Praxis What You Preach Blogs
Why The “Wait And See” Approach May Leave You With A Poorer Outcome.
We are all guilty of it. Putting off seeing someone about that niggle. "it will be right" we tell ourselves as we trudge on through life, sport and recreation. The "wait and see" approach, when applied to acute musculoskeletal injuries, refers to a common tendency for...
Hamstring Strain Injuries: Lessons from Personal Experience and the Latest Research
Discover why hamstring strains are so common in running athletes, including personal insights from elite-level sports physiotherapy. This article explores hamstring injury causes, early symptoms, prevention strategies like Nordic hamstring exercises, and the best rehabilitation practices to recover stronger and reduce reinjury risk.
Understanding the “side strain” in cricket fast bowlers: Your guide to rehabilitation
Cricket Side Strains in Fast Bowlers: Causes, Prevention, and Rehabilitation Cricket, a sport demanding significant physical prowess, especially from fast bowlers, often sees athletes pushing their bodies to the limit. This intensity, while integral to performance,...
Split Squat vs Squat vs Deadlift: How to tailor your lower body training
The age old question: What's the best gym activity for my sport? Well - the answer should always be "it depends". Even the same athlete playing the same sport will have different requirements at different parts of a season. Generally speaking, there are some common...
Unilateral vs Bilateral Training – Part 2: Performance outcomes
In part 1 of this blog, we discussed the generalities associated with bilateral vs unilateral training. In part two, we discuss the findings of a scientific systematic review and metaanalysis (essentially getting all the papers published in the area and collating the...
Unilateral vs Bilateral Training: Part 1 – Your Comparative Guide
We often get asked what are the benefits of one form of exercise versus another. Sometimes this is as simple as discussing the difference between cardio and weights. Today's article focuses on the difference between a two types of gym based loading programs Bilateral...
Plantar Fasciopathy: Understanding how to heal your heel pain
Feel like your walking on glass in the mornings? Those first few steps after a long period of sitting hurt the underside of your heel? Struggling to stand at the end of a long day due to your feet? If so, then you may have plantar fasciopathy, also known as plantar...
Stress Fractures in Young Cricket Fast bowlers: A persistent challenge
Lumbar stress fractures are one of the most serious and persistent injuries affecting cricket fast bowlers, especially in adolescents. The repetitive, high-load forces of the bowling action place significant strain on the lower back—particularly the L4 and L5...
Understanding Sever’s Disease: A Common Foot Condition in Active Growing Children
Understanding Sever’s Disease in Growing Children Sever’s disease, medically known as calcaneal apophysitis, is a common heel condition affecting active children, especially during growth spurts. Despite its name, it’s not a “disease” in the traditional sense, but an...
Knee Osteoarthritis: Is ‘Bone on Bone’ a painful life sentence?
Knee Osteoarthritis is a common ailment responsible for pain, loss of function and reduced quality of life Rates of knee OA are set to increase Whilst there is no cure, exercise therapy under the guidance of a physiotherapist is considered a front line treatment to...
Tibialis Anterior – The missing link to pain free legs and performance?
Shin splints? Painful knee with jumping? Recurrent ankle sprains? These are the types of injuries we fix day in and day out at Praxis Physio. There are a number of recommended paths for rehabilitation in these injuries backed by research and our clinical experience,...
Fact or Fiction Friday – Lower back Pain and MRI’s
I need to get an MRI to help with the management of my lower back pain Answer - FICTION The EvidenceIn a recent narrative review, Wang and colleagues (2018) concluded that MRI imaging in the early stages of lower back pain can have detrimental effects including more...
Blood Flow Restriction – more than just a gimmick?
Summary: Restriction of blood flow purportedly creates an internal environment of greater stress, thus greater adaptation Importantly, the greater adaptation can occur with less absolute load to damaged or painful tissues Started in healthy population to build muscles...
Jumper’s Knee (Patellar Tendinopathy)
If you play a jumping sport like volleyball, basketball or AFL and feel a nagging pain at the front of your knee when you jump, land or change direction, you may be developing patellar tendinopathy. This article explains why it happens, who’s most at risk, and how physio-led rehab helps you get back to full power.
Peri-Menopause and injury – your guide to the most common issues
Menopause alters hormones and results in physical changes These changes typically result in increased injury risk or activity reduction The most common injuries affect structures such as the plantar fascia, tendons of the hip and shoulder Appropriate exercise and...
Knee Pain
Do you have a good knee and a bad knee? Do your knees snap, crackle and pop? Do you ever wish you could walk for longer without pain or not be worried about how your knees will feel in the morning if you were living your life to the fullest? Knee pain is a very common...
FACT OR FICTION FRIDAY || All rotator cuffs tears need surgery.
Answer: FICTION. The devil is in the detail! The rotator cuff is a group of 4 muscles that aid in providing stability through range for the shoulder joint, particularly overhead. There are multiple risk factors for RC tears, but most are down to overactivity of the...
FACT OR FICTION FRIDAY || Overuse injuries need rest and are because I’m doing too much
ANSWER: FICTION (Mostly - stay with us here) 🙊 Do you keep getting injured when you get back into your usual training after a period of rest 😤? The first graph shows a 65-day cycle of an Olympic athlete. The red lines indicate when the athlete was injured. Looking at...
Stingers AKA Neural traction injuries
SUMMARY: Stingers are essentially a tractioning of the neural system This can cause pain, movement and sensation changes Chronic traction to the nervous system can have a cumulative effect on nerve function The more damage to the nerve, the more serious the outcome We...
FACT OR FICTION FRIDAY || I’m too old to lift weights!
Answer: FICTION 🙊 Progressive strength training in the elderly (>60 years) is efficient, even with higher intensities, to improve bone health, pack on muscle and retain function. And not surprisingly, side effects are rare! Strength training increases muscle strength...
FACT OR FICTION FRIDAY || Knee Pain and Scans
Answer: FICTION 🙊 What Is Osteoarthritis, Really?“Osteoarthritis” is a common term that gets used by our patients as an explanation of their knee pain. But is this always the case 🤔? What the Evidence Shows🔍In a recent systematic review estimates of osteoarthritis...
Shoulder Pain
Do you have a “good” shoulder and a “bad” shoulder? Have you been putting up with that grumbly shoulder for weeks, months or even years? Shoulder pain can put a real dampener on your activity levels — but it doesn’t need to....
Lower Back Pain
Sharp catch of pain? Ongoing aches? Trouble getting out of bed or with long car rides? Stiff and sore when you are bending over to pick things up? Referred pain into you legs? If you've experienced any of these symptoms recently you are not alone. Lower back pain is a...
Sporting Injuries
Are you a weekend warrior who is plagued by injury or an aspiring athlete trying to find that extra 1% or somewhere in between? We know how frustrating it can sitting on the side lines and not being able to be involved in the things that make you happy. All the Praxis...
Shin Splints: Causes, Treatment & How to Get Back to Running Stronger
Key Takeaways Shin splints (MTSS) are an overuse bone stress injury. Training load errors are the biggest contributor. Hip strength and force control play a major role. Early management prevents stress fractures. Strength + smart loading beats rest alone. Shin Splints...
Fact or Fiction – Preseason Training
Answer - FACT With preseason training just around the corner, this blog is a timely reminder that turning up to preseason training consistently will give athletes the best chance of being able to play most games next year. The EvidenceMurray et al (2017) reported that...
Fact or Fiction – Strength Training
I’ve been doing my exercises for two weeks religiously and I’m no stronger! This will never work! ANSWER: Fiction How Long Does It Actually Take?How long does it take to have strength gains? The answer is actually in two parts. Increasing muscle size (hypertrophy)...
Chronic Groin Pain (Athletic Pubalgia)
GROIN PAIN Groin pain, referred to also as athletic pubalgia, is a common problem for a number of athletes, particularly those who engage in sports that require specific use (or overuse) of lower abdominal muscles and the proximal muscles of the thigh. Predominantly,...
Podcast
PODCAST Something a little different for Praxis Physio recently with our principal physio Stephen, having a chat with Matt from Back Yourself fitness. The latest episode is all about rehab, recovery, Praxis Pilates and physio assessments. Some interesting stories...
FACT OR FICTION: Meniscus Tears and knee surgery
All meniscal tears need surgery 🤔🔪🔪🔪🔪 ???ANSWER: FICTION What the Research ShowsIn a recent meta-analysis (multiple studies combined), Kise and colleagues concluded that a small but inconsequential benefit is seen from treatment interventions that involve arthroscopy....
ROTATOR CUFF TEARS || Do I Need Surgery?
That age old question in which the answers seems to be becoming increasingly more difficult to answer. We have looked over the research and tried to simply things for those who are unsure about what to do with their shoulder. SUMMARY: A rotator cuff (RC) tear is a...
FACT OR FICTION – I’m in pain, I’m damaging something
FICTION! Stay with me on this one as it can be confusing. What Is Pain, Really?Pain = An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. The Nail Through the BootThe best way to sum it up is the above photo. This unlucky...
FACT OR FICTION: Is running bad for your knees
We at Praxis think that patient education is the cornerstone of good physiotherapy. We particularly enjoy discussing people's understanding of their injuries or the beliefs around certain activities. As such we are starting "Fact or Fiction Friday's" in which we...
Pilates: Mat vs Reformer Pilates (Part 2 of 3)
In part one, we unearthed that pilates has a role to play in reducing the severity of chronic lower back pain. In part two, we tackle a common question from our patients and delve further into the research to see if there is a difference between mat and reformer...
Pilates: Reforming our back pain rehabilitation (Part 1 of 3)
With our 30 day pilates challenge starting today, we thought we would take a look at why we love pilates so much for our patients, and what some of the benefits are. Part 1 looks at how pilates affect those with chronic lower back pain. Part 2 looks at the difference...
Kicking Goals! Praxis looks at AFL kicking mechanics
KICKING As per usual the Praxis team delved into an area of clinical interest to better understand the demands of our athletes. Last session we discussed throwing technique which you can read about here. SUMMARY There are differences in kicking techniques when...