Physiotherapy at Complete Care Health – Maddington

Joint Mobilisations/Manipulations

The two main joint problems are joint pain and joint stiffness. Joint mobilisation techniques focus on restoring an area to full, pain free joint motion.

Our physiotherapists assess for any abnormalities in joint movement and apply an appropriate pressure into the direction required to best promote a restoration to normal joint mobility.

Joint mobilisations are commonly used in patients that experience neck and back pain, headaches, locked movement along joints such as shoulders, hips, knees and ankles.

Soft Tissue Therapy (trigger point release, myofascial release, PNF techniques)

Soft tissue therapy is an inclusive term that covers several different techniques (named above). They aim to decrease muscle and fascia pain while increasing elasticity.

Soft tissue therapy is used mainly in conditions of acute muscle pain, muscle spasms, and reduced range of motion. This is applied over areas such as pre/post-surgery, sporting injuries, every day aches and spasms along with some headaches.

Taping (Kinesio taping, rigid strapping)

Taping techniques are used by physiotherapists to provide longer lasting effects of treatment outside the normal treatment hours. The two most common tapes used are Rigid tape and Kinesio tape.

Rigid tape is used mainly in conditions of ligament, tendon or muscle tears/sprains. The tape provides an extra external layer of support to limit the joint movement into potentially damaging directions. This tape is also used as part of swelling management and posture correction treatments.

Kinesio tape is more elastic than rigid tape. This tape does offer some level of external support for injured muscles, ligaments, tendons or joints while also providing an extra layer of feedback to the individual. This allows them to more easily monitor when the injured area is moving into painful directions.

Pilates

Pilates is the use of targeted exercises to strengthen specific muscle groups often using a Reformer, Wunder-chair or mat-based exercises. Many muscle and postural dysfunction stem from an imbalance in the strength in our muscles around our bodies. This can occur due to poor posture, a lifestyle spent sitting down or through repetitive motion engaging some muscle but not others. Many postural and back pain issues can be addressed with Pilates that focuses on strengthening the core muscles that are responsible for keeping us up-right.

After a thorough assessment of the patient’s strengths and weaknesses, the physiotherapist will guide you through various exercises, ensuring you are engaging the correct muscles. Many exercises can be done at home using body-weight, free weights or resistance bands. As you progress through the exercise program, the physiotherapist will guide you to increasing your repetitions or load and will adjust exercises as your body becomes stronger.

Exercise Prescription (home & gym based)

In almost every physiotherapy treatment, exercises of some sort, be they aimed at strengthening or stretching will be prescribed. Depending on the individual’s condition exercise may be an at home program, hydrotherapy program or monitored gym program.

Exercise prescription is used to correct muscle, joint or postural imbalances that either cause or contribute to the individuals pain. There are large amounts of evidence to support the use of exercise prescription in the rehabilitation of surgical patients, sporting injuries, joint sprains/dislocations, back pain and some headaches.

Prescribed exercises are not only aimed at decreasing the current pain an individual is experiencing, but also at future prevention of those injuries while reducing the risk of other injuries occurring.

Electrotherapy (Ultrasound, IFT)

Electrotherapy is a term combined treatments that aim to reduce pain, manage swelling and promote healing. The electrotherapy treatments offered by our physiotherapists include ultrasound and Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation or TENS machines.

Ultrasound works by sending vibrating waves into the local soft tissue. The main aims of ultrasound are to stimulate an increased blood flow to the affected area to manage swelling and at higher vibration frequencies, to cause scar tissue breakdown. Ultrasound is mainly used on patients who have joint sprains, tendonitis, swelling conditions or muscle and ligaments tears.

TENS machines are a predominantly pain management device. It sends electrical impulses to the area where the electrodes are applied and, depending on the settings, either stimulates the release of endorphins (natural pain relief hormones) to the painful area or blocks the pain signals sent to the brain by stimulating non-pain nerve fibres. TENS machines are most useful for chronic pain conditions, muscle spasms or acute pain injuries.

All electrotherapy devices that are used by our physiotherapists have large amounts of evidence supporting their use and are made by reputable medical supply companies.