Whether you are a weekend warrior or an elite athlete, your osteopath can help prevent and treat many sporting injuries, including:

• knee, leg and ankle injuries
• shoulder, elbow and wrist injuries
• hip and pelvic injuries such as osteitis pubis
• neck and back strains

Here at Rowville Family Osteopathy, our practitioners are highly trained in managing and rehabilitating sporting injuries, we also have the unique ability to apply Osteopathic concepts to sporting injuries.  This means we assess the way your whole body moves and integrate this into the management plan.  In doing this, we target the reason your pain begun in the first place, rather than just looking at where the pain is.

Whilst Osteopaths have acknowledged this for many years, it is only recently that the importance of treating the whole body has been documented in the literature. For example;

• Osteitis pubis,  hamstring and groin injuries invariably involves problems with the hip joint as well as low back or pelvic restriction and imbalances
• Knee pain is related to poor foot and ankle mechanics, thigh muscle tension and hip dysfunction
• Shoulder injuries can be caused by tension in the ribs, neck, shoulder blade and upper back
• Shin splints involve poor mechanics of both leg bones as well as problems supporting the arch of the foot.
• Joint injections and pain killers may only mask the problem. Unless you deal directly with the cause of your problem, further injury and joint degeneration will result.

Osteopathy involves a diverse range of safe, gentle and effective manual techniques which can assist the healing process.  Including the correct rehabilitation exercises to restore strength and restore mobility, soft tissue techniques, stretching, mobilization and manipulation if indicated.  These techniques assist in improving elasticity, strength, endurance, mobility and performance.

Reduced joint or muscle flexibility will affect your performance and may result in injury if you don’t realise that you can’t perform at your usual level.  If you do become injured, your osteopath is highly trained to facilitate a return to optimal function and prevent compensatory strains from occurring.  This will minimise re-injury and allow a quicker return to physical activity.