18 Langs Rd, Ascot Vale 9370 1813


Archive for May, 2009

Preventing office work associated neck pain

Monday, May 25th, 2009 by Alison

Office Workers Shoulders

Written by Dr. Alison Gault B. App. Sci. (clinical sci) B. Osteo. Sci.  from Vale Osteopathy Clinic located in Ascot Vale and Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.Neck pain

Sitting at a desk and tapping away on a computer all day is not what our bodies are designed to do.  A huge number of my patients suffer from ‘complaints of the arm, neck and/or shoulder’ also known as CANS. This is a musculoskeletal condition that is not caused by acute trauma or any systemic disease, just by poor sitting posture.  Interestingly, computer workers more often experience pain in the neck and shoulders than the hands and forearms.  This is unexpected as the muscles used to type are in the hands and forearm.

CANS causes pain across the shoulders and often up the side of the neck.  In more severe cases, the patient can experience headaches, numbness, tingling, pins and needles in the arms. (more…)

Treatment and prevention of disc bulge, herniation and prolapse

Monday, May 25th, 2009 by Alison

Disc Bulge

Written by Dr. Alison Gault B. App. Sci. (clinical sci) B. Osteo. Sci.  from Vale Osteopathy Clinic located in Ascot Vale and Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Other common names for the same thing are: disc prolapse, disc herniation, Ruptured Diskblown disk, slipped disc and pinched nerve.

A Doughnut…

We first need to understand a little more about the disc.  The best way to describe it is a comparison to a jam doughnut!

The disc is made up of a strong outer layer (the crusty outside), lots of water (the soft, squishy dough) with an inner core or nucleus (the jam). (more…)

The cause, treatment and prevention of Sciatica

Monday, May 25th, 2009 by Alison

SCIATICA

Written by Dr. Alison Gault B. App. Sci. (clinical sci) B. Osteo. Sci.  from Vale Osteopathy Clinic located in Ascot Vale and Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

back painSciatica is a set of symptoms rather than a specific diagnosis. The symptoms are generally buttock pain and a sharp pain down the back of the thigh and sometimes into the calf.  Occasionally, when severe, there may be numbness, muscular weakness and tingling in the leg.

The sciatic nerve is the largest and longest nerve in the body.  It arises as many little nerves from spinal cord in the lumbar spine (lower back).  The little nerves then pass out of the spinal canal between the vertebrae, pass through the pelvis and into the leg.

The symptoms of sciatica are produced by pressure onto the nerve which decreases its ability to function and causes pain.  There are many different causes of sciatica as there are many different parts of the body where it can become compressed.

Here I will outline a few of these causes. (more…)