By Bonny Anderson
Some of you may have had experience with Physiotherapy; some of you may be thinking, ‘How can physio help me as a skater?’ The answer is simple.
Physiotherapists have extensive training in the body systems. How your muscles work, how your joints work, how the brain and nerves control your movements and how this all changes throughout the lifespan. One of the skills we are trained to do is to identify ‘faulty movement patterns’ which means with certain tests and observation we can tell which muscles may not be working effectively due to past or present injury, pain or weakness. From here we can use different skills to correct these movement patterns and therefore create an ideal healing environment within the body to reduce the likelihood of further progression of injury or re-injury. The physio uses skills to restore mobility to joints with gentle manual therapy, supervised and home-based exercises to strengthen muscles around the joint and functional re-training which helps you to correct problems with your posture and joint alignment. This is where Macarena and I make a great team for you skaters to take advantage of. Our knowledge gained through our university studies paired with our knowledge from so many years of skating is invaluable for you to take advantage of.
I will be posting educational blogs to help you understand how to prevent and manage common injuries sustained through skating. I would love to hear from you guys about any queries you may have about injuries either in person or simply press the ‘contact us’ tab to send an email. I have so much information to share with you and would love your feedback and requests on what you want to learn next.
Stay tuned for the first ‘Anatomy Lesson: The knee’.
For more information about physiotherapy in New Zealand checkout this website: http://physiotherapy.org.nz/about-physiotherapy/