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Jason – A life of sport, dance and timber

We love hearing from our Barefooters and the incredibly cool things they do in their lives. It makes what we do so much more enjoyable (and entertaining!). Jason is a great example of someone who really leans in to life and enjoys all aspects. Read on for all about Brisbane’s dance scene – Jason is a great person to ask all about it and some fun facts about him!

Jason you are a very committed dancer – what type of dance to you do? Tell us about it (what made you choose to dance, what you love about it)

I dance a number of different street Latin dance styles primarily Salsa, Cha Cha Cha and Bachata.  My favourite dance style is Salsa.  Street Latin is quite different to what you would probably imagine when you think of Latin or ballroom and see on TV shows like Dancing with the Stars.

I’ve always been interested in dance but never actually took any classes until my brother asked me to come to a free “come and try” salsa class when I was about 25.  I was instantly hooked and quite quickly went from dancing once a week to five or six nights a week in only a few short months.

Dancing has so many positive aspects about it. For starters, it is a very social activity as it is a couple dance so you get to meet many interesting people. At the same time, you are exercising and getting a work out but it doesn’t feel like a hard core gym session!!

No matter where you go in the world you can always find a club, social event, class or other dance event on that will allow you to get out and about and meet new people in different countries.  I’ve danced throughout Australia and New Zealand as well as been lucky enough to have travelled to USA and a number of other countries through Europe on organised dance tours.

 

We often see people dancing in the square in Brisbane City – is that ever you? Does Brisbane have a good dancing community?

Yes, Brisbane Square is one of the events that I attend from time to time.  This event in particular is really good, due to it being outdoors and visible to the public. It attracts a big crowd every week and also exposes non-dancers to the Brisbane dance scene.  The Brisbane dance community is still relatively small but it has grown significantly in the last few years.  In fact, you can go out and social dance or take classes almost every night of the week now, something which was not possible a few years ago.

Some other great regular dance events are Thursday nights at Cloudland which has a live Salsa band, and Sunday nights at Jade Budda. In addition, there are plenty of other events organised by dance schools and passionate individuals which change from week to week.

The Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast scenes are also really growing at the moment, and there is a lot of travel between these locations for classes and social dance nights.

 

During the week you help run your family business – what type of work do you do and what’s it like working as a family?

We run a small business which imports timber from New Zealand.  I look after a lot of the admin and logistical side of the business.  It’s great working in a family business as it offers a lot of flexibility and freedom. This is something which I really appreciate when trying to get away for class or other dance events that I constantly have going on.

Working in the timber industry is something that I never imagined I would be doing as a kid, however as the family business was expanding an opportunity opened up to join. I couldn’t be happier with the opportunities and work/life balance that have come my way.

 

What are 5 fun facts about you that you’d love to share.

  • I used to play football (soccer) for about 20 years both outdoor and indoor. This is something that was a very big part of my life and spent a lot of time doing.  I met a lot of great people and travelled all around the world playing and training at some amazing venues and football clubs.
  • I met my girlfriend out at a social dance night.  (Something which I was not expecting but was pleasantly surprised).  Yes, it is possible to meet your someone special in the dance scene and I know quite a few people who have met and married from dancing.
  • I am a bit of a nerd and have a love for all things tech as well as drones 😊 I try to get out every couple of weeks to do some drone flying as well.
  • I love to travel and in my early twenties I took a year off to live in London. I had a great time and would recommend that experience to anyone thinking about it.
  • I am currently learning Spanish and hopefully one day will be able to master this as a second language 😊

Returning to Sport after Injury

Here at Barefoot, a lot of our clients present to us with an injury they sustained during sport. From dance to yoga and football to power-lifting, there is nothing more frustrating than having an injury prevent you from doing the activity you love. The most common question in returning to sport after injury, is how long should I wait? or get treatment for?

Other questions such as:

  • How long until I can get back to running?
  • How long until I can compete again/re-join my team?
  • If I play will I re-injure myself again?

There are some injuries with healing time-frames which dictate roughly the minimum amount of time an athlete will spend in recovery. For example a bone fracture or a complete rupture of a muscle or ligament will have very specific time-frames (and possibly surgical involvement) which will prevent someone from returning to sport within those first couple weeks…

Over the next few paragraphs we’ll discuss sporting injuries, and the approach we take to them at Barefoot Physiotherapy, and how we determine if an athlete is ready to return to their sport.

The most frequent types of injuries we see in clinic are ligament, muscular and tendon soft tissue injuries – of varying degrees.

The steps we take at Barefoot when aiming to get someone returning to sport after injury (After acute management has been given):

  1. First and foremost – we need the athlete to have no nerve irritation. An athlete with nerve [neural] irritation stemming from the spine will not recover as fast as one who is neural clear. When nerves are irritated (as shown objectively on our Neural Dynamic Tests) the muscles around them tense up and may spasm to protect the nerve. This reduces movement and places higher forces on joints/structures in the body, consequently taking the body longer to recover. If not cleared fully it also predisposes them to further injury. This is a crucial step.Barefoot nerve testing
  2. Appropriate Ranges of Motion (Ideally throughout the entire body – and definitely equal on both sides of the body). By going through the Barefoot Plan, we will determine areas of the body contributing to reduced ranges of motion, and treat those accordingly until an athlete has full range.
  3. Full Strength and Proprioception about the affected joints – To regain strength and balance, steps 1 and 2 need to have been addressed. The actual strength gains itself will be developed through a therapeutic, sport specific graded exercise program prescribed by one of Barefoot’s Physios or one of the trainers who we commonly refer to.
    • By this point in an athletes rehabilitation, pain should be substantially diminishing, if not completely gone.
  4. Once steps 1-3 have been accomplished, it is now time to think about actually getting this athlete returning to sport. This is done by starting with the most basic principles of their chosen activity, and working our way up to the most complex/challenging aspects of it. To truly be able to determine if someone is ready for returning to sport at 100% intensity, we recreate their sport specific environment, and assess their performance.
    • If the client has any pain, discomfort, imbalance or poor motor patterns during the assessment of their abilities…then they are surely not ready to SAFELY return to sport at this time. See below example for returning to sport for a soccer player 

For example, assessing a soccer player’s ability to return to sport would involve: 

  1. Running in a straight line – slow pace, no change in speed no change in direction
  2. Then in a straight line – medium pace, no change in speed no change in direction
  3. Followed by running in a straight line – fast pace, no change in speed no change in direction
  4. Then Zig-zag between pylons – slow pace, no change in speed
    • Repeat at moderate to fast speeds
  5. Finally running backwards, then turning and running in the same direction forwards – slow pace
    • Repeat at moderate and full speeds
  6. Soccer ball skills
    • Passing a soccer ball short distance (1m) – inside of the foot
    • Repeat at moderate and long distances
    • All of step 6 above with a top of the foot pass
    • Again all of step 6 with right and left foot
  7. Dribbling the soccer ball
    • Slow pace
    • Moderate pace
    • Fast pace
    • All of the above performed in a straight line, and in varying pylon set ups (zig zags)
  1. Incorporate an unstable environment:
    • Steps 1-5 re-performed without the athlete knowing which way they are going to run
      • Example: Athlete running at a moderate pace towards Physio, at the last second Physio will point either right or left and the player has to sprint for 3 seconds in that direction
  1. Combination of steps 1-5 with steps 6 and 7
    • Incorporating running with ball control
    • Example: get the athlete jogging, not knowing when the Physio will pass her the ball, and when it’s passed, having her pass it back  immediately with one touch.
    • This can be incredibly variable, and will start slow and steady and progress to full speed drills in an unstable environment, where the athlete has to change their speed, change their direction and perform sport specific (soccer ball) skills, all on one drill.

Physio soccer

The Assessment

The assessment above is done in such an order (most basic drills to the most challenging) because we want to know immediately if there are any concerns with the athletes’ injury recovery. Unless all of the above can be performed with no concerns, then we would not be happy to tell somebody that they are ready to be returning to sport.

The above example is a fairly basic one. At Barefoot Physiotherapy, returning to sport assessments are tailored to the individual and their specific position and or role in their chosen activity.

Our Job at Barefoot

Athlete safety and recovery is of the utmost importance, and we are here to support you. As part of your support system, it is our job to take you through the above steps, and make sure you are FULLY RECOVERED before we give you our OKAY to return to your chosen activity. There is nothing worse than being told you are recovered, and going out and re-injuring yourself.

If you have any sport specific questions about rehabilitation, please do not hesitate to ask 🙂

Happy sporting!

A passion for soccer – a quick chat with Charlotte

It won’t surprise you that Barefooters love getting out and about, moving everyday in a way they enjoy. Women’s soccer has really taken off in the past decade, with teams sprouting up all over Brisbane with quite a competitive Brisbane Premier League as a result. If you’ve ever watched a game, you’ll see how competitive and skilful these ladies are.  Our Physio Kirsten recently sat down with Charlotte to find out why she has such a passion for soccer.

 

How did your passion for soccer develop?

I’ve always had a keen interest for all things sport, and kind of just fell into playing soccer when I was young. I guess over time I’ve developed a real passion for soccer, mainly because I love the skill, athleticism and having a great time with other girls on the field.

 

 

 

Sports can have some pretty crazy traditions or pre game routines, do you have anything you do to get ready for a big game?

Definitely nothing too crazy. If I have the time, on the day of a game I like to go out and have a kick of the ball to get some touch. And I always put on my left sock and left boot on first, but I think that’s more just out of a habit. [ha, ha, we definitely think that’s a good-luck superstition! ed.]

 

What is your favourite pre game meal?

Something with bread usually haha, avocado on Turkish bread is probably my real favourite. 

 

You recently went on a trip to New Zealand, where is your next trip going to be and why?

The next big trip on the bucket list is Canada because it looks so beautiful. Closer to home, I’d also really like to go to Tasmania and do some of the hikes down there. 

 

Rapid fire, 5 Fun facts about you 

– I’m a massive Newcastle Knights fan

– I love travelling but I absolutely hate flying 

– My sporting idols are Andrew Johns and Roger Federer 

– I love dogs and have a black Labrador named Ari who hunts bush turkeys 

– I love the beach and in an alternate life would have loved to be a professional surfer

 

We love hearing about Barefooters and what they get up to in their spare time.  Whether you have a passion for soccer or some other sport, we’d love to hear from you.  If you’d like to let us know about what you get up to, please don’t hesitate to contact us so that we can arrange a quick chat and some photos – email us.  Also, after seeing Charlotte’s pictures and reading her story, if you’d like to get into soccer, you can click this link to Football Brisbane.

…and of course, if you’re injured or just feeling a bit sore and tired from your Barefoot adventures, you can always come and see us: I need an appointment

 

Pete – touch footy, barramundi fishing and sirens blaring!

Physio for paramedics

Pete Joseph loves a challenge. Whether it be side stepping on the touch footy field, barramundi fishing or saving lives. 

At Barefoot, we love to look after the people who look after us. Being a paramedic is taxing on your body. You need to put yourself into difficult situations physically and mentally. It’s important to have your outlets and for Pete Joseph, it’s touch footy & barramundi fishing. We were keen to hear more about this lifestyle that sounds like it’s out of an Adventure magazine!

You’ve just played for the NQ Touch Footy team at a State comp, but you live in Brisbane. How does that come about?

I’ve represented Cairns Pirates at the NQ championship whilst living in Cairns multiple times and due to this I was able to use my home grown status to tour with the team this year in June 2015. This is an avenue for players such as myself that have a passion for representing their home region.

Having grown up in cairns you can’t help but feel an emotional attachment to representing the region at any opportunity you can get. Not only do I get to play touch football with my mates I grew up with, but making it known to everyone that I’m a proud NQ boy and will always be. This is something most city slickers won’t ever understand. Cairns will always be known to me as my home and the connection with the region is something that will never fade. I suppose you can compare it to the same passion that Queensland supporters have during the state of origin series… Queenslander!!!!!

Physiotherapy touch football

We know you get asked about it all the time (because we all want to know about you guys in uniform!) but can you tell us about what made you decide to become a paramedic and what’s a usual day like?

I’m a bit biased, but being a paramedic is the best job in the world. I was an electrician but I wanted a bit more of a challenge and being a paramedic has certainly filled that void. Being a paramedic is rewarding and unique which makes the role so enjoyable.

And what’s a usual day like? It’s sometimes that’s hard to describe. There are no two days that are similar, not even close. We don’t have a usual day which is one of the reasons why I and other paramedics are attracted to the role. When we log on with our communications centre, the possibilities are endless. We could be simply talking amongst ourselves about the weekend sport when we receive a job that requires us to treat a patient that can be medically unwell or involved in a traumatic event. We never know what we will encounter or who we will meet, which is what makes it so interesting.

We hear that you love fishing in the NT. Tell us about your most memorable trip.

Fishing is my chance to completely relax. Being isolated with your mates catching HUGE Barramundi is hard to beat. I have heaps of great memories however catching your first fish [especially barramundi] of the trip always sticks in your mind. This photo was taken in Kununurra W.A which was our plan B location due to bad weather in the Northern Territory.

Fishing lifestyle Physiotherapy

Thanks Pete!

PS – Pete’s next focus for touch is to be representing the North Queensland Cyclones, March 2016 at the National Touch League Championship in Coffs Harbour.

 

If you have a demanding job that is hard on your body, why not book in with us for a ‘tune up’ – where we can check you over from time to time and treat anything that may come up.  This is a great way to keep your body at 100%  If you’d like to book in with us for a tune-up, CLICK HERE.