Services

Back Pain and Injuries

At the Bio Practice we specialize in the treatment of chronic back pain (neck and lower back) by attempting to treat the primary CAUSE of the pain and not just secondary symptoms or compensatory pain patterns.

There can be a multitude of back pain causes such as:

• Inherited Postures – joint hypermobility or laxity, lordosis (arched back), scoliosis
• Acquired Postural Imbalances – due to structural and muscular adaptation to your workplace ergonomics, occupational activities, sports environment and juvenile growth spurt.
• Ergonomics – a poorly structured work environment or sports techniques can predispose you to back injuries.
• Weak Core Muscles – due to a lack of functional activities or exercise, aging, childbirth, caesareans and weight gain.

Once we have determined the cause of the back pain and the aggravating factors we can treat the injury more specifically and teach you ways to manage your back at home (DIY).

Sport Injuries

Whether you are a professional or recreational sportsman or women you are going to be faced with an injury of some sorts in your lifetime. The injuries can vary from traumatic (acute) such as twisting your ankle to atraumatic (chronic) as in knee pain that you develop every time you run a certain distance.

The treatment approach for these two types of injuries are different in that you would initially treat the SYMPTOMS (pain, swelling, inflammation) in both traumatic (acute) and atraumatic (chronic) injuries, but eventually would focus on treating the CAUSE in atraumatic (chronic) injuries to get results.

In the case of atraumatic (chronic) injuries there can be a variety of causes such as:

• Acquired Muscle Imbalances – due to structural and muscular adaptation to your occupational activities, sports environment and technique.
• Biomechanical Alignment – that is a dysfunction of the structural alignment of joints in the body due to inherited factors (flat feet, high arches, bow legs, arched back, shorter leg syndrome) or acquired muscle imbalance (right or left handed sports like tennis or bowling in cricket).
• Ergonomics & Technique – could be related to how you hold your racket or play a shot in golf; are you a forefoot or heel striker when running; and the set-up of your road or mountain bike.
• Equipment – your choice of running shoes (road, trail), hiking boots, grip size and weight of a racket can either minimize or maximize your chance of an injury.

Once we have determined the cause or possible aggravating factors of the chronic injury can we device a treatment plan to address the injury and teach you ways to manage it more effectively (DIY).

Compex – Muscle Stimulation

At the Bio Practice we also make use of Compex technology to activate weak or atrophied muscles and neural pathways by stimulating the motor nerve at the muscle directly via electrodes. This is particularly useful if damaged has occurred in the brain or spinal cord as these systems are bypassed to directly stimulate the peripheral nerves and their corresponding muscles.

At the Bio Practice we use Compex technology to help activate weak muscles and neural pathways once we have established the pathology. This process is necessary to get permanent and faster results when rehabilitating injuries (chronic knee & shoulder pain), orthopeadic (hip and knee replacements) and neurological (stroke, spinal cord injuries) conditions.

One of the main benefits is involuntary activation of the muscles of the core (transverse abdominus), hip (gluteus medius/minimus), knee (vastus medialis) and shoulder (rotator cuff). Once these muscles are activated at the Bio Practice can further progress and maintenance be achieved by using a home or gym-based programs.