Steemit Learning Challenge-S27W5; Physiofit; Case Study

I just feel this week is a practical week on what we've been learning for the past 4 weeks on physiotherapy. I'll be more practical with a physical patient instead of using myself.

Task 1

Case Study

A 25-year-old young man who came to me because he felt a pain around his neck preventing him from turning his head and this has been bothering him for about 3 weeks. Anytime he bends his head to look at his phone, the pain becomes worse. He also stated that whenever he wakes up from his bed, his neck becomes so stiff and his shoulder feels the pain too because it extend to the lower body.

After close observation, I observed that he looks healthy and that one of his shoulder is higher than the other but there are no swelling in that area. When I tried tilting his neck, he screamed because of the pain. His neck movement was limited.

Symptoms

My patient's name is Joseph. He finds it difficult to move his neck especially in the morning. The neck becomes so stiff. If he stays in one place for a long time, he feels the pain as the weight of his head would be based on his shoulders.

• If he bends down to look at his phone or laptop, he feels this continuous pain around his neck region. He finds it difficult to turn his neck to the left and to the right because there's a little restriction somehow.

• The muscles of the neck feel hard when touched which means it's stiff. One of his shoulders tend to be higher than the other.

• His head feels so heavy but there are no signs of swelling or redness. These are the symptoms that affects my patient. What could be the cause of these symptoms of the neck pain in general.

Causes

Stating the obvious, there are certain things that can cause neck pain or the symptoms I shared. These are a few causes.

• Poor posture in sleeping and sitting. This affects one's neck on the sense that if one sleeps in a wrong way or on a hard surface, possible a chair he's sitting on, there are tendencies that he may experience serious neck pain in the morning. Or maybe when he sits on a chair and bends his head backwards which may extend on the air, it can cause such pain in the neck muscles.

• Using phones for a long period of time is another cause of neck pain as most people tend to bend their heads for long to see their phones or laptop. This causes one to feel serious pain when he or she finally lifts up that head.

• Still on the sleeping posture to those who doesn't sleep on a chair, sleeping on the bed with many pillows which elevates your head from your body can cause serious neck pain in the morning.

• If not posture, most people tend to have soft necks that if they should bend their head, it would be as if the head wants to fall off. The neck muscles is weak and this weakness prevents it from supporting the neck how it should. It eventually becomes prone to pain and becomes tired .

• Sitting on a chair without a good chair height can affect one as he'll do more of stretching to reach his book or device or maybe you're reading on a bed with your hands as support. It will definitely affect your neck.

Assesment

After observing the symptoms, which includes difficulty in turning the neck, tight or stiff neck muscles, when turning or looking up, no swelling problems with the nerves, the condition was confirmed as a cervical muscle strain called postural neck pain which is caused by poor sleeping posture.

Task 2

To confirm my patient has postural neck pain, I did a few assessments tests after going through his symptoms listed below.

Symptoms:

• He finds it difficult to turn his neck to the left and to the right because there's a little restriction somehow.
• The neck muscles is weak
• His head feels so heavy but there are no signs of swelling or redness.
• Stiffness

Assessment tests: To confirm, range of motion ROM test was done. This test helps the physiotherapist know the motion of the neck if it's stiff and the movement is limited. I tried moving his neck in different directions and he felt a whole lot of pain. I also told him to bend his head to confirm the symptoms. When he tried bending his head for 10 seconds, he lifted it up because of the pain he felt. Another test that would be carried out is Palpation test.

• Palpation test: This is exclusively for cervical symptoms. I used my hands to check the neck muscles by tucking it gently with my thumbs and doing a few massages. The right muscles of the neck felt stiff and strong. His shoulders were rounded and his head protruded forward a bit.

• To check if the nerves weren't the problem, I lifted his head upwards using the cervical compression test method and he felt relieved somehow. I was able to discern that it wasn't the nerves but the muscles of the neck.

• X-ray can be done to eliminate bone injury if these other tests shows that it's not from the neck muscles. With the x-ray, we can see the main area the effect is.

After all these assessments, it was certain that he had no bone changes which means that the disease is related to the neck muscles and needs stretching exercises to curb this. The diagnosis was confirmed to be Postural Neck Pain.

Task 3

Ohkay. I'll be talking about the best protocol to treat knee osteoarthritis if one experiences as physiotherapy would be very good for this kind of disease. Strengthening exercises or stretching is one of the best methods to curb knee osteoarthritis. This stretching exercise may be painful but it will help you strengthen your hamstrings, quadriceps and reduce the pain a bit.

How did I do it? I took my patient's leg upright on a chair to stretch the knee. It was difficult at first trying to place the leg straight, but we slowly did it. I told him to sit on a chair while trying this exercise. He did this 10 times on the chair, taking his legs back and stretching them out. The elevation method helps compress the knee tension.

• After the stretching exercise, I used ROM which means range of motion to check the movement of the knees. We used the calf stretch method where I told him to face the wall while standing. He should then take one foot back and stretch it in a flat way while the other knee, the affected one would be bent to the wall. He was to stay in that position for 20 seconds before lifting himself and returning back to that position. He did this 3 times for 20 seconds each. This helps reduce stiffness and makes it comfortable for him to work.

• After the whole exercises, icing was used to help reduce the pain and relax the muscles. I used the ice on his knees and then on his ankle where he also felt pain. Once your knee is affected and it becomes difficult to work, your ankle is bent in an abnormal way. So I applied ice to those affected areas.

Icing is a good remedy for knees osteoarthritis. This icing helps to reduce pain that comes from the joints and swelling

He felt a bit relieved from the stretches and could work partially without having to show that he's really in pains

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