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PHYSIOTHERAPY
Physiotherapy is a science-based profession that involves assessing, treating and preventing movement disorders due to physical disabilities, trauma or illness.
Physiotherapy Fields
Physiotherapy is used to treat a wide range of conditions that affect your muscles, joints, bones, ligament, tendon and nerves including: burns and plastics surgery rehabilitation, cardio-respiratory physiotherapy, chronic pain management, child developmental assessment/therapy, gerontology, neurological rehabilitation including stroke and head injuries, orthopaedics, child developmental and congenital problems, sports injuries, women’s health and palliative care.
Physiotherapy Treatments
Physiotherapists are trained to assess your condition, diagnose the problem and help you understand the issue. Your treatment plan will take into account your lifestyle, activities, and general health. The common treatment methods that physiotherapists employ include: exercise programs to improve mobility and strengthen muscles, joint manipulation and mobilisation to reduce pain and stiffness, muscle re-education to improve control, airway clearance techniques and breathing exercises, soft tissue mobilisation (massage), trigger point therapy and hydrotherapy.
At Alpro-Physio, our physiotherapists are firm believers in curing your problems and not just treating the symptoms. We understand that you don’t want to spend all day on the rehabilitation bed, so we get to the root of the cause right from the first visit. Our first step in every case is to determine the cause and peel back the layers of inter-locking causes. Our ability to treat patients better, faster is dependent on our history of effective differential diagnosis. Each of our physiotherapists are invested in keeping current with the latest thoughts and practices.
A Hands-On Approach
We are a ‘hands-on’ clinic. We combine muscle activation, strengthening, core, balance, proprioceptive and stretching exercises to complement all of our manual mobilisation, joint manipulation and trigger point therapy. Manual physical therapy techniques are aimed at relaxing tense muscles and restricted joints, in order to reduce pain and increase flexibility.
In general, soft tissue work applies pressure to the soft tissues of the body such as the muscles. This pressure helps relaxes muscles, increases circulation, breaks up scar tissue and relieves pain in the soft tissues. Mobilisation or manipulation uses measured movements of varying speed (slow to fast), force (gentle to forceful) and distances. These calculated movements help loosen tight tissues around a joint, reduce pain in a joint and surrounding tissue and generally help with flexibility and alignment.
Constant Communication
We believe that it is important for you to understand what your problem is, how it occurred and how to manage it. Our physiotherapists work closely with you to help you understand the treatment process and what you can do to help. This will speed up recovery, prevent recurrence and reduce your dependency on your therapist.
FACILITATED STRETCH THERAPY (FST)
Contrary to popular belief, stretching isn’t exclusive to athletes, neither is it just only beneficial to the body after a workout session. Regular stretching helps to relieve tense and tight muscles that could also be attributed to long hours at a desk-bound job or muscles that have tightened due to pain from previous injuries.
The importance of Flexibility
However on our own, we are only able to stretch the muscles on the surface and not the deeper tissues and muscles. The importance of being able to stretch deeper muscles and tissues revolve around one word – Flexibility.
One may wonder, why do I need to be flexible? I’m not aiming to be a gymnast, neither am I an athlete. Well, flexibility helps your body to move in the most optimal form – minimising your risk of injury and preventing the onset of muscle strains and degenerative joint disorders.
What is Facilitated Stretch Therapy (FST)?
Facilitated Stretch Therapy is a special stretch program design by our physiotherapists from Alpro-Physio. The service entails stretching the fascia tissue, soft tissue and mobilising joints, all of which are not targeted during a regular DIY stretching session.
FST stretches the surface and deep muscles and tissue by using a combination of techniques including oscillatory movements, passive and active stretching, joint mobilisation and massages techniques. Each of the different technique helps with a different purpose. For example, oscillations helps to relax muscles and move synovial fluids (natural lubricants) in your joints to smoothen movements. While passive and active stretching involves lengthening a target muscle group, holding a resistive force provided by the client, and increase lengthening upon relaxation. For maximal effectiveness, deep tissue massage techniques are incorporated while the muscles are placed at their stretched position.
Stretching and pain can be expected but should be done within tolerable limits. Hence it is very important for the therapist to have good communication to ensure a comfortable stretch session. People with high pain tolerance should indicate to the therapist promptly when the stretch feel unusually painful.
Why can’t I stretch on my own?
Stretching on your own is recommended for daily maintenance, however you will not be able to achieve the same results that you would get if you were to come for a facilitated stretching session. It is important to engage the services of an experienced and qualified individual as inappropriate stretching may lead to over-exertion and injuries.
What are the benefits of facilitated stretching?
Facilitated stretching aims to improve mobility, flexibility, strength and circulation. It engages an entire network of muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments, and bones. This results in enhancement of physical performance and improvement in general well being.
Pain and soreness can also be reduced or eliminated and the positive difference of going through a facilitated stretching can be felt immediately after a session.
Who can benefit from facilitated stretching?
Everyone can stand to benefit from having regular facilitated stretching sessions, especially the following groups of people:
Individuals with chronic pain
Individuals with mobility issues
Sedentary office workers
Athletes
People who are not suited to do yoga due to restrictions or precautions into extreme ranges.
Why choose us?
Here at Alpro-Physio, we go far beyond the surface. During your 60 minute session, our team of stretch therapists will focus on your problem areas and each session is customised to your needs. Sometimes your therapist will choose to spend more time on certain areas deemed necessary to achieve the expected therapeutic effect. Facilitated stretch therapy is a safe and effective way to maintain your body’s physical function and wellness. We ensure this by maintaining constant communication during the session to ensure that the stretch is at the right intensity.
PILATES
As part of Functional Rehabilitation, Pilates addresses the underlying structural imbalances in the body that lead to chronic back pain.
Principles of Pilates
Pilates is an exercise method developed by Joseph Pilates who originally called his work ‘contrology’. Other instructors have distilled six principles that build the foundation of every movement in Pilates and every standard must be present in each exercise throughout the entire workout.
Centering – Physically bringing the focus to the center of the body, the powerhouse area between the lower ribs and pubic bone.
Concentration – Bringing full attention to the exercise and doing it with full commitment.
Control – Doing every Pilates exercise with complete muscular control.
Precision – Sustaining awareness throughout each movement with the appropriate placement, alignment relative to other body parts, and trajectory for each part of the body.
Breath – Thinking of the lungs as a bellow, using them to strongly pump the air fully in and out of the body.
Flow – Doing the exercise with fluidity, grace, and ease are goals, connecting the energy in all body parts.
Pilates equipment such as the reformer, are very good mirrors of one’s flow and concentration as they tend to bang around and suddenly become quite “machine-like” if one loses ones control and flow.
Pilates Mat vs Reformer
Working against resistance is essential to the classic Pilates exercises, which are designed to train the body’s “powerhouse” – the abdomen, lower back, hips and buttocks. You can accomplish that using either a mat where your own body weight creates resistance or a reformer where pulleys and springs create resistance. This resistance can provide a more challenging strength and endurance workout than mat classes, and may also produce visible results sooner.
Pilates after an Injury
The reformer is a great way to start exercising after an injury. The equipment offers varying levels of difficulty and combined with the fundamental principles of Pilates – precise movements performed in a safe way – will help you regain your strength and posture. Workouts on a Pilates Reformer require your muscle groups to move through a full range of motion. Improved flexibility decreases strain and stress on your joints and muscles, and reduces stiffness, soreness and the chance of injury. The aim is to help you perform everyday movements with less strain and fatigue.
Pilates for Back Pain
If you have back injuries or muscular imbalance, Pilates is a great way to regain your strength. The focus on postural work during our classes will help your spinal alignment and continued practice will also help decrease the risk of future injuries. In our Pilates classes, our instructors will also guide and teach you the awareness of movement habits that may stress the spine, and help you change these habits that preserve neutral alignment.
Pilates during Pregnancy
Incorporating Pilates during your pregnancy will help strengthen a woman’s core muscles, which can in turn help them prevent back pain and improve mobility. A Pilates Reformer workout places emphasis on restoring the spine’s natural curves and on improving stability and mobility in the lumbo-pelvic region. Our Pilates instructors will help you focus on strengthening the thoracic extensors and lengthening the chest muscles to counteract the increased curves in the upper part of the back.
SPORTS MASSAGE THERAPY
Sports massage therapy services aims to rebalance your body, relieve aches and strains arising due to musculoskeletal issues. The benefits of Sports Massage are well proven to relieve pain, increase range of joint movement and aid damaged muscle tissue in recovering faster.
Outcome based massage
Sports massages are outcome based which involves the assessment and treatment of the musculoskeletal dysfunction. During your first appointment, our therapists will conduct a brief assessment to understand your current health, medical history and lifestyle habits. This is so the therapist can find out more and work on your problem areas rather than giving you a full body massage.
Sports performance and recovery
A sports massage can help your body to recover more efficiently after a workout and help you perform better during a race. It stimulates blood circulation and lymph fluids, breaking down adhesions or knots in muscles, allowing for a wider range of movement. Blood circulation is vital for full recovery which ensures injury prevention in the long run. Remedial massage for sports are ideal before and after exercise to ensure full recovery from the last race and improved performance for the next race.
Injury rehabilitation
Remedial massage stimulates the easing of preexisting stiffness and tension as well as the repairing of tissues in the body. If you are suffering from a musculoskeletal dysfunction, it is important to see a qualified physiotherapist to get your condition assessed before moving on to Sports Massage Therapy.
Aches and strains
Muscle tension, stress and fatigue can affect all of us, whether we are competitive or recreational athletes, busy housewives or stressed executives. Many of our clients report feeling those knots being “ironed out” post-massage. Musculoskeletal discomforts can arise due to various reasons – it could be due to poor posture in the office, housework strains that arise from repeated activity such as wringing wet laundry. Even prolonged usage of mobile devices can cause various aches and strains. Back and neck aches are becoming a common epidemic in the modern society. Sports Massage Therapy can relieve the tightness, solve your aches and rebalance your body so you can feel comfortable again.
Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD)
Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD) is a therapeutic massage used in a variety of medical treatments such as cancer patients after surgery. Lymph is a liquid that circulates through the lymphatic system that gets rid harmful chemicals in the body. Manual Lymphatic Drainage encourages the natural drainage of the lymph and is especially useful for clients whose lymph nodes are swollen.
WORKPLACE HEALTH
As part of Functional Wellness, Workplace Health or Office Ergonomics is a crucial step towards preventing musculoskeletal problems.
Workplace Safety & Health
The World Heath Organisation has advised that the workplace, along with the school, hospital and marketplace, has been established as one of the priority settings for health promotion into the 21st century. The idea of the health promoting workforce is becoming increasingly relevant as more organisations recognise that success in the marketplace can only be achieved with a healthy, qualified and motivated workforce.
Back Pain Epidemic
In the 2012 Global Medical Trends study by Tower Watson, Musculoskeletal/Back Condition is No 5. in the Global Top Conditions that cause the highest prevalence of medical claims. It is often caused by ordinary work activities such as sitting in an office chair or heavy lifting.
Applying ergonomic principles – the study of the workplace as it relates to the worker – can help prevent work-related back pain and back injury and help maintain a healthy back.
The aim of an ergonomics program is to adapt the workplace to a specific worker, dependent on the job description, required tasks, and physical make up of the employee performing those tasks.
Ergonomic Services
Core Concepts has a list of health programmes that includes talks, on-site assesments and evaluations. We can also tailor customised programmes to suit corporate needs in various industries.
Workshop and seminars
Ergonomic Site Assessments
Musculoskeletal Health Screening
For enquiries on workshops, seminars or for customised programmes, kindly email us at alprophysio@gmail.com or call us at 6013 620 0688 /06 6013388.
