Has chatting on the phone become a pain in the neck? Quentin Fottrell offers a solution
As I stand in front of a mirror with my arms by my side, Séamus Rodgers, a physical therapist, can tell instantly that one of my shoulders is slightly stooped. It's hardly visible, but within a short time at his Dublin clinic he has discovered the neck and upper-back muscles that have been giving me a hard time. The cause? Talking on the telephone with the receiver lodged between my head and shoulder.
It comes as no surprise to Rodgers. Increasingly, people are suffering bad backs, strained muscles and other repetitive strain injuries caused by the most innocuous behaviour. Take the dental nurse who has to lean over patients or the gardener who, after a relaxed summer of potting plants and trimming borders, can't understand why he's doubled over in pain.
The message is simple: just because you don't exert yourself doesn't mean you won't suffer afterwards - and a stiff neck today could be a big pain in the neck tomorrow. About 85 per cent of Rodgers's clients have neck and back problems, while the other 15 per cent usually have shoulder and other joint problems. When one muscle shortens due to stress or repetitive strain injury, such as that caused by typing, other muscels have to work overtime; hence the pain.
Whatever the reasons, you may learn more about your body from a physio or physical therapist than you'd bargained for, unravelling mysteries that go back to childhood.
A therapist can assess the secret history of bad behaviour coiled around your muscles and design a programme to fit your needs. Most practitioners will tell you that you don't have to wait until you injure yourself at the gym. When it comes to analysing your body's weak points - muscle strength, cardio endurance, fitness, balance, strength and nutrition - prevention is, as always, better than cure.
Rodgers has an in-depth knowledge of musculoskeletal problems and deals with "deep tissue" issues. But he deals with the physical, not medical. If someone comes to him with calf trouble but doesn't run or exercise, it could be the result of a circulation problem, so he would refer the person to a medical doctor. If the client jogs five nights a week, however, the chances are that the calf pain is connected to training methods.
Increasingly, people are going to see physical therapists, even if they haven't any serious problems or injuries. "The profession is ideally suited to preventing potential problems," says Anne Mangan of the Institute of Physical Therapy, at the Priory Clinic in Stillorgan, Dublin.
Crucially, when your body's joints are stuck in certain movements, arthritic symptoms may start to develop.
"As well as treating injuries at the gym or in the workplace," she says, "we treat problems that have developed insidiously and slowly over the years, such as bad posture."
Muscle cramp in bed, which is not an uncommon complaint, may be related to overexercise, dehydration or muscle-shortening. Cutting down on tea, coffee or alcohol in favour of plenty of water may be enough to stop the cramps. Hunching over a computer screen remains the main cause of neck problems. But for active people, sometimes what you do after you exercise causes the problems. "Gardening is a disaster, one of the biggest culprits," says Rodgers. "If you spend an hour working outside and slouch back in a chair afterwards, your bad posture could irritate the muscles that you exercised while gardening."
Exercise, and especially stretching, lengthens muscles, increases the range of motion in the joints and improves posture.
There is a lot of detective work involved in analysing this body of evidence. Áine O'Neill, a physiotherapist at the Dún Laoghaire Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic and a member of the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists, says that "if you have a sore back, it could be the result of a trauma, posture, muscular imbalance or repetitive strain injury".
Aside from sports injuries and other accidents, Sophia Brennan, a Dublin-based physical therapist, has even treated a seamstress who was lifting heavy curtains. "We try to get people to re-evaluate their lifestyle and cut out bad habits," she says.
Physical therapists, who take a three-year diploma, don't use electrotherapy and take a more manual, hands-on approach. Chartered physiotherapists, who do a four-year degree, supplement their work with ultrasound and laser treatments, but 90 per cent of their treatments consist of manual work.
After my consultation, Séamus Rodgers tells me that a few sessions of massaging and stimulating the muscles should help my stiff neck. Unfortunately, he says, many people don't take notice of their bad habits until they cause problems. "People don't know the pain they're avoiding," he says. "When they do, they inevitably ask themselves: 'Why on earth didn't I prevent it?' "
The Irish Association of Physical Therapists is based at the Priory Clinic, Co Dublin; tel: 01-2835566. You can contact the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists at the Irish College of Surgeons (01-4022148)