Month: November 2015

Looking after your physical health as a uni staff member

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NU Moves massage

Did you know that there is a physiotherapy clinic on campus? NU Moves Physiotherapy offers discounts to all uni staff members. It is important to us to help keep UoN staff healthy and active. If you are in pain see a physio today.

Our physios at NU Moves have post-graduate qualifications in manual therapy; exercise prescription; expert clinical problem solving; and clinical research. We undertake a thorough assessment to determine the cause of your pain and an appropriate treatment plan to suit your goals. All of our treatments sessions are one-on-one. Whether you wish to be pain free while sitting at work, or staying active through exercise – NU Moves can help.

NU Moves are familiar with the workplace demands that at times are associated with prolonged sitting, increased stress and not enough time to exercise. All of these factors contribute to pain. A good start is to make time for your daily dose of physical activity every day. Another method of relieving pain associated with stress or muscle tension is massage. Manual therapy from a physio involves massage of varying types; joint mobilisation (gentle form of manipulation) and stretches. You may also be helped via advice around posture or your computer and work station ergonomic set-up.

NU Moves Physiotherapy also performs dry needling, orthotic prescription, bracing / splinting, exercise and gym programming, and work specific functional rehabilitation.
To book an appointment with NU Moves call 4921 6879.

Stay strong – feel better

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NU Moves Pilates

Christmas is just around the corner! Now is a great time to come along to NU Moves Pilates to get some quality movement in the bank and blast those abs before getting some well-deserved R & R over the holiday season. NU Moves Pilates continues to focus on providing small group classes run by a qualified physiotherapist. Our average class has between 3 and 4 participants which allows for optimal supervision and individual exercise advice. The mat based classes can be tailored to suit participants from the beginner to advanced levels.

Our classes are held at a variety of times to provide you with some options. You can start your day on a positive note with our morning classes, get away from the desk for our lunch-time classes or finish the day strong with our evening classes. All of our classes are held in the NU Moves Physiotherapy clinic.

Monday 7am with Jess
Monday 6:30pm with Nikki
Tuesday 6:30pm with Nikki
Wednesday 7am with Jess
Thursday 12:15pm with Ben
Friday 12:15pm with Ben

You can save money by claiming on your Private Health Insurance. Most Private Health Funds with Physiotherapy extras will provide cover for NU Moves Pilates classes.
If you have any questions about the classes or wish to book in, give us a call on 4921 6879 or email via admin@numovesphysio.com.au

Common training mistakes – how to avoid injury

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running and physiotherapy

Exercise and sports related injuries are common. Some sports such as rugby come with higher risks and frequency of injury. General exercise often has low risk of injury but that depends on how hard we push ourselves and the type of exercise we do. It doesn’t matter whether it is a team sport, an exercise class, a personal training session or an individual session, an injury will limit your participation for a period of time.

One common source of injury is ‘training error’. This is usually doing too much, too soon but can also be related to technique (e.g. squat, running) or equipment. Technique is the way you move relative to the load or complexity of the movement.

There is a fine balance between being challenged sufficiently to enjoy exercise and avoiding ‘training error’. A simple message is the more you know your body at each stage of life the less likely injury will occur. This means train at a level of load suited to your body; gradually increase the level of exercise over several weeks; listen and adjust to pain especially if it is in a joint or the spine; and use mirrors to watch how you perform a gym exercise to ensure the technique is correct. It’s simple advice but it works if you want to reduce the chance of injury.

Stress fractures in runners – 3 minutes of what, why & when

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female runner

 

What is a stress fracture: Normal bone responses to repetitive stress can be divided into: normal response, stress reaction, and stress fracture.

Normal response: Osteoclasts are bone cells that remove bone tissue known as ‘bone resorption’. Whilst osteoblasts are cells that create ‘bone formation’. Bone is a dynamic tissue that is constantly being reshaped by osteoblasts and osteoclasts working in balance.

Stress Reaction: Repeated bone stress without appropriate rest causes osteoclastic activity to outstrip osteoblastic activity.  This osteoclast / osteoblast imbalance initially results in microfractures which when investigated shows bone marrow oedema.
 
Stress fracture: A stress fracture is when the repeated stress and imbalance continues and the microfracture progresses into a true break in the cortical bone.
 
How are they diagnosed: A clinical examination of factors such as training loads, biomechanics, location of pain, and bony tenderness, will indicate whether a bony stress reaction / fracture is a possibility. Following this various imaging options are MRI (which can show bone marrow oedema in stress reaction stages and microfractures once stress fracture develops); CT scans (not as sensitive as MRI and have associated radiation as per an XRay); Xray (which frequently doesn’t show up stress fractures in the early stages – up to 3 weeks); and bone scans (very good at detecting stress fractures but are time consuming, nonspecific and are a poor choice to monitor recovery).
 
Who is most at risk: The female athlete triad is a combination of low bone density, nutritional issues, and menstrual irregularities. Together these represent the highest risk of developing stress fractures in the female runner. However any one of these alone can also lead to a stress fracture when combined with running.
 
What else increases your risk:

  • Rapid increase in running distances
  • Lack of rest / recovery time during a period of running training
  • Inappropriate footwear relative to the foot type of the individual
  • Nicotine smoking

What to look out for:

  • Pain during or after running / exercise
  • Bony tenderness
  • Nutrition – how balanced is your diet
  • Training – running distances per week and speed of increases
  • Bone density – do you know yours? (especially if you are female and run a lot)
  • Shoes – despite the debates surrounding ‘support’ vs ‘free’ shoes, the right type of footwear is important for a lot of people!

Management: If you have pain with running organise an assessment as soon as possible. The best management is prevention but if they occur the treatment depends on which bone it is. Some stress fractures have greater risks associated and need orthopaedic specialists involved, whilst others are lower risk and can be managed conservatively. The most common strategy is to immobilise the area and often to remove any weight bearing stress through the bone.

McCormick et al (2012), Stress fractures in runners. Clin Sports Med, 31.