Ankle injuries are common in sports involving running and jumping, and when sustained require rehabilitation to recover full function. A question that is often asked is if I have ankle pain, why should I do exercises for the rest of the body? – Good Question! The answer is simply that if one area of the body is not working at an optimal level this can cause excessive strain on another area, leading to overuse and wear and tear. So balancing the body as a whole is key to full rehabilitation and resolution of symptoms.

This case study demonstrates the benefit of using the combined approach of physiotherapy and Pilates to address the body as a whole when approaching rehabilitation, leading to a longer term solution to the problem. (more…)

Ergonomics is adapting the work environment to suit the individual for optimal health and productivity. If you have a job which requires you to be seated at a desk and working on a computer all day then you can use the following as a guide when setting up your work station.

It is important to have proper posture when sitting at your desk as this ensures that our body weight is evenly distributed throughout the body, especially along the spine. This prevents excessive loads on certain parts of the body more so than others, which is the cause for most back and neck pains. (more…)

A client JW (36 year old female) was referred to Focus Pilates with a Prolapsed Disc of the lower lumbar spine (lower back). The pain in her lower back was so great that it radiated down the front of her thighs. She was unable to sit and turn in bed without pain, and this severely affected her work and sleep. After attending Physio-Pilates sessions twice weekly for two weeks she reported being able to sit at work and turn in bed without pain.

In the first session a full assessment was carried out with the aim of identifying the contributing factors of her prolapsed disc. The symptoms she reported by the patient were quite severe, she was having radiating pain down her legs with all spinal movements, including bending forward, backwards, side bending and rotation.   All of these movements originated from her lower back.

During the assessment it was found that she had reduced mobility of her hip joints and her thoracic spine (upper back) which caused her to have excessive movement in her lumbar spine.  This meant that she could not stabilise the lower part of her spine with her deep core muscles meaning any movement of her spine would likely aggravate her condition.

(more…)

Most of us spend more than eight hours a day sitting at hour desks. Our back is not designed to be in a sitting position for a prolonged period of time. We have designed some exercises below that you can do while sitting at your desk to relieve your back.

Set up

Sit up tall with your back against the back rest of your chair, both feet flat on the floor and equal weight on both sit bones. Gently contract your abdominals keeping a long torso.

Note: These exercises are designed to move and loosen your upper back. You should not have any pain with these exercises. If you do, modify your hand and shoulder position or discontinue the exercises and seek professional advice.

What is sports massage?

Sports massage is the specific application of systematic manipulation of the soft tissues of the body for therapeutic purposes.

How does sports massage differ from other types of massage?

It is anatomy-based and employs various massage techniques to release trigger points (knots), relieve delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS), reduce muscle tightness, enhance recovery, and prevent injuries. It is often an integral part of injury management

What are the benefits of sports massage?

To release stubborn knots, relieve delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS), reduce muscle tightness, enhance recovery and prevent future injuries.

Can sports massage support Pilates exercises?

Most definitely, sports massage helps by warming up the various muscles and joints. Muscles that are properly massaged and stretched possess the ability to generate more power because of greater elasticity, which translates to its ability to absorb more force when perform Pilate exercises, resulting in lower risk of injury. (more…)

Ankle injuries are usually thought of as injuries you incur from playing a sport, however ankle injuries especailly sprains can happen to anyone. All it takes is some uneaven ground or to land on your foot the wrong way and you can sustain an injury. The most common injuries are sprains andfractures which involve ligaments and bones within the ankle, more serious injuries can be a tear or strain to your tendon.

Bones, joints and ligaments of the ankle

The ankle is made up of four bones, the tibia and fibula which form your leg and the talus and calcaneus which form your foot. The interaction between these bones allows for movement of the joint in different ways. The bones are held together by connective tissue called liagments which along with muscles and tendons help the foot to move.

The ligaments of the ankle joint are comprised mainly of the collateral ligaments, both medial (inner) and lateral (outer). These are extremely important in the stability of the ankle itself.

(more…)

The shoulder joint is a complex ball and socket joint, formed by the head of the humerus (long arm bone), scapula (shoulder blade) and clavicle (collar bone). The shape of these bones do not form a particularly stable joint, therefore a group of muscles known as the rotator cuff play an integral role in stabilising the shoulder joint and maintaining the bones in place. We rely on a mobile shoulder joint to allow us to carry out everyday tasks such as overhead reaching, placing our arm behind our back and head, and lifting objects, and in order to provide enough movement the shoulder joint sacrifices stability. With repetitive movement in a joint that lacks stability, there is unfortunately a greater risk of injury occurring, making shoulder injuries a common complaint.

5 common shoulder injuries are:

(more…)

I’ll start this post by introducing myself, my name is Gemma and I’m taking care of the marketing at Focus Pilates, I also happen to be Daniel’s younger sister. A requirement of working at the studio means I need to try to do two classes per week, or else I hear about it from Daniel! There could be worse things really, so I don’t mind, plus I can see the results already.

I’m generally quite an active person so after a while I decided that Pilates was not enough, I wanted to work on increasing my endurance and cardio activity. The main reason is I have just signed up to climb Kota Kinabalu, the 20^th tallest mountain in the world and tallest mountain in South East Asia (sounds quite impressive doesn’t it!). So basically I want to make sure I make it to the top and am still able to walk the next day.

(more…)

When you have an injury first step may be to see your GP depending on the severity you may then be referred to a Physiotherapist. Physiotherapy is beneficial for pain relief, achieving full range of movement and resuming full function. However, after you are discharged it can be difficult to continue an exercise program independently. More often than not the underlying muscle imbalance and poor movement strategies remain and it may only be a matter of time before your injury or pain returns.

Maintaining strength, posture, flexibility and muscle balance is a great way to prevent a repeat injury. Pilates is a great form of exercise to maintain all of these things as it is low impact and gentle on the joints so there is little danger of it putting pressure on an injured area.

(more…)

Running is one of the most popular forms of exercise especially if you want to get a decent cardio workout. For those of us who are cooped up in an office all day it’s also a great way to get some fresh air and much needed vitamin D.

Running has many benefits to the body such as improving cardiovascular endurance, aiding weight loss, lowering blood pressure, increasing mineral bone density and muscle tone. If you’re a runner you’ll also know that thanks to those endorphins buzzing around, you’ll notice a positive impact on your happiness and general wellbeing.

As well as having a long list of benefits running can also cause our bodies a lot of pain and discomfort. The impact of the foot onto the ground sends significant force up into our lower legs. The repetitive movement can lead to overloading of muscles and tendons in the legs. So to make sure you stay running at your best we asked Catriona Dourish one of our physiotherapists what the common injuries resulting from running are, how to treat these injuries and most importantly how to prevent them.

(more…)