Recovery and Beyond Physiotherapy

According to the Oxford English Dictionary diagnosis (of something) is ‘the act of discovering or identifying the exact cause of an illness or a problem’.

A diagnosis is vital in guiding the treatment and rehabilitation of all sports and musculoskeletal injuries. It tells us what needs to happen, but not necessarily WHAT to do or HOW to do it. For example, an achilles tendinopathy diagnosis will mean strength and function needs to be restored.

The WHAT and HOW can be relatively straightforward, and a good percentage of problems will respond positively to a variety of common interventions such as rest, activity modification, stretches etc.

However, sometimes problems don’t respond. Maybe your achilles tendinopathy drags on for months , frustratingly you’re still not able to run despite a seemingly well structured strengthening program.
In these cases it’s important to look closely again at the reasons why the condition is not responding.

The list of possibilities here is extensive...
Is the foot working adequately?
Is there a dynamic knee vagus? Is this a problem?
Are the hip and pelvic muscles functioning well?
Is there a possible problem in the other leg which is being compensated for?
Could There be a lack of trunk rotation due to a concurrent shoulder problem?
Is the exercise selection appropriate and specific enough?

These are just a few examples, often there will be a combination of these issues. Working through them, deciding what’s most relevant, and to what extent can be difficult, especially when we consider that everyone is different.

This is where the skill and expertise of the Physio, coupled with a depth of experience, and an open but analytical mind is paramount to getting to the root of complex MSK conditions.

Any questions feel free to ask in comments ⬇️

Brilliant news , Seine given the go ahead for the swim.
Women’s triathlon on the streets of Paris looks amazing.
Good luck racing at 1045 this am.
Can’t wait!