Injuries

Plantar Fascitis

by (Physiotherapist)

Plantar FasciitisFoot pain in the morning?

Been running a lot lately and heel or foot starts to hurt at the beginning of a run and goes away?

Feeling tender on the “arch” of your foot?

Have you answered YES to any of these questions?

You might have Plantar Fascitis or Plantar Heel Pain.

What is Plantar Fascitis?

Plantar means sole of the foot and fasciitis means inflammation of the fascia of a muscle or organ. When put together you have inflammation of the fascia on your foot. This fascia is a band that originates from your heel and continues until your mid foot, then slowly divides into 5 bands to each of your toes.

Where is the pain located in Plantar Fascitis?

Normally most of the pain would come from your heel and it would feel tender in your arch of your foot.

Did you know?

In walking that fascia absorbs 1.1 times your body weight and when you are running it doubles to 2.5 times!

What are the risk factors of Plantar Fascitis? Plantar Fasciitis

1. Pes cavus (claw foot) or pes planus (flat foot) deformity

2. Excessive pronation (rolling) of your foot

3. High impact / weight bearing activities such as … read more »

10 ways to make your ACL rehab easier!

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10 ways to make your ACL rehab easier!

Having an ACL reconstruction is never going to be easy, having gone through one myself in 2017 I can tell you it’s no walk in the park. However, there are ways to make life a bit more bearable – especially in the first few weeks. Ashby

1) Get a plastic chair for the shower

This might sound silly but after your surgery you’ll experience a significant feeling of instability, and the last thing you need is a slippery shower floor increasing that unstable feeling.
I found that putting a plastic chair in the shower is an easy way to feel safe in the shower during those first two to three weeks while you work on getting your knee nice and stable.

2) Change up your theraband position for leg extensions at home

If you’re working on waking up that pesky VMO at home. You’re most likely doing some form of leg extensions. A common form of this are sitting down using a theraband. Now what can commonly happen (and what happened to me) is that the theraband slides up the leg, which can be annoying and uncomfortable. However, if you twist the theraband … read more »

Knee pain and the hip-knee continuum.

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Knee pain and the hip-knee continuum.

Knee pain in the gym recently? It might be time to load up the hips!

Knee pain is one of the most common presentations we see here at Stay Tuned Sports Medicine and it affects 25% of adults at some stage in their lives (Nguyen et al., 2012). In active populations we see a number of conditions affect the knee such as patella tracking syndrome, osteoarthritis, patella tendinopathy, fat pad impingement, and more.

Unfortunately, we often see clients opt to rest these injuries and skip lower body exercises (or skip entire classes!) rather than modify the exercise to suit their needs. While this may temporarily relieve the pain, as soon as you go back to lower body exercises the pain will be as severe or worse than before due to the tissues becoming weaker and less able to tolerate the load needed to perform these exercises.

So what can we do?

A great way to modify lower body exercises is to shift away from knee dominant exercises and move towards more hip-dominant exercises.

As shown below, exercises such as lunges and squats have a strong focus on knee movement and a large amount of … read more »

Should you rest after an injury?

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Should you rest after an injury?

Perhaps not.

Traditionally, our immediate response to a musculoskeletal injury is to rest and let the body heal itself, after all everyone who has done basic first aid knows that the R in R.I.C.E. is rest!

However, the importance on rest has been greatly overemphasised in the past and this thinking has perpetuated to this day, even though we have more and more evidence telling us that this may not be the best thing to do, and may even cause harm.

The reason for this is that these types of injuries cause a decrease in our body’s function (our body’s ability to move and perform activity) therefore to recover from these injuries we must focus on improving our body’s function, rather than not moving and waiting for the injury to resolve.

Instead of completely resting after an injury, your Osteopath/ Physiotherapist may give you modified exercises that mimic your chosen activity (e.g. walking instead of running). This strategy is known as relative rest, where we decrease the workload on the body but don’t completely remove the workload – known as absolute rest.

For any chronic injuries, such as chronic low back pain, or … read more »

Hydrotherapy: workout in water!

by (Physiotherapist)

HYDROTHERAPY: Water As A Workout!

And you don’t need to be able to swim!

Research is consistently showing hydrotherapy, or aquatic exercise, to be as effective as land-based exercise in reducing pain and improving function [3][7]. It’s no wonder that hydrotherapy has been used as a treatment modality for hundreds of years!

  • It’s low impact

Great for managing rheumatoid or osteoarthritis, those who have difficulties exercising on land due to impact or pain [4].

  •  Thermotherapy

Relaxes muscles and relives joint stiffness [6].

  • Assists with chronic conditions

Arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, fibromyalgia [6].

  • Preparation for or rehabilitation following joint replacement surgery
  • Facilitating recovery from certain strokes and brain injuries

But what really makes hydrotherapy so effective?

THE AMAZING PROPERTIES OF WATER

Buoyancy – The deeper you are submerged in water, the less you weigh. Exercising in water lessens the effects of impact exercise and relieves the joints of much of your bodyweight [1] [5]. Hence, one can tolerate a variety of exercise with better endurance, technique and reduced or no pain.

Heat – Hydrotherapy pools measure around 34°C in temperature, much warmer than your average lap pool! Heat increases circulation through the body, which can relieve muscle tightness and relieve stiffness in … read more »

ITB Friction Syndrome

by (Physiotherapist)

ITB Friction Syndrome

What is the ITB?

ITB or Iliotibial band is a thick band of fascia or sheet of connective tissue that starts from your hip bone (the ilium) and ends at the outside of your knee. There are two structures that connect to form the ITB and those are the tensor fascia latae (TFL) muscle and the gluteus maximus muscle. The TFL is a hip flexor muscle and the gluteus maximus is a hip extensor muscle. They form and meet at the outside of the thigh to form the ITB and continues down as one band and end on the side of the leg.

What causes ITB Friction Syndrome?

ITB friction syndrome occurs when there is repetitive overuse of the ITB. The friction occurs when the ITB slides over the lateral femoral condyle on the side of the knee.This happens due to a number of reasons mainly running or jumping or the repetitive movements, or an already tight ITB and/or weakness of the hip extensors and abductors.

What are the symptoms?

It presents with symptoms of pain, tenderness and tightness on the side of the thigh and the leg. There may be limitation when it comes to knee … read more »

Australian Open Tennis: your personal entourage.

by (Osteopath)

Australian Open Tennis: your personal entourage.

Simon
​
Just a heads up, a little niggle will likely becomes a big niggle after you have played without a prep.

We have just the team, and if you are a tennis player, we can be your own private entourage prepping you for the big game. ????

I’m Simon and a tennis player myself, I love the game, and did my thesis on tennis, studying all the biomechanics, and then went and did a tennis coaching course to really understand how the game is taught at all levels.

I really enjoy linking all these bases of knowledge to help get the best outcome for my fellow tennis tragics!

… read more »

Bursitis

by (Osteopath)

Bursitis? What is that?! 

Have you recently consulted with your Osteo or Physio who has referred you for an ultrasound? Did they mentioned the possibility that you have Bursitis? Well let me explain a bit about what that is!

Healthy vs BursitisWhat is a Bursa?

A Bursa is a fluid filled sac that acts as a cushion between muscles, tendons, joints and bones. The role of these Bursae is to reduce friction caused by movement around those joints. 

What is Bursitis?

Bursitis is inflammation of the Bursae. It is often a painful condition that affects the joints. It is commonly associated with over use or repetitive joint movements. It can however also be caused by poor postures, walking habits, long standing strength or structural imbalances. It is more common in those who are overweight, have some types of arthritis, elderly or diabetic, however it can also occur in healthy individuals. 

Common sites of Bursitis are: 

  • Shoulder 
  • Hip 
  • Knee 
  • Elbow 
  • Ankle 

Symptoms of Bursitis:

  • Pain or tenderness around the joint, especially if pressure is applied. 
  • Redness, warmth or swelling are usually uncommon but may be a sign of infection. 

Diagnosis of Bursitis:

A diagnosis of Bursitis is usually done through a thorough examination. … read more »

Ankle Sprains

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Ankle Sprains 

Ashby Smith

Ankle sprains are the most common lower limb injury for sports people and have the highest re-injury rate of all sports injuries.

When we recover from ankle sprains and injuries we need to make sure that our exercise rehabilitation is comprehensive and properly strengthens the ankle before we get back to sport.

Here are the 5 stages of ankle recovery and 3 exercises/management tools you can do in each stage!

 

Stage 1: Regain range of motion.

  • Gentle calf stretches
  • Massage therapy to the lower leg
  • Elevating and compressing your leg up to reduce the swelling – which helps to restore range of motion

Stage 2: Regain balance and proprioception.

  • Single leg balance test
  • Wobble board/bosu ball exercises
  • Arabesques

Stage 3: Strengthen lower leg muscles.

  • Calf raises
  • Ankle up and outs – with theraband
  • Squats

Stage 4: Start sports specific exercises (return to modified training).

  • Skipping
  • Lateral hops
  • Jump squats

Stage 5: Return to sport.

  • Suicides
  • Bunny hops
  • High knee running

… read more »

How to Best Provide Ankle Support for Netballers –Kids, Teenagers and Adults 

by (Osteopath & Clinical Pilates Instructor)

Every Saturday you can probably guarantee that a handful of us “lucky” netballers will come away from the courts with “twisted/turned/sprained” ankles.

Why?

Netball is a game that involves an immense amount of dodging and quick turns. Unfortunately, these movements can put pressure on the lateral ligaments of the ankle. If we happen to overdo it and go into too much inversion (rolling in) we can actually sprain these ligaments.

Due to the nature of the healing process, if damaged ligaments will only regain 80% of their original strength. This means that the ligament will always be a little weaker.

What can we do?

Now apart from doing an excellent rehabilitation program to strengthen the surrounding muscles and improving proprioception, the best thing that netballers can do to provide stability while on the court is to tape or brace the ankle.

Taping

On TV you’ll see that the Australian Diamonds and athletes that play in the Suncorp Super Netball League will mostly decide to tape. This is because they have access to trained professionals who know exactly how to tape ankles for the players specific needs.

At the professional level all teams are looking to get an edge. There has … read more »