One treatment technique that I use regularly in the clinic is joint mobilisation. You might be familiar with the high velocity manipulation that chiropractors and osteopaths often use on patients. The style of mobilisations that sports therapists, physios and myotherapists use are much more subtle and are less likely to create that loud "cracking" sound that a chiro or osteo manipulation often does.

There are two main main instances when I use joint mobilisation.

Joint mobilisation is used to;

1. Modulate pain.

2. Treat joint dysfunctions that limit a joint's range of motion.

In order to treat soft tissue dysfunction it's essential that any underlying joint structures are moving and functioning at an optimal level. When I mobilise a joint, certain techniques cause neurophysiological effects which inhibit local pain receptors and can reduce muscle guarding and spasm.

There are also some nutritional benefits of getting your joints moving. A restricted joint won't receive the normal exchange of nutrients at the joint surface. Poor nutrition to these areas can lead to the degeneration of joint cartilage. Mobilisations can also improve joint motion by reducing restrictions caused by scar tissue or connective tissue adhesions. There are certain joint conditions contraindicate joint mobilisation. For instance, some joints move too much so I will need to focus on strengthening the joint or strapping it up to reduce the movement. Other joints can become fused which also stops me from attempting mobilisations. If you are feeling tight and restricted or supper from chronic pain, the best thing to do is give me a call or drop into my Gisborne and Brunswick clinic. Let's get you moving functionally.

People often ask me how I ended up working as a Sports Therapist. My background originally comes from sport as an athlete and a coach. I spent my early twenties road cycling at an elite level in Australia and the United States. In 2006 my focus shifted from racing to coaching and professional bike fitting and I began working with many cyclists who were either injured or coming back from injury. In about 2010 I made the call to return to study to learn more about sports science and injuries. The next 5 years were spent at The Australian College of Sports Therapy where I learned the ins and outs in the treatment and management of musculoskeletal injuries. Over my five years at ACST I thoroughly enjoyed my clinical practice component so made the call to start working as a clinical sports therapist.

Instead of just working with professional sportspeople I now enjoy treating patients from a wide range of backgrounds including young kids and the elderly. People come to me with a variety of complaints such as foot pain, clicky knees or headaches. As a Sports Therapist I am trained to specialize in the assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries and dysfunction. A Clinical Sports Therapist or Myotherapist sits somewhere between a remedial massage therapist, an osteopath, exercise physiologist and a physio. A variety of modalities are used in my clinics such as, Joint Mobilization - Electrotherapy Myofascial Release - Massage Thermotherapy - Strapping & Taping Stretching - Cryotherapy Corrective Exercise - Nutrition In 2017 I went back to study again to complete a Health Science degree in complimentary medicine. Majoring in nutrition and pain management, I will look forward to graduating at the end of 2019 and will register professionally as a naturopath and nutritionist. In the mean time I will enjoy helping all of my clients manage their pain and injuries, and continue to offer professional bike fitting for cyclists from across Australia.

I see many clients who are overweight and at this time of year are motivated to strip down to a healthy weight. It's important to set realistic weight loss goals to successfully keep the weight off in the long term.

A common mistake made by dieters is that they set themselves a goal where they want to lose large amounts of weight quickly. Often motivated dieters will achieve early weight-loss success especially if they choose meal replacement diets or eating plans that remove certain food groups like a "no-carb" diet. Research shows however that diets promising quick results are not effective in the long term for most people.

As a general guideline for setting weight loss goals, losing 5% of your body weight is an achievable target over about three months. So a 100kg person should aim to lose 5kg in three months. Even if a 5% reduction is not enough to get you down to a healthy weight range this small loss can still have life changing benefits for most people and once you have achieved the goal you can plan your next goal.Another way to set a sustainable goal is to shoot for a half kilogram weight loss per week. Now I know this seems like a negligible loss but if you think about it, losing half a kilo per week for a year is 25kg! (Now please don't take that as permission to set a 25kg weight goal for the year, small increments are much more achievable). Losing anything over 1kg a week puts you at a high risk of regaining the weight later.

One frustration that people trying to lose weight will run into is weight loss plateauing. You are doing all the right things, good diet and an exercise regimen but for some unknown reason you can't shed any more kilos. This is normal so don't get disheartened. It is explained by a thing called set-point theory. Basically the body has a pretty good system at trying to regulate our bodyweight, when you lose weight your metabolism will slow down and your body basically tries to get back to it's original weight. Now the set point changes slowly so if you can lose that 5% bodyweight, with a bit of time that will become the new set-point that your body tries to maintain Your goal should be to maintain the 5% loss at this point whilst your body adapts. Research shows that people who lose 4-8kg per year are likely to maintain their weight loss compared to those who lose large amounts of weight.

Now weight loss seems simple in theory. Eat less energy than you burn and you will lose weight.The first part of this equation is fairly simple, we can control our energy intake fairly well with some discipline and good meal planning but the "energy out" part is extremely complex as our bodies metabolise foods differently and tries to maintain that set-point.

There are many diets out there that people can follow. A bunch of academics have done some of the hard work for you here to figure out which diets are actually healthy and effective.The Australian dietary guidelines recommend that for a weight loss diet, 30% of your energy should come from fats, 15% should come from protein and at least 55% from carbohydrates. Emphasising nutritional adequacy and small portion sizes is important and instead of extreme diets. Weight loss requires long term changes to eating patterns that you are happy to continue with into the future. Oh and while we are on the energy out thing, essentially the only sure-fire way to speed up your metabolism is to exercise. At least 2.5 hours a week for minor weight loss and 3.5 to 6.5 hrs per week for serious weight loss is recommended.

So set your goals realistically. 4-8kg a year is slow enough for your body's metabolism to adjust without thrusting the weight back on, and if you do pick an off the shelf diet, try to choose one that doesn't make you cut out whole food groups.

Happy eating.

It's that time of the year again in Melbourne, 40 degrees in the shade and 70 on the tennis court. My wife recently dusted off a couple of tennis racquets and declared that we will be heading down to the local tennis courts for our very own version of the Australian Open. This proposal has given me flashbacks of the time I gave myself tennis elbow as a 13-year playing tennis on one of our Gold Coast family holidays. I had no skill or style, never beat my brothers and ended up with a sore elbow for weeks. These days, as a sports therapist I see a few tennis players in my clinics. Generally, they come to me with overuse injuries and sometimes after receiving a more serious injury on the tennis court. Over a million Aussies play tennis each year and there are around 400 tennis-related hospital presentations each year with the majority of these not requiring admittance to hospital, rather referred back to people like me. Tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis usually occurs if a player's wrist extensor muscles become too dominant excessive load is placed to the outside of the elbow. The injury is provoked by repetitive strain on muscles and tendons from backhand strokes in particular. To prevent injury there are a couple of pointers that are recommended for the budding backyard tennis champion.

Try to avoid using one of those old racquets. They are heavy and don't disperse power as well as a modern racquet.

Size certainly does matter when it comes to tennis racquet grips.

Sports Medicine Australia recommend that players choose the widest comfortable grip for their hand size.

Tennis racquets also have a sweet spot in the middle of the strings. It's that spot where the ball seems to rebound beautifully off the strings but if you miss this spot much of the power you produce will end up back in your arm instead of the ball and this leads to injuries.

Shoulder injuries like rotator cuff impingement are also common as there is a maximal load put through the shoulder joint when serving overhead. (If you serve underarm like me you don't have to worry about this). Where most of the upper limb injuries are particularly common for beginners, lower limb injuries are common for all groups of tennis players all the way up to the professionals. Tennis requires a combination of speed, balance, power, endurance and co-ordination. With these demands, ankle and knee injuries can occur with the sprinting and pivoting from a planted foot.One thing that I work on in the clinic with my tennis players is re-aligning their often twisted bodies. With all of that high-power repetition, I find my tennis clients normally have some fascial restriction through their torso which causes a rotation of their spine, shoulders and hips. I generally have to work on reducing fascial tension on the dominant side of their body and begin re-training weaker muscles to get the body as balanced and symmetrical as possible. So to get the most out of your summer of tennis this year, make sure you use the right equipment, stay hydrated and get a tennis coach or friend to give you some pointers on technique before you spend long days on the court. And if your elbow does give you grief, feel free to pop into one of our clinics for an assessment.

Do you ever get that annoying ache around your back, neck or shoulders after you spend a long period sitting down? Whether its sitting in front of a computer at work, reading a book at home or spending a long day in the saddle, muscular pain and stiffness affects most of us at some point and can really get you down.

The good news is that getting your body moving is a great way to loosen up your back, reset your posture and reduce that nagging pain.

Here is one of my favourite little exercises that you can do at home or anywhere where you have access to a broomstick or pole of some sort. Step 1. Find a broomstick.

Step 2. Sit down to stabilize your pelvis.

Step 3. Place the broomstick or dowel behind your neck and at the top of your shoulders.

Step 4. Slowly rotate your trunk to the right and hold for 5 seconds.

Step 5. All the way to the left. Ensure that you are not rotating your neck and try to sit up tall.

Repeat 20 times.

This exercise is great as it gently stretches the front of your shoulders as your shoulder blades retract. As the rotation comes from your lumbar and thoracic spine, the muscles around your spine and ribcage activate and help gently mobilise your torso.