Editorial: The passion is alive and well!

by Tim Keeley (Director of Physio Fitness Australia)

After 12 years as a Physiotherapist, I still find myself as passionate as ever about making people feel better. There is that feel-good factor in every consultation when the patient says, “thank you so much, I now don’t have any pain!” or “I played a full game of rugby on Saturday – it felt great!”.

For most of us, pain comes and goes, and often we don’t do much about it as it’s not around for long. But for those who have acute injuries, severe pain or chronic and recurring problems, pain is a big issue. Injuries and pain can affect people’s lives in so many ways, and many people have no idea what some folk have to go through. That’s where we as Physiotherapists come in...

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Knee Article: Going skiing this winter?

Well, especially if you are female, here are a few things you need to do to keep safe because skiing carries with it an extremely high risk of knee injury. Did you know girls are approximately up to eight times more likely to rupture their Anterior Cruciate (ACL) knee ligaments than boys? And it's got nothing to do with driving skills. It's got a lot to do with hamstring strength and motor co-ordination and increased valgus knee angulation. But here's the thing, your knee ligaments rupture when your knee drops inwards (like when you are edging skiing) in conjunction with your body rotating in the opposite direction (like when you fall over to the opposite side).

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Q: "I do a lot of running, and thinking of doing the City 2 Surf and the Half-Marathon this year. But I am getting some pain in my left shin that got so bad I had to stop running for a few weeks. It went away but came straight back as soon as I got back into running again. Do you know what it is and what I should do? I really want to do the upcoming events!" - T.C.

A: (Physio) "Hi T.C. It sounds like you have developed a condition commonly called 'shin splints' or maybe even a stress fracture. When the shin pain occurs on one side it usually means you have a biomechanical problem involving the way one of your foot strikes the ground during running..."

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Injury Prevention Tip: Foam Roller for ITB

Perhaps you are training for the City to Surf? or just a regular gym-goer and like keeping fit?

If you do a lot of running, impact exercise or simply new to exercise and are working on getting fit, then you need to make sure you are looking after your ITBs (iliotibial band) and keeping them free from stiffness and irritation. The ITB band can tighten up with exercise, especially if you naturally get tight and do exercise involving repetitive bending of the knee like in running, pump class, cycle, rowing etc. When the band tightens and starts rubbing over the outside of the knee this can cause friction of the soft tissues, inflammation and pain. Other factors such as 'weak glutes and VMO', foot pronation and underconditioning can lead to the problem.

The Foam roller is a great tool to release stiffness through the band. Simply lie on the roller on your side, moving up and down to put pressure through the side of your leg. Use your arms and other leg to lift your body and control the amount of pressure on the leg. Rolling up and down for about 30 secs, 3 times on each leg, 3 times a week should give you a lot of relief. If you are unsure of what to do, or are getting pain, consult one of our Physio's for further advice.

>> Foam rollers are available from every Physio Fitness clinic
(and will soon be available online!)

New Practitioner Profiles

We welcome three new members to our clinics at Dee Why and Castle Hill. Click on the links below to view each therapist's profile!

>> Antony Bush - Senior Physiotherapist (Dee Why)
>> Emily Poole - Physiotherapist Level 2  (Castle Hill)
>> Schira Tallon - Physiotherapist (Castle Hill)

To see all of our practitioners, click here >>