Blogs
August 2019 - As outlined in previous posts, the key to returning back to sport well involves a great strengthening program which involves heavy resistance training and hop/skipping drills to help train the Achilles to adapt to the functional needs of sports. By doing so, you can return to sport performing well and without pain! In this blog post, 3 examples of appropriate exercises are shown which can be performed depending on what stage of rehabilitation:
September 2019 - Strength is often overlooked in cheerleading in preference of stretching. Whilst flexibility is important particularly if you are a flyer, strength is the most important factor in injury prevention.
Bases require a great deal of strength particularly in their core, their legs and their shoulders. Weaknesses cause other areas to have to work harder or you will find your stunts falling or wobbling. Flyers require specific core and hip strengthening to maintain strong and stick their shapes in the air as well as on the floor.
September 2019 - Following on from our injury prevention advice I would like to show you three of our favourite exercises for cheerleaders.
Remember cheerleading is a sport with a variety of requirements and no two athletes are the same so you may require a more tailored exercise program to suit your needs.
September 2019 - Melbourne Marathon Running Festival is upon us! Whether you are a verteran marathon runner or it’s your first go at 42km, you have likely (hopefully) been preparing for several months. With all the hard work done, it’s down to fine tuning and preparing for the event. Here are my top 5 tips to prepare for the marathon in the week leading up to the event.
Bases require a great deal of strength particularly in their core, their legs and their shoulders. Weaknesses cause other areas to have to work harder or you will find your stunts falling or wobbling. Flyers require specific core and hip strengthening to maintain strong and stick their shapes in the air as well as on the floor.
September 2019 - Neck and back pain are two of the most frequent presentations that we see as Physiotherapists in the clinic. Whether it’s due to stress at work, long hours at a desk or you simply just woke up with it, we all know someone who experiences it. This might even be you! And if it is, it is time to do something about it.
October 2019 - Plantar fasciitis (or fasciopathy) is a very common problem characterised by heel pain and is due to excessive pressure upon the inner part of the heel where the plantar fascia comes from. It is particularly worse on initial walking after a long period of rest and also after a long period of standing/walking/running. Heel pain due to plantar fasciitis is typically at the region marked red:
October 2019 - There are many potential causes of pain in the hip and groin area and working out what and why is very important in the management of these problems. Pain, tightness, catching, clicking, locking and giving way can be typical of issues in this area especially if the issue is related to the hip joint. In almost all cases, strengthening will play a key role in the improvement of hip/groin symptoms. Keep in mind the specific exercises which a Physiotherapist may give will depend on their assessment, but the following 3 are exercises are ones I commonly teach patients for their hip muscles:
October 2019 - There are many potential causes of pain in the hip and groin area and working out what and why is very important in the management of these problems. In almost all cases, strengthening will play a key role in the improvement of hip/groin symptoms. Keep in mind the specific exercises which a Physiotherapist may give will depend on their assessment, but the following 3 are exercises that I commonly use at different stages in treating adductor tendinopathies in soccer players.
October 2019 - Groin injuries are a substantial problem among soccer players due to the repetitive kicking, twisting and cutting involved in the sport. The first step to managing adductor related pain should be an assessment with an experienced sports physiotherapist to rule out other causes of groin pain (iliopsoas, inguinal, pubic and hip related groin pain, lumbar spine referral, entrapment neuropathy).
November 2019 - Low Back Pain is very common in Melbourne and Physiotherapy treatment plays an important role in curing disc injuries. At Melbourne Sports Physiotherapy, we are sick and tired of hearing that people have been told they have an 'slipped disc' when it simply isn't true. Find out more by reading the blog on, "Do Discs Heal? Of Course They Do!".
November 2019 - Tension Headaches are often felt as an even pain or pressure that spreads and squeezes around the head, much like a headband. This particular type of headache can be intermittent and can last from anywhere up to 7 days to 6 months in chronic cases if left untreated.
November 2019 - Tension headaches are the most common headache that people present with. At Melbourne Sports Physiotherapy we have experienced Remedial Massage Therapists that identify the cause of your condition quickly to put you on a proper treatment pathway. The stretching exercises that are provided will work to improve your flexibility of the neck and shoulder muscles, helping to alleviate your symptoms and prevent them from returning in the future. See the article for our top 3 stretching tips!
December 2019 - As the weather warms up, more and more Melbourians are inspired to ditch the gym and take up running. Whilst a great and convenient form of exercise, running also places a lot of load on the body. We commonly see patients who have sustained a hip, knee or ankle injury just weeks after taking up running. It’s no surprise, given running can create ground reaction forces 3-4x your body weight with each step! With most distance runners taking between 150-180 steps per minute, that’s a lot of extra demand on your soft tissue and joints!
December 2019 - In order to get onto the road to recovery, strengthening exercises are essential. Yet after surgery or certain leg and arm injuries, joint and muscle pain can be big problems and limit people to not being able to do much rehab beyond gentle exercises. A recent solution to this problem is Blood Flow Restriction Training (also known as Occlusion Training), which helps give the benefits of harder or heavier exercise training whilst doing a lower intensity one that is less stressful for the injured joint or muscle.
December 2019 - There are many different types of headaches and the most common is the Tension Headache. In this Blog we will outline what a Tension Headache feels like, what could cause it, how to manage it and how to prevent one from occurring!
December 2019 - Tendon pain is due to tendon weakness compared with the demands of the activity and sometimes large spikes in pressure, such as running 5 times a week when you usually run twice.
Pain is usually worse when you wake up in the morning or when you begin exercise and then settles, as if it needs to be ‘warmed up’, and then gets worse again once you’ve given it too much activity beyond what it can handle.
December 2019 - Have you ever thought of trying to explain the sport of surfing to somebody that had never seen it before?
You get thrown out into the ocean, on an ironing-board like object made of fibreglass. You have to lie down and paddle against the crashing waves barrelling towards you.
Once you have battled the waves for a little, you will then turn around and try and stand on the unstable board under you and ‘ride the wave’. Ridiculous right?
June 2020 - With gyms, sports and pools having been closed due to Covid restrictions, many of us have turned to running, or home based workouts and online classes such as pilates, yoga, HIIT, or dance during the past few months in isolation.
December 2019 - Following on from last weeks blog, today we share three tips for optimising your technique and getting started with running. It’s easier to get yourself into good technique now, than to try to retrain these things months int a programme! Trying to think about too many things at once can be overwhelming, so here are some of the most common issues we see with running technique.
January 2020 - Lateral Hip Pain is a painful condition that affects the outside of the thigh. Pain is often felt deep inside the buttock/hip region, and can radiate into the bony part of your outside thigh (greater trochanter), or in severe cases radiate down the outside and front of the thigh into the knee. The condition is also known as Greater Trochanter Pain Syndrome, Glute Med Tendinopathy, Hip Bursitis, Greater Trochanter Bursitis and Trochanteric Bursitis. They are all the same condition.
February 2020 - No one likes to be forced off the bike by injury or pain. Yet this is something that many cyclists will face. The good news? Every cycling injury can be treated! Here are some of the most common complaints we see and how to fix them.
February 2020 - No one likes to be forced off the bike by injury or pain. Yet this is something that many cyclists will face. The good news? Every cycling injury can be treated! Here are some of the most common complaints we see and how to fix them.
February 2020 - Ankle Sprains are one of the most common sporting injuries and one of the most common reasons a person will attend ED or see a GP. Whilst a vast majority occur during sports, the ankle can ‘roll’ innocuously whilst walking on uneven surfaces, slipping on stairs or a gutter, or whilst having a boogie on the dancefloor during a night out!
February 2020 - I remember the days of the fitness industry of the mid-2000’s when I started to do exercise for my own injury management and weight loss, and signed up to my first gym. Gyms were practically all the same, people focused mainly on upper body and ‘traditional bodybuilding’ exercises, people used to read bodybuilding magazines and the whole industry seemed to be more focused on supplements than anything else. Fast forward to 2020 and now there are all sorts of different gyms with different forms of training: F45, Crossfit and powerlifting probably being the main popular ones. While bodybuilding magazines and supplements still exist on a less in-your-face scale, thankfully the world has shifted focus to functional training with movements which more accurately approximate real-life movements and activities rather than just ‘getting big’.
February 2020 - As cyclists, we are always looking for ways to improve and get faster. Depending on ability and the time of year, typical cycling training may consist of about 90% long slow endurance training on the bike and 10% intensity sessions. This balance allows cyclists to maximise their aerobic capacity and then improve their anaerobic threshold resulting in each cyclist reaching their full potential.