I’m really excited to be heading to India next month! After speaking at a conference earlier this year I was approached to go and do a short work/teaching placement at an elite Sports Medicine Hospital in Mumbai. I’ll be doing 10 days working in the clinic, which will involve a combination of treating patients (apparently it’s where the Indian Cricketers and Bollywood Starlets hang out), and running daily lectures/seminars on sports injury management.
I’ve never been to India so I’m really looking forward to being able to go someplace new and …

Might need to think again. An article in The New York Times has cast uncertainty over the therapeutic value of spinal steroid injections. In a recent study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine no less, patients were given a plain anaesthetic injection, or the anaesthetic combined with the steroid. Here are a few quotes that summarise the results:

“the study, the largest randomized trial evaluating the treatment, found that patients receiving a standard stenosis injection — which combine a steroid and a local anesthetic — had no less pain and virtually …

Soothes a dry sore throat. Welcome to Cold and Flu Season. I’ve been laid low the last couple of days with a flu that would kill a grizzly bear (spoken like a true man I know) and as I was lining up my potions and vitamins and other drugs I remember an article I’d read on Manuka Honey.
According to the article, published on the BBC website, Manuka Honey’s antiseptic properties can help enhance the effectiveness of antibiotics. It was tested on hospital strength bacteria.
Here are a couple of choice quotes …

Thanks to the internet, we have access to more information that ever before. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to figure out whether something we read on the internet is true or not. Wikipedia is a site that always comes up very high on search engines, so if you’re ever looking to come up with a diagnosis or learn more about why your shoulder/knee/hip/head hurts, it’s a common place to end up. Sadly, a recent study has shown that the site is “riddled with errors”.
An article titled “Is Wikipedia Dangerous To …

Pictured is the Astronaut Position, which is a great way to relieve back pain. In this post I’m going to discuss the results of a study which has found that when you suffer a back injury you are better off staying active than resting.
Now, it may not seem terribly important, I mean, how bad could a couple of days on the couch be? Well, here are the stats: “more than three quarters of individuals will have a recurrence of their symptoms within a year from the initial onset, and up …

Don’t mean to brag (I actually love bragging), but having been consulted by a lot of World and Olympic champion athletes I can tell you that one of the biggest issues they face is how to prevent recurrence of injuries. When it comes to hamstring tears, there is very strong evidence that we can reduce the risk of suffering one by performing a simple (but incredibly challenging) exercise.
The New York Times recently posted an article outlining how this exercise works. Here’s a great excerpt and a link to the full article. I …

For those of you who aren’t already aware, GP’s can refer you to see an Osteopath under a Medicare scheme covering allied health practitioners. It’s called the Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) Scheme and it covers up to 5 treatments per year and refunds you approximately $45-50 of the treatment cost. If you have a “chronic” condition, meaning you have had an injury for a couple of months or more, your GP can refer you under this scheme.
That’s your tax dollars hard at work people – take advantage of it!
If you …

I just found a great video on the New York Times website (so highbrow) that demonstrates a number of exercises for improving your ankle stability. This is particularly important for anyone who has ever sprained or injured their ankle ligaments, but I recommend these exercises for anyone participating in sports. Having good stability will help in a number of sports such as running, touch football, soccer, netball, aussie rules (go the mighty Swans!) etc etc etc. It may even come in handy when you’re wearing the wobbly boot after three …

As you would all no doubt be aware (seeing as I have’t stopped talking about it for the last month or two) I spoke at a seminar in Tasmania last week. After a lot of hard work it went really well. It was a great experience and I learnt a lot, and really enjoyed teaming up with one of my oldest friends, Physiotherapist Toby Watson from North Curl Curl Physiotherapy (previously Brisbane Lions and Tour De France). We had fantastic feedback and have been asked to do a few more …

A new study has come out saying that the best treatment for arthritis is exercise. This makes sense and is something I’ve long believed and I may even have posted about it once before with respect to knee arthritis and tai chi.
The pain associated with arthritis comes from things like the muscles tightening up around the joint (to try to stabilise it), the joint losing mobility and there being less fluid in the joint.
It would make sense then, that exercise would help. Exercise increase your flexibility, your balance, promotes blood flow …