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Headaches are a common ailment which varies in intensity, pain and location. Although the majority of headaches are a temporary nuisance some can be more serious, concerning and disruptive. One common patient complaint is occipital headaches which can signify an underlying condition that can be treated with massage and bodywork techniques. Occipital headaches also known as occipital neuralgia is a non life threatening disorder that is located at the back of the head and can

Whip lash: Whiplash is a common term for sudden acceleration-deceleration forces on the neck thus stretching and placing compressive forces on the joints, muscles, ligaments and nerves predominantly in the front and back of the neck. This can cause damage on these structures as the tissues are pushed beyond their limits. Causes: Usually whiplash is the end result of a rear end or side impact motor vehicle collision, diving accidents and other mishaps. WAD Scale: WAD is a t

As our population ages, families are more likely to know someone they care about who is suffering from a condition that causes them worry and concern. ‘They very often feel powerless, but it makes a huge difference if they can see their loved ones get some relief,’ said Malcolm Calcutt from the Perth Massage & Injury Management Clinic.. It may be the pain and discomfort caused by cancer or another chronic disease, it may be the after-effects of an operation, it may be situat

Importance of screening for functional movement “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” But when it comes to the human body what defines broken? Pain? Injury? Dysfunctional movement patterns? All of these qualify. So why do we generally only act on the first two (sometimes when its too late)? Probably because we aren’t always aware whether our functional movement patterns are indeed functional. To throw another cliché out there “prevention is always better than cure”. In 2001 Gar

Last week I wrote about the importance of having good ankle mobility and how poor ankle mobility can negatively affect your performance. So, what if you have really poor ankle mobility (like me), what can you do to fix it? As I alluded to last week, ankle mobility becomes restricted because the surrounding tissue is tight and shortened. It makes sense then to release these areas of tightness and work on lengthening. Foam rollers, lacrosse balls (a golf ball and tennis ball ca

It is an inflammatory condition that causes chronic heel pain. Symptoms: The common symptom is pain on the underside of the heel which is persistent during the first few steps of getting out in the morning. Sharp stabbing pain which affects both the front and the back of the heel bone. Heel pain is worse during periods of inactivity (sleeping/resting) when getting up then subsides turning into a dull ache. Causes: Abnormal pronation of the foot causing stretching of planter

Anterior cruciate ligament Injury: The most disabling knee injury for a sportsperson involved in pivoting and turning activities e.g. basketball, netball, football, hockey. Structure: The ACL is intracapsular, covered by synovium and positioned within the intercondylar notch attaching proximally on the posterolateral femur with an oval-shaped 2cm attachment and fans out in three bands to attach distally on the tibial spine. The three bands of the ligament (anterolateral, int

A cervicogenic headache is simply another name for a headache which originates from the neck and is one of the most common types of headache. During certain neck movements or sustained postures, stretching or compression force is placed on the joints, muscles, ligaments and nerves of the neck. This may cause damage to these structures if the forces are beyond what the tissues can withstand. Damage can occur from a traumatic experience such as a specific incident or gradually

Core Stability - Activating Transversus Abdominus The transversus abdominus (TA) muscle is the deepest layer of the abdominal wall. It wraps around you similar to a brace or corset and attaches at the back to your spine. When it contracts it “stiffens” and supports the spine and is therefore vital to spinal stability and control. Core stability refers to the sub-conscious use of TA and other muscles, such as the gluteal (bottom) muscles, to provide an effective stable base fo

Definition: Anxiety disorder is an umbrella term used in psychiatry for different types of psychiatric disorders characterised by excessive and irrational rumination (compulsive focus on one’s distress aimed at bad feelings and experiences from the past. Opposed to worry which focuses on events potentially happening in the future), fear, worrying, uneasiness and apprehension. Anxiety is not the same as fear. Fear is evoked by a realistic danger and is an appropriate response

Coronary heart disease is a disease that causes blockages or narrowing of the coronary arteries, the arteries that supply oxygen and nutrients to the heart. Often this is caused by atherosclerosis which is the build-up of cholesterol, the fat in our blood, on the inside of the walls of the arteries. This build-up is also called plaque and this can restrict the blood flow to the heart. Without blood supply the heart will become starved of oxygen and the patient can feel a pain

A hot stone massage is a massage performed with smooth, flat, warmed up stones. The stones are used to massage the muscles and to be placed on certain points on the body like the hands, back, face etc. The heat makes it possible to get deeper into the areas massaged and together with the use of cold stones to reach a high stage of relaxation. The benefits of this technique are easy relaxation of the muscles due to the use of heat, it helps to get rid of stress, it helps to re

Every year AAMT (Australian Association of Massage Therapists) promotes Massage Therapy Week. This year’s focus was on Men’s Health and Wellbeing and to help spread the message AAMT invited international cricketer Brett Lee to be their spokesman. In the latest issue of the Journal of the Australian Association of Massage Therapists, Brett Lee was quoted as saying that “the physical benefits of massage therapy include the relief of stiff and sore muscles, reduced inflammation

For maximum mechanical efficiency in a squat the weight of the bar needs to be aligned with the middle of the lifter’s foot. When the bar travels either side of the vertical line it creates an unnecessary lever arm resulting in a mechanical disadvantage. This means that the placement/positioning of the bar in a squat will determine the mechanics and muscular involvement of the lift. Each different position of the bar requires a different positioning of the torso if we are to

We are always looking for ways to get bigger, better, stronger and more successful at what we do, when it comes to Crossfit I couldn’t agree more! Talk to a successful athlete and they will have their own strategies for success, whether it is their nutrition, some fancy supplement they believe is key or perhaps a recovery method they swear by. I’m willing to bet that most of them are prepared to give just about anything a try if it promises to increase their performance. I re