Occupational Injuries
Poor posture, the repetitive movement or sedentary nature of a job, weak supporting muscles around the pelvis and shoulders and weak spinal muscles can lead to occupational injury.
If your job requires heavy or repetitive lifting you will be vulnerable to back or neck problems, especially if your spinal muscles are not strong.
If your job is sedentary and involves many hours of sitting, you will be particularly vulnerable to postural stresses, causing stress to the ligaments, joints and muscles of the spine, arms and hands and OOS (occupational overuse) injuries.
We have expertise in diagnosing these occupational injuries and treating them. Using our spinal and strengthening equipment and home exercise prescriptions, we can recondition your muscles to give the spine and limbs extra strength. This takes stress off the spine and other joints and provides protection against further injury and damage.
Our treatment includes mobilisation, manipulation, postural advice, exercises and muscle reconditioning, massage, and acupuncture.
We can arrange a workplace assessment to observe your worksite for injury risk. Solutions and advice to reduce injuries will be discussed and treatment for recovery and prevention of further injuries can be arranged.
Pilates
We have physiotherapists trained in Pilates. We incorporate Pilates in patients’ exercise regimes and rehabilitation programmes.
Pilates is useful in teaching patients awareness of their body movements. In doing so, the muscles are educated to help control body movements through space. This helps reduce stress on surrounding tissues and helps to improve functional body movement .
Pilates can be a very useful tool in the treatment of many musculoskeletal problems.
Muscle Balance Assessments
When muscles are in balance the human body moves efficiently, requiring less energy and preventing unnecessary stress on the muscles, nerves, ligaments and joints.
For every muscle and its action there is another muscle providing the opposite action. For example, the biceps muscle on the front of the upper arm flexes the elbow. The triceps on the back of the arm extends the elbow.
Muscles can become weak, tight or overactive due to various stresses at work, sport or from injury. Once this imbalance occurs then extra demands are placed on the surrounding muscles, ligaments, nerves and joints. This in turn can cause overloading in other areas of the body, causing stress and eventually pain and injury far from the original site.
An example of this is weakness in some of the muscles around the hips, which in turn causes stress on tissues at the knees and ankles. This can lead to knee pain, ankle pain, shin pain, foot pain and Achilles tendon injuries, due to the overloading of these tissues. This is prevalent in runners where the tissue is constantly overloaded and the repetitive nature of running eventually causes breakdown of the tissue.
In a Muscle Balance Assessment our physiotherapists complete a comprehensive analysis of your musculoskeletal system and then provide a written report outlining clearly which muscles are weak and which muscles are tight. Recommendations regarding follow-up strengthening and stretching regimes are outlined.
To correct any imbalances you will be given a regime of strengthening exercises, utilising our MedX exercise machines which will target your specific weak muscles and a programme of exercises and stretches that can be performed at home.
Patients have found this regime extremely beneficial as their individual needs are addressed, meaning they can return to their chosen activities with confidence and a well-balanced body.
Seminars:
We can provide seminars for corporate clients and businesses on the following topics:
- The importance of muscle balance for office workers for occupational injury prevention
- Why strengthening the spinal muscles is critical in the treatment and prevention of back and neck pain
- Prevention of recreational and sporting injuries
To book a seminar please contact Functional Physio on 09 623 0787