Articles & News
Sleep is an essential function for survival, and when we don’t get enough sleep, our body reacts poorly. Pain is one response to poor sleep… Our central nervous system becomes sensitised as a protective mechanism after lack of sleep, which makes us more susceptible to aches and pain, and turns the volume or intensity up […]
The rotator cuff is a group of 4 muscles (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis) that come off the back of the shoulder blade and wrap around the front of our shoulder. The rotator cuff has 2 main functions: *It enables us to externally and internally rotate our shoulder, allowing us to move our hand […]
OVERUSE INJURIES OR TRAINING LOAD ERRORS? We often blame injuries of insidious onset (those that gradually develop rather than happen in an acute incident) on overuse. That is, a gradual breakdown as a result of doing too much over and over. However research suggests that how much you train on its own does not increase […]
HOW FOAM ROLLERS ACTUALLY WORK Foam rollers are a fantastic tool for self-massage, and self-management of muscle tightness, injuries, and general aches and pains. However a lot of people are using them in the wrong way for the wrong reasons… The common belief is that foam rollers (as well as other similar tools like spikey […]
UNDERSTANDING PAIN Pain is a phenomenon of the human body that unfortunately is not well understood. Pain defined, is: “an unpleasant sensory experience caused by actual or potential tissue damage”. However in reality it is much more complex than this… All pain, at all times, comes from the brain, not the injured tissues themselves. As […]
How long should you wait to see a physio or commence rehabilitation after an acute muscle strain? Not long at all! Research tells us that those who commence rehabilitation 2 days after muscle injury return to sport 3 WEEKS SOONER in comparison to those who wait 9 days post injury (Bayer et al., 2017). This […]
RISK FACTORS FOR CHRONIC BACK PAIN Low back pain affects 80% of the population at some stage in their lives, and most will recover from an episode of back pain within 4-6 weeks. However there is a small percentage of people who will go on to suffer chronic low back pain, which can occasionally lead […]
IS IT OKAY TO PUSH THROUGH PAIN? Those with chronic musculoskeletal pain are often anxious, worried or hesitant about performing exercise or movements that may elicit pain. Clinicians are often equally hesitant in prescribing exercises that cause pain for these people, which leads to fear avoidance, kinesiophobia and deconditioning. However we know that all pain […]
CAN CRACKING KNUCKLES LEAD TO ARTHRITIS? What happens when you crack your knuckles? And can this cause arthritis? *Your joints are surrounded by a fluid filled membrane (synovial membrane), which acts as a lubricant for your bones. When you crack your knuckles (or any other synovial joint), you temporarily expand the space between the bones. […]
THE RISKS OF INACTIVITY Physical inactivity is the second greatest contributor (behind smoking) to the cancer burden in Australia. Sedentary lifestyles also increase the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, as well as many common musculoskeletal conditions such as back/neck pain and osteoarthritis. A big (and often unrecognised) contributor to […]
