Protection

If you can limit putting any weight through it, this is the REST portion so that you can minimise bleeding, or further tissue injury. 

The aim here is to give a bit of respite but not too much.  So look to unload within those first 1-3 days, and then you can gently start to put weight through. Use pain as your guide. Prolonged rest is no longer advisable. Get in and see us for an evaluation under ACC so we can guide you back to better movement and comfort.  Our osteopaths can also work in conjunction with your physio to help reduce your pain whilst you are undertaking a rehab programme. 


Elevate
This one stays - elevation helps with swelling. If practical, place your affected area above the heart as often as possible. This improves the drainage of the injury and aids in clearing excess fluid from the area. If you cannot place the affected area above the heart, getting it as high as possible will still do the job.

Really gentle movements are helpful in the early stages of your injury to help with decreasing the swelling, but use pain as a guide, keeping it pain free.  If your swelling isn't budging, or you are in too much pain, our team can assist until you can do the movements yourself.  Our massage therapists specialise in flushing out stubborn fluid retention using very gentle techniques.

 
Avoid Anti-Inflammatories
Anti-inflammatories is in the name; they prevent inflammation. Inflammation after an injury, although painful and uncomfortable, has a role in getting you better. Signs of inflammation mean the body is healing and repairing your injury. So if high doses of anti-inflammatories are taken, this will delay your healing long term. 


Compression
Compression, along with elevation are helpful tools to use. Using taping or compression bandages helps to limit the swelling AND helps support any damage to the tissue and reduces bleeding.  Win-Win. It also feels better to be supported as much as possible. 


​Education
Ok, so this is where we come in. Regardless of your injury, coming in and getting it checked can get you on the right path quicker. It may seem like a small situation, you may not have even been injured, instead...nearly fallen or nearly rolled an ankle. Getting checked makes sure nothing else went into spasm or is contributing to your situation. 

If you have been referred by your GP to a physio and you are on the right path with a rehab exercise/stretch plan, we can assist with your pain and discomfort with our hands on treatment. No one likes to do things that hurt! We can help alleviate that discomfort so you can do that rehab plan.  If you have not been referred to a physio, we can do this for you! Our assessments and treatments will ensure you are on the right path to a full recovery. 

LOAD

We see a lot of people who have been given stretches/exercises that don't work or can't be done............yet.
Our job is to get you to a place where you are able to start moving your injury; appropriately.  This will promote repair, tissue healing and restores your capacity to tolerate movements. Because the body responds positively to appropriate movement, we need to find out where you are at and what movements we can give you to help rehab you back to pre-injury.   
​

OPTIMISM
This again falls on us to make sure that you understand the problem, how long it will take and what you need to do, in conjunction with our treatments. The reality is, our aim is to get you back to being as self-sufficient as possible, so you no longer need our help. When you know what to do, then you feel much better and in control of your recovery - feeling confident in your post-injury journey is a non-negotiable.



VASCULARISATION   
Under our guidance, pain-free cardiovascular exercise is advised as part of your rehab to optimise your blood flow within your body, and to and from the injured site. Done right, this type of exercise also helps to provide pain relief: you can do more, move better and it can reduce any dependence on pain medication. We will work with you to discover what form of exercise is possible.  We may suggest after 3-4 days low impact exercises such as using the pool, walking, cross-trainer, rower or using a stationery bike.  


EXERCISE
This really sums up everything that we have discussed above.  The exercises we want to provide you with are all the ones specific to your injury. Ones that help provide you with increased strength, better movement, and greater awareness for a better recovery.  Our recovery management must work with you to provide specific exercises and stretches according to where you are at and what you are able to do. 

Our explanation will also look into WHY this might have happened in the first place. For example, if you have sprained an ankle, and you are prone to ankle sprains, we would also look at how we can prevent this from occurring again for you long term. 

We hope this information has been helpful and you will give PEACE a chance, because perhaps all soft tissue injuries need is LOVE. ✌️ 💕

Dubois B, Esculier J. (2020). Soft-tissue injuries simply need PEACE and LOVE. British Journal of Sports Medicine;54:72-73.

Have you got pain between the shoulder blades?
​
 Do you have an area of soreness that you feel in-between your shoulder blades or even lower? 
It could be coming from that area or perhaps it's coming from the front?
 
Your shoulder joint is so movable and even though the joint has a similar configuration to the hip joint being a ball and socket joint, the shoulder joint moves much more freely and that is what makes the shoulder such a COMPLEX joint.  
 
The shoulder joint has super strong ligaments and so many muscles holding the joint in place and did you know to get that much movement this joint is like a basketball sitting on a teacup.
 ​

​It is well known that exercise can help with the management of chronic pain, but it is often met with uncertainty of what to do.  Sometimes homework given in the form of physical activity just does not happen.  So when the words, "you must do these exercises" come out of the mouth of health professionals, what goes through your mind?

• Is it met with enthusiasm?
• Does it cause you to run a mile?  Or,
• Do you bury your head pretending you are exempt from anything physical.

 
Being prescribed exercises for your rehabilitation are given from Health professionals who have the best interests at heart -  they want you to get better.  But what happens if there is a mismatch?

Persistent Pain

Your pain is real, 100%. When acute injuries occur we now understand danger messages are sent through to the spinal cord and up to your brain. It is here your brain evaluates “how dangerous is this really” and if the brain believes it is dangerous enough it will have the outcome of pain and will conclude you need to do 
something about it – taking action to protect that area.

Becoming more sensitive

Some pain can be considered an ‘everyday’ experience. For example, let’s look at a netball player, they can have an overzealous contact with another player to contest the ball, which can send them spiraling onto the court straight onto their hip or, a weird catch of the ball could have really hurt a finger or thumb. Despite these ‘hurts’ they would have shrugged it off and continued to play on.

How we come to feel and experience pain

In Part 1 we touched on the necessity of pain and how it is essential to our survival – our own alarm system which lets us know we have been hurt somewhere on our body. 

We all know when we experience pain it is an unpleasant experience but did you know it is also a sensory and emotional experience.

Pain is an unpleasant experience, even more so when it becomes persistent. 

You may not like experiencing pain but the reality is pain’s a normal part of life and is essential to our survival.  Pain occurs when the brain perceives damage or there is a threat of damage to the body and it wants action. 

Massage can certainly relax you, but did you know massage therapy can do more than that.

​Here are 3 good reasons why regular massage is good for the mind and body and why you should book an appointment...

1. Lessens Anxiety and Depression = Less Stress!

Stress is a fact of life but being stressed out is not.  Regular massage into your working week helps you to keep stress levels in check – be it from work deadlines, extremely busy schedules, exams or personal circumstances.  
Stress from sitting all day often manifests in the shoulders and neck.  Be aware that long term postural stress can start appearing as low back pain and into your gluteal muscles.  Massage can counteract all the sitting that you do as it works on your body’s nervous system by decreasing the feelings of bodily tension and tightness, at the same time increasing the feel-good hormones serotonin and oxytocin. 
​Clients often report a sense of clarity and perspective, and they are impressed by how massage not only improving their ability to move better but also gives them a restful sleep.

2. As part of your fitness routine

There is nothing quite like the feeling you get after a good deep tissue massage, and elite athletes would think of this as unmissable and crucial to their training programme.  Whether you are training hard at Olympic level, are a regular gym goer or an office worker, everyone is likely to experience discomfort or tight muscular pain at some point.  Massage keeps your muscles supple allowing you to move better. It is a great preventative for injury and can also prevent the onset of fatigue especially if you are undertaking a high volume of training with little rest.  Add in the feel-good benefits and you have yourself a recipe for a successful performance.

3. Treating Pain
If you have headaches, discomfort through arthritis, or an injury, massage therapy can help.  Massage is a drug free, non-invasive treatment.  Massage can be very helpful in alleviating pain and discomfort by increasing blood flow and circulation to the area providing the tissues with much needed nutrition, aiding in your recovery.  Massage has been shown to be just as successful as other treatments with lower back pain. 

Massage can help relax and decrease stress, be incorporated into your fitness routine for better performance or used as drug free pain relief improving your well-being and ultimately that goal for better quality of life.