With the holiday season and beach holidays upon us it is worth looking at the injuries people present with in the practice after returning from holidays. One of these is shin splints. Shin splints present as a dull, aching pain and tenderness in the front of the lower leg adjacent to the shin bone. There…
Details
Plantar fasciitis is one of those injuries that many people have never heard of until they experience it themselves, only to discover there are many other sufferers out there. What is plantar fasciitis and what does it have to do with the upcoming holidays? Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the plantar fascia on the underside of…
Details
The drought is taking its toll not only in my home in the New England area but across much of Australia, and as most of you would know, its effects are wide reaching. An unexpected effect is injury caused by carting buckets of water around. We have had several people present to the clinic with…
Details
Hip or back? Which is it? Hip or back? Which is it? Back problems can masquerade as hip problems and conversely hip problems can present as back pain. There is a lot of overlap and I often see it in the practice when someone seeks treatment for their hip when in fact the pain is…
Details
The life of a tradie is one that is particularly physical and involves a lot of repeated bending, lifting and squatting. I have met a few older tradies in the clinic who have come in with lower back, neck and shoulder problems. I have also met a few who have changed jobs because of the…
Details
Farmers are a group of people that often present to my clinic with lower back pain. Their job involves a huge variation in the physical tasks they do. This ranges from repeated and heavy lifting, bending, prolonged sitting on a tractor twisting repeatedly in the seat, and activities like driving a quad bike or a…
Details
And Christmas is just around corner! Are you fit for the festive season? With only eight weeks to go until Christmas and the holiday season, and what may seem like an endless round of parties and shopping, it’s a good time to take stock and and pay attention to your personal health and well being.…
Details
Last week we looked at the basics of what can cause back pain including what activities can lead to back pain driven by disc problems . We often adopt poor postures for greater amounts of time than we used to, mainly due to our use of hi-tech devices including computers and smart phones. Sitting frequently…
Details
Commonly someone with back pain will just put up with the pain, not understanding what the problem is, and not knowing what they can do to manage it. Over the next few weeks I will be looking at back care, each week focusing on different groups of people involved with specific work or styles of…
Details
Staying strong as you age is critical to helping you stay in the work force and allow you to keep doing what you want and need to do. It is important to focus on exercise programs that are likely to enhance performance of daily activities such as getting out of a chair and climbing stairs…
Details