PHYSIOTHERAPY SERVICES

Professionalism. Understanding. Results.

Physiotherapy involves many different types of therapy treatments. We chose the therapy type depending on the injury. The treatments can vary from manipulation, stretching, soft tissue techniques, remedial massage, dry needling, and muscle strengthening, just to name a few.

How we work

As physiotherapists, we have expert knowledge of the musculoskeletal systems of the human body (Muscles, nerves, tendons, joints, ligaments, bones and biomechanics). The foundation of solving a client’s issues is to begin with a thorough assessment, which leads us to a diagnosis.

STEP 1:

Info Collection

We ask you questions about how the injury occurred, where it hurts, what type of pain you are feeling. etc

STEP 2:

Physical Assessment

Doing a physical assessment to test movement, strength, muscle tightness etc will help us ascertain the best treatment.

STEP 3:

Treatment

Once the issue is diagnosed, we set about providing the most rapid and effective treatment to have you back to your former self.

STEP 4:

Program/Monitoring

If you require strengthening or stretching to help your injury recover we will show you the exercises and monitor your progress.

Understanding Physiotherapy Treatments

Whether it’s a marathon, walking on the beach, returning to work, or kicking the footy with your kids, once we understand your goals, we work towards fulfilling those goals. Some clients prefer a more hands-on, manual therapy approach to treatment, while others prefer self-management strategies with programs that may involve exercise, like stretches, strengthening and practice of movement patterns.

Treatment methods we offer at Blue Sky Physiotherapy include:

Massage Therapy

We tailor the type of massage required to meet your needs. Some situations require a very gentle touch, while others need firm hand.

Joint Manipulation/Mobilisation

Excellent for restoring normal movement in stiff and painful joints. These can be applied to the back, neck and other joints such as shoulders, knees and ankles, and are often a key component to relieving pain and restoring normal joint function.

Dry Needling

In the clinical setting, we often achieve excellent results when dry needling is a part of the treatment plan. Clinical studies support the use of dry needling in the management of tendinopathy. Dry needling has been shown to positively influence tendon healing by increasing blood flow via local vasodilation and collagen proliferation. Studies have shown that dry needling into injured tissue, when compared with conventional wound dressings - found significantly greater basic fibroblastic growth factor and accelerated tissue healing rates.

Exercise Programs

The use of exercise has multiple benefits and is well supported by the scientific literature. We tailor the exercise to meet your specific needs. Whether it’s preparation for a triathlon, treating acute back pain or rehabilitation following a shoulder or ankle injury, we'll provide an exercise program with the appropriate exercises outlined for you. We'll also show you how to do these exercises correctly.

Rehabilitation

Design and implementation of progressive programs to get you back to great form following injury or surgery. We work closely with surgeons, other health professionals or trainers involved in your care, to help deliver the best outcomes.

Clinical Pilates

Our therapists are Clinical Pilates trained. We design & teach tailored programs that can be performed in the comfort of your own home.

Education

We help you understand your injury issues, and what might be causing your issues. We help give you control of your situation, and empower you to help manage you own issues through exercise and other methods.

Sports Taping

For support of shoulders, knees, ankles, elbows, backs, achilles tendons, feet & toes, wrists and fingers. We'll show you the best way to tape you injury to help it heel and to protect it from further damage.

Strengthening

We can show you exactly how to strengthen specific muscles or muscle groups, helping your body to become powerful and function optimally. There are many benefits of strengthening, including the maintenance of healthy joints and management of chronic conditions such as osteoarthritis, diabetes and osteoporosis.

Bracing Equipment

How team will expertly fit bracing equipment to your injured area. These include, back braces, ankle braces, camboots, arm slings, and a range of other physiotherapy-related equipment.

Movement Assessment & Retraining

Whether it’s a walking or running pattern, ideal and safe lifting techniques, postural correction, ergonomic assessment or more technical ‘scapulohumeral rhythm’ of the shoulder, we analyse movement patterns and help guide you toward what is ideal for your situation. We are qualified to prescribe gait aids, such as crutches, walking sticks and four wheeled walkers.

Worksafe, TAC, DVA, NDIS

We provide treatment with no ‘out of pocket’ cost to individuals who have funding from these sources, and assist you through the application processes if ongoing physiotherapy is required. We provide return to work guidance, Certificates of Capacity, and work closely with the team involved in your care.

We treat the following ailments

Just like injuries can vary greatly across your body, the treatments for each injury can also vary greatly. The knowledge we have gathered through both our physiotherapy education and from treating patients over our careers allows us to provide a more wholistic approach to assessments and solutions.

Neck Pain

Some common causes of neck pain include muscle pain, osteoarthritis, joint stiffness, disc injuries, postural syndromes, cervicogenic headache and wry neck.

Hip Pain

Hip bursitis, gluteal tendinopathy, groin pain, osteitis pubis, tendon tears of the hip, hip arthritis. Hip pain is often referred pain from the lower back. Rehabilitation following total hip replacement.

Jaw Pain/Temporomandibular Joint Pain

Often difficult to identify, most of our presentations of temporomandibular joint pain are referred by local dentists. There can be complex interactions with jaw pain, headache and neck pain. We have specific training that enables us to differentiate issues originating from these different areas, and treat jaw pain / temporomandibular joint pain.

Back Pain

Low back pain and thoracic back pain are a common presentation at Blue Sky Physiotherapy. It can be disabling and cause significant disruption to people’s lives. Referred pain, leg pain and ‘sciatica’ can all be associated with low back pain. Extensive training and clinical experience means our therapists are well placed to help you with back pain.

Elbow Pain

Lateral epicondylalgia, commonly known as tennis elbow & medial epicondylalgia, commonly known as golfer’s elbow. Tendinopathy and tendon tears. Overuse injuries. Muscle pain in the forearm.

Wrist and Hand Pain

The wrist and hand are very complex structures, involving many bones, joints, tendons and muscles. We can help you with post-fracture rehabilitation, wrist pain, De Quervain's tenosynovitis, injuries requiring diagnosis, overuse injuries, osteoarthritis, stiff joints and muscle pain in the forearm.

Pre & Post-Operative Care

We have strong working relationships with surgeons in the region, routinely providing pre and post-operative care for surgeries including total knee replacements, total hip replacements, spinal surgery, ACL reconstructions, shoulder rotator cuff repairs, total shoulder replacements and more.

Shoulder Pain

Common shoulder conditions we can help you with include rotator cuff tears/injury, bursitis, frozen shoulder, shoulder impingement, shoulder instability / laxity & shoulder rehabilitation following injury or dislocation. The shoulder is a complex joint, our advanced education and training in shoulder management leaves us well placed to care for your shoulders.

Vertigo / Dizziness

BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo) is a common form of vertigo that can be successfully treated by physiotherapists. It is caused by the movement of tiny crystals in the semicircular canals of the inner ear. Symptoms can be very unpleasant and disabling to those effected. Treatment techniques our physiotherapists may use include the Dix-Hallpike Testing Manoeuvre, Epley Manoeuvre or Brandt Daroff Exercises.

Knee Pain

Knee arthritis, patellofemoral pain, patella tracking problems or patella instability, post-injury diagnosis and rehabilitation, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, medial ligament injury, patella tendinopathy, calf muscle injury, hamstring strain / tears, quadriceps contusions, Osgood-Schlatter Disease, meniscus injury. Rehabilitation following total knee replacement, arthroscopy or ACL reconstruction.

Foot and Ankle Pain

Plantar fasciitis, heel pain, Achilles tendinopathy, post-fracture rehabilitation, ankle sprain, tendon and ligament injuries of the ankle, overuse injuries, ankle instability. Injury of the syndemosis, anterior tibiofibular or deltoid ligaments.

Headache

Of the many headache types, we most commonly treat Cervicogenic Headache- headaches that originate from the neck region- with great success.

Nerve Pain / Pinched Nerve

Nerve pain is common and known to be one of the most painful conditions. Pins & needles, tinging, numbness and sharp, painful electrical sensations are all sign’s of nerve compression or trauma. The most well known true nerve pain condition is ‘sciatica‘ where people experience a pain travelling from the lower back down the thigh into the leg. We assess nerve integrity by checking your strength, reflexes and sensation. There are a range of strategies and treatments available to alleviate nerve pain.

Muscle Pain/Myofascial Pain

Muscle pain, or myalgia, is quite common and can be felt anywhere there is muscle tissue on the body. Common causes of muscle pain include tension or stress, injury (sprains) or using a muscle too much (Overuse injury). Another cause may be fibromyalgia, a condition that causes tenderness in the muscles and surrounding soft tissue as well as sleep difficulties, fatigue or headaches.

Arthritis

Arthritis is a broad term that covers more than 100 conditions affecting the joints and surrounding tissue. The most common form of arthritis is osteoarthritis (OA), which affects two million Australians and is the most common reason for potentially avoidable knee surgeries in Australia. Physiotherapists are highly experienced in providing tailored arthritis exercise programs for individual patients depending on the type and severity of their condition. We know that a lot of people come to us fearful of the pain associated with their arthritis, and we work with them to achieve their goals and improve their mobility and confidence to exercise without harm. More and more people are looking for treatment options that don’t involve surgery, and physiotherapy programs have seen excellent results in many trials both within Australia and globally. (Australian Physiotherapy Association Media Release March 2019)