Arthritis is a joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints. There are various forms including, amongst others, rheumatoid arthritis, septic arthritis and gout but osteoarthritis is the most common type. What is essential to note, is that other...
DOMS is the commonly used abbreviation of ‘Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness’ and is the pain and stiffness felt in muscles a while after unusual or strenuous exercise. Felt most strongly from 24 to 72 hours after exercise, it is thought to be caused by lengthening or...
There are a number of technical differences between disc protrusions, bulges, herniations and prolapses but for the purpose of this article, we’ll group these together as disc herniations. The specific name given to a disc condition reflects mainly the severity of the...
Widespread pain to the muscles of the body, unusually high levels of fatigue, tender points in multiple areas and great sensitivity to seemingly normal things, are all indicative of someone suffering from the disorder known as Fibromyalgia. What are the symptoms of...
Musculoskeletal pain is pain caused by injury to the bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons and/or nerves. The pain can be either acute or chronic and either localised or widespread. It is basically a summary of all the types of physical pain a person could suffer...
Overuse injuries, as the term implies, are the result of the gradual, repetitive action and overuse of certain muscles, tendons or bones, as opposed to acute injuries, like a sprained ankle, which happen instantaneously. They can happen through sports, be work...
When a nerve becomes entrapped or ‘pinched’, usually because of injury to structures next to the nerve, this is referred to as a ‘Pinched nerve’, where nerve pain, damage and associated symptoms can occur. Self-diagnosed pinched nerves rarely need to be operated on...
The Sacroiliac joints (SIJ) are formed by your pelvic bones joining onto either side of the sacrum bone, at the lower end of the spine. When any abnormal increase or decrease of movement at the joints take place, this may lead to Sacroiliac pain, which is known as...
Sciatica The sciatic nerve is the main nerve running from the lower back to your leg and the irritation or pinching of this nerve can cause the severe leg pain, known as Sciatica. Long term compression of the Sciatic nerve can severely damage it and affect its...
The spine of someone with Scoliosis may look more like an ‘S’ shape than the typical straight line. Up to 2% of individuals may have some form of scoliosis but a mere 10% of those are severe. These spinal curves, presenting mostly in adolescence, are usually more...
Along the length of the spine there are small joints on the left and right of each link between the vertebrae. These are your facet joints – one pair of joint surfaces face up and one faces down. The pair above joins the pair below at each level of the spine. The...
Spinal Stenosis is a narrowing of the open spaces within the spinal column. Occurring most often in the neck and the lower back, this can put pressure on the spinal cord and nerves that travel to the arms and legs. While in some cases it can be so mild as to not even...
A stress fracture, which consists of tiny cracks, is the result of excessive, usually repetitive, force through healthy bone. Often sports related, they are common injuries amongst runners, where fractures occur in the feet and the shin bones, but they can also occur...