What is Physio?
Physiotherapy enhances your body’s natural ability to heal and to optimise it’s balance of movement. So whether it’s a common sprain and strain, or a more complex condition like headaches, sciatica or an occupational injury, our physiotherpists are able to sucessfully manage and treat your condition in conjunction with you.
Our physiotherapists are highly qualified specialists in manual therapy, acupuncture, spinal therapy, sports medicine, manipulation and exercise rehabilitation including core stability, strength and flexibility and swiss ball programmes.
At our clinics we can help you treat headaches, neck pain, OOS, tennis elbow, golfers elbow, wrist sprains, hand sprains, sports injuries, breathing problems, stress management, knee cartilage, back pain, postural problems, muscle imbalances, hip pain, arthritic joints, knee pain, sprained ankles, heavy bruising, growing pains, muscle strains, foot problems and many other conditions.

How can physio help?
Physiotherapy is a tool for enhancing your body’s natural ability to heal and to optimise its balance of movement.
Physiotherapy is useful in the acute stages of soft tissue (muscle or ligament) or joint injury to relieve pain and promote the healing process.
In the sub-acute stages we aim to optimise function and allow more activity without re-injury and in the chronic stages to retrain pain management mechanisms and improve physical fitness.

Early treatment often results in earlier recovery, so the quicker you receive treatment, the sooner you will be back on the sports field or returning to your normal daily activities.

Assessment
The first physio session you have involves a thorough assessment and diagnosis of your injury/condition followed by some treatment. This is usually 30 minutes. We take a full history and perform a thorough examination. We find how the problem effects you and what you want the therapy to achieve. We give advice on how we can help, length of time of the the management/process and costs involved.

Therapy
We allow 30 minutes for follow-up sessions at our physiotherapy clinics to enable us to provide comprehensive and personalised treatment rather than recepie-based treatment. This includes a mixture of manual therapy, manipulation, exercise therapy, acupuncture and education. These are explained in more detail below.

Manual Therapy
This is the base of our approach. We use our hands for massage, muscle stretches and gentle joint manipulation and mobilisation.
These techniques are generally the basis of our treatment. They tend to be the cornerstone of physiotherapy in New Zealand.
Manual therapy is not often painful, although can sometimes produce a little discomfort.
Manipulation (or ‘clicking’ ) is a specialised skill that some physiotherapists have had additional training in, so are extremely competent to apply such techniques. Some clients prefer not to have manipulation performed on them, which is absolutely fine by us. Consent to any part of our treatment is an indiviuals choice which we respect legally and professionally.

Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a 6000 year old approach to healing and well-being, which in recent years has become a useful part of Western medicine. This is a way of tapping into your nervous system to encourage your body’s own healing processes and pain relieving mechanisms. The needles used are extemely fine and often hardly felt when inserted. We are trained to use it gently and safely for muscle and joint pain problems in conjunction with other therapeutic techniques.

What to expect:
Your acupuncture trained physiotherapist will advise you on the procedure fully and gain your consent before beginning the treatment.
A number of sterile needles (approx 3-8) will inserted into your skin at various points on your body. These are generally stimulated by twisting them gently, which will produce a mild aching feeling. The needles are then left in place for up to 30 minutes.

Exercises
Exercises are a large part of physiotherapy treatment. They are prescribed to your specific needs and are reviewed progressively as your body responds to the therapy with improving strength and flexibility. These are not hard exercises as given at gym’s, rather, they are easy to perform, are specifically tailored to your individual injury, and wont interrupt your daily life.

Education
This is the greatest tool we can give you, it allows you to manage your injury to a quick and full recovery and prevents recurrance.
The more you understand what is wrong with your body, and why we are using the treatment we are using, the more reassured you will be, and also more compliant with exercises we will no doubt give you.

Women’s Health and Continence Physiotherapy
Some of our physiotherapists have a special interest in continence and womens health physiotherapy. This consists of treatment for muscle dysfunction of the pelvic floor, which is often related to pregnancy, childbirth or pelvic surgery.

Symptoms can include:
- Urinary incontinence
- Urinary frequence and urgency
- Faecal incontinence
- Constipation
- Vaginal prolapse
- Pelvic pain
- Abdominal laxity

As with all physiotherapy conditions, early treatment often prevents the symptoms increasing, and will help you return to your normal daily function.
Treatment generally includes education and specific advice, and a personalised programme of exercises and management strategies to target your condition.

Continence and womens health problems are often diagnosed by your doctor first, followed by a recommendation of physiotherapy. However, it is possible for your physiotherapist to be your first point of contact. So speak to your physiotherapist if you have any queries about whether this type of treatment will help you, and they will point you in the right direction.