Physiotherapy Column

What exactly is sciatica? Sciatica refers to an irritation of the sciatic nerve (a nerve that exits at the low back joints, and travels through the gluteal region, back of the thigh and down into the leg). It can present as radiating pain, tingling/numbness, and/or muscle weakness down the leg (usually just one side). This irritation may arise from: a) an inflammatory irritation of the nerve b) direction compression of the nerve. For example: from a disc bulge, spinal canal ...

Hey everyone it’s Dan from Barefoot Physiotherapy. I want to share my personal tips and experience with electric scooters. I scooter to work every day and have noticed that there are a few things you can do to keep your body happy while you are riding a scooter. 1. Top tips for riding a scooter Safety: Make sure you have a helmet on and double check that your breaks and lights are working(especially if you are using a scooter that ...

Lucky for us living in Australia, there are endless bush walks for us to revel in. Recently, while on a bush walk to spot Koalas, I found myself feeling rather fatigued halfway through with a neck ache at the end of it. I’m here today to share with you how you can look after yourself while bush walking, and some tips on spotting animals. Preparing for a bush walk Make sure you get a good night’s sleep the day before ...

The widespread benefits of gentle aerobic exercise are well known – improved heart health, improved sleep quality, improved mood, the list goes on. The current recommendations are for 30 minutes, 5 times a week (and 2 days of strength or resistance training). So what do you do if you aren’t able to make it that far? Many people would do a 30 minute walk without a second thought, but if you are recovering from an injury, illness or period of ...

What is back pain and how can physiotherapy help back pain? Back pain can refer to any pain that is felt anywhere on the back of your torso. It may be the upper part near the shoulder blades (upper or midback pain) or lower down near the hips (lower back pain). It may be central, in close to the spine or off to the sides. You may also experience it on both sides of the spine or on just one ...

Nerve pain is a common condition affecting many people. It can result in significant discomfort and impact on daily life if not treated. It can be the result of a number of causes, may of which can be improved with physiotherapy. What does nerve pain feel like? Nerve pain or nerve irritation can present with a variety of symptoms. Tingling or pins and needles sensation – can be anywhere but commonly in the leg or arm Burning sensation – can ...

Activity pacing is a vital component of physiotherapy management for chronic conditions. It is an approach that involves balancing activities throughout the day to prevent overexertion and conserve energy. This technique is particularly useful for individuals who experience chronic pain or fatigue, as it can help manage symptoms and improve overall function. In this blog, we will explore the benefits of activity pacing and how it can be implemented in physiotherapy management. The Benefits of Activity Pacing Activity pacing can ...

Walking your dog is a great form of exercise, no equipment needed; just you and your legs and off you go. Just as walking is a great form of exercise for us, a regular walk is also important for the health of your dog. It helps to maintain physical health, and also be stimulating for their senses as they check out the sights and smells in the environment. Like any form of physical activity, we want you to best take ...

Long COVID is a condition in which individuals continue to experience symptoms even after the initial recovery period from COVID-19. These symptoms can include fatigue, shortness of breath, difficulty concentrating, joint pain, and many others. Physiotherapy can be an essential component of the multidisciplinary approach to managing long COVID. What is Long-Covid? The “Long COVID” official case definition from the World Health Organization (WHO) is: Post COVID-19 condition occurs in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed SARS CoV-2 ...

A very important part of lower back pain management is exercise prescription. Exercises for lower back pain can be used to improve a variety of potential causes of your back pain. These can include reducing stiffness in the area, improving motor control (activating the correct muscles), improving your strength in the lower back region and associated other areas. With any back pain, it is ideal to consult your Physiotherapist to have a treatment plan individualised to your injury. If you ...

You may have already seen our jaw releases, which can be very helpful to relieve tension in the jaw and give quite immediate relief. There are additional TMJ exercises for motor control and strength that your physiotherapist may give you. These TMJ exercises can help to reduce likelihood of the jaw muscles tightening back up and to provide ongoing relief from your jaw muscle/joint pain. TMJ Exercises: Resting jaw position If we have a tendency to habitually hold tension in ...

Physiotherapy for headaches often involves a combination of manual therapy techniques to reduce nerve irritation present in the upper-cervical region, and improve neck and upper body range of movement. In addition exercises can be helpful in improving the strength of the neck and surrounding muscles. This can help to reduce the build up of tightness in the area. Our brains are really good at ignoring musculoskeletal pain, especially when it has happened slowly over time or remains the same every ...

 Here at Barefoot Physio we use a variety of techniques to get the best results for our clients. We often incorporate dry needling as part of our treatment plan because it has a wide variety of benefits. This is always done in consultation with our clients. In this blog, we’ve covered some of the most common questions we get about needling to help you work out if dry needling is right for you.   What is dry needling? Dry needling ...

Hypermobility is present in up to 15% of the population in one form or another. For the general public, hypermobility most commonly refers to general joint hypermobility (or an increased range of joint movement). Being extra flexible is an advantage in activities such as swimming, dancing or gymnastics. Most flexible people don’t experience pain or symptoms due to their flexibility. However, being “flexible” or “double-jointed” is only one part of the large spectrum of hypermobility conditions. These conditions range from ...

What Is TMJ? Have you ever wondered if something is wrong with your jaw, or asked yourself “why is my jaw clicking?” Perhaps you have been told by your doctor or dentist that you have something called “TMJ dysfunction.” What does this actually mean? And how can Physiotherapy help your TMJ ? What is TMJ dysfunction? First, to answer this question, we need to answer a different question: “what is the TMJ?” TMJ stands for temporomandibular joint (no wonder we ...

The six sense! What is proprioception? Proprioception is the way that we know where our body is in space or in relation to other body parts and whether a body part is still or moving. This information comes from sensory receptors in the skin, joints and muscles that feed information continuously to the brain. Different tissues have different receptors, for example Golgi Tendon Organs are found in all tendons and give information about tendon stretch or muscle contractions, while Pacinian ...

Hypermobility can be a complex condition to manage and there are multiple ways that symptoms can be managed. A large part of management for hypermobility is movement. People who are more flexible are often drawn to activities that their flexibility gives them an advantage. One that we see all the time is yoga. It’s not uncommon to hear the phrase “but I can’t do yoga, I’m not flexible enough”. The assumption is only flexible people can do yoga, and they ...

Urinary continence is the ability to fully control your bladder movements; i.e. there is no leaking. Therefore, urinary incontinence is defined as an involuntary loss of urine. Whilst urinary incontinence can be common it isn’t normal and should be addressed to help people regain a sense of control over their bodies.  Physiotherapy for incontinence can be a great help in improving symptoms. To understand how physio can help your incontinence it is important to understand the type of incontinence. The ...

Pelvic Floor Physio for all populations Everybody has a pelvic floor. There is often a lot of discussion around pelvic floor for women, given its importance in pregnancy and childbirth. However, pregnancy is just one of many times the pelvic floor needs extra attention as pelvic floor dysfunction may be implicated in many other populations – including men and women who have never been pregnant. Pelvic Floor Physio can help everyone; as it can focus on activating and strengthening this ...

At Barefoot Physiotherapy we enjoy helping people across the lifespan to maintain and regain control of their pelvic floor muscles. Cuing a ‘Kegel’ or a correct pelvic floor activation and relaxation is an essential part of pre and post-natal physiotherapy. Pelvic floor muscles work hard to support the pelvic organs, especially throughout pregnancy when the weight on them significantly increases. Therefore, it is important to work with clients on activating their pelvic floor correctly to ensure no unneeded compensations occur ...

Running may seem very straightforward, but even for experienced runners there are many technical aspects that can be improved upon. While there is some debate about how important good running technique really is, the reality is most of us stand to improve performance by working our technique. For an overview of what good running technique involves, see this article. Good technique improves efficiency and therefore performance but is also key for injury prevention. In this blog, we’ve outlined our top ...

Running is a great form of cardiovascular exercise that incorporates the whole body and also has great mental health benefits. By utilising pace, distance and rest it can be adapted for beginner’s through to experienced athletes. However, runners at all levels can experience injuries which can lead to frustration, pain and time off from running. So understanding how to prevent injuries when running allows you to continue enjoying your exercise. We have many years of experience treating running injuries and ...

When it comes to injury prevention and performance enhancement, there are few exercises that get more coverage than the squat. It is very functional for day to day life and great for building lower body strength to protect the lower back, knees and hips. It is also a great exercise for runners, building strength in one of the key muscle groups needed for efficient running. As with all exercises – the key to getting the most out of squats is ...

Why do we experience pain without any obvious cause of injury? This is a common question we get asked at Barefoot and the answer is most commonly, due to accumulative strain. Let’s firstly summarise the main reasons we may feel pain: Due to traumatic injury – we have a broken bone, torn ligament, or other tissue damageDue to a disease process – such as an illness/infection, genetic conditionDue to build-up of accumulative strain – minor forces repetitively acting on the ...

This year Barefoot Physiotherapy is celebrating 10 years as a Brisbane based physio clinic, helping you to achieve your rehab and lifestyle goals. So, who is Barefoot and what makes us ‘physio with a difference?’ What makes Barefoot Physiotherapy - Brisbane Physio with a difference? That would be our Barefoot Physiotherapy plan! This is a 10-step framework that ensures a thorough, systematic, and holistic approach to your assessment and treatment. The aim of a holistic, whole-body assessment and treatment approach ...

Chronic, or persisting pain can have a large impact on all facets of our lives. Chronic pain has typically been defined as pain persisting for more than 3 months. Experiencing chronic pain takes up a portion of your daily energy and brain space, leaving people unable to fully participate in social or work situations, struggling to maintain strength and mobility, and/ or finding it difficult to perform activities of daily living. A major component of improving chronic pain is self-management ...

Most recent data (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2017–18 National Health Survey (NHS) tells us that 16% of Australians experience chronic back pain. This is a significant contributor to decreased quality of life for individuals and disease, economic and productivity burdens on a national level. Chronic back pain is pain experienced for a duration of longer than three months and felt in the low back, or lumbar area.    How to Deal with Chronic Back Pain Without Medication? Chronic back pain ...

What Is Chronic Pain? Chronic pain has typically been defined as pain persisting for more than 3 months.  This pain can be experienced throughout the entire body, or at localised body parts.  Pain is a wonderful tool for our body to protect us from perceived threat of tissue damage.  However, so often our ability to accurately determine this threat is altered.  When we experience chronic, or persisting, pain it can have a large impact on all facets of our lives ...

Pain and injury in the shoulder can have a variety of causes. One of the most common issues we see is shoulder impingement. So what is shoulder impingement? Shoulder impingement refers to a condition where poor co-ordination causes certain structures within the shoulder to get squashed or compressed when moving. Everyone is different and there are several reasons why the shoulder may be moving poorly, including muscle tightness, nerve irritation or muscle weakness. Working out the main contributing factors for ...

Hamstring tendinopathy is becoming an increasingly recognized cause of pain in both sitting and activity related posterior thigh pain. This pain is often present at the top of the hamstring underneath the gluteal fold. This is where the hamstring tendon attaches onto the ischial tuberosity. It is important to know how to treat hamstring tendinopathy as the hamstrings make up the bulk of the muscle in the back of the thigh. They are formed by three muscles and their tendons ...