Repetitive strain disorders or injuries (RSIs) are among the most challenging conditions to treat and are frequently encountered in clinic. Often the nature of the majority of our work or pass times are repetitive and the likelihood of developing overuse injuries exists everyday in our work and social lives. If you are attending a chartered physiotherapist for assessment of an injury which you feel may be a repetitive strain injury, it’s important that you divulge information on the nature of your work, the types of hobbies that you have and any pass times that you’re engaged in. A thorough physiotherapist should ask these questions naturally as part of the initial assessment and can perhaps advise you on ways to prevent the development of repetitive strain injuries.

The spine or vertebral column has a complex anatomy that is important to understand in order to appreciate the numerous structures that could give rise to lower back, mid back or neck pain. In this weeks blog we explore spinal anatomy and attempt to demystify the piece of our anatomy that accounts for approximately fifty per cent of all visits to physiotherapy clinics.

Acute and chronic are terms used by chartered physiotherapists in describing injuries and in this weeks blog we look to explain the terms and the differences between the two distinct types of injuries. Although the terms are often used by lay people and patients in describing their injuries, there can be some confusion as patients, in my experience, tend to use the words to describe the severity or extent of their pain, whereas physiotherapists tend to use the terms to describe the duration or nature of the presenting injury.

Neck pain is one of the most common presenting conditions in physiotherapy clinics. Together with low back pain, the two conditions account for approximately 50% of the entire workload of a physiotherapy practice. Like lower back pain, most neck pain is not serious, settles quickly, doesn’t require scanning and is most appropriately treated with physiotherapy and pain relieving and anti-inflammatory medications.