Injury rehabilitation

I treat all types of injuries. Please call if you're in doubt as often I can give temporary support over the phone. All injuries will be examined using a range of tests to determine a treatment plan and biomechanical assessment:

Range of movement - muscle and joint
Postural and Muscle condition [see below]
Flexibility of a damaged muscle
Possible causes

Treatment will then consist of the following dependent on which stage the injury has reached in its healing process:

Inflammatory injuries will be treated with ice/heat
Deep tissue massage to accelerate healing
Rehabilitation - strength and movement [see below]
Posture and technical corrections as required
Balance work
Correcting muscle imbalances

Postural and Muscle Corrections

Postural and muscle condition assessments can indicate areas that need special attention. Muscles have memory - they remember their last action. This means that poor posture can become a habit which directly affects the balance and work distribution on all the muscles of the body. If a muscle is over used it will fatigue and the body will adapt by overloading another muscle to perform the tasks of the fatigued muscle. If this is not corrected, injuries will start to appear as the body protects itself by discouraging further use.

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation during injury is designed to maintain and increase fitness and improve all round ability with particular emphasis on restoring the injured part to normality.
It addresses the problem of athletes being cured of their injuries but still not fit enough to continue full training and recover optimum performance. Sports rehabilitation assesses and diagnoses injuries, helps with prevention, relieves pain and returns the injured person back to fitness.

Problems and Injuries That Can Be Treated

Recent injuries such as acute ankle sprains, hamstring tears and knee ligament or cartilage damage. Long term problems such as tennis elbow, faulty foot biomechanics, Achilles tendonitis, shoulder impingement and knee pain. Back and neck problems such as sciatica and lower back pain, Osteo-arthritis, frozen shoulder or other joint problems. Postural dysfunction.

Muscles

There are over 300 muscles in the body. They are attached to bones by tendons, which are not elastic, and so can transmit the force of a muscle contraction to the bones.
Ligaments are tough, white fibrous bands of tissue, which link two bones together at a joint.

Sprains and Strains

Sprains are injuries to a joint or its associated structures. They usually occur as a result of a sudden forceful movement, which damages both the ligament and the joint capsule.

Strains are injuries to muscles. They may be caused by not warming up properly before exercising, or by excessive stretching of the muscle.