Northside Physio News

On the 14th of July, Kayla our receptionist departed on a three month adventure around Europe. She will be starting in Croatia and then visiting Greece, Italy, Malta, and France, meeting up with family and friends along the way. Although she has travelled to Europe before she looks forward to visiting all new places on this trip, especially as a mature adult.

How much to pack for a three month trip was a highly debated topic in the clinic in the lead up to Kayla leaving. Northside team members and clients played a key role in decision making for this task with regular polls during Clinical Pilates classes.

Kayla is super excited to be eating pasta every day in Italy and seeing all the beautiful beaches in Greece. She will be celebrating her 21st birthday on the island of Malta. She will miss the team at Northside Physio and assisting all the lovely patients, but looks forward to discovering new parts of the
world.

We wish her well with her travels and look forward to hearing all her stories on return.

Natalie has been a receptionist at a physiotherapy practice for 5 years and loves it. Originally she started working in Brisbane and moved back to Melbourne at the end of last year. She had a brief hiatus from work, and now is very lucky to find her happy place in the workforce again. She is looking forward to meeting the community here at Northside Physio.

Natalie is a passionate family woman both as a wife and mother. She is celebrating her 30th wedding anniversary this year. Together with her husband Greg, they have two wonderful children. Their lovely daughter Belinda is a Sports Therapist and just got engaged, and everyone is getting excited about her upcoming wedding. She works full time at a Primary School where she is adored by all. Her son Joshua is an Olympian who played for the Aussie Rugby 7’s in Tokyo 2020. He is now returning to play rugby 15’s somewhere in the world. Part time Josh assists running a FitStop in Brisbane which he loves doing.

Natalie’s husband Greg is a Level 3 Coach for Rugby Union which he is very passionate about developing here in Melbourne. Natalie has been coaching netball for over 20 years but decided to hang her whistle up and take the role of Team Manager for the State Rugby teams, which is a passion she shares with Greg. 

Natalie is a bright light at our front desk, carries bundles of experience and empathy. We welcome her to our Northside Team, and hopefully you get to meet her soon too.

Connie and Hayley had the pleasure this month to present to CrossFit Oblivion on shoulder stability and training. CrossFit is a demanding strength based training, and requires large amounts of shoulder strength for pull ups, ring work, push ups and carrying all things heavy! 

Hayley and Connie highlighted shoulder pathology and when they should send for a physiotherapy review. The main points to take into consideration of when to access physio: 

• Night pain 
• Pain during or 24 hours post exercise
• Unstable or floppy sensation in shoulder 

If you’d like to know more, or interested in Hayley to come present on shoulder stability, get in touch with us!

This month we celebrated Humphrey’s 9^th Birthday! A few facts about Humphrey:

Breed: Miniature Labradoodle

Official birthday is 28^th March 2013

Born and bred in Victoria

Houses lived in = 6 (2 in Victoria, 4 in Queensland)

Loves: swimming

Obsessed: ball retrieving

Hates: putting on his harness

Barracks for: Richmond Tigers

Thanks to our lovely community who always give him a pat and a friendly hello.

This month physiotherapist Connie took a 2 week break to explore beautiful Tasmania. Her top 3 highlights are as follows

1. MONA – Museum of Old and New Art:

If you haven’t been, it’s definitely for the bucket list. The artwork alone is amazing, but the architecture of the buildings and grounds are absolutely stunning. Not only do you get to enjoy art, but relax with an in-house microbrewery, winery, live music and five-star dining

2. Tasman Island Eco Cruise:

Getting to explore the Tasman Peninsula to see the vast cliff faces, under water sea caves, light house, seals, and dolphins is a breath taking experience. Worth the freezing cold and wet ride. Fact: The cliffs of Tasman Island and nearby Cape Pillar are in fact the highest sea-cliffs in the southern hemisphere

3. Wineries – all of them!

Everywhere you drive across the island, there appears to be another winery with eclectic wine makers willing to share their crop with you. Pinot Noir is a Tasmanian speciality!

Last year in December 2021, Josh joined our team as the new senior physiotherapist (in replacement for Matt who left in November 2021). Since then we were not able to formally introduce him due to the busyness of work and Christmas. Therefore, to help you get to know Josh, here are 5 facts about Josh you didn’t know:

1. He had never been to Melbourne prior to moving to Melbourne 

Based on what he had seen on TV depicting tram cars and street art, this was all Josh had known about Melbourne prior to moving over from NZ. Enticing way to move country! 

2. Favourite food – fried chicken

During special occasions like birthdays, family gatherings or celebrating special awards (not that there were many), Josh’s parents would treat the family to a family feast of KFC. Thus, to Josh KFC is more than just a delicious meal, it’s synonymous with happiness and good times. But now that Josh is a big boy and has money to spend, he is aware that if he is to eat KFC he must first train at the gym several times that week in order to avoid putting on excess weight. 

3. Josh was hit by a car when he was 6 

As soon as he got off the school bus, Josh looked one way but not the other. The reason for this? He was racing his brother to get to the TV remote before him.  Unfortunately, this mistake cost him a 6 week stay in hospital. However, Josh reports this event being one of the best times of his life. At the hospital he experienced first hand physiotherapy rehab treatment in learning to walk again. Plus, he got daily visits from famous rugby players and he got to watch all the Nickelodeon TV all day. (Only to find out he was banned from the TV for a month when he got home). 

4. Who is your favourite musician – Kid Cudi 

Kid Cudi is a rapper better known for his songs ‘Day N Nite’ and ‘Pursuit of Happiness’. But its his songs that most people do not know about that appeals to Josh as they speak about hope, believing in yourself and staying true to who you are. These were messages that helped Josh through his darkest times during university, living away from home, transitioning into adulthood and learning about responsibility (for self and others). 

5. Josh can speak 3 languages

English, Samoan and Italian. Although he is only fluent in English and can hold a conversation in Samoan, his Italian vocab is getting there. Besides the formal statements like hello and how are you, Josh’s Italian now stretches out to statements like ‘I’m very hungry’ or ‘I’m very tired’. Living with his partner’s Nonna he gets daily lessons at the dinner table. One day he hopes to visit Nonna’s village and learn about his partner’s family history.

This December we sadly, but proudly said goodbye to our senior physiotherapist Matt. He has been accepted to study Doctor of Medicine (MD) at the University of Queensland in 2022.

Matt has been an integral part of Northside Physios development in the early opening phase. He started in November 2020 when the clinic had only been open for three months. Over the last year he has networked with local health providers, gyms, community organisations, and helped many patients through their health journey.

Matt was renowned for his epic Pilates playlists, which usually consisted of 80’s bangers and classic rock. He was a timely consultant and was rarely running late. He would surprise us constantly on Saturdays with his impressive array of fun shirts and brightly coloured pants.

Clinically if you ever had the pleasure to experience a consult you would comment on his intelligence, patience, wit, stories, and hands on skills. If he couldn’t help you, he would always help piece the puzzle together by involving the right health professional and guiding you on your journey.

The Northside Team believe he will make an excellent doctor in any field, and the medical world has gained a huge asset for the future of many Australians. We wish him well on his relocation to Queensland and student life!

The Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) also known as the jaw, adheres to basic principles like any other structure in the musculoskeletal system. It is vital for normal function – talking, biting, chewing, and yawning. An injury or dysfunction to the TMJ can cause pain, headache and referral into the head and neck.

Patients with Temporomandibular Dysfunction (TMD) will complain of orofacial pain, ear symptoms, toothache, headaches, joint noises (clicking, crackling, popping) and neck or spinal pain. They will also report clenching, bracing, grinding of teeth and limitations to chewing, biting, and yawning. There are many reasons to why TMD might occur including physical, mechanical, and psychosocial.

Physiotherapist Connie has recently undergone extra education regarding assessment and treatment of TMD. Treatment involves education, manual therapy techniques and exercise rehabilitation. If you are suffering or want to know about how physiotherapy can help TMD, feel free to book a consultation or give us call.

This month we celebrate Mental Health Week (Oct 9-16).This year has been full of ups and downs, in lockdowns, then out of lockdowns, and then thrown back into another. We have certainly been feeling the pinch of the ongoing lockdowns here at Northside and we can see the impact that it is having on our local community too. It’s important in these times that we all rally together and look out for one another. High levels of emotional and mental stress can play a significant role on our physical health and wellbeing, therefore it is important that we address all aspects of our health when dealing with injury/pain. 

Connie, Matt and Hayley have given their top three tips on managing your mental health in lockdown:

1. Exercise – 30 minutes a day is all you need, get out, enjoy the sunshine and fresh air 
2. Drink plenty of water 
3. Aim for a minimum of 6-8 hours sleep 

If you are struggling during these tough times, don’t be afraid to seek help, here are some useful links that will help guide you in the right direction:

• Lifeline: https://www.lifeline.org.au/
• BeyondBlue: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/who-does-it-affect/young-people
• Headspace: https://headspace.org.au/
• Mensline: https://mensline.org.au/
• Mumspace – perinatal depression and anxiety support:https://headspace.org.au/

Dry needling is a technique that we use quite frequently in the clinic, but not many people truly understand what it is and how it works, so we thought this month we’d deliver the facts!

Dry needling is a time efficient and highly effective technique which involves inserting an acupuncture-like needle into trigger points or taut bands within a muscle belly in order to generate twitches in a muscle. We like to think of it as an extension of our fingers.

The needles used are sterile, single use only needles less than 0.3mm thick, the length of the needle varies depending on the muscle being treated.

Majority of people will not feel the needle being tapped into the skin. However, if the muscle is very sensitive, you may feel a slight pin prick. As the needle is advanced into the muscle, you may feel a cramping or twitching sensation which will improve within a short period of time. These twitches created from needling help the muscle to relax and reduce the feeling of tension/tightness, pain and improve function. 

If this is something that you may be interested in, feel free to have a chat with one of us and we can discuss if this is a suitable treatment option for you and your needs! All clinicians at Northside have undergone extensive training and are qualified in performing dry needling.