With the conclusion of UFC 234, Melbourne is experiencing a spike in interests the world of mixed martial arts. Although the sport has been around for decades, fighting athletes like Conor McGregor, Rona Ramsay and Robert Whittaker has increased attention towards mixed martial arts and attracted new participants to this full contact pastime.

When you just starting mixed martial arts training, hitting the mitts and learning submissions can feel great. The rush of adrenaline when landing a shot on your partner or making them tap out is a real thriller. All the fun aside, you should probably note there are injuries associated with this sport.

The goal of any fighting sport is to knock the other person out or make them tap. That being said, receiving kicks and punches can result in collisions type injuries. If you aren’t use to striking, there is also a risk that you can injure your own arm and leg. This can include:

• Concussions: commonly associated with receiving a heavy strike to the head from kicks, punches or thrown directly to the head
• Contusions: bruising that commonly occur when you get hit in any part of your body either from a direct strike or blocking a strike
• Dislocation and Subluxation: occur usually when the joint of the body is being taken past its end range of motion ie. during an armbar
• Fractures: generally occur as a result from a high impact strike to anywhere of the body with less muscle protection, for example the shin and arm
• Muscle strains: occur anywhere in the body if that particular area have not been conditioned enough to withstand the activity ie. quadriceps strain
• Ligament sprains: typically occur when you are fatigued and similar forgot to brace for a movement like a kick. Ligament injury is also common during dislocation or subluxation. 

If you do run into trouble with these injuries, a physiotherapist can help identify which structures have been injured and create an individualized rehabilitation program to get you back to hitting mitts. At Capital Physiotherapy, we have experienced physiotherapist with various sporting and martial arts backgrounds that can thoroughly assess your condition and help you return to doing what you love.

You can find us at South Yarra, Hawthorn (Formerly at Balwyn) and Footscray. Drop by or email us at info@capitalphysiotherapy.com.au or contact us at 0401 865 333 if you’ve got anything discomfort or just want to improve your performance!

Many ladies love to put on a few inches on the heels for some extra glam to their look.  Elevating our heels by a few inches changes the whole biomechanics of being upright bipedals and may cost your body the price of that glam.  Here are a few of those price tags and some tricks to help from our physiotherapists at Capital physiotherapy.

1. Forefoot pain

Being on high heels shifts the centre of gravity forward.  The normal load transfer from the heel, side of foot, ball of the foot then to the big toe; is disrupted.  Instead, it puts pressure focally on the forefoot throughout the stance phase of our gait. As our forefoot is not designed to be solely taking our full body weight, it then can be overload and sore overtime.  This is worse when the heels are closed and pointed, where the shoe is too narrow for the forefoot to spread out sideways. The little muscles in the forefoot that react to loading for balance are not in the position to control the weight acceptance process.

2. Calf pain

In every gait cycle, the calf muscles lengthen when the heel strikes to store energy and shorten as we push off.  High heels keep calf muscles in a shortened position and make it difficult for the calf muscles to do its job in propelling us forward.  This can then result in tightness and fatigue in the muscles and eventually pain.

3. Knee pain

The forward shifting of the centre of gravity does not only affect the forefoot but it also puts a lot of extra loading on the knee cap.  It can cause problems with mal-tracking of the knee cap or painful knee joint simply from overloading.

4. Lower back pain

Another consequence of the anterior shift of the centre of gravity is the excessive lower back extension (arch back) in an attempt to balance our upper body on the legs.  Such posture changes how our body weight is distributed on the spine and can aggravate lower back pain.

Here are a few tips to look after your body when you wear high heels:

1. Have frequent timeouts when wearing them.  Have a sit to stretch out your forefoot and wriggle your toes when you can.
2. Minimise time of wearing them. For example, if you have to wear them at work. Consider wearing supportive flat footwear when getting to and from work, and only put the heels on when needed.
3. If possible – wear lower heels instead of high heels. The amount of load on the forefoot is proportional to the height of the heels.
4. Do frequent calf stretches (with barefoot not with heels on) – hold for 30secs in each of these positions on each side 3 times a day.

If you are experiencing any pain from wearing high heels.  Feel free to contact Capital Physiotherapy us at 0401 865 333 or email us at info@capitalphysiotherapy.com.au to speak with our friendly physiotherapists.

 

The moment a figure skater steps onto the ice, there is one dream they have in mind. Any true figure skater wants to be able to land that double salchow, that triple lutz, or the ever elusive quadruple jumps. 

Figure skating is both a highly technical sport and an art form. Not only does it involves strength, balance, control and coordination, figure skaters are require to perform with grace and elegance.

Figure skaters put their bodies through a tremendous stress.  Whether it is through their knee, hip, ankle or lower back; figure skaters know one principle in their everyday lives and that is “Practice makes perfect.”  This sport is all about repetitions.

Here are some of the most common injuries that we see for figure skaters/ Ice dancers:

• Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome + Jumpers Knee

• Ankle Sprains

• Shoulder Tendinopathy

• Disc Bulge

• Spondylolithesis

• Hip tendinopathy

• Pubic symphysis dysfunction

Figure skaters need to be conditioned not only on the ice, but off the ice as well.  Conditioning program off ice is equally important as on-ice training. Plyometric exercises, agility and dynamic stretches are vital for this sport.

At Capital Physiotherapy, our physiotherapists are trained to identify the most common injuries that comes with this sport and give conditioning program that not only treat the injured area but also strengthen our figure skaters so that we could ensure athletic longevity of the sport that they love.

We focus on the control of the hip, core, back and ankle to help ice dancers and/or figure skaters achieved their ultimate goal for this sport.

Some of the common training that we give for our figure skaters are as follow:

Box Jump:

Box jumps build explosive power to the figure skater’s legs and is vital of any jumps. Not only does it increase their leg strength but it also help with them with their overall balance and coordination for this sport.

Bosu Arabesque:

Bosu Arabesque helps figure skaters with balance and control for their core and at the same time improve their static strength for their glutes, core and back extensors. This exercise will help skaters improve their efficiency on ice which in turn improve their performance by making the movement looks effortless on ice.

Adductor Plank:

Adductor plank is also one of the more common exercises that we give our skaters as it helps with their core strength and hip adductor strength. This will help with the skater overall alignment when they are skating and help improve their balance and give their movement a graceful appearance.

The above are just a brief overview of how our physiotherapists in Capital Physiotherapy can help you to improve your skating skills and overall performance.

Whether it’s your loop, flip, lutz, salchow or axel and/or whether it’s your scratch, one foot, sit, camel, attitude, layback, flying camel or Bielmann spin. At Capital Physiotherapy, we are the movement specialist and we can help you get there ☺

We work closely with your coaches to help you achieved your highest level of skills and performance because your wellness is our pride!

If you do experience any aches and/or discomfort or if you simply wants to improve your skating skills please do not hesitate to contact us at 0401 865 333 or email us at info@capitalphysiotherapy.com.au.

 

We have talked about how dancing imposes completely different demands on the body compared to many other sports. Pole dancing, in particular, requires very specific set of skills that can create injuries to beginners and can be common cause of overuse injuries if the body is not conditioned well for it.

 These specific skills include:

• Supporting body weight dynamically (e.g. when your body is moving) on your hands and wrist over minimal support on the pole
• Significant core control to allow flow of arm and legs movement while holding body in the air (very often upside down as well)
• Remarkable flexibility and the ability to control it at the end range of motion
• Good mobility in mid back and lower back for great form in all those rolls and arches.
• Coordination and balance over little contact on the pole
• Great body awareness to understand body form presentation in the mid-air
• Endurance in grips to allow you to flow from one trick to another and to the next and more
• Good grippy skin for mounts and stability (you know what I mean if you do pole dance)

Physiotherapists at Capital Physiotherapy have sporting and dancing background themselves and therefore have a thorough understanding on dance related injuries.  Our therapists also strongly believe in strength and conditioning not only to prevent injuries but also improve the overall efficiency of how the dancers move during pole dancing.  

At Capital Physiotherapy, we provide a number of services that can complement your pole dance journey:

• Rehabilitation program specific to pole dancing to assist your return to dance journey
• Flexibility program to improve your splits, body arches and flow
• Clinical Pilates program customized to you, targeting the areas that require a tune up in control and strengthening
• Strength and conditioning to ensure your transition between tricks look effortlessly smooth

It is our pride that you are performing at your optimal potential in this dance and sport.  We can help you with improving your inverts, splits, climbs, body rolls, mounts, handstands and many more.

If you do experience any aches and discomfort or if you simply wants to improve your dancing skills please do not hesitate to contact us on 0401 865 333 or email us at info@capitalphysiotherapy.com.au.

 We look forward to working with you in improving your dancing and fitness!

Pain at the back of the ankle is one of the most common complaints we see in dancers. Most Physiotherapists will misdiagnose it as Achilles tendinopathy. However, that is not true for most dancers.

At Capital Physiotherapy, our therapists are all trained to efficiently and accurately diagnose posterior ankle pain injuries for dancers.

The “Pointe Position” that is an essential movement for many different types of dance, especially ballet, this position gives a nice elongation and alignment to the dancer’s legs. However, this position requires an extreme range of motion at the ankle and it also creates a high compressive force to the back of the dancer’s ankle. This position is not a “normal” position for our ankle to be in.

If done repetitively and incorrectly over time, it creates inflammation and swelling at the back of the dancer’s ankle. The back of the ankle is a pathway for many tendons, ligaments, nerve and blood supply to pass through to our foot. If the tendons that run through the back of the ankle get swollen/ inflamed, they take up more room than usual, which in turn compresses the back of the ankle even more leading to a syndrome which is known as the posterior ankle impingement.

Sign and symptoms that most dancer’s complaints are as followed:

• Pain felt in the back of the ankle usually with full plantar flexion (pointing) of the ankle 
• Pain with demi pointe and pointe work 
• Left untreated the pain can start even with normal walking
• Swelling at the back of the ankle 
• Referred pain can be felt in the calf or foot

This particular injury is normally caused by overused or poor technique during dancing. Most dancers who suffer from this injury will complain of the ankle pain happening over a gradual period of timeframe and the pain get worse when left untreated. There are no specific trauma or injuries that they could recall of which leads to this issues.

Our physiotherapists will assess the ankle and take a holistic approach to find out what might be the underlying causes for the injuries. We look at all possible contributing factors that could lead to the development of dancer’s injuries. This not only allows our dancers to recover from their injuries but also perform at their optimal potential at the shortest time possible. We firmly believe the power of educating our dancers, allowing them to understand the underlying causes of the injuries to help them improve and also prevent future injuries.

At Capital Physiotherapy, we are the dance physio specialist and we can help you get to your goal. We work closely with your coaches to help you achieved your highest level of skills and performance because your wellness is our pride!

If you do experience any aches and discomfort or if you simply wants to improve your dancing skills please do not hesitate to contact us on 0401 865 333 or email us at info@capitalphysiotherapy.com.au.