We have 5 highly experienced physiotherapists and a full time remedial massage therapist, so you have your choice of male or female physiotherapists. Our Burleigh practice has a gym, with exercise bike, treadmill, weights and Pilates reformer and trapeze table, so we can get you fit and back to your sport and healthy lifestyle as soon as possible. Video Analysis – We offer video analysis of your running technique. This can help your physiotherapist to analyse the cause of your running pain, and correct it.
Clinical Pilates
Proven treatment for prevention and rebilitation of spinal pain. (Burleigh only)
The deep neck flexors are a group of 4 muscles which lie just in front of the cervical spine. When healthy, theses small muscles anticipate movement of the neck and the arm, to contract in preparation to minimise joint displacement, and therefore reduce pain and instability. Research has found that patients suffering from neck pain no longer demonstrate appropriate deep neck flexor activity. If this dysfunction is not corrected, then it will persist even after the initial pain has resolved. This increases risk of re-injury, as well as the chance of the pain becoming chronic. Consequently, retraining of the deep neck flexors will help control and prevent further neck pain. Your physiotherapist can teach you how to switch on these muscles. Once you have mastered the basic contraction, your physiotherapist will progress your exercise program until you have gained sufficient control to return to your normal sports, work or regular lifestyle.
Transversus Abdominis Retraining
Your transversus abdominis muscle makes up the inner most part of your abdominal wall. It wraps all the way around your trunk from your lumbar spine on both sides to your pelvis and ribs at the front. For some patients with low back pain (especially chronic low back pain), it is extremely important to retrain this muscle to help prevent further injury. Your physiotherapist can teach you how to switch on these muscles. Once you have mastered the basic contraction, your physiotherapist will progress your exercise program. This may incorporate Clinical Pilates, a gym program or aquatic physiotherapy (“hydrotherapy”) .
Aquatic Physiotherapy (Hydrotherapy)
Ideal for early rehabilitation for severe low back pain, and post-orthopaedic injury, such as ankle/leg fractures, shoulder surgery and hip/knee replacements. This is done at the purpose-built hydrotherapy pool at the Palm Beach Olympic Pool centre.
Gym Visits
We will provide you with individualised strength and fitness programs, at YOUR gym.
Remedial Massage Therapy
Massage is a great way to reduce muscle soreness and tightness and can aid your recovery from injury. We also have a specialised Pregnancy massage table, and a therapist who specialises in Pregnancy massage (available at Burleigh only).
Women’s Health Physiotherapy
Our specially trained female physiotherapists will perform an accurate assessment and treatment of your pelvic floor muscle dysfunction, in the security of a private room. Specific retraining of these muscles is essential to maintain long-term improvement of your pelvic floor, so you can laugh, cough, lift, jump etc, without fear.
Pre and Post Natal Physiotherapy
Our female physiotherapists are highly qualified to help you with any musculo-skeletal conditions that can arise during or after your pregnancy. These conditions include spinal and pelvic pain and instability, mastitis and breast engorgement, pelvic floor weakness and separated tummy muscles (rectus diastasis).
Fittings
We offer fitting of customised orthotics/braces/supportive devices. This can be particularly useful for management of acute low back pain, shin splints and carpal tunnel syndrome, as well as many other conditions.
- Acupunture – Our trained physiotherapists can use acupuncture to encourage natural healing, reduce or relieve pain and improve function of affected areas of the body.
- Dry Needling - This technique involves the use of acupuncture needles to stimulate trigger points in the muscle and connective tissue,which decreases pain and allows for better movement of the affected area.
- Electrotherapy – Our physiotherapists may use equipment such Ultrasound (high frequency sound waves), Interferential Therapy and TENS (both devices deliver an electric current to the skin) to spped up your recovery from injury.
- Taping or strapping is another technique used by physiotherapists. Tape is attached to the skin to keep muscles joints and bones in a specific position. It may also be used to offload a nerve, muscle, ligament or joint. This allows the tissue to heal and recover more quickly. Taping often restricts specific movements, reduces pain and provides support to the injured area. It can also provide neuromuscular feedback and is often used when postural changes are required
- Naturopathy – Naturopathy is a holistic approach to health care, utilising herbal remedies, nutritional supplements, dietary modification and massage to enhance your well-being. (Burleigh only)
Manual Therapy
Manual therapy is a term used to describe any “hands-on” technique used in the treatment of musculo-skeletal disorders. Below are described some of the common manual therapy techniques your physio may use;
- Soft tissue releases and myofascial releases are forms of massage therapy employed to loosen tight and spasming soft muscles, and tight or restricted fascia (the connective tissue that surrounds and interconnects muscles).
- Joint mobilisations are techniques used to improve joint movement and pain. This can be for the neck or back, as well as for peripheral joints, such as the shoulder, ankle, wrist etc. Mobilising joints can often achieve similar results to manipulation (”cracking joints”), but without using as much force, eliminating the risk that can be involved with spinal manipulation.
- Trigger point therapy is a technique used to treat “trigger points” in muscles, which are small, localised areas of pain and tightness found within painful muscles.
Electrotherapy
Electrotherapy is the use of electric current to decrease pain and promote healing. Electrical stimulation is applied to nerves and muscle-motor fibres through electro-pads placed on the skin. There are different types of electrotherapeutic devices, such as TENS (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation ) and IFC (interferential current). Different settings of frequency wavelength and intensity are selected in order to decrease the perception of pain and/or facilitate the release of endorphins (the body’s natural pain reliever) within the body. Electrotherapy also promotes blood flow to the area affected and can stimulate muscles that have weakened due to injury.
Therapeutic ultrasound is a treatment modality that has been used by therapists over the last 50 years to treat soft tissue injuries. Ultrasonic waves (sound waves of a high frequency) are produced by means of mechanical vibration of the metal treatment head of the ultrasound machine. This treatment head is then moved over the surface of the skin in the region of the injury. When sound waves come into contact with air it causes a dissipation of the waves, and so a special ultrasound gel is placed on the skin to ensure maximal contact between the treatment head and the surface of the skin.
Thermal Effect
As the ultrasound waves pass from the treatment head into the skin they cause the vibration of the surrounding tissues, particularly those that contain collagen. This increased vibration leads to the production of heat within the tissue. In most cases this cannot be felt by the patient themselves. This increase in temperature may cause an increase in the extensibility of structures such as ligaments, tendons, scar tissue and fibrous joint capsules. In addition, heating may also help to reduce pain and muscle spasm and promote the healing process.
Effects on the Inflammatory and Repair Processes
One of the greatest proposed benefits of ultrasound therapy is that it is thought to reduce the healing time of certain soft tissue injuries.
- Ultrasound is thought to accelerate the normal resolution time of the inflammatory process by attracting more mast cells to the site of injury. This may cause an increase in blood flow which can be beneficial in the sub-acute phase of tissue injury. As blood flow may be increased it is not advised to use ultrasound immediately after injury.
- Ultrasound may also stimulate the production of more collagen- the main protein component in soft tissue such as tendons and ligaments. Hence ultrasound may accelerate the the proliferative phase of tissue healing.
- Ultrasound is thought to improve the extensibility of mature collagen and so can have a positive effect to on fibrous scar tissue which may form after an injury.