Lower back pain is ranked as Australasia’s number one health burden, as it is estimated that 80% of Australians experience back pain at some stage throughout their life and 10% of Australians experience significant disability as a result of their pain. Believe it or not, the biggest predictor of lower back pain is depression. Jarvik et al, found that people who reported depression at the baseline of the study were 2.3 times more likely to develop back pain than those who reported not having depression. This study also highlighted that [...]

What exactly is an ACL injury and why are we seeing more of these injuries in our young children? Anyone who has suffered an ACL injury knows exactly what it is and how painful a tear in this ligament can be. Additionally, healing requires a lengthy treatment process, even if you are lucky enough to avoid surgery. To keep it simple an anterior cruciate ligament helps holds your knee together, in other words it stabilises the knee. When you twist or turn quickly you can tear this ligament and the [...]

Depression is a common and disabling illness, affecting over 1 million Australian adults in any one year. Everyone at some point feels sad, moody or low, however, some people experience these feelings for longer periods of time - from weeks to years at higher intensity. Each person’s journey of depression can have variable symptoms and changes in behaviour resulting in multiple treatment options that are provided by a range of multidisciplinary health providers. Recently Harvey et al, 2017, concluded in a cohort study that undertaking exercise can be associated with [...]

Osteoarthritis of the knee is a common problem for many people after middle age. Osteoarthritis is the type of arthritis that involves the cartilage of the joint. The main symptom of osteoarthritis of the knee are pain, swelling, stiffness and decreased activity level. Pain is usually worse with activity and better with rest. Commonly wasting of the thigh muscles ensues which in turn increases pain and cause symptoms of giving way. Symptoms of locking and catching are common. Episodic flare ups involving a course of sudden pain that settles over [...]

Frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis is a condition characterised by both pain and decreased range of motion or stiffness. It is common in women between the ages of 40-60 but can also occur in men. The cause is still unknown despite much research but is often related to auto-immune or thyroid disease, cardiac disease and diabetes but researchers are unsure why there is an increased incidence of it in these patient groups. Frozen shoulder can also occur post-surgically and may be as a result of being protective of the [...]