Sports Injury Prevention & Rehabilitation

Osteopathic treatment does not target just your pain but treats the parts of the body that have caused the symptoms. Osteopaths have a holistic approach and believe that your whole body will work at its very best if it is in good structural balance. This is particularly relevant if you suffer from recurrent injuries. For example, problems with your feet (such as fallen arches) can cause problems further up in your legs, hips, pelvis and back. We have the latest computerised forceplate scanning technology which we can use to assess how you transfer the forces and weight through your feet and legs into the rest of your body during your sport. This helps us understand how your body functions as a unit and what we can do to help with your presenting symptoms and also how we can help you to improve your own individual sporting performance.

In addition to back and neck problems, some of the other sports related issues we deal with are listed below:

- plantar fasciitis, foot & heel pain
- shin splints & compartment syndrome
- all joint sprains & muscle strains to any area of the body including the arms and legs
- tendonopathies such as patellar and achilles
- repetitive/recurrent strain injuries
- shoulder impingement symptoms

Osteopaths use a wide range of gentle manipulations, depending on your age, fitness and diagnosis. Treatment is different for every patient but may include techniques such as soft tissue massage, joint articulation/mobilisation, ultrasound, strapping, kinesiotaping and orthotic prescription. We will discuss both stretching and strengthening exercises as part of your rehabilitation and look at postural correction of any issues which we feel may have contributed in the lead up to your injury.

Our focus is on future injury prevention as well as management of the symptoms you present to us with. ‘PREHABILITATION’ is still a fairly new concept in private practice but has been used in the professional sports world for some years now. 'Prehab' is a personalised and continually evolving exercise program in addition to your treatment. It provides specific focused exercises with a simple philosophy - to prevent injuries rather than just treat them when they occur. Our Osteopaths work with sports therapists and rehabilitation trainers to ensure you get the highest levels of care with an integrated team approach. Our aim therefore, is to treat not only the problem you have, but help you identify the route of the cause and what you can do to help prevent recurrence of this, or any other injury in the future.