Our Team
The Injury Clinic Team consists of physiotherapists, strength and conditioning coach and sports dietitian.
We love working together to get the best outcomes for our clients. We all have different skill sets and can draw on different experiences; this often proves invaluable in the management of more complex presentations. Be it in the setting of pain and injury, general well being or performance, involving the whole team continues to result in the best outcomes for our clients.
The Injury Clinic team of physiotherapists, Laura, Sam, Joel, Liz & Matt, have extensive knowledge when it comes to diagnosing and treating injuries. We work with our clients to identify and address the factors contributing to their injury, as well as treating affected tissues.
However, our minds will also start to think ‘how can we stop this happening again?’. Often, the answer is strength, sometimes it’s addressing nutrition or general health, and other times something entirely outside the Clinic’s domain eg: podiatry/general health; but we want to work with our clients to not only ensure they recover from their current injury or niggle, but establish a plan that reduces the likelihood of their injury reoccurring. Injury prevention…it’s important!
Our physio team freely admit to having a limited knowledge when it comes to the sports science/exercise physiology domain. If we have identified strength as a factor contributing to our clients current presentation, we might choose to bring our strength and conditioning coach into the fold.
We can advise in regards to the do’s and don’ts relating to an individual’s injury profile, and Ben can direct a program designed to achieve the tissue adaptations we need (i.e. strength, hypertrophy, power, endurance). This often leads to our clients taking their rehab to the next level; into either a performance or a preventative domain. As a result, there is often overlap or a team approach to your treatment. It is done to ensure best outcomes, and that we work with you to not only manage your injury, but work towards injury prevention and as a result improve performance in your chosen sport, or life in general!
When we suspect there may be a nutritional component to a client’s presentation, we will bring our Sports Dietitian, Tim on board. This is often when an injury just isn’t responding the way we would expect. However, as Tim works to expand our knowledge base, we are becoming more and more adept at identifying diet and nutrition as an important contributor to many injury profiles.
Often the issue of energy availability will see recurrent muscle tightness, soft tissue injuries, bony stress responses, and/or reports of excessive fatigue.
Tim can make sure you’re getting enough fuel for your tissues to both perform and recover. He may even find links to specific nutritional needs that can make an individual susceptible to injury such as iron, vitamin D and calcium. Working so closely with Tim has upskilled us to detect such factors quicker than your average physiotherapist!
A Case Example
A client presents to consult with physiotherapist reporting persistent pain in the upper hamstring/glute region during running for over 12 months.
The physio diagnoses a proximal hamstring tendinopathy, and determines there are significant strength deficits at play. The physio completes a series of release techniques on the hamstrings and surrounding tissues, and works with the strength and conditioning coach to formulate a strength program. This program aims to gradually strengthen the tendon and address biomechanical contributors (i.e. trunk control)
After 6 weeks, the client not only reports no significant improvement in pain, but testing reveals very limited increases in strength despite the client being very diligent with their program. At this point, further questioning reveals likely inadequate nutrition for running performance and recovery, along with concerns around body weight.
A consult with Tim (Sports Dietitian) reveals a number of nutritional deficiencies and overall energy availability concerns that although are regarded within normal ranges of the general population, are inadequate for the degree and intensity of exercise being completed.
An overall lack of fuel was causing tissues to fatigue sooner in run, and an inability for tissues to repair and recover post run.
This fatigue was being carried into subsequent run sessions until tendon tissue was loaded to the point of injury. Specific nutritional deficiencies meant that these tissues were struggling to adapt to exercise including gym and strength based exercises to assist with injury management and prevention.
Once these deficiencies were addressed, tissues responded favourably to the strength program, had the fuel to perform during run session, and were able to recover for the next session. Pain gradually resolved with gradual progressive tendon load, and the client reported an overall improvement in performance (distance, runt times etc).
External Team/Referrals
As first contact practitioners, our physiotherapists are highly trained to identify systemic illnesses and red flags. We do this by asking the right questions and screening for more serious health concerns. This might mean we communicate closely with your GP and work together to get an accurate diagnosis, and get you on the right treatment pathway.
More commonly, we might identify that a client requires specific expertise relating to their condition. We might opt to bring in a podiatrist for complex foot/ankle issues, a hand therapist for tricky injuries with the hands/fingers/wrists, or a mens/womens health therapist for issues such as pelvic floor dysfunction. At times we will recommend a surgeons opinion, or require the assistance of a pain specialist to help your rehab progress.
This multidisciplinary team approach means our clients are always getting the best advice, and the best outcomes. The body is complex, and there is not one practitioner who knows everything. When a client’s condition doesn’t fit clear diagnosis, or response to treatment the way we would expect, we will ask why…..and hunt for answers.
