Injury treatments and rehabilitation services Injury and Rehabilitation Clinic

Used as part of the treatment to help decrease pain, muscle stiffness and increase relaxation and sense of wellbeing. Massage techniques are also employed for pre and post-event treatments to improve performance and promote recovery.

The type of massage we offer are:

Sports massage

This includes pre- and post-event massage techniques using a variety of pressure. Pre-event massage can help with muscle recruitment which could be attributed to improved sports performance and reduced anxiety. Post-event massage can help aid recovery from injury, assists circulation, decrease muscle tension and encourage waste into the lymphatic system.

Swedish massage

Swedish massage offers a variety of techniques such as effleurage which is a gliding or stroking technique which can be applied slowly or vigorously, that warms tissues for deeper work and relieves congestions. Petrissage is a cleansing stroke which helps stimulate the rate of lymph flow, soften adhesions and help prevent muscle stiffness. Tapotement is a toning stroke, generally used pre-event as it increases muscle tone, reduces fatty deposits and provides a feeling of wellbeing by increasing blood supply to that area.

Frictions

Frictions are used to loosen, breakdown adhesions and scar tissues and allow blood flow back to previously constricted areas. 

Deep tissue massage 

Similar to Swedish massage, this massage technique works on the deeper layers of the muscles fibres. It consists of using slow but firm strokes and pressure to ease muscle spasms and break down adhesions.

Active and passive release techniques

These techniques are used to relieve tissue tensions. They treat tendons, muscles, nerves, ligaments and fascia. A therapist will apply pressure on a muscle whilst the limb is taken through a series of movements.

Manual therapy involves therapists’ assisted movements of joints to relieve pain and increase range of motion between joint surfaces. These oscillatory movements produce elongation of the connective tissue such as ligaments, tendons, joint capsules and fascia that might be abnormally restraining motion.

The manual therapy techniques used in the Clinic are based on Maitland’s and Mulligan’s principles. Maitland’s techniques involve mobilising bones through passive physiological movement, which are voluntary movements and passive accessory movement which are movements that cannot be performed by yourself. Mulligan’s techniques involve a therapist applying an accessory movement whilst the patient actively does a physiological. Mulligan's concept is that pain and stiffness is caused by positional fault and if you correctly treat this, then the symptoms will go.

Our therapists are qualified to apply mobilisations on the peripheral joints such as elbow, shoulder, wrist, hip, knee, ankle and spine.

Within our Clinic, ultrasound and interferential electrotherapy is used to reduce pain and promote healing on a cellular level.

Ultrasound

Ultrasound is used to treat a variety of musculoskeletal conditions to reduce pain, swelling, develop scar tissue remodelling and increase tissue extensibility. Ultrasound sends mechanical energy and as this passes through the tissues it causes vibrations, stimulating the metabolic functioning of the cells. It has been mentioned that the ultrasound increases the rate of healing and promotes quality repair. 

Interferential

This therapy is based on peripheral nerve stimulation and muscle stimulation caused by two medium frequencies currents travelling through the tissues producing an analgesic effect. This reduces pain by stimulating the pain gate and opioid mechanism thereby blocking the pain symptoms.

At our clinic, we provide sports-specific pre- and post-rehabilitation to return you to full functional fitness and improve performance. Pre-rehabilitation is essential before undergoing surgery to strengthen the muscles and bones with the aim of minimising post-surgery muscle atrophy and bone loss. Pre-rehabilitation will also reduce the length of recovery and optimise the outcome of the surgery.

Post-injury rehabilitation is probably the most important component of returning to full functional fitness and minimising the occurrence of further injuries. Our rehabilitation approach is focused on the sport, profession and daily activities that our patients perform. For this reason, programmes are specifically tailored to your needs and interests and more specifically to your biomechanics, physique, posture and gait.

Taping is commonly used to provide support to injuries of ligaments, muscles, tendons and capsules of an unstable joint. This is ideal for pre-sport/exercise participation; taping is done by compressing and limiting the movement in the area treated. This will normally be used for posture alignment, pain reduction and injury prevention.