Conditions

At Coogee Physio we treat a broad range of conditions. Below is a list of just some of the common conditions we can help you manage.

You do not need a doctor’s referral to see one of our experienced Physiotherapists.

Arthritic Pain

Physiotherapy plays an important part of treatment for most people with arthritis and can assist you to resume or maintain an active and independent life both at home and work. Treatment may include pain-relief treatments such as heat or ice packs, massage, manipulation, acupuncture or taping as well as an exercise programme and general advice on increasing your activity level and avoiding exercise-related injuries.

Back Pain

Lower back pain is an extremely common condition, affecting most people at some stage in their life. Back pain is the result of injury to the muscles, joints, bones, discs or nerves in the spine. It can also be referred from elsewhere in the body. People injure their backs through poor postures, prolonged sitting, heavy or repetitive lifting, and generally moving in a less-than-ideal way. Pain may also be as a result of trauma to your back, either recent or years ago. Pregnancy can also place a great strain on your back.

Our Physiotherapists will help you to identify what has caused your pain, and how best to manage it. We have many different techniques to help relieve your pain, even if you’ve suffered with pain for years. We will also guide you through exercises and advice on how to manage your back, and how best to look after it in the future.

Concussion

Concussion is an injury to the brain that occurs as a result of an impact to the head or body. Any impact to the head of sufficient force can cause injury to the brain. Some brain injuries can be seen with the naked eye on brain scans.

Concussion is an impact that causes an injury to brain nerve cells that does not necessarily show up a scan. Concussion is a disturbance of brain function that manifests in different people in many different ways. For sports people, having a baseline test of brain function is a key measure to assist with rehab in the event of an impact and a diagnosis of concussion. In many sports, such as Rugby, AFL, Cricket, Hockey, Surf Life Saving, baseline testing is now mandatory at elite level. However, it is becoming more necessary for community sports to come on board. Impacts happen in all levels of sports participation from community to elite, as well as in road accidents, trips and falls and other social situations

Headaches

Headaches can often be referred from joints and muscles in the neck. This is because the nerves supplying the upper neck joints are connected to nerves that supply the head and face. The pain is often felt in the back of the head, temples, forehead or behind the eyes. Headaches can be aggravated by poor postures, stress and tension, sleeping incorrectly or with a poor fitting pillow, or trauma to the neck (like a whiplash injury).

Headaches can often be quite debilitating, but can be managed with the right treatment. Our Physiotherapists can help identify the cause of the pain by thoroughly assessing the source of your headache and providing appropriate hands on treatment to alleviate your pain. Treatment techniques may include joint mobilisation, massage and soft tissue release techniques, as well as exercise and advice on how to manage your headaches and prevent ongoing occurrences.

Joints
Peripheral joints include all the joints of the body that are not part of the spine. Commonly injured joints include knees, ankles, shoulders, elbows and wrists. Peripheral joints can be injured through trauma, degeneration (general wear and tear), repetitive activities (like tennis elbow), overuse, and through over-loading the joint. Joints may also be injured as a result of a disease process or systemic condition (such as rheumatoid arthritis or gout). Injuries to these joints may include dislocations, subluxations, sprains, strains and tears. They may also include inflammatory conditions such as rotator cuff tendonitis, trochanteric bursitis and degenerative conditions like arthritis. Our physiotherapists can assist by accurately diagnosing the injured area, and addressing the correct course of treatment. This may include joint mobilisation, massage and soft tissue release techniques, exercise prescription to improve strength, flexibility and endurance, and education about your condition, expected healing time, prevention of re-occurrence and maintenance of good joint health.
Neck Pain

The neck is made up of seven bones (vertebrae) which are stacked up on each other, with cushions (discs) in between the vertebrae. The bones are held together by ligaments, and are supported by muscles, which also provide movement for the neck.

Your neck’s main job is to support and move your head. Because the neck is so mobile, it is also very vulnerable to injury. Poor posture (for example in front of a computer), trauma (like a whiplash injury) and degenerative changes (such as arthritis) are amongst the most common causes of neck pain. Factors like stress and cold weather can then worsen the pain.

A Physiotherapist can help identify the cause of your pain, and then discuss the best course of treatment. Our Physiotherapists use a wide variety of manual techniques to help relieve your pain, and will also advise you on how best to manage and look after your neck in the long-term. This might include exercises, postural advice or changes to your workstation or sleeping positions. Whether your neck pain started suddenly a few days ago or has been there for years, a physiotherapist can often make a tremendous difference.

Post Operative Pain
Physiotherapy is an integral component in the effective management of patients following surgery assisting in the physical recovery and maximising the patient’s functional ability and degree of independence. To determine treatment needs the patient’s physical function, including pain, swelling, joint range of movement, muscle power, muscle coordination, mobility status, balance, respiratory condition and level of cardiovascular fitness. Treatment can also assist in avoiding complications and facilitate recovery from anesthetic and surgical procedures. The aim is to safely and confidently increase movement and exercise.
Postural Pain
Keeping bones and joints in the correct alignment so that muscles are being used properly can be achieved through good muscle flexibility and strong postural muscles. Physiotherapy can relieve postural pain through joint mobilisation and manipulation. Treatment may include massage, soft tissue techniques, muscle stretching, dry needling and taping.
Pregnancy
Changes to muscles, ligaments and joints during and after pregnancy affect the whole body. Physiotherapy can help women manage these changes, during pregnancy, childbirth and beyond. Through treatment, the aim is to lessen symptoms associated with pregnancy such as back and neck pain, abdominal muscle weakness, breast problems, incontinence and prolapse.
Soft Tissue (Massage)

Soft tissue massage involves direct physical action on the muscle and other soft tissues of your body. Soft tissue massage targets your muscles, tendons, ligaments, or other connective tissue such as fascia and aims to alleviate aches, pains and injuries that are attributed to your body’s soft tissues.

A Soft Tissue Massage is a specific type of massage which aids in relaxing muscles, increases blood circulation and lymph flow, improves the healing time of strained ligaments and muscular tissue, reduces the inflammation of joints and heart rate, improves range of motion and joint flexibility, increases endorphins, strengthens the immune system, decreases spasms, improves oxygen flow and helps to relieve muscle tension.

Sports Injury

Physiotherapy can assist in the management of both acute and chronic sports injuries. Typical acute sports injuries include muscle strains and joint sprains. Muscle strains and tears can present in both experienced and new athletes, and they can be easily managed through physiotherapy. If treatment is not sought for these injuries in the early stages they can become chronic and take much longer to heal. In this situation, Physiotherapy can assess why the injury has not resolved and guide the patient toward full recovery. Our physiotherapists can also diagnose and treat traumatic joint injuries such as ankle sprains, ACL and meniscal (knee) injuries, as well as repetitive and overuse injuries often seen in shoulders and elbows. If these injuries are severe enough to warrant surgery your physiotherapist will refer you on to a specialist. Physiotherapy is essential post operatively to help regain joint function and muscle strength and help you return to sport.

Sprains & Strains
Sprains occur when you injure a ligament. A ligament is the supportive tissue which connects bones. Commonly sprained ligaments include the knee ligaments (ACL, MCL, LCL) and the ankle ligaments (ATFL, CL). Ligaments can also be sprained around the shoulder, primarily around the acromio-clavicular joint. Strains occur when you injure muscles and tendons. Common areas of strain are the muscles in the neck and back, biceps, triceps, pectoral, hamstring, quadriceps and calf muscles; as well as the Achilles tendon and the tendons around the shoulder. A Physiotherapist can accurately assess your sprain or strain and determine the appropriate treatment plan. Treatment often includes advice on activity modification, expected duration of recovery, and exercises to ensure stability of the injured area. Our Physiotherapists will also use hands on treatment to alleviate pain during the recovery and facilitate return to activity.
Whiplash
Physiotherapy treatment will aim to reduce neck pain, headaches and inflammation and normalise joint range of motion to strengthen your neck muscles, your upper back muscles and improve your neck posture. The outcome of treatment is to normalise your muscle lengths and resting muscle tension and improve your neck proprioception, fine motor control and balance so that you are able to cope with everyday activities.

Whether your occupation is sedentary or active you may experience a variety of musculoskeletal aches and pains during your working life. Common complaints amongst sedentary patients include postural related lower back and neck pain, and over-use injuries such as wrist, elbow and shoulder pain from repetitive use of a keyboard, mouse and phone.

For people who have a more active occupation or for those who spend many hours in standing positions completing repetitive tasks, injuries such as lower back strains and neck pain are common.

Physiotherapy can treat these types of injuries through a combination of manual therapy and soft tissue release techniques and exercise based rehabilitation to prevent re- occurrence of the injury. Another important part of managing work related injuries is assessment of your work situation. Our physiotherapists will point out possible flaws in your workstation setup and postural alignment when performing certain tasks, such as lifting, driving, climbing, repetitive activities or prolonged sedentary positions. We will advise you on correct workstation ergonomics and teach you postural awareness; appropriate pause exercises; and strength and endurance exercises. This will enable you to cope better with the demands placed on your body; help you return to work as soon as possible; and help prevent further injury.

Get back to doing what you love!

We provide generous consultation times and comprehensive treatments to optimise outcomes. Our clinic offers a broad range of therapeutic skills and services

HEALTHY BODY,
HEALTHY MIND.

Our highly experienced Physios will provide you with the tools and the techniques to limit pain, avoid injury and teach you how to self-manage once outside of the practice.

LIVE A HEALTHY,
ACTIVE LIFESTYLE

Your treatment is based on clinical assessment. Our Physios participate in regular, professional development and have extensive experience with local sports teams.

INJURY PREVENTION &
PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT.