ARE YOU IN PAIN AND LOOKING FOR A SOLUTION?
What is Sports Physiotherapy?
Sports Injury Prevention
At Physio Fit we make sure we have a large focus on injury prevention in sports, because the best medical advice is that prevention is better than a cure; and no doubt you want to avoid having to take time off of your favourite physical activity.
We have the latest testing equipment including the Force Frame and Nordbord assessment systems, muscle strength dynamometers so you know what you need to work on and an anti-gravity treadmill for long term results. This allows us to see what your injury risk is so that we can tailor an injury prevention program to your needs and goals. For areas where we identify weaknesses, we also offer a range of protective and preventative aids, such as knee and ankle braces – to help you to feel more confident in the early stages of returning to sport.
Along with physiotherapy services, our clinics have in-house orthopaedic surgeon, sports doctor, sports podiatrists and remedial massage therapists who can also assist us in the management and treatment of sports injuries. Whether you are recovering from a muscle strain during sports or have suffered from chronic low back pain during exercise, our sports physiotherapists.
What does it involve?
The first step of an effective injury prevention program is a comprehensive sports and musculoskeletal screening. A typical screening will involve assessing posture, movement patterns, muscle strength and endurance, sports specific movement and joint flexibility. The results of your screening is collated by your physiotherapist who can then provide you with specific areas of your performance/movement that may need to be improved or monitored in order to prevent injury. This also gives your physiotherapist a good idea of your baseline performance at the start of a season/pre-season; which is a crucial tool for return to competition should you sustain an injury.
An injury prevention program will include progressions and be periodised according to the current demands of competition. The components of the program may include:
- Strength
- Balance
- Proprioception
- Mobility
- Stability
- Power
- Pilates
Common issues we screen for in the clinic to prevent are:
- ACL rupture
- Hamstring tear
- Shin splints
- Hip flexor strain
- Tennis elbow
- ITB syndrome
- Rotator cuff tear
- Sciatica
- Groin strain
- Ankle sprain
WHAT TO EXPECT IN YOUR CONSULT
Expert Sports Physiotherapy
In your initial consult we will give you clarity on:
- What is wrong
- Your injury risk
- The plan moving forwards to get you back to sport
- How to modify your activity in the mean time
- How we can prevent this injury from occurring again in future
- What you can be doing to speed up the recovery in your own time
With these goals in mind we are able to create a framework for return to sport that will allow us to decrease your injury risk, include any relevant protective equipment (eg ankle braces), build a tailored warm up into your fitness plan and educate you on how you can improve your movement to ensure you have proper technique.
Management Of Injuries
- Assessment & injury evaluation
- Treatment & rehabilitation
- Musculoskeletal & sports specific screenings
- Injury prevention programs
- Performance enhancement
- Team services and competition coverage
- Return to sport planning
- Group Exercise Classes
How to avoid injuries
Injuries are an unfortunate part of playing sport, however many injuries that occur are preventable and have measurable injury risk factors that we can decrease through physical therapy, exercise intervention, proper equipment, adequate warm up and a tailored preseason fitness plan.
A common culprit for injuries in all activities is a lack of, or inadequate, warm up. The best practice framework for warming up prior to physical activity is to complete a series of active movements that you will be performing with less load and velocity, rather than the previously held notion of static stretching exercises.
Rest and recovery are some of the most overlooked risk factors for injury with a recent systematic review finding that fatigue increases the risk of injury in athletes, even when all other proper precautions and protective equipment are taken into account (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-019-01235-1).
Strength also plays an incredibly important role in injury prevention, with systematic reviews showing that increasing strength in athletes was a strong predictor of reduced injury risk across a wide range of populations and types of physical activities (https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/52/24/1557.abstract). A good way to think of this is that our muscles support our joints and when a muscle gets fatigued, it provides less support – therefore the stronger and more robust we can make the supporting muscles, the less risk of them failing to support the joint. This also explains why we see more athletic injuries later in games, when their muscles are tiring and are unable to continue to keep up with the demands on the body.
Finally, using the proper protective equipment for your body and your sport is an essential part of lowering your injury risk. This may involve using protective equipment such as ankle, knee or elbow braces, or taping to help support your muscles and joints. There is also a common misconception that by wearing a brace it weakens the structures supporting the joint, however this is untrue as the brace will only have an effect once the joint has begun to move beyond it’s safe range and not within it’s normal range of movement.
At Physio Fit Adelaide we proudly offers quality sports injury care to the local Modbury, Findon, Flinders Park, Seaton, West Lakes, Beverley, Hope Valley & Para Vista residents.
We hope to help you with your sports injury soon.
Physio Fit Modbury
31 Smart Road, Modbury
Adelaide
SA 5092
Australia
Physio Fit Findon
166 Grange Road, Findon
Adelaide
SA 5023
Australia
And check out our Online Physiotherapy Service
Whether your goal is to add 10kgs to your squat or to simply be able to play with your children, our physiotherapists can assist in developing an exercise program that is appropriate for your current level of health and fitness.
Your Physiotherapy appointment will consist of:
Listening – We listen to understand you, what activities you enjoy, how your problem has presented and how it affects your life.
Accurate diagnosis – We may need to refer you for diagnostic imaging such as MRI, X-Ray or ultrasound.
Assessing & addressing the causative factors to your injury – We settle your pain & address the reason why it presented.
This will allow us to create a personalised management plan, in which we will encompass your goals, a clear diagnosis and a time frame to achieve these within.
We are passionate about what we do and we are here to guide you every step of the way!
Appropriate Clothing – We may be getting you to do some exercise as part of your assessment. Please, dress appropriately for this if possible.
Previous Medical Imaging Results – If you have had any imaging done for your current injury, please bring these along to your appointment. If you don’t have access to them, that’s completely fine - we will be able to access them if we need to.
Referral – A referral isn’t required to see a physiotherapist privately. However, if you are part of the Medicare EPC, DVA, Work Cover or Third Party Insurance programs, you will need to bring your referral on the day.
Private Health Insurance Card – We require you to have your Private Health Insurance card with you to claim your rebate on the spot through HICAPS.
If you are a private physiotherapy client then no referral is required and you can book in as soon as it fits into your schedule. If you have an injury which is covered by either DVA, Medicare EPC, Work Cover or Third Party Insurance programs, then you will need to bring this along; otherwise you can pay the full appointment fee and claim back later from the relevant program above.
We have HICAPS terminals at both of our clinics which allows us to process your private health insurance claim on the spot, meaning that you only have to pay the ‘gap’ remaining.
