What Condition does Knee #Kinesiology Tape Help?

Upper Knee Kinesiology Tape

Upper knee kinesiology tape is a professionally engineered, dynamic therapeutic support for the muscles around the knee joint designed to promote the restoration of functional knee joint stability through neurosensory mechanisms.

SpiderTech knee kinesiology tape products use a high-grade cotton material with 100% acrylic, hypoallergenic adhesive. The kinesiology tape is water-resistant and breathable, and can be worn for up to 5 days.

Active, dynamic support for your knees!

• Improved feedback and timing of muscles controlling knee stability
• Decreased pain and enhanced functional stability
• Restore normal muscle activation
• Improved performance
• Improved feedback and timing of muscles controlling knee stability
• Aids in the prevention of further injury
• Provides protection during healing

Wearing the Knee Kinesiology Tape can help with the following conditions:

More info or Buy Online: Kinesiology Tape

Checkout the #Back Brace 2060

Back Brace

The Abdominal Binder 2060 is a quality breathable fabric back brace for use while working, walking, sitting or driving. 

A special elastic panel construction provides even back and abdominal support, while preventing a brace roll over common in other brands. 

This back brace has contour adjust-ability between your waist and hips to easily accommodate for the person with an hourglass figure.

The Back Brace 2060 provides excellent relief for:

Back Injuries

What is Osgood Schlatter's Disease?

Osgood Schlatter Disease is an tibial tuberosity apophysitis,which is the medical name for inflammed bone at the site of the tibial tuberosity growth plate, in children.

Osgood Schlatter disease is an inflammation of the bone at the top of the tibia (shin bone), where the tendon from the patella (kneecap) attaches. It is an overuse knee injury rather than a traumatic injury.

While Osgood Schlatter disease is a relatively uncommon, it is quite debilitating knee injury that occurs in young active children/adolescents.

What the Symptoms of Osgood-Schlatter Disease?

Osgood Schlatter disease presents in growing boys and girls as:

• Local pain, swelling, and tenderness over the tibial tuberosity at the attachment of the patellar tendon. 
• Pain is experienced during exercise (e.g., running, jumping) or with direct contact, such as in kneeling.
• Stairs, squatting and kneeling may be painful.
• Quadriceps weakness can be present is chronic cases.
• Bilateral symptoms, occur in 20-30% of cases.
• The apophysis may be enlarged in later stages, which looks like a lump that is tender in its active phase.

What Causes Osgood-Schlatter Disease?

Strong repetitive quadriceps contractions are thought to cause a traction force on the tibial tuberosity, disrupting the immature bone. There is a higher incidence in active children during the adolescent growth spurt.

As a child grows, bones go through different stages of development:

1. The tibial tuberosity is initially cartilaginous (cartilaginous stage). 
2. It then enters the apophyseal stage when the secondary ossification center (apophysis) appears.
3. The unity of the proximal tibial epiphysis with the tibial apophysis marks the epiphyseal stage.
4. Lastly, when the growth plates fuse, the bony stage has been reached.

Children are most susceptible to Osgood-Schlatter disease when their bones are in the (2nd)apophyseal stage. 

During this phase the apophysis is unable to withstand high tensile forces. When presented with strong, repetitive muscle contractions, micro-fractures occur at the immature area. The separation results in symptoms typical of Osgood Schlatter disease, as well as irregular bone growth that explains an enlarged tibial tuberosity afterwards.

Another reported cause for Osgood Schlatter disease has been the lack of growth of the quadriceps in comparison to the femur. During a growth spurt in a child, the lengthening of the muscle is unable to keep up with the lengthening of the rapidly lengthening femur, resulting in increased tensile force on the tibial tuberosity.

Who Suffers Osgood Schlatter Disease?

Read more: Osgood Schlatters

How to Diagnose and Treat an ACL Injury

What is an ACL Injury?

Your ACL or anterior cruciate ligament is one of four knee ligaments that are critical to the stability of your knee joint. Your ACL is made of tough fibrous material and functions to control excessive knee motion by limiting joint mobility.

One of the most common problems involving the knee joint is an anterior cruciate ligament injury or ACL tear. Of the four major knee ligaments of the knee, an ACL injury or rupture is the most debilitating knee ligament injury.

What Causes an ACL Injury?

An ACL injury is usually a sports-related knee injury. About 80% of sports-related ACL tears are "non-contact" injuries. This means that the injury occurs without the contact of another player, such as a tackle in football.

Most often ACL tears occur when pivoting or landing from a jump. Your knee gives-out from under you once you tear your ACL.

Female athletes are known to have a higher risk of an ACL tear, while participating in competitive sports. Unfortunately, understanding why women are more prone to ACL injury is unclear. There are some suggestions it is biomechanical, strength and hormonally related. In truth, it is probably a factor of all three.

What Sports have a High Incidence of ACL Injuries?

Many sports require a functioning ACL to perform common manoeuvers such as cutting, pivoting, and sudden turns.

These high demand sports include football, rugby, netball, touch, basketball, tennis, volleyball, hockey, dance, gymnastics and many more. You may be able to function in your normal daily activities without a normal ACL, but these high-demand sports may prove difficult. 

Therefore, athletes are often faced with the decision to undergo surgery in order to return to their previous level of competition. ACL injuries have be known to curtail many promising sporting careers.

What are the Symptoms of an ACL Injury?

The diagnosis of an ACL tear is made by several methods. Patients who have an ACL tear commonly sustain a sports-related knee injury.

They may have felt or heard a "pop" in their knee, and the knee usually gives-out from under them. ACL tears cause significant knee swelling and pain.

How is an ACL Injury Diagnosed?

On clinical knee examination, your physiotherapist or sports doctor will look for signs of ACL ligament instability. These special ACL tests place stress on the anterior cruciate ligament, and can detect an ACL tear or rupture.

An MRI may also be used to determine if you have an ACL tear. It will also look for signs of any associated injuries in the knee, such as bone bruising or meniscus damage, that regularly occur in combination with an ACL tear.

X-rays are of little clinical value in diagnosing an ACL tear.

How is an ACL Injury Treated?

Many patients with an ACL tear start to feel better within a few days or weeks of an ACL injury. These individuals may feel as though their knee is normal again, because their swelling has started to settle. However, this is when your problems with knee instability and giving way may start or worsen.

ACL tears do not necessarily require ACL reconstruction surgery. There are several important factors to consider before deciding to undergo ACL reconstruction surgery.

• Your age?
• Do you regularly perform sports or activities that normally require a functional ACL?
• Do you experience knee instability?
• What are your plans for the future?

If you don't participate in a multi-directional sport that requires a patent ACL, and you don't have an unstable knee, then you may not need ACL surgery. 

Physiotherapy & ACL Exercises

Your best way to avoid ACL reconstructive surgery is to undertake a comprehensive ACL-Deficient Knee Rehabilitation Program that involves leg strengthening, proprioception and high level balance retraining, plus sport-specific agility and functional enhancement. Your sports physiotherapist is an expert in the prescription of ACL tear exercises.

PhysioWorks has developed a specific ACL Deficient Knee Rehabilitation Program to address ACL injuries for patient who wish to avoid or delay ACL reconstructive surgery.

More info: ACL Injury

63 Resistance Band #Exercises

Resistance Band Exercises

Theraband Exercises

You've got some resistance band or theraband, but just don't know what to do with it? 

Start exercising effectively today! This comprehensive set of 63 resistance band exercises is cleverly divided into the regions that you want to efficiently work out.

Resistance band is fantastic for strengthening your shoulder, elbow and wrist as well as your hips, knees and ankles.

Each exercise includes a clear illustration, easy to follow written instructions as well as the purpose for doing each resistance band exercise. Plus, the exercises are organised in an easy to progress order.

This comprehensive series of resistance band exercises is divided into the several sections with specific exercises designed to provide you with:

• 38 Shoulder Strengthening Exercises,
• 10 Elbow and Wrist Strength Exercises,
• 15 Hip, Knee and Ankle Strength Exercises.

Your 63 resistance band exercises to are available for immediate download.

More info: Resistance Band Exercises

Happy #Australia Day

Have a Superb Day!

PhysioWorks

What are Core Exercises? Why are they Important?

What is Your Core Strength? Core Strength (or Stabilisation) determines your body’s ability to dynamically control and support your spine via deep and specific muscles. Your spine is an inherently unstable area. Your lower back has five vertebrae that sit on top of a triangular bone called the sacrum, which wedges itself into the pelvis. The vertebrae allow twisting, bending and arching. Unfortunately, without constant muscular support or your core stabilisers, your spine would fall in a heap on the ground. Your deep core muscles are the main structures that support, control and move your lower spine and pelvis. They are also the most energy efficient and ideally located muscles to do the job for 24 hours a day. When you suffer back pain, we know that your deep core stability muscles automatically turn off! This leaves your spine vulnerable to further injury and persisting chronic pain. However, you can reactivate these muscles via specific retraining. Your core strength can be tested by an experienced Physiotherapist who has undertaken core stability retraining. An even more effective technique for the testing of your core stability muscles is via real-time ultrasound retraining. What is Ultrasound-Guided Deep Core Stability Muscle Retraining? Contact PhysioWorks Book Online FAQs about Core Strength What is Pain? How Does Kinesiology Tape Reduce Swelling? How to Retrain Your Deep Core Stability Muscles How Does a Swiss Exercise Ball Help to Cure Back Pain? What are the Common Adolescent Spinal Injuries? What are the Early Warning Signs of an Injury? What are the Healthiest Sleeping Postures? What is a Functional Back Stability Score? What is Chronic Pain? What is the Correct Posture Standing? What is the Correct Way to Sit? What To Do When You Suffer Back Pain. Which are the Deep Core Stability Muscles? Why are Your Deep Core Muscles Important? Why Do Some People Tend to Have Frequent Low Back Strains and Sprains? Why does Back Pain Recur?

#Knee Brace Stabilizer 1030

The Knee Brace Stabiliser 1030 is a heavy duty knee stabilising brace suitable for:

General Knee Pain

Arthritic Knee Pain

Moderate Knee Swelling

Moderate Knee Instability

Moderate Knee Sprains and Strains

Post-Dislocation Patella - It can be worn from 0 to 6 weeks post-dislocation to enable pain-free walking, stairs and early strengthening. 

The additional neoprene circle pad around the patella provides you with padded protection and stabilisation to help prevent patella displacement.

Two medial and lateral metal stays provide additional support and lateral stability for the knee. This brace will provide good support for knee collateral ligament sprains.

Two hook and loop straps ensure you have a comfortable fit and with proficient stabilisation during most activities.

More info or Buy Online: Knee Brace

#Exercise Ball Workout for #Back Pain - 59 of the Best Exercises.

Back Pain Exercises

Here's your pain-free recipe!

59 Swiss Exercise Ball Exercises in a systematic progression to fix your back pain or prevent it in the future.

This complete series of ball exercises is divided into the several sections with specific exercises designed to provide you with:

• Early back pain relief
• Core stability training
• Improved spinal mobility
• Abdominal muscle strengthening
• Back muscle strengthening
• Thigh and buttock strengthening.

Clear diagrams and simple instructions will guide you to control over your back pain again.

It's all here for you to download NOW. Simply order your copy and an eBook will be available to you for immediate download, viewing and printing.

"All the information was great!" W.Williet, Bronte, Sydney.

All of our Exercise Protocols have an UNCONDITIONAL 30-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. 

It's totally risk-free to give them a try now!

More info or download now: Ball Exercises

How to Strap an #Ankle

If you have a sprained ankle or would simply like to know how to strap an ankle, then read on.

How to Strap an Ankle

Ankle Strapping or Taping can be used effectively in both the prevention and treatment of ankle injuries. 

As an aid to prevention, the role of ankle strapping is to decrease the frequency and severity of injury. Injury can be prevented, or the risk of injury can be reduced, by effective strapping tape.

Prevention is Better than a Cure

In many professional sports, clubs have large financial investments in their players and cannot afford to lose a player at any stage of the playing season. Therefore, clubs use preventative strapping tape as a form of insurance against ankle injuries. This, in turn, helps to reduce loss of performance time by any player.

Which Strapping Tape is Best?

Most ankle strapping uses a rigid sports tape such as the one found here: http://bit.ly/131wWwx

In most cases 38mm width strapping tape will suffice. Larger ankles may prefer 50mm width. 25mm strapping tape is normally too constrictive for ankle strapping.

In amateur sport, athletes risk the same injuries, although there is generally little encouragement to take such preventive measures even though the amateur risks the consequence of time off work and paying medical bills. In these situations, the use of strapping tape, particularly for the high risk sports such as Football, Netball, Basketball, Hockey etc, is potentially far more important to the individual where the cost of prevention could be far less than the cost of the treatment.

Ankle Strapping Technique to Prevent Lateral Ankle Ligament Sprains How to Tape your Ankle Step 1 Attach anchors (A) first and then stirrups (B). (Usually 3 stirrups are attached from the inside to outside in a U-shape formation). Step 2 Bind the tape in two figure-6's around the foot, starting from the inside to the outside, returning to the inside after crossing the front of the foot (C). Figure-6's help counteract the inversion movement that can cause injury. Step 3 Apply a half-heel lock to provide further support to the rear ankle area. Begin on the inside of the lower leg (D) and move down and across the outside of the ankle towards the front of the heel. Pass the tape under the foot and cross the inside of the heel at a 45° angle (E). Pass the tape back to the outside of the ankle to finish on the inside of the lower leg where you started. (Another half-heel lock may be applied in the opposite direction, using the same technique). Step 4 Overwrap the tape with an Elastic Adhesive Bandage 50mm to provide mild compression and to further secure the taped area. Using the figure-8 formation and a spiral, completely cover the rigid tape. Read more: How to Strap an Ankle

Contact PhysioWorks Book Online

The Easy Way to #Posture Correction

Posture Braces, Supports & Taping

Good posture can be retrained with the use a posture brace, posture support, posture exercises support or even posture taping.

Posture braces can address poor control in the lower back or in the mid to upper back and shoulders during the initial phase when you have no or little postural awareness.

As your posture improves with your posture exercises to address muscle strength and endurance you can transition from a heavy to lower support posture brace. Further weaning to kinesiology postural taping may be taken to help achieve the final transition to perfect posture without a posture brace or posture tape.

You'll find a wide selection of the various posture braces, supports and posture taping options available on the webpage below.

Quick Posture Correction Links

Posture Taping

Upper Back Posture Braces

Biofeedback Posture Braces

Lower Back Posture Braces

Sitting Posture Support Devices

Swiss Ball Chair

EMS - Electrical Muscle Stimulation

Sleeping Posture & Pillows

Normal Foot Posture

FAQ's about Posture

Posture Kinesiology Tape

Posture taping provides an excellent method to wean you from a medium or heavier support posture brace back to normal. Postural taping is recommended in situations when your posture correction requirements is minimal and you simply need a short-term reminder. Kinesiology taping is particularly effective.

Upper Back Posture Kinesiology Tape

Posture Spider Kinesiology Tape

Lower Back Posture Kinesiology Tape

Lower Back Kinesiology Tape

Upper Back & Shoulder Posture Brace

Upper back and shoulder posture braces are perfect for the provision of postural support and feedback during the initial stages of postural retraining. One major problem that these postural braces help to rectify is the poor awareness associated with longstanding postural habits.

Wearing a posture brace for just a few hours a day can assist your body to understand the feeling associated with normal posture.

Posture Brace - Deluxe 2175

Upper Back & Shoulder Posture Braces - Biofeedback Correction

Specialised posture braces can provide you with either a vibration or audible reminder to improve your posture quickly.

Back Tone 4000 Correct Posture Trainer

Lower Back Postural Braces

Lower back posture braces are perfect for the provision of postural support and feedback during the initial stages of postural retraining. Good posture starts from the base. When you are sitting an upright lower spine with a slight inward curve can be achieved with a posture brace or a passive sitting cushion.

One major problem that these postural braces help to rectify is the poor awareness associated with longstanding postural habits. Wearing a posture brace for just a few hours a day can assist your body to understand the feeling associated with normal posture.

More info: Lower Back Posture Brace

Sitting Posture Support Devices

Your sitting posture can be assisted by the provision of passive postural aids to encourage a normal posture as your postural muscles strengthen.

Good postural muscle endurance is required to achieve a normal upright posture for hours on end. Posture support devices may be used as a weaning or a posture slouching prevention strategy in the short or long-term

Good posture starts from the base. When you are sitting an upright lower spine with a slight inward curve can be achieved with a passive sitting cushion or device.

Bassett Lumbar Support

Lumbar D-Roll Support

Using a Swiss Ball as a Chair

Swiss balls are not only good for exercise programs but they can also be effective in helping to retrain your postural muscles simply while sitting.

How to use a Swiss Ball for Good Sitting Posture

Spine Mobilisation Equipment

A stiff spine can make it hard to achieve good posture. Your physiotherapist is the perfect health professional to address your specific areas of stiffness in the clinic. You can also help yourself at home using some simple but effective home spine mobility equipment.

Lockeroom Posture Pro

Electronic Postural Muscle Retraining

Electronic muscle stimulation (EMS) may help you to strengthen weak postural muscles. There are several theories on how EMS may assist muscle strengthening. 

More info: Electronic Muscle Stimulators (EMS)

Good Sleeping Posture & Pillows

Good posture starts with a good night's sleep. A comfortable and supportive pillow and mattress are the key to your best sleep and support for your neck and spine.

More info: Pillows