Ultrasound Treatment at Home?

Swelling? inflammation?

Hire a home use Ultrasound unit - £42 per week.

Ultrasound has traditionally been used in a 'clinical' setting by Physiotherapists (and other health professionals) to speed up the rate of healing and improve the long term quality of tissue repair.

Up until recently it has only been practical to use in a clinic, this has mainly been due to the fact clinical ultrasound units are expensive to purchase, bulky and have required specialist knowledge use.

However, recently an Australian based company have manufactured a small 'home use' ultrasound device, that has been designed to be used by the 'general public'.

*** The picture above shows on the right my clinic based ultrasound unit (pretty large!), with the home use ultrasound device on the left. The home based device has all of the electrics built into the head***

I often use ultrasound within my treatments, however the greatest benefits of using ultrasound can found in using it on a regular basis (up to twice a day). Obviously having daily ultrasound treatments are not practical unless you are a professional footballer (or athlete) with access to professional care.

The good news is that I've now purchased two 'home use' ultrasound devices. These units can be used to speed up the treatment of injuries or complaints including:

• Sprains / strains (with swelling present)
• Muscle spasms
• Tennis and golfers elbow
• Knee and ankle problems
• Back pain
• Heel spurs and achilles problems
• Joint pain
• Tendonitis
• Shin pain
• As well as a number of sports related injuires

If you have just sustained an injury or have a chronic complaint please do email me to ask if Ultrasound therapy can help you.

Treatment Room for Hire (Ringwood)

There is a treatment room available for hire / lease at the clinic.

The room would be suitable for any of the following professionals:

• Physiotherapist
• Chiropractor
• Osteopath
• Massage therapist
• Nutritionist
• Counsellor
• Podiatrist / Chiropodist
• Any similar professional

Please email Alex at office@theringwoodclinic.co.uk if you (or anyone you may know) are intersted in hiring out the treatment room.

Sport massage, injury treatment & rehabilitation

Covering Ringwood, Bournemouth, Verwood, Fordingbridge, West Moors, Ferndown and New Forest

Why are foam roller exercises becoming so popular?

I'm often talking about using a foam roller to help perform 'self massage' in between treatments at the clinic.

Increasingly I've seen more and more gyms adding 'foam rollers' to their equipment list. You will normally find them in the gym by the matted area used for core and stretching work.

Foam rollers are hugely popular as they are a great way to improve your mobility and 'tissue quality' at home.

Below is a very clear video, by Alex Poole a strength and conditioning coach based in Bristol demonstarting how to use the foam roller.

The video shows him rolling the following areas:

1. IT Band
2. Quadriceps (front of thigh)
3. Adductor (groin)
4. Gluteal
5. Upper back (thoracic region)

There are additional area's that will benefit from foam rolling, but these 5 are a good place to start.

You can buy foam rollers direct from http://www.physiosupplies.com. Get the Blue 15cm by 90cm size.

If you have any questions email me at office@theringwoodclinic.co.uk.

Sport massage, injury treatment & rehabilitation

Covering Ringwood, Bournemouth, Verwood, Fordingbridge, West Moors, Ferndown and New Forest

Knee Pain? Grinding, clicking or clunking

Increasingly more and more people have been coming to see me at the clinic with Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (or pain at the front of the knee).

The pain is often associated with grinding, clicking and clunking in the knee which is made worse by squating type movements and walking up/downstairs.

This grinding, clicking and clunking is NOT normal and will most likely indicate that your patella (or knee cap) is tracking poorly. If your patella is not tracking correctly at the front of the knee then it will 'rub' against the edge of the femur, which will in turn cause it to grind, click or clunk.

Alongside the grinding, clicking and clunking some people also report a 'giving way' in the knee or a general feeling of being unstable.

Again this is NOT normal.

The good news is that with the correct treatment this pain (as well as the associated grinding, click and clunking) can normally be resolved successful with out the need for any surgical intervention.

The cause of this 'poor tracking' in the knee is often due to muscle imbalances in the thigh muscles (quadriceps) and weakness in the hip muscles.

With the correct exercises and treatment most often these imbalances can be addressed.

For a more detailed explanation of Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome click here.

Additionally if you have any questions you would like answered about you own knee pain please do email me.

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Treatments that I use to resolve Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome, may include some / all of the following:

1. Mobilisations to the patella to 'free up' tight structures.
2. Massage to the IT-Band, to help address the muscle imbalances.
3. Home exercises specifically designed to even out the muscle imbalances.
4. Ultrasound to help improve the inflammatory process.
5. Taping to help re-position the knee cap.
6. Referral to a podiatrist if your imbalances are associated with poor bio-mechanics at your feet.

If Carlsberg made clients...

If Carlsberg made clients then mine would probably be the best in the world! ;-)

In my work I come across a lot of really great people.

This is one of the benefits of my 'job'.

I have a great diversity of interesting clients. I'm lucky enough to be in the position to help them 'fix' their injuries (as well as sort out their aches and pains). However I also learn a huge amount from them in turn.

My clients are successful business owners, house mums, engineers, accountants, dentists, labourers and everything in-between.

However, occasionally someone does something for you which you wouldn't expect, last night was one of those times.

One of my clients is a local farrier. He mentioned at a previous appointment that if he gets some time he'll make a 'coal' tray at his forge for the fire place in my clinic. I didn't think to much of it at the time because he runs a busy business and finding the time to do that would be difficult.

That was a month ago but last night he came in with the 'coal' tray fully made up (see the pictures below). In his words he 'knocked it up from a few spare bits in the forge'. I have to say I'm very impressed!

So this is a 'thanks' to all my patients who have interesting jobs, do interesting things and are generally great people to have as clients.

Sport massage, injury treatment & rehabilitation

Covering Ringwood, Bournemouth, Verwood, Fordingbridge, West Moors, Ferndown and New Forest

What is your Bodyfat percentage?

I can now measure your body fat using Accu-Measure bodyfat callipers.

These callipers will give you an accurate measure (within 1.1% of laboratory standard testing) of your overall fat percentage.

We simply take one skin fold measurement at your hip, just above the prominent bone at the front.

This gives us a reading in mm (or inches) which we can compare to a chart (see below). This chart adjusts for your age as well as sex and gives an accurate measurement of your overall body fat.

You will be able to find out whether you fall in the lean, ideal, average or over fat category.

Body fat measurements are much more accurate then calculating your BMI or taking your weight on scales.

Go to Accu-Measures own site if you want to know more!

***For those of you who are interested in finding out your body fat percentage please email me at office@theringwoodclinic.co.uk and we can arrange to take your measurement at your next appointment.***

Sport massage, injury treatment & rehabilitation

Covering Ringwood, Bournemouth, Verwood, Fordingbridge, West Moors, Ferndown and New Forest