Active Body - Physiotherapy Castle Hill, NSW

Runners' Injuries: Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

Fri, 03 Aug 2018 06:00:00 +0000

Don't let the front of your knees keep you back from running Continuing on as part of our 'winter running injury' series we bring attention to an annoying problem that many runners and other active individuals experience at the front of their knee. With the City2Surf and other races coming up, none of us want these troubles popping up on us, especially just weeks before an event. Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS) is an umbrella term that relates to the complicati...

Runners' Injuries: Achilles Tendinopathy

Mon, 23 Jul 2018 23:00:00 +0000

Running to a pain-free winter Running is great! It gets you active and moving, strengthens your body and keeps you fit. However, sometimes it seems that the more we get into it and the more of it that we're doing, the more problems seem to creep up. With City2Surf coming up so soon, it seems like the little niggles that come with all the running prep, are beginning to arise.
Running can bring with it some overuse injuries such as Achilles problems. In particular, ...

Hamstring Strains

Tue, 03 Apr 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Most people, especially those involved with sports like soccer or AFL, will have experienced or know someone who has strained their "hammy". A hamstring strain refers to an injury where one or more of the muscles that make up the hamstring are stretched beyond their physical capacity, causing mini tears within the muscle fibres. The hamstring itself is actually made of 3 muscles, starting from the bottom of the pelvis and attaching to just below the back of the knee, thus the str...

Tennis Elbow

Mon, 18 Dec 2017 07:00:00 +0000

What is Tennis Elbow? Tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) is a common injury involving degeneration of the tendon on the outside of our elbow (lateral epicondyle) that attaches our wrist extensor muscles. This degeneration is caused by repetitive stress/overuse and leads to pain and discomfort felt at the elbow. Degeneration of the tendon causes a reduction in tendon strength, making you more susceptible to aggravation with everyday movements.
This condition is similar to Golfer'...

Posterior Chain

Tue, 08 Dec 2015 02:00:00 +0000

What is my posterior chain? The posterior chain is the series of muscles that run down the back of your body. When we speak about the posterior chain we generally are referring to the calves, hamstrings and gluteal muscles but it also consists of the muscles in your back including erector spinae, latissimus dorsi, scapula stabilizers and upper trapezius. Why is it important? Your posterior chain is important for both everyday life and activities, as well as for sports and athle...

Preventing Low Back Pain

Tue, 22 Sep 2015 03:00:00 +0000

Over 80% of the population will suffer from lower back pain at some point in their lives. There is no proven way to 100% prevent low back pain BUT there are some things you can do that might help to prevent it and/or aid in a faster recovery or less severity of low back pain. PREVENTING LOW BACK PAIN REGULAR EXERCISE
It has been widely proven that exercise helps to both avoid injury as well as aiding in recovering from injury. Low back pain is no different. S...

Adhesive Capsulitis

Tue, 21 Jul 2015 02:30:00 +0000

Frozen shoulder is the colloquial term given to a condition called Adhesive Capsulitis. It is an injury of the shoulder joint that involves inflammation, scarring and tightening of the connective tissues of the shoulder joint. Frozen shoulder is a painful condition that results in a reduction of range of motion. Its cause is unknown, but it typically follows a period of immobility. The period of immobility may be caused by an injury, surgery, sickness or a multitude of other reasons. T...

The Meniscus

Tue, 16 Jun 2015 03:00:00 +0000

The knee is one of the most commonly injured joints of the body. It often cops a lot of force and pressure throughout its life, both in sporting endeavours as well as in general activities of daily living. A structure of the knee that commonly gets injured is the MENISCUS. It is a fibrocartilage structure that acts as the shock absorber of the knee and distributes loads throughout the knee joint. They are c-shaped, wedge-like discs that are situated on the tibial plateau, between the t...

Texting Neck: Is texting causing your neck pain?

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 02:00:00 +0000

The typical texting position: head down, palm up, reading/playing/watching. New studies show this could be putting as much as 27kg of strain on our necks. The study showed that the forces placed on the cervical spine by the standard texting position can be quite heavy. The weight/force applied to the spine dramatically increases when flexing the head forward at varying degrees. The human head weighs between 4.5-5.5kg, but with the head tilted to 60°- the standard texting position-...

What is Cortisone?

Fri, 10 Oct 2014 02:00:00 +0000

CORTISONE WHAT IS CORTISONE?
- Cortisone is an anti-inflammatory drug, used by the medical profession as a way to reduce localised musculoskeletal pain. Most commonly administered by injection, Cortisone will be specifically targeted by your treating physician at the source of your pain. WHAT IS THE AIM OF CORTISONE?
- Cortisone is not a cure. Most often, Cortisone is used in weak areas where pain and inflammation have accumulated. Cortisone acts as a pain reducing/bridging t...

Hamstring Injury Prevention

Thu, 02 Oct 2014 06:00:00 +0000

Hamstring injuries account for the most non-contact injuries in Australian Rules Football, football and rugby union as well as track events like sprinting in Australia. Research at the University of Queensland have found a way for elite athletes to assess and reduce their risk of hamstring injuries looking at eccentric hamstring strength in the form of a ‘Nordic Hamstring Curl’. The research found that higher levels of eccentric hamstring strength in pre-season could dr...

Exercise your grades

Fri, 26 Sep 2014 04:00:00 +0000

With the HSC (and other school, tafe and university end of year exams) fast approaching, students and parents should be aware of study habits! While it is important to study, a UK study (published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine) has found that there may be other factors that can help boost your grades! The study found that teenagers who do intensive exercise improve their grades in exams. Experts at the University of Strathclyde and Dundee studied almost 5000 children ...

Back to the future you

Fri, 05 Sep 2014 03:00:00 +0000

BACK TO THE FUTURE YOU Well it's that time of year again. The transition from winter to spring and a time that most individuals come out of hibernation and start throwing themselves back into regular activity and exercise whilst enjoying more modest temperatures rather than the bitter cold of winter. It's now the time to look at building back into some form of exercise at a steady pace and not throw yourself into something your body cannot handle after a long period off. As...

Using crutches

Fri, 29 Aug 2014 03:00:00 +0000

CRUTCHES Crutches are a very useful piece of equipment for many lower limb injuries, however, using crutches can prove to be quite complicated for those who have never used them before, or who have never been properly educated to use crutches before. WHY CRUTCHES? After acute lower limb injury, your Physiotherapist may advise the use of crutches to limit the load/weight on the injured limb and assist walking with near-normal technique to prevent further complications to injuries of...

Ice VS Heat

Fri, 22 Aug 2014 03:00:00 +0000

One of the most common questions a Physio gets is; 'Should I be using heat or ice for my injury?' Generally speaking, ICE is always recommended for an acute injury (the first 48-72 hours post injury), this is to help reduce pain, as well as play a role in swelling management (while also following the common RICER principle of Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation, and Referral and avoiding the HARM principle of Heat, Alcohol, Running, Massage). For more chronic injuries (common injuries su...

Can exercise prevent sports related injury?

Fri, 01 Aug 2014 03:00:00 +0000

There is evidence for all age groups that physical activity is important in both prevention and treatment of some of the most sizable conditions of our time such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, hypertension, obesity, osteoporosis and depression but can exercise and specific training techniques prevent sports-related injuries from occurring. Injuries are virtually the sole drawback of exercise. Management of sports injuries can be difficult, time-consuming and expensive. Ho...

Gluteal Tendinopathy

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 01:00:00 +0000

Do you suffer from pain in the side of your hip? You may in fact have some gluteal (the muscles in your bottom) tendinopathy (generic descriptor of the clinical conditions (both pain and pathological characteristics) associated with overuse in and around tendons. Tendinopathy generally involves tendon inflammation and/or tiny tears in the connective tissue in or around the tendon). One in four women over the age of 50 has been shown to have gluteal tendinopathy and it is tho...

Sleep and Pain

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 05:00:00 +0000

This infographic shows some interesting facts on how sleep deprivation affects your body and how it can affect your pain.
Are you getting enough sleep at night to allow your body to function at its highest capacity?

Achilles Tendonitis

Fri, 18 Jul 2014 06:00:00 +0000

Achilles Tendonitis Achilles Tendonitis is a common injury causing pain in the rear of the heel. The Achilles is one of the hardest working tendons helping us to walk, run and jump. Pain often occurs in the Achilles when it has to work overtime causing overuse and degeneration in the tendon structure. Tendonitis is the inflammation of the tendon itself and often will cause pain, swelling and sometimes redness to the region that is inflamed. This is a natural response to overuse that is c...

Common Skiing and Snowboarding Injuries

Fri, 11 Jul 2014 03:00:00 +0000

With all the recent snow fall in the Australian Snow Fields, we thought it a good opportunity to talk about common injuries experienced while skiing and/or snowboarding.

Both skiing and snowboarding can result in sports injuries, but they tend to have slightly different injury patterns. Both skiing and snowboarding require speed, strength, balance and flexibility, however, the way the body moves in both sports is fundamentally different. This difference tends to result in very different inj...

Posture

Fri, 04 Jul 2014 06:00:00 +0000

Posture is a learned habit, not a random event. The discipline of resetting your working posture each half hour, getting up to stretch, arranging your computer set up and doing some postural exercises goes a long way to planning for the future. Like compound interest, each activity performed regularly accumulates to reach your end goal- one gym workout alone, won't cut it.

What should you do if you have Acute Low back pain?

Tue, 06 May 2014 22:00:00 +0000

Recommendations released in November 2012 give advice on treatment types for acute low back pain. Sufferers should follow the following important tips to help ease their symptoms:

Strong Recommendations: Sufferers to stay active and maintain their normal activities to the best of their ability within limits of their symptoms. Use of heat for pain relief Exercise is recommended in the treatment for low back pain Spinal mobilisation/manipulative therapy by a Physi...

Runner's Knee

Tue, 01 Apr 2014 23:00:00 +0000

PATELLOFEMORAL SYNDROME, also known as anterior knee pain, runner's knee, patellofemoral pain syndrome and chondromalacia, refers to pain arising from the joint between the kneecap (patella) and the underlying thigh bone (femur). It most often results from overuse of the knee.
When the knee is bent and straightened, the patella slides up and down within a groove on the end of the femur. With repeated bending and straightening, such as during activities such as walking, running, jum...

Stitches

Wed, 05 Mar 2014 01:00:00 +0000

Much like Muscle Cramp, almost all athletes have experienced a Stitch at some time. Stitches to can range from mildly uncomfortable to debilitating for recreational exercisers and elite athletes. What is a stitch? Stitches are scientifically referred to as Exercise-related Transient Abdominal Pain and are described as localised pain usually felt on the side, just below the ribs, sometimes accompanied by a stabbing sensation in the shoulder joint. The pain can range from sharp or st...

Muscle Cramp

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 01:00:00 +0000

Almost everyone who has ventured into the exercise arena has experienced a muscle cramp at some time. These complaints can range from mildly uncomfortable to severely debilitating and are a great source of frustration to everyone from recreational exercisers to serious and elite athletes. Unfortunately, very little is known about the condition and how to avoid them, making it difficult to know exactly how to deal with and treat. What is muscle cramp? Muscle cramp’s are best d...

Sports Training and Injury Prevention

Tue, 07 Jan 2014 22:00:00 +0000

It's that time of year again! The winter blues are right on top of us, and athletes of all ages look to manage their bodies, so as not to breakdown before the all important pointy end of the season, leading into finals. How can you avoid those nasty overuse injuries and prepare your body against those shock acute injuries? Seek Balance Early on in a season, most athletes are motivated to participate in their particular sport, especially if they've had some time off....