Conditions

Most people at some stage of their lives are going to experience or have experienced some form of spinal pain. Spinal pain has a variety of causative factors from motor vehicle accidents, work-related spinal pain, arthritis, poor lifting techniques and mechanics, weaknesses in the body, sedentary lifestyle, weight etc and can therefore be largely complex in its management. Effective rehabilitation of spinal pain involves expert assessment of contributing factors including lifestyle factors, posture, muscle weaknesses and imbalances and other joint involvement. Treatment involves use of manual therapy techniques to improve movement and reduce pain, accompanied by a thorough strengthening program to address weaknesses and imbalances.

Many injuries occur on the sporting field, due to high loads and stresses placed on our joints and muscles. Appropriate management of injuries is pivotal in ensuring timely return to sport and reducing chance of recurring injuries. Ensuring that our bodies are equipped to cope with the demands of our sports is also very important and why we offer specific screening programs for a variety of different sports.

Knee pain can affect a variety of different age groups and ranges from patellofemoral pain to ligament and meniscal injuries. Early intervention and strengthening is the key to preventing these injuries from causing chronic issues such as arthritis in the future. Effective prevention and rehabilitation of knee injuries includes strengthening of the muscles around the knee, hip and ankle and correction of biomechanics and technique when performing exercises. Many knee injuries can be managed with effective strengthening and manual therapy, however some will also require surgery. For these surgical cases we offer pre and post-operative knee rehabilitation also.

Shoulder pain and rotator cuff tears can affect a large variety of people from the sporting athlete to the sedentary individual with postural and neck issues. Shoulder pain is highly complex in that the shoulder is made up of 2 different joints:

• The glenohumeral joint- the ball and socket part of the joint
• The acromio-clavicular joint- the joint between the collar bone and the acromium of the scapula

Proper assessment of causative factors is crucial to effective shoulder treatment. Some causative factors include:

• poor posture
• poor lifting technique
• muscle strength imbalances
• neck and thoracic spine issues
• overuse and overload

These factors must then be addressed and corrected to ensure optimum recovery. Treatment may involve strengthening of rotator cuff muscle imbalances, correction of posture or spinal causative factors, effective strengthening and mechanics of scapula-humeral muscles or our muscles that surround our shoulder blade or advice and technique correction of exercises.

Neck pain can be either be of an acute onset due to injury or also commonly seen in the form of wry neck or chronic due to poor postures and other lifestyle-related factors. This can be immensely uncomfortable for the individual and have adverse effects on daily functioning, at work or on the sporting field. Motor vehicle accidents are also largely responsible for whiplash associated disorders.

Our assessment of your neck pain will ensure we identify the key contributing factors to your neck pain, whether it be strength imbalances, control and postural issues, lifestyle factors. We will then choose the appropriate treatment based on these findings which will likely include use of manual therapies to restore movement and a strengthening program as well as appropriate advice for postural and lifestyle factors.

Is a common condition we see that can severely limit the quality of life of an individual. Arthritis is a joint disorder and can affect one or more joints throughout the body. It can cause the joint to become inflamed, painful, stiff and damage the joint cartilage. This often results in instability and weakness in the joint, making basics tasks a challenge.

Physiotherapy prescribed treatments and exercises have been shown to be the gold standard of treatment for arthritis as there is no cure. The key is to strengthen muscles around the joint and improve control in the surrounding musculature in order to significantly improve ones function and decrease pain levels. Performing physiotherapy exercises that target strength, flexibility and endurance have been shown to be more effective than medication in many cases.

Many patients access physiotherapy for both pre and post-surgical rehabilitation. We will liase with your surgeon to achieve the most optimal outcome.

The role of prehab is to best prepare you for your up coming surgery, to make recovery much easier. Prehab will often involve, strengthening the muscles around the area, improving mobility and decreasing swelling. We aim to improve control performance prior to surgery, as this has been shown to produce better outcomes post-surgery and improves recovery rates.

Post-surgery we will closely follow your surgeons protocol, to deliver the best care outcomes. Our role is protect the repaired area, improve range of movement, strengthen and educate you on how perform some exercises at home. We aim to prepare your body for the demands that you will be placing on it, whether that be for work, daily function or on the sporting field. We can also assist in advice for ongoing management through taping, postural advice, lifting technique education etc.

Groin injuries are a very common sporting injury. Especially in sporting environments which require high speed running, associated with rapid changes of direction. Groin pain can be quite complicated, due to the amount of joints and musculature involved around that region. Joints such as the hip, lumbar spine and sacroiliac can be involved.

Treatment of your groin pain will be based around muscle control and prevention. Any muscle imbalances within the deep abdominals, hip rotators, glutes, adductors and lower back muscles can lead to your groin pain and will often centre your rehabilitation.

Hip pain can be experienced at any age, though is often associated with the elderly, or hypermobile athlete. Luckily research and physiotherapy treatments have come along and there are many options to treat and manage any hip pain.

Some of the common hip injuries and pain we see are:

• Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI): A condition in which extra bone grows along one or both bones that form the hip joint, which gives the bone an irregular shape.
• Gluteal Tendinopathy: Overload of the gluteal tendon. Very common in runners.
• Illiopsoas Tendinopathy: Very common in athletes who must kick in their sport. Characterised by pain across the front of the hip.
• Hip Dysplasia: Loose ligaments around the can allow for misalignment of varying degrees.

Effective treatment of hip injuries involves correct diagnosis including causative factors and addressing these through strengthening and control exercises to prepare you for the demands placed on the hip joint.

Tendinopathy (tendon injuries), can occur in any tendon of the body. The role of the tendon within the body is to join the muscles to bone thus making them vital for movement and performance. Most tendon injuries occur due to repetitive tendon overloading and are commonly near the shoulder, elbow, knee and ankle joint.

Treatment of tendon injuries can usually start straight away. Tendons are active tissues and so they respond very well to physiotherapy and correct loading and offloading techniques. Physiotherapists are experts in delivering treatments for tendinopathy and often it can be reversed and a full recovery can be made. The key lies in expert assessment of the loads placed on the tendon and incorporating techniques to reduce these outside loads, whilst still placing enough load on the tendon to reduce pain and improve the quality of the connective tissue.

Ligaments are the tough fibrous collagen bands which connect bones together. Ligaments are strained when a joint of the body is pushed beyond its normal limits. They are usually caused by landing awkwardly or from twisting. The most common sites of ligament injuries are often seen at the ankle and knee, this is due to these being weight bearing joints, often involved in sports requiring rapid changes of direction.

There are three grades of ligament injuries:

1. Mild ligament tear- Only a tear to a few of the collagen fibres.
2. Moderate ligament tear – More extensive damage to the collagen fibres, often showing joint swelling and pain.
3. Complete tear – Complete rupture of the collagen fibres, characterised by joint swelling, intense pain and quite often joint instability.

Ligaments are very important in our joint stability and also sending information to the brain about positioning of our joints in space so they are very important in optimal functioning of our joints. When a ligament is damaged or torn, our bodies react by sending inflammation to the joint to protect and heal the ligament, and this is often associated with pain and loss of strength and/or control of the joint. Thorough assessment and rehabilitation is required to make sure that joint returns to full function, to ensure that we are not placing our bodies at high risk of further injury or damage to our joints.