ARTHROSIS

The degenerative osteoarthritis is the most common of the diseases of the joints.

It happens with more frequency in persons of middle ages and elderly, affecting mostly the neck, the lumbar region, knees, hips and joints of the fingers. The patients with degenerative arthritis suffer pain and functional deterioration.

WHAT IS THE CAUSE?

The degenerative osteoarthritis happens when the cartilage which covers the joint degenerates. The reasons of deterioration of the cartilage are multiple. Joints that have been damaged before or have been submitted to excessive use, infection or a previous rheumatic disease is more likely to suffer this degeneration. We know that some types of degenerative osteoarthritis are hereditary, included the form most common that causes deformity of the knuckles.

TREATMENT

Though it is a question of a chronic disease, the symptoms can be diminished in great part following a suitable treatment. Apart from the pharmacological treatment, other beneficial therapies exist.

In the field of the physical therapy, exercises are used to restore the normal mobility of the joints and improving the muscular, limiting this way the stiffness and pain.

ARTHRITIS

The arthritis is a degenerative disease of the joints. It is based on the inflammation of a joint. It can start after an injury which did not heal as it should, or after excessive exercises. Also there are many unknown reasons. The risk is, depending of the evolution, that it can immobilize completely the affected part of the body. In some cases, it advances through the whole organism and makes a normal life impossible and can cause a disability of the movement in the whole body.

It can be treated or even recover, if the arthritis is not very advanced, with specialized treatments.

HEADACHE

The headache attacks cause in general a sensation of tension or pressure on both sides of the head or on the forehead, which can last from 30 minutes to 7 days and accompanied occasionally by nauseas or vomits, though these, if they appear, are slight.

It can appear awakening or throughout the day, coinciding with the tension of work.

Probably, in some situation of special tension we all have felt at some time this type of pain.

The intensity is minor than in the case of migraine. It does not get worse with the physical exercise.

The first step of the treatment is to explain to the patient what he has. The possibility that the mechanism of the pain is due to the muscular contraction, and the possibility of relaxing in some situations that unleash the pain can provide an important benefit, as for instance stretching exercises and massage.

CERVICAL PAIN

Pain located in the region of the cervical part of the spine. It can be accompanied by headache and sensation of dizziness or nausea. Of equal form pain can exist radiating to the upper extremities and other neurological alterations.

The cervical pains are caused by multiple factors, being the most common the muscular tension and degenerative processes of the vertebral joints, as the degenerative osteoarthritis.

The lack of physical activity and bad postures works negatively on the muscles and the joints, favouring the appearance of the cervical pain.

SCIATICA

The sciatica is a set of symptoms that include pain that can be caused in general by compression or irritation of one of the five roots of the spinal nerves that give origin to each sciatic nerve, either irradiating to the left side, towards the right or both sciatic nerves. The pain is felt in the lumbar zone, buttocks, or diverse parts of the leg and the foot. Besides the pain there can be numbness, muscular weakness, sensation of swarming and difficulty in the movement or the control of the leg. Typically, the symptoms only feel in one side of the body.

In spite of the fact that the sciatica is a relatively common form of pain of lower back and pain in the legs, the real meaning of the term is often an understood evil. The sciatica is a set of symptoms more than a diagnosis of what irritates the root of the nerve, causing the pain. This point is important, because the treatment for the symptoms.

SPRAIN

A sprain is the injury of the ligaments that join both bones that form a joint.

Several degrees of sprains exist depending on its gravity, from the degree I, in which there is an expansion of the ligament, to the degree III, which implies its complete rupture.

In some joints, there exist powerful muscles that fix the joints, contributing to the labour of the ligaments. This way, a powerful and trained well muscle protects the ligaments, giving major stability to the joints.

FIBROMIALGY

The fibromialgy has been defined traditionally as a process of rheumatologic chronic origin that concerns the soft parts of the organism, specially the muscle.

It is characterized by a corporal diffuse pain that frequently associates sleep disorders, migraines, fatigue, psychological alterations as anxiety, depression and stress and other functional symptoms.

In recent studies it can only be demonstrated that a certain degree of physical activity, together with a correct alimentation and rest helps to improve the symptoms of the above mentioned disease.

For that it is suitable to receive physiotherapy, since by means of stretching, the application of electrotherapy and the accomplishment of specific exercises it is possible to obtain a decrease of the clinical symptoms.

HEMIPLEGIA

Hemiplegia is a disorder of the body of the patient in which the lateral half of his body is paralyzed. It is normally the result of a vascular brain accident, like a stroke, though also can be provoked by pathologies that affect the backbone or the cerebral hemispheres.

The hemiplegia is similar to the hemi paresis, but the paresis is considered to be less serious, since the strength of the affected muscles diminishes, but they are not immobilized.

SLIPPED DISC

We talk about a hernia or slipped disc when a part of the core (nucleus pulposo) from the intervertebral disc passes across a debilitated part of the fibrous ring that contains it. It is result of the degeneration and loss of the elastic properties of the intervertebral disc.

The discs are fibrous structures like cushions that exist between every two vertebrae and muffle the movements of the vertebral column. Diverse diseases or traumatisms, or simply the age can provoke that the above mentioned discs lose their elasticity and could fragment.

When a hernia exists, this can compress nervous structures and provoke symptoms as pain radiated to extremities or loss of sensibility.

WHIPLASH

The whiplash (cervical hyperextension) appears when the soft tissues of the neck get hurt, product of a strong sudden movement of the head. This type of movement tenses the muscles and the ligaments of the neck beyond their normal range of movement.

Besides the car accidents, the whiplash can be caused by the roller coasters and other attractions of the amusement parks, as well as by the practice of some sports.

You can feel and inflexibility in the neck during the first days after the trauma. Then, you feel better, but the pain and the inflexibility can come back several days later. This symptom can last months or years.

The inconvenience that is experienced can hold onto the muscular surrounding groups of the head, the chest, the shoulders and the arms.

LUMBAGO

The lumbago is a skeletal muscle syndrome characterized by a pain focused in the lower back. It starts for different reasons and forms, being the most common the stress, the physical overstrain and the bad positions.

The pain is in general of a sudden beginning that appears normally during an effort, being able to spread towards the buttocks and low members. There exists certain limitation of the movements of the spine and often provokes morning stiffness.

In chronic cases there exists a muscular atrophy, which favours the persistence of the above mentioned pathology.

RHEUMATISM

The rheumatism is the common name given to those complications of inflammatory nature in the joints. Mainly it gives pains in the wrists, fingers and back, but can affect all joints. It is a very extended disease since it can affect anybody from children up to housewives and businessmen, since the constant activity that is carried out every day is the principal causative factor of this painful evil.

The rheumatism can be caused by several motives inside which the constant activity (already mentioned), the repetitive movements, the lack of exercises and even the cold, are the major causers of the above mentioned evil, since it is well known that the joints are the parts of the body most sensitive to this type of factors.

Inside the principal symptoms that the rheumatism presents one finds the already mentioned pain in the joints.

Nevertheless, other common symptoms exist as the pain caused by some type of movement, sensation of numbness of the affected part and up to immobility and lack of strength, which can demonstrate the existence of diverse types of rheumatism.

The already above mentioned symptoms can get worse due to other factors as stress and the cold, which turns this suffering into the very easily identifiable one.

TORN MUSCLES

Tear or loss of the continuity of the fibres of a muscle due to longer elongation than the elastic limits of the fibres or a sudden and violent contraction. Sometimes they can be accompanied by a vascular injury, appearing a small bruise. The patient recounts a violent, described pain sometimes "as a shot “that is accompanied by functional impotence. Rest diminishes the pain, but it is aggravated with pressure or active movement.

TENDINITIS AND BURSITIS

The tendinitis is the inflammation of the tendon. The tendons are the part of the muscles inserted to the bones. Their function is to transmit the force generated by the muscular contraction for the movement of the bones.

The Bursitis is the inflammation of the "bursa", which are small bags situated between the bone and other mobile structures as the muscles, the skin or the tendons and they facilitate a smooth scrolling of these structures.

Both the tendons and the bags are located near the joints, therefore the inflammation of these structures is perceived by the patients as pain in the joint and can be deceitfully interpreted as arthritis.

The symptoms of bursitis and tendinitis are similar: Pain and lack of flexibility that worsen with movement. The pain can be worse during the night and can be accompanied by local swelling.

The most common cause of tendinitis and bursitis is the damage of these structures during repetitive movements at work or doing sports.

STIFF NECK OR TORTICOLIS

The so called stiff neck is the presence of pain with the movement of the neck and accompanied by disability to turn or move the head. The pain and the contraction can be radiated to the shoulders or the head.

The most frequent reason of the stiff neck is an irritation of the cervical nerves wherefore secondarily appears a contraction or spasm of the muscles of the neck.

The most common reasons of this irritation are:

• Sudden movements of the neck.
• Traumatic injury (lash).
• To sleep in an inconvenient position.
• Anxiety.
• Secondary to a slipped disc at cervical level.

The following symptoms can appear:

• Pain of the muscles of the neck and the shoulder
• Inability to turn the head, in general is kept towards one side.
• Contraction of the muscles of the neck.

The treatment in general is based on:

• Resting the muscles of the neck, if necessary to put on a cervical collar.
• Application of local heat.
• Application of ultrasounds.
• Therapeutic massage.
• Muscle relaxant Medicines (in occasions).

THE CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME

The carpal tunnel syndrome is a pathology caused by the compression of a nerve in the wrist. When this happens, swarming sensation appears and sometimes decrease of the sensibility in the thumb, index and middle finger. With the time they add lack of strength for certain specific actions, like opening a bottle. The swarming can pass to be a painful, sometimes burning sensation and cramps can appear.