Recovery plays a vital role in the healing process, especially when it comes to overcoming injuries and regaining physical function and overall helping improve performance. Physiotherapy, with its focus on rehabilitation and restoration of movement, is an integral part of this journey. In this blog, we will explore the three key pillars of recovery from a physiotherapy perspective: exercises, nutrition, and sleep.

Most people will experience pain in some form, at some stage throughout their life.

This blog post is going to talk a lot about pain, the science behind it, and our perceptions of pain.

The start of the year is an exciting time as many of the winter sports begin their preseason training. It can also be a challenging time for some to resume training post a holiday break and the silly season!

As demonstrated in our previous blog posts, it is clear that ACL rehabilitation is no mean feat. It takes patience, hard work, and after all of that, a return to sport is not guaranteed. However, it’s not all bad news

Low back pain (LBP) is any type of pain that is experienced in the lower part of your back. LBP is extremely common, in fact, it’s reported to be the most common cause of musculoskeletal complaints in Australia, affecting around 70-90% of all Aussies’ (Bardin et al 2017). LBP is also more likely to occur in individuals between ages of 30-50, however can affect all ages.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) is one of the strong bands of tissue that help connect your thigh bone (femur) to your shinbone (tibia). An injury to the ACL is a tear or sprain of this ligament. Injuries range from mild (a small tear) to severe, such as when the ligament tears completely or when the ligament and part of the bone separate from the rest of the bone.

It has long been assumed that once you have ruptured your ACL, it must be surgically repaired as the ACL is unable to heal on its own. As a result of this, the vast majority of people with ACL ruptures will be rushed off into the operating theater, for a costly and invasive surgical procedure.

Neck pain is a broad condition that may occur acutely (e.g. pain for a short period of time), or present for a longer period of time (e.g. recurrent condition with repeated episodes). The Global Burden of Disease 2010 Study ranked the burden of neck pain as the 4th highest in terms of years lived with disability and ranked 21st of 291 conditions in terms of overall burden. When we treat neck pain, we must aim not only to resolve the acute episode to address immediate goals of pain relief, but also should work to prevent or limit recurrence for future quality of life.

An acute groin injury usually involves one of the adductor muscles and usually happens during explosive actions such as kicking, reaching with the leg, sudden change of direction or other movements where the muscle is being stretched during a forceful contraction.

Adhesive capsulitis, more commonly known as frozen shoulder, is characterised by the spontaneous onset of shoulder stiffness.

Hamstring strains can either be acutely injured or can be a result of a build-up of stress over time. Acutely injured hamstrings usually result after stretching it too far or with a sprinting mechanism (Askling 2011).

The quadriceps (quad) are a group of four muscles that are located on your thigh and insert into your kneecap. Strains of the quadriceps muscles are common and usually occur during sprinting, jumping or kicking.

There are two main muscles that make up your calf; the larger one is our gastrocnemius and the deeper one known is our soleus. Both are very important in all running and jumping movements as they are the main muscle group that propels the body forward. Calf strains can occur in both explosive movements where you may feel a distinct ‘ping’ or after a build-up of stress over time.

Ankle sprains are one of the most common injuries we see, especially in a sporting population! Although there are a number of different ligaments we could potentially sprain, the most common and frequently seen is a sprain of the lateral ligaments (those that support the outside of your ankle), specifically the ATFL.

If you have played or watched field sports you may have heard about ACL injuries. ACL stands for Anterior Cruciate Ligament, which is one of the four main ligaments of the knee.

Pilates is a type of full body exercise developed in the 1920s by Joseph Pilates. It was designed to work the mind and muscles in harmony.

Strength training for runners I hear you ask? Yes! With each step when we run we endure large amounts of force through the muscles of our legs — up to 6 times our bodyweight (BW) through our quadriceps and up to 8 times our BW through our calves! Now if this amount of force is repeatedly being endured with every single stride, we must create strong robust muscles, joints and bones to be able to withstand it!

CAI is a condition characterised by repeated episodes of, or perceptions of, the ankle ”giving way” plus ongoing symptoms including pain, weakness or reduced ankle range of motion.