CONDITIONS

POLIO (POLIOMYELITIS)

An infectious disease once known as Infantile Paralysis but now usually called Polio.
Polio is caused by a virus which usually provides a mild illness, however in more serious cases it affects the brain and spinal cord. This may lead to extensive paralysis.

RHEUMATOID ARTRITIS

A type of arthritis (joint inflammation) in which the joints of the fingers, wrists, toes, or other joints in the body become painful, swollen, stiff and, in severe cases, deformed. The disease usually takes the form of recurrent moderate attacks. The frequency of attacks, the number of affected joints, and the severity of symptoms are variable. Rheumatoid arthritis is medically distinct from Osteoarthritis.

OSTEOARTHRITIS

This differs from Rheumatoid Arthritis and has a better outlook. It results from excessive wear on joints, sometimes due to obesity or to slight deformity or misalignment of bones in a joint. Inflammation from a disease, such as gout, may also proceed to Osteoarthritis. Weight bearing joints, such as those in the neck, the lower back, and the knees and hips, are the most commonly affected by this type of arthritis.

BACK PAIN

Most people experience back pain at sometime in their lives but in most cases it is not serious and the problem corrects itself before investigation takes place. However, some kinds of back pain can be related to specific disorders, e.g. muscular instability, Lumbago in prolapsed disc, lumbar stress syndromes, facet joint disorders, ligament disorders, spondylosis, spondylarthrosis, Osteoporotic bone collapse, Scoliosis, Kyphosis, Sciatica, Osteoarthritis.

OSTEOPOROSIS

Loss of protein matrix tissue from bone, causing it to become brittle and easily fractured.
Osteoporosis needs to be distinguished from Osteomalacia, which is demineralisation of bone due to vitamin D deficiency. The two conditions may be present at the same time, causing severe bone weakness.
Osteoporosis is a natural part of ageing. By the age of 70, the density of the skeleton has diminished by about one third. However, for hormonal reasons, significant Osteoporosis is much more common in women than in men. Also, for reasons that are unknown, the disorder is more common in white people than it is in black people.

TENNIS ELBOW

A condition characterised by pain and tenderness on the outside of the elbow and in the back of the forearm. Its medical name is Epicondylitis.
Tennis Elbow is caused by inflammation of the tendon that attaches the extensor muscles (in this case the muscles that straighten the fingers and wrist) to the humerus. The condition results from overuse of these muscles, causing constant tugging of the tendon at its point of attachment to the humerus.

FLAT FEET

A condition, usually affecting both feet, in which the arch is absent and the sole rests flat on the ground. The medical term for this condition is the Latin equivalent: Pes Planus.
Almost everyone is born with flat feet. The arches form gradually as supportive ligaments and muscles in the soles of the feet develop, and are not usually fully formed until about the age of six.
In some people, however, the ligaments and muscles are weak for unknown reasons and the feet remain flat. Less commonly, the arches do not form because of a hereditary defect in the structure of the small bones of the foot.

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

A progressive disease of the central nervous system in which scattered patches of Myelin (the protective covering of nerve fibres) in the brain and spinal cord are destroyed. This causes symptoms ranging from numbness and tingling to paralysis and incontinence. The disease was formerly called Disseminated Sclerosis.
The severity of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) varies markedly among sufferers. It is characterised by a multiple, patchy pattern of disabilities, variable in site and time, with dramatic, unpredictable improvements. A patient may be severely disabled one week and apparently normal the next.

HERNIA

The protrusion of an organ or tissue through a weak area in the muscle or other tissue that normally contains it. The term is usually applied to a protrusion of the intestine through a weak area in the abdominal wall.

CHARCOT-MARIE-TOOTH DISEASE

An inherited muscle wasting disease that mainly affects the legs.
(Peroneal Muscular Atrophy)

PERONEAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY

A rare, inherited disorder characterised by wasting of the muscles, first in the feet and calves and then in the hands and forearms. The condition, also known as Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, is the result of degeneration of some of the peripheral nerves. It can affect either sex, but is more common in boys, and usually appears in late childhood or adolescence.

CONGENITAL DISLOCATION OF HIP (CDH)

A disorder present at birth in which the ball-like head of the femur (thigh bone) fails to fit into the cup-like socket in the pelvis to form a joint but instead lies outside. One or both of the hips may be affected.

DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS

Thrombi, or clots, tend to form when blood flow is sluggish and in circumstances (such as pregnancy) in which there is a rise in the level of coagulation factors in the blood. Once a clot has formed, it may provide a site for further clotting, so that a long, snaky clot may grow along the length of a vein. Thrombi form most commonly in the leg veins and may interfere with the drainage of blood from a leg causing signs and symptoms of varying severity.