HOW WE HELP

Choosing a healthcare provider for your musculoskeletal health isn't easy, but ideally, your practitioner should perform a thorough examination, explain the results of their tests, give you a working diagnosis and prognosis, as well as outlining their treatment plan recommendations. We do all of this and more. An overview of our philosophy and approach is outlined on our home page.

Remedial massage focuses on a specific area of the body that is producing pain or not performing correctly and treats the muscles, tendons, ligaments and connective tissue with the aim to regain full range of motion and decrease pain. In remedial massage there are multiple techniques used including, deep tissue, myofascial tensioning, cupping, trigger point, application of heat and stretching. All of these techniques are designed to increase blood flow and reduce muscle tension.

Myotherapy translates to 'muscle therapy' and is the assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of soft tissue pain and dysfunction. Myotherapists use a number of techniques including massage, dry needling, joint mobilisation, muscle energy technique and exercise rehabilitation. Although many patients present with pain, you do not have to be in pain to see a Myotherapist, as myotherapy assessments can identify areas of dysfunction that may lead to pain if not managed correctly.

Both Remedial Massage and Myotherapy treat soft tissue dysfunction with the main difference being the techniques the practitioners are trained in. Myotherapy training places a high emphasis on dry needling, muscle energy technique, joint mobilisations, exercise rehabilitation and TENS, which practitioners use on top of their Remedial Massage skills. Many Remedial Massage practitioners choose to go and study these techniques in post graduate courses, most commonly dry needling.

Your therapist will get your health history before going over the reason you have made the appointment. Your therapist needs as much information as possible about the type of pain or restrictions you are experiencing to best determine the origin of your pain and the best method of treatment. There will also be a physical examination of the area to be treated. Your posture will be observed, along with some range of motion tests on the relevant joints. Depending on the findings a few specialised tests may also be performed. The results will be recorded and used as a benchmark to check against after treatment. Each treatment is unique and based on your needs. Techniques may be performed on areas of the body which are completely relaxed, under some tension and stretch, or during active movements. Your therapist may also ask you to get up and retest an area during treatment to assess how your body is responding. At the end of your treatment your therapist will reassess your range of motion tests to check for improvements in your movement and pain levels. Your therapist may then choose to show you some stretches or mobilising/strengthening exercises to continue with at home.

People often report that their back is ‘out’. While this is a common misconception, a bone going ‘out-of-place’ in your back is fortunately, quite rare. A true ‘bone out of place’ is a dislocation or subluxation (partial dislocation), which only happens as a result of severe trauma and requires hospitalisation. Historically, chiropractors have used the word subluxation to describe the less severe (and most common) cause of spinal dysfunction that we treat on a daily basis. Unfortunately, this has created confusion and helped perpetuate the myth that we ‘put bones back in to place’. As such, this term is being used with less frequency.

As a general rule, if your history and physical examination suggests you are a chiropractic case, we can get started straight away. Occasionally, we may choose to withhold certain treatment approaches until we have received further confirmation of our working diagnosis from imaging studies or scans that we may refer you out for. Many of our balance, dizziness or vertigo patients are not treated on the first visit however, as depending on the nature of their condition, it may be advisable for them to avoid driving immediately after treatment and these considerations cannot be made without an appropriate examination.

Typically, not at all. In fact, a lot of patients enjoy the sensation.

Frequently, an adjustment is associated with a ‘clicking’ or ‘popping’ sound as a sudden decrease in pressure within the joint allows gas to escape from the fluid that lubricates the joints. This phenomenon is analagous to the release of pressure when you open a bottle of soft-drink, or pop a champagne cork. Although this harmless noise can be a little disconcerting for some people, it is perfectly safe and nothing to be alarmed about.

Not at all. More and more people are consulting chiropractors in their later years. With growing concerns about the long term risks of anti-inflammatories and other analgesic medications, natural approaches such as chiropractic are viable alternatives for increasing mobility and improving quality of life.

Osteoarthritis is very common in the weight bearing joints as we age and the spine is no exception. In fact, structural changes of the spine are expected as we age, much like grey hair or wrinkles. Whilst chiropractic care cannot undo the structural changes that have taken place over the passage of time, chiropractic care can make a big difference to a persons mobility, pain sensitivity and quality of life.

Disc changes are very common in the general population, and the correlation between visible changes on scans such as CT or MRI and a persons symptomatology is low. Though spinal discs are most definitely a potential source of back pain, it is entirely possible to have a disc bulge that you are unaware of.

There is a lot of buzz in gymnasiums, and in the general media about the need to strengthen our ‘core’ and improve ‘core stability’ or joint stability in our spine and pelvis, but what does this actually mean? As we interact with the environment, we constantly experience forces acting upon our bodies. To interact with these forces without injury, a given joint must have enough stiffness to cope with the forces encountered. Joint stiffness is the ability to provide resistance to a change in shape or position and is the first line of defence when an external force is applied to a joint (ligaments and connective tissue structures providing the last line of defence). Joint stiffness is largely dictated by the level of muscular contraction of the muscles surrounding that joint. A contracted muscle resists lengthening and thereby resists joint movement. Obviously, too much contraction and stiffness impairs all movement, and one cannot move fluently or efficiently with muscles held tight all of the time. Instead, our muscle tone is carefully monitored and finely controlled from moment to moment, and matched to the demands placed on the body by the external environment. This allows for efficiency of movement and should allow for appropriate stiffness for a given task, and thus joint stability. This context dependent, reflexive, dynamic motor (muscle) control system is finely tuned and as stated above, is largely outside of conscious control. As an example, science has repeatedly demonstrated that when moving an arm or leg, our ‘core’ muscles normally contract to brace and stabilise the spine BEFORE the arm or leg moves. This occurs outside of conscious control. This normal pattern of movement does not occur in the same way in people with low back pain. It is therefore inferred that their spines are less stable, as the supportive core muscles are slower to activate than normal, and do not provide the same level of stability or support. Generally speaking if you have pain, you will have a problem with motor (muscle) control. If there is a problem with motor control, you not only need to address the pain, but also the motor control system. This is true not only of the spine, but of the shoulder, hip and most other joints of the body.

Vertigo, or dizziness, is a very common condition that becomes more prevalent as we age. It is responsible for almost as many visits to physicians as back pain or headaches. Vertigo is estimated to effect just over 40% of the population aged over 16, at some point in their life. Symptoms of vertigo may arise from a wide range of diseases or conditions, only some of which may be treated in our office. To break it down, approximately: • 50% of all cases of vertigo are due to disorders of the inner ear (vestibular system). • 15% of cases of vertigo are caused by anxiety disorders. • 5% of cases are caused by medical causes such as low blood pressure, infection, hypoglycaemia, heart problems, or from medications used for controlling epilepsy or blood pressure. • 5% of cases are due to brain based conditions such as migraine, stroke, multiple sclerosis, brain tumour, Parkinson’s disease or certain types of epilepsy for example. •25% of cases, unfortunately, have no known cause. Dr Steven Hewitt has undergone postgraduate training in vestibular rehabilitation and the management of common vestibular disorders. As stated above, approximately 50% of all cases of vertigo are associated with disorders of the vestibular (inner ear) system. The great news is this means many cases of dizziness and balance problems can be addressed using an exercise based program of vestibular rehabilitation. Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is perhaps the most common form of vertigo in adults, and is usually very straight forward to manage. In fact, the success rate is greater than 95% with one treatment and some simple home exercises.