Physios Online Health Snippets

 Most of us have seen sports players with tape on their knees. Maybe you have had your own knees strapped up by a health professional. Did you understand what the tape was meant to be doing? Did it help?

 Pain at the front of the knee, behind the kneecap, is very common, and often relates to an error in the way the kneecap slides on the femur underneath it.
More information about ‘patellofemoral’ knee pain, as it is generally called, is included our previous article:

 Patellofemoral joint…or steam train?

 Taping over the kneecap is a common and effective way to manage patellofemoral pain. The theory is this: pain caused by the kneecap veering off to the side when it moves (rather than sticking to the desired straight up and down pathway) is controlled by tape that alters this movement error, encouraging the kneecap to stay ‘on its track’.

 The article listed below, that I read recently, confirms what Physios have found clinically: that taping over the kneecap definitely reduces pain.

 The curve ball that the researchers threw, however, was that the kneecap didn’t actually change its movement or positioning with the tape on.

 In a nutshell, the taping works, but not for the reasons we thought. It makes you wonder…does the ‘why it works’ really matter?

 For the patient who gets pain relief, possibly not.
For the Physiotherapist, it is still important – the ‘why’ drives research, creates new techniques and gives a heap of job satisfaction!

 Til next fortnight, keep moving!

 Any injury questions? 

 There is a constant push in the health world to have ‘proof’ for anything that we do. ‘Proof’ usually refers to a hard core, bullet proof research study. Unfortunately, however, the more ‘bullet proof’ or controlled a study is, the less it relates to the real world - which is not a highly controlled environment at all.
The more we refine a study down to the effect of the most miniscule flicker of a muscle, the more we tend to forget that more ‘general’ treatments can be just as effective.

 Which is why I liked this study that I came across recently.

 When helping patients to recover from patellofemoral pain (wonky kneecaps), us Physios have been led down a path of targeting one particular part of the quad (thigh) muscle with very specific exercises. This study compared this very specific approach, with the more general approach of strengthening the whole quad.

 Look I know it’s always a nail biter before I reveal the outcome, so I’ll cut to the chase:

 There was no great difference in the improvement between the ‘specific’ and the ‘general’ exercise groups. BOTH were better than no treatment at all, and basically as good as each other.

 The take home:
Do SOMETHING for your injuries, rather than nothing, BUT often you can be guided by a Physio to carry out your OWN rehab with good quality general exercise, rather than needing to constantly return to the Physio again and again for ‘fancy fingerwork’.

 The Physios at 

 I must admit that I have a chuckle when clinical researchers get unexpected results.

 I have somewhat of an appreciation of the planning, approvals and preparation that it takes to do a study. Enough to know that it is a long and arduous process!

 I guess all of this effort is perceived to be worthwhile when the researchers finally get to punch the air and celebrate (in their white coats) when their results support their predictions.

 Unless it all goes pear shaped, of course, and their findings are not as expected. Now that’s a bad day at work.

 And so it was for the merry bunch that did a study on shin and knee pain in Army Recruits. The white coats gave about 1000 Army Recruits, doing their vigorous three month initial training, an additional exercise program aimed at reducing the incidence of lower leg injuries.

 I guess you have worked out the punchline – it didn’t work! The injury incidence was the same, whether they did the additional program or not.

 The moral of the story: The main RISK FACTOR for developing shin pain is a rapid increase in impact activity. The MAIN thing that will insure against injury is progressing said impact activity 

The medical world hates the term ‘shin splints’. Apparently it’s not a physiologically-accurate-enough term. The term is actually derived from horses, who have a bone in their lower leg called the splint. Lumpy or swollen splint bones are apparently a common ailment in horses.
Personally, I don’t mind using the term on humans. We may not have a bone called splint, but painful shins can feel like the bone is splintering, or that it feels like it needs to be splinted and supported to help with the pain.
Regardless, ‘shin splints’ is an easy to use, common knowledge term to refer to pain in the shin area. It does not label the actual diagnosis, but it doesn’t have to.
Anyway, enough about semantics. My time working with Defence populations has provided ample opportunity to see the anguish, longevity and exquisite pain associated with shin splints. I also believe that the condition is completely avoidable if we give our shins what they need in the right amounts.

 To find out more, click through to the full article here:

http://www.physios-online.com/Resources/Articles/Shin-pain---.aspx

 If you need to be pointed in the right direction with your injury recovery, visitwww.physios-online.com

 Til next time!

 Karen and the team at Physios Online
karen@physios-online.com