A friend of mine is currently training to be a Yoga instructor. This got me thinking about Yoga and musculoskeletal conditions. The different Yoga poses focus on increasing the flexibility of the joints and improving postural stability through improvements in muscle strength. Yoga also aims to release the tension on muscles with the aim of [read the full story…]
I was watching the Liverpool v Manchester United football match yesterday and was interested in the pre-match warm up the players were doing. There was lots of stretching of the hamstrings going on. Hamstring injuries are common in athletes and frequently result in long delays in return to sport. So what is the comparative effectiveness [read the full story…]
Dear friends As its almost the end of the year the Musculoskeletal Elf will be having a short break from today over the festive season and will return in the New Year for more views on interesting and reliable research and guidance relevant for musculoskeletal conditions. We thought that we would have a look at [read the full story…]
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is the primary stabilising structure within the knee, limiting anterior translation of tibia on the femur as well as tibial internal rotation. Injuries are more common in high demand sports and usually follow non- contact trauma such as landing incorrectly from a jump, pivoting or decelerating suddenly, but can occur [read the full story…]
Chronic pain is a major health concern, which increases in prevalence and impact with age. This is important as chronic pain can result in a significant decrease in function and quality of life along with an increase in use of health and social care. Self-management is a potentially inexpensive form of pain management and it [read the full story…]
If you see someone rubbing his back after lifting something or holding it while moving from a sitting to standing position what are your thoughts? Would you consider that this type of behaviour would influence your rating of a patient’s level of pain and ability to return to work? These types of actions can be [read the full story…]
What to do Musculoskeletal Elves do on a cold Sunday morning in December? As you know we have been having a physical activity theme to our blogs recently. Well Elves like to keep active and so this Sunday I changed out of my Elf outfit and into the outfit I borrowed from Santa, complete with [read the full story…]
Have you ever taken part in or even taught a Pilates class? Do you really know what it is and could you define it for others? We were interested to read a recently published paper by authors from Australia that aimed to describe Pilates exercise according to peer-reviewed literature, and compare definitions used in papers [read the full story…]
During last winter several elves slipped on ice and landed heavily. Although initially embarrassed, most forgot the incident but a few still struggle with lateral hip pain when climbing stairs or sleeping in bed. Previously known as trochanteric bursitis, this condition is now defined as Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome (GTPS). This umbrella term covers a [read the full story…]
Low back pain (LBP) is one of the main reasons for people consulting their general practitioner and seeking treatment from a physiotherapist. The provision of accurate advice on the recovery for LBP is an important feature of any consultation, yet there is disagreement as to its prognosis. Therefore, it was with great interest that I [read the full story…]
