Sports & Orthopaedic Rehabilitation

Sport and Leisure activities are very much part of living the Australian Lifestyle. After all being active promotes good health, stress relief and is fun. Sometimes injuries and accidents occur, many of which can be rehabilitated by your physiotherapist.

Occasionally it is necessary to have an Orthopaedic or Sports Medicine opinion with appropriate investigations such as XRAYS, CT scans, ultrasound scans or MRI. Whilst physiotherapists diagnose clinical mechanical problems of the body, often a medical diagnosis is recommended by a physiotherapist to clarify the presentation and to optimise appropriate physical management.

It is in everyone’s interest to return you to normal living – walking, running, sport, leisure and ADL ( activities of daily living) as fast as possible.

Common Injuries

• Bruises
• Ligament sprains and tears
• Joint injuries
• Bone injury including fractures
• Overuse, new use and disuse problems
• Spinal injuries

How Can You Minimise Injury?

• Correct warm up and warm down
• Protective strapping or bracing
• Correct footwear and sporting equipment
• Specific conditioning for your sport or leisure pursuit
• Good aerobic fitness
• Good muscle control and balance reactions

Getting back into Action

Following injury or orthopaedic surgery it is important to be progressed through the rehabilitation phase of recovery in order to gain strength, mobility, balance and co-ordination. Your physiotherapist will complete a throughout assessment involving a complete understanding of you lifestyle, goals, timeframes.

A physical examination will identify faulty movement patterns and those structures which need treatment. Sometimes it is necessary to involve areas of the spine top and bottom if they are chronic and influencing the biomechanics of good movement.

If problems are chronic it can take some time of careful management to overcome them as the healing time of different tissue varies and “mother nature” can take time to lay down structural changes in muscle, ligaments, fascia, neural tissue  and bones. The healing times of different tissues are well understood by physiotherapists.

Physiotherapists are highly qualified and trained in the assessment and management of sporting, spinal and orthopaedic conditions.  That is why you see most elite sporting groups have a physiotherapist working with injured players to assist the speedy recovery, rehabilitation and return to sport.

What should I do after and injury?

As soon as possible for 48-72 hours after injury follow the “RICE” method for first aid:

Rest: Rest from sport and take it easy, use a walking stick/crutches to walk easier and move within limits of pain

Ice: As soon as possible apply ice for 20minutes every 2 hours. Apply ice in a damp towel. This is important to reduce pain and reduce bleeding which occurs over a 48hour period

Compression: Firmly bandage the injury to control swelling

Elevation: As much as possible elevate the injury higher than the level of your heart to reduce swelling

In the first 48hours post injury avoid: Heat, Alcohol, Running, Massage See your physiotherapist and get appropriate professional advice and treatment  – no medical referral is necessary.

Rehabilitate

Following orthopaedic surgery such as total joint replacement, internal fixation of fractures or reconstructive ligament surgery your Surgeon will refer you to your physiotherapist when it is appropriate to commence rehabilitation. Acute sports injuries can start early after injury.

Physiotherapy intervention early will help to reduce the time your injury is painful, and restricts normal movement. It facilitates optimal repair of injured tissue, with minimal scar formation. Rehabilitation is a gradual process which focuses on conditioning back to normal muscle strength, balance and co-ordination of movement patterns.

Hydrotherapy is a great rehabilitation tool following injury, trauma, orthopaedic surgery or neurosurgery and allows early rehabilitation as the body can be unloaded and movement not possible on dry land can be achieved, minimising pain. The hydrostatic forces of water act like a glove of pressure around a swollen limb. This minimises swelling during early rehabilitation. Hydrotherapy,
facilitates the confidence to move following major trauma and surgery. At focus on physio our onsite hydrotherapy pool enables us to offer a unique rehabilitation method with disabled access via a hoist if necessary.

Health Rebates

At focus on physio our team of physiotherapists are licensed to practice under APHRA, are members of the APA (Australian Physiotherapy Association) and all have Medicare Provider numbers acceptable by private Australian Health Insurance Companies. Private health insurance funds offer rebates for physiotherapy treatment depending on the level of cover on your premium. Gap fees are paid at the time of treatment.