Quay Fitness Physiotherapist explains why your knee hurts?

Welcome to the latest Quay Fitness Physiotherapy inservice, located in Sydney’s CBD finance district Circular Quay. It is running season again and everyone is getting their runners on to enjoy the Circular Quay & Sydney CBD sunshine. So you entered the City to Surf Marathon and then thought you might like to try the Blackmores Half Marathon or maybe even the JP Morgan Chase & Co Corporate Challenge, along the line you picked up a niggle in the knee. It started out simply as a pretty small twinge but it hasn’t settled and your worried it isn’t going to settle and that it may even be brewing into something more damaging. Well your not alone, so its time to seek some advice and possibly even a exercise program to correct any asymmetries.

Quay Fitness Physiotherapist diagnosed symptoms:

Pain with stairs especially going down stairs

Clicking with pain

Diffuse ache with walking

Point specific sharp pain at the base of the knee cap

Pain while sitting at the desk for prolonged periods

Pain even when rising from a sitting position

Tight quads and hamstrings especially along the outside of the thigh, the dreaded ITB!

Diagnosis may indicate one of the following: 

Patello femoral pain syndrome

Iliotibial band syndrome

Fat pad impingement

Ligament deficiency partial tear of ACL / PCL

Pes anserine bursitis

Pre patella bursitis

Meniscus tears or bruising

Chondral surface lesions or bruising

Collateral ligament damage

Patella tendinopathy

Hamstring tendinosis

Popliteus tendinopathy

Baker’s Cyst

Synovial Plica

An example of a hamstring tendon rupture

Quay Fitness Physiotherapist treatment:

Accurate diagnosis of muscle dysfunction including weaknesses and tightness of the entire running system

Orthopaedic testing of specific cruciate ligaments and the meniscus

Release of tight muscles through soft tissue massage myofascial releases, acupuncture

Strengthening of weaknesses

Gait analysis and correction through exercise and orthotics where necessary

Cryotherapy and taping as necessary

So come down to our Circular Quay practice so we can diagnose your knee pain and set you a course of healing, that way you can get back to a pain free state and a quick return to all those sports you love doing.

Had a headache lately?

Those of you who sit at a computer for a big chunk of the day and suspect that your poor work posture may contribute to your headaches then read this!

Headache symptoms include:

• dull ache in the forehead or base of the skull
• sharp or dull pain behind the eye
• sense of a aura above the head
• sensitivity to light
• occurring on one or both sides of the head
• occurs with neck pain and
• aggravated by sustained neck postures or movement,
• slowly builds over a few days or weeks
• gives the patient joint tenderness in at least one of the upper three cervical joints as detected by physiotherapists assessment,
•  nausea or dizziness and a headache frequency of at least one per week over a period of the last 2 months to 10 years.

 Headaches are common among the office worker population, you do not have to live with them!

 Causes

There are fourteen known causes of headache, common presentations in the clinic include tension ( trigger point / upper neck joint stiffness) headaches, and the dreaded migraine. Occasionally we see synaster and serious disease with headaches being inclusive of their symptoms.  

Stress plays a big role in headaches and along with poor posture can combine to create a headache.

As the muscles of the back and upper neck tighten over a long week at the computer, this tension is transferred into the joints of the upper neck resulting in stiff joints. The stiff and dysfunctional joints of the neck then aggravate nerves which create headaches in a distribution that includes the forehead and back of the skull, over the eye brow or even behind the eye.  

 Treatment

Physiotherapy is recommended as a first line of management.

The Quay Fitness physiotherapist is trained in treating headaches, aiming to restore movement in the neck joints, relaxing tense muscles and strengthening the neck and shoulder complex.

Posture while sitting at your desk is a common causative factor in tension headaches. It is therefore necessary to setup your workstation to minimise your risk. Physiotherapists are able to provide you with a step by step way of organising your work environment to ensure it is set up to individually to suit you.

It is essential that you maintain good posture when reading and working. Specific exercises demonstrated by the Quay Fitness Physio, and designed specifically for your individual requirements can help you to maintain a flexible and strong neck and shoulder muscles.

Tension headaches usually respond well to treatment however see your General Practitioner if headaches are severe, persistent, recurrent, or accompanied by other symptoms such as drowsiness, vision changes, changes in movement.

Refer a friend in the month of December and receive a free movie pass to the Dendy Opera Quays

Regards

Ben Wong

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