Articles & Posts in Category: Health & Wellness

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Whether you are starting a new fitness routine, returning to exercise after an injury, or training at an elite level, your physiotherapist can play a key role in helping you achieve your fitness goals safely and effectively. 

Goal Set – Set Yourself Up For Success! 

Working with your physiotherapist to set appropriate and achievable goals is an important way to plan your training and celebrate your achievements along the way! 

Using a framework like SMART Goals is one way to do this. 

  • S = Specific: Include specific details of what you would like to achieve. 
  • M = Measurable: Measuring your progress along the way is important. Setting shorter term goals as you build towards your long-term goal and celebrating your ‘wins’ along the way is an important way to measure how far you have come on your fitness journey. Measuring your progress will also allow you to determine when you have achieved your ultimate goal! 
  • A = Attainable: Setting challenging but achievable goals is important. 
  • R = Realistic: Your physiotherapist can work with you to set appropriate goals for where you currently are in your fitness journey. 
  • T = Timely: Setting a timeframe will help with outlining your training program and progressions. 

Individualised Exercise Programs to Improve Movement and Performance 

Optimising movement patterns is essential for improved performance and injury prevention. Whether your aim is to improve strength, flexibility, endurance, or return to sport successfully, your physiotherapist can work with you to design a tailored program that supports optimal performance. 

Everyone is different and has individual needs, so a generic approach may not always lead to optimal outcomes. Your physiotherapist can provide you with an individualised exercise program based on your specific needs, goals, and physical capacity, taking into account any current or previous injuries, allowing you to exercise with greater confidence. 

Injury Prevention 

Injuries can make maintaining a consistent training program challenging. Strength deficits, poor movement patterns and limited range of motion can have a big impact on activity. Physiotherapists can assess muscle strength, joint range of motion and biomechanics to identify areas of weakness, tightness, or decreased control. Working with your physiotherapist to address these deficits early can help decrease risk of injury and create a strong foundation for optimal training and long-term fitness success. 

Injury Rehabilitation 

Your physiotherapist can also support you on your fitness journey through injury rehabilitation, by using manual therapy techniques, prescribing rehabilitation exercises, load management strategies, and education around safe training principles. For individuals managing acute injuries or long-term conditions, physiotherapy provides safe strategies and education around activity modification so you can continue appropriate activity throughout your injury rehabilitation. 

Long-Term Health and Fitness 

Physiotherapy is fundamental in supporting individuals to have a life-long love of exercise and an active lifestyle, promoting movement and physical health. Through providing you with education, you can learn how to manage your body optimally and recognise early warning signs of injury, so that you can maintain an active lifestyle into the future. 

Whether you are aiming to improve elite performance, prevent injury, or simply move better in everyday life, physiotherapists can support you every step of the way so that you can achieve your fitness goals with confidence! 

 

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‘Busy’: the way that many Australian families describe the Christmas holidays, navigating between beach trips and day outings, Christmas shopping and get-togethers, often whilst still juggling work and everything in between.

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Strength-training-for-sport

With summer around the corner, it won’t be long until you can rejoin your teammates and fill your days with cricket, soccer, tennis and all your favourite summer sports. As a result, we’ve been fielding plenty of questions about the most effective ways to improve sports performance, and do so fast. 

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By Adam Shaw

Medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS), also known as ‘shin splints’, is a condition characterised by pain and tenderness along the inner edge of the tibia (also known as your shinbone). MTSS is a common injury among athletes and runners, typically seen in sports that involve repetitive stress on the lower leg bones, such as running, jumping, and dancing.

What causes MTSS?

MTSS is caused by repetitive stress on the lower leg bones, particularly the tibia (shinbone). The stress leads to inflammation and irritation of the muscles, tendons, and periosteum (the membrane that covers the bone). The main contributing factors to MTSS include: Read more

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In 2020, the World Health Organisation made notable updates to their exercise guidelines. These updates included increasing the recommendations for both the amount of exercise performed each week, as well as adding strength or resistance training such as push-ups or squats to the regimen. Unfortunately, under these guidelines, it was found that 85% of Australian adults and 80% of children were not meeting their exercise targets.

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Looking down at your phone regularly throughout the day can become a literal pain in the neck. Long periods spent hunched over to reply to email, read a text message or browse the internet may contribute to neck pain, sometimes colloquially referred to as “text” or “tech” neck. This kind of neck pain is reported by more than one in two teenagers and university students, and up to 63% of office workers struggle with neck pain annually.

Prolonged screen time, particularly the way our head and neck are positioned while we engage with our digital devices, is contributing to more than just neck pain. Other clinical features may include headaches, back and shoulder pain, eye strain, dry eyes and other musculoskeletal pains. The effects aren’t solely physical either – “text neck” is also associated with irritability, stress, anxiety and poor communication in school children and adolescents.

Neck pain is very common and, as physiotherapists, we will assess and devise an individualised treatment plan most suitable to your specific presentation. There is evidence to support the use of exercise therapy for some people with neck pain. Today, we look a little deeper into what “text neck” refers to, why it happens, how to spot it and share five examples of exercises that may help manage neck pain.

What Is “Text Neck”? 

In some people, holding your head forward and downward for extended periods of time can lead to neck pain. “Text neck” refers to pain experienced when you have your neck forwards using devices such as smartphones or tablets.

When your head is upright and looking straight ahead, your neck muscles are only working to support the weight of your head, which is 4.5 – 5.5kgs. At a 15 degree angle, this increases to 12kgs. At a 30 degree angle, your neck muscles must work hard to support over 18kgs. At 45 degrees, the weight that needs to be supported is over 22kgs. Finally, if you’re staring down at 60 degrees, that’s over 27kgs of force on your neck muscles.

What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of “Text Neck”? 

The symptoms of “text neck” may include:

  • Nagging or sharp pain in the neck or shoulders at the end of the day 
  • Postural fatigue, or finding it difficult to maintain a healthy posture
  • Upper back or neck pain 
  • General shoulder pain and tightness,
  • Constantly holding the head and neck forwards
  • Headaches that are made worse when looking down or using the computer.

Exercises To Help 

Even though you may not be able to completely eliminate looking down at your phone, there are exercises you can perform that will help relieve some of the tension placed on your neck and back. Generally, we recommend performing the movement sets one to three times a day alongside the support and guidance of a trusted physio who tailors each program to your specific symptoms, circumstances and the results of your comprehensive assessment with us. Here are five examples:

1. Chin Tucks

Chin tucks help to reset the movements that occur when you crane your neck forward towards a screen. Chin tucks can help improve posture and move the head closer to a neutral position, with the ears directly over the shoulders:

  1. Start by sitting or standing upright while focusing your vision at a specific point across the room.
  2. Place your index finger on your chin, to help guide your movements.
  3. Gently move your head back in a purely horizontal fashion so that you tuck your chin backwards against your neck. The motion should create a double chin while you continue to look straight ahead, and not result in your head tilting down to look at your toes.
  4. Repeat 5-10 times.

2. Neck mobility exercises

To limit the prolonged position of your neck being flexed, it may be helpful to move your neck regularly.

  1. Sit upright on a chair or stand comfortably with your shoulders relaxed.
  2. Move your head through a comfortable, pain free range:
    1. Looking down
    2. Looking up towards the ceiling bending your neck backwards
    3. Rotating your head to the right and left
    4. Tilting your head to the right and left

3. Shoulder Scapular Squeeze

This exercise helps to open up your chest, and activate some of your shoulder blade muscles.

  1. Sit or stand with your hands clasped behind your head or behind your lower back.
  2. Open your elbows out to the side and squeeze your shoulder blades back, to feel a stretch in the front of your chest.
  3. To intensify the stretch, pull your head and shoulders down and backward – continue to look forward, and draw your shoulders away from your ears.
  4. Hold 10-20 seconds and then slowly release, and repeat three times.

4. Trap Stretches

This exercise helps to relieve tension in the trapezius muscles which span the back of the neck and shoulders, and are responsible for moving and rotating your shoulder blade and extending your neck:

  1. Look straight ahead, and place your left hand under your thigh, on your chair, to prevent your left shoulder from lifting 
  2. Lift up your right arm and wrap your hand over your head, while tipping your right ear towards your right shoulder. Do not let your left shoulder rise up as you tip your head to the right.
  3. Hold for 15 to 30 seconds.
  4. Repeat the exercise on the opposite side, and repeat for 3 times on each side – even if you only have pain on one side.

5. Thoracic Extension

This exercise helps to mobilise the joints of your upper back.

  1. Sit on a chair with both feet placed on the floor.
  2. Lift up your arms and place your hands behind your head, with fingers linked together. 
  3. Gently lean forwards in your chair, lowering your stomach towards your thighs, while maintaining a straight back. 
  4. Reach your elbows upwards while tilting your head to look towards the ceiling, while keeping your stomach close to your thighs, curving only your upper back. 
  5. Hold the extension for 5-10 seconds, then slowly release, and repeat 3 times. 

Preventing “Text Neck”

Preventing “text neck” starts with the conscious effort to stop leaning the head forward and downward. Limiting your screen time is a great start, but we know this isn’t always possible. When using a digital device: 

  • Keep it at eye level. You can place some books under your computer screen to bring it closer to eye level, and when you’re using a smartphone, hold it up to your eye height. If you need to be looking down, do so with your eyes, instead of your head.
  • Take breaks often. Take 5 minutes every 25 minutes to take a break from the screen, stretch, rest your eyes, and evaluate your posture.

When To See A Physio

If you’re struggling with neck pain from using your computer or smartphone, it may be time to book an appointment with a physiotherapist to help you develop an individualised treatment plan that aims to improve pain and prevent recurrences. 

Your physio will carry out a comprehensive assessment, address any underlying conditions, and create a targeted and comprehensive treatment plan to address text neck and protect your overall neck, back and spine health. Having a physio on your team means that they can also support you with targeted manual therapies such as soft tissue massage to enhance your outcomes, answer any questions about your pain to keep you fully supported, and provide you with the best care to enhance your overall neck, back and musculoskeletal health. 

To book an appointment with one of our friendly physiotherapists, contact a clinic near you.

References

[1] Prevalence of text neck syndrome and SMS thumb among smartphone users in college-going students

[2] The prevalence of text neck syndrome and its association with smartphone use among medical students in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

[3] Workplace-Based Interventions for Neck Pain in Office Workers

[4] Text Neck Syndrome in Children and Adolescents

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By Scott Schulte – Ashgrove Physioworks

Men's Health Week

Men often have a drastically different understanding of what health actually means. “I’ll be fine”, “It’s nothing”, “I’ve had worse” – we’ve all heard a man say it, or you may have said it yourself. 

Statistically, men suffer more illness, more accidents, and die earlier than women due to a variety of preventable diseases, yet are less likely to seek help than their counterparts.

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