Nurse Your Back

I recently treated a nurse who presented with a 17 year history of low back and neck pain. She used to do a lot of lifting in hospital and the pain started after lifting a particularly heavy patient. She was treated initially with rest and physio in the hospital, however the pain became chronic. She felt like it affected her whole spine due to likely 2 areas being damaged. Over the years she has been treated via NHS physio but she was frustrated as they only gave exercises, no hands on, also chiropractic and osteopathic treatment didn’t offer any relief.

After years of struggling she attended a spinal clinic which offered spinal injections which only helped mildly, then ablations – burning the nerves. Neither offered long term solutions and her pain continued.

I fully assessed her and noted she had two areas of stiffness in the spine – lumbar (low back) and cervical (neck). The MRI scans she had in the past had not indicated any specific areas of damage. She had acute irritation on top of a chronic pain problem. Her neural irritation had altered the pathways in her brain. This is common in chronic pain where the pain becomes the issue rather than the initial injury.

 My treatment needed to break the pattern of the pain pathways, I aimed to return the biomechanics of the joints back to full range with spinal mobilisations and home stretches. The soft tissues had tightened so I worked on releasing the tissue and the muscle firing had been altered so I gave a programme of easy to follow exercise to ensure the postural muscles were working efficiently.

This specific individualised programme of treatment led to a full clearing of all the pain. She is still Nursing, so can now fulfil her duties without an issue and is no longer nursing her injury…

For your solution Call today 01962 714979 

Do you suffer with low back pain? Have you tried many solutions? Does it affect your life? We have the solution to clearing your acute or chronic pain. I have many years experience working with Premiership athletes, children (I was head of the Academy medical team for Southampton FC) and the general public (5 years as a Consultant Physiotherapist in the NHS). This wide range of experience has allowed me to develop techniques which find the cause to your problem. The CAUSE is the key, I see so many people who have had the pain treated but the problem reoccurs, I focus on what is causing your pain which then relieves the pain enabling a long term solution.

The most up to date techniques are utilised and I have improved on many of these with my vast experience. A main area I focus on is biomechanics, we have a gait analysis treadmill and I provide a thorough assessment of all your joints to ensure your body is moving correctly. If a joint is stiff this can cause the surrounding tissue irritation or another joint to move more to compensate therefore leading to altered biomechanics and then pain. Also if there is a muscle imbalance I address this with very specific exercises to ensure the joint is controlled.

Sciatica is very common and this can be caused by a disc prolapse or a compression in the facet joints or a local irritation from the piriformis, I successfully address all these issues with my specialist techniques. Self help is useful so if you are experiencing back or neck pain heat will normally ease the spasm and find a comfortable position, that can be lying, standing, walking. People are often told keep moving with back pain, that is true but it should be qualified with keep moving but don’t aggravate your back.

 I am an expert at solving your back or neck pain and I look forward to helping you return to a normal pain free life.

Phillip Wilson, 

Consultant Physiotherapist

The Twyford Clinic, 
Tel 01962 714 979