This article will discuss some of the most common pathologies presenting in dancers that involve the foot and ankle joint. Injuries to the lower extremity in dancers are more common than upper limb injuries due to the amount of range and force required to perform particular movements.
A healthy shoulder is an integral part of normal daily activities and overall independence. A functional shoulder allows you to wash your hair, put on a shirt, swing a golf club, lift groceries into your boot to name a few. Maintaining a healthy shoulder is an important part of having optimal quality of life.
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Lets start by breaking down the term discogenic. The disc is the structure that lies between the vertebrae, discogenic is pain that originates from this structure. Discogenic low back pain presents as pain in the lumbar spine with or without referral that is confirmed via X-ray, CT scan or MRI. Results are commonly reported as ” degenerative disc disease” or “multi-level disc degeneration”. This article aims to explain the role of the disc, what happens when they deteriorate and what it means for you if you have been diagnosed with disc disease or a disc herniation.
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Posterior Tibialis Tendon Dysfunction (PTTD) is a common cause of medial ankle and foot pain affecting the tibialis posterior tendon, which – if not effectively treated – can have a detrimental impact on ankle/foot joint integrity and overall function. The severity of this condition can vary, as the tibialis posterior tendon can become inflamed and painful, or it can continue to deteriorate causing splits/tears within the tendon itself, leading to further complications within the ankle/foot complex. Therefore, identifying and treating this condition early can significantly improve patient outcomes and reduce the need for more radical interventions such as surgery.
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Have you ever been instructed or advised to complete a quick warm up? Or get ready for the game and not sure exactly what to do? Warming up is widely appreciated as a fundamental aspect of physical activity, exercise, and sport. This article aims to explain what, why and how we complete an effective warm up. It will also explore the current literature and evidence surrounding the effectiveness of warmups for performance enhancement and injury prevention.
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The Achilles is the largest and thickest tendon in the body. It is made up of Type 1 collagen fibres, tenocytes, and proteoglycans which are responsible for the tendon’s tensile strength. These complex interwoven fibres merge from the calf muscles, gastrocnemius and soleus to form the tendon that inserts into the heel bone, the calcaneus. The Achilles is involved in 93% of the plantar force in flexion of the foot. When healthy, this tendon can handle up to nine times the body weight and has a pivotal function in transmitting forces, such as explosive power and control of movements.
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Groin strains are commonly seen in sports with multi-directional and high velocity demands such as hockey and soccer. As a result, large sporting bodies have published preventative rehabilitation guidelines which are incorporated in pre-game warmups around the world to mitigate strain risk and reduce recurrence rates.
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Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) rupture has occupied a large portion of elite and amateur sporting injuries for decades. Discourse amongst the general population continues to support immediate surgical reconstruction followed by a lengthy return to sport timeframe. Thus, management of either surgical or conservative ACL ruptures necessitates robust rehabilitation protocols and a barrage of objective measures to meet the low return to sport levels and high recurrence rates.
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Physiotherapists have a reputation for brutally digging into trigger points (or ‘muscle knots’, as they are colloquially known) with their hands, thumbs, fingers and even sometimes elbows, leaving their patients feeling battered and bruised (temporarily, of course!).
If only there was a technique that could treat trigger points without inflicting the same amount of pain, and without causing grown men to weep. There is, in fact, such a technique and an increasing number of physiotherapists are becoming trained in it, sparing their precious hands and their patients’ pain thresholds at the same time.
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Ankle sprains are undoubtedly one of the most common injuries we see as physiotherapists. The vast majority of active people will have experienced an ankle sprain during their lifetime and, unfortunately, sprains have a nasty habit of recurring if not managed well in the first instance.
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