Osteoarthritis – The Inflammatory (but only a little) Arthritis
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common lifestyle disease in people over the age of 65. More common than high blood pressure and diabetes. For this reason, researchers have been working tirelessly to better understand OA. And some recent discoveries have turned some commonly held beliefs about OA on their head and have big implications for […]
Physiotherapists must provide high value care
A couple of weeks ago, I sat down and watched TV. I don’t watch TV often. I don’t cry often. But an SBS Insight episode discussing surgery I couldn’t miss, and it brought a tear to my eye. The general narrative was that in Australia, there is too much surgery occuring. A lot of this […]
High Value Treatment for Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis
Key Points: Evidence supports exercise, education and weight loss as first line treatments for OA Manual therapy and acupuncture are adjuncts and should not be used in isolation to treat OA Knee arthroscopy is no better than placebo, and should be avoided Any considerations of joint replacement should be discussed with your health care tea […]
Training Loads and Injury
There is currently emerging evidence that an athletes training loads do in fact have a clear relationship to injury. This may not come as a big surprise to many, but it can be extremely challenging to firstly understand load, then be able to accurately monitor it and then utilise this information to actually guide and […]
So let’s talk about the finesse of shoulder rehab
Shoulder pain is a very common complaint as the joint inherently lacks stability so that we have increased mobility and range. Most shoulder pain arises from weakness and poor positioning of the stabiliser muscles. Due to the multidirectional nature of the shoulder, painful activities can vary. However, activities like getting your wallet out of your […]
Benefits Of A Jog: Walk Program
Many of the running injuries we see are when a patient has performed a sharp increase in activity (running), especially after a long period of rest. A thorough assessment usually finds a strength deficit combined with less than optimal biomechanics. In our treatment we provide rehabilitation exercises and cues to correct their biomechanics. But the […]
The Obsession With Strike Pattern Continues: But Be Careful
Recently I read with interest a paper by Roper et al (2016) which looked at whether changing the strike pattern of runners with patellofemoral pain (i.e. knee cap pain) from a heel to a forefoot strike would be effective. They made the change over 2 weeks and followed runners up a month later as well. […]
Gluteal tendinopathy is a common condition that causes pain on the outside of the hip and often the upper thigh. Like Peter said in the previous blog, often pain arises due to a reduction in tolerance of the tendon to perform certain activities. This often includes going up or down stairs, walking, sitting with crossed […]
Tendinopathy is a painful conditions affecting many tendons such as the Achilles, lateral elbow, lateral hip and rotator cuff tendons. The more I practice and specialise in tendons, the more I realise that all I am doing is guiding you, the patient during your recovery. In fact, I do almost nothing else to get patients […]
Low back pain is extremely common. Three quarters of people will report at least one episode of back pain in their life time. Back pain is often excruciating, leading to withdrawal from activity, time off work and decreased productivity while at work. So given this, it would make sense to get an X-ray, CT or […]
A lot of patients I see with patellofemoral pain who have failed to improve following exercise rehabilitation have spent substantial time trying to activate their VMO (Vastus Medialis Oblique) muscle. The questions we need to ask are: 1. Why have they focussed so much on exercising this little muscle? 2. Why hasn’t it worked? So […]
Tendinopathy is common and affects many sites around the body, including the Achilles, outside of elbow (tennis elbow) and outside of hip (gluteal) tendons. People with these painful conditions often have difficulty with functions such as raising their arm, walking, running and going up and down stairs. The only treatment that is supported by strong […]