FAQs
FAQs
After being reviewed by your general practitioner and given a referral, you can call for an appointment at any of our clinics for treatment of your compensable injury. We will then liaise with your general practitioner, case manager or rehabilitation consultant to achieve the best outcome given your situation.
We encourage active rehabilitation for all clients, and follow cutting edge science and best practice to achieve the best outcome. Our extended opening hours mean injured workers can attend for treatment at a suitable time for both themselves and their employer.
Our physiotherapists can also help in supplying braces to suit most conditions, for a more effective return to work.
We provide physiotherapy treatment for sports injuries that get you back to fitness.
Early intervention, advice on returning to sport and an extensive stock of braces, supports and tape ensure effective and timely treatment.
A number of our physiotherapists have post graduate qualifications in sports and manipulative therapy, as well as considerable personal experience in many different sports.
Our physiotherapists have had involvement in local sporting clubs, State and State of Origin football teams, the South Australian Redbacks Cricket team and the South Australian Scorpions Women’s Cricket team, as well as being selected as physiotherapists for the Sydney Olympics held in 2000.
Northcare Physio currently provides physiotherapy services for the Central Districts Private Hospital, Elizabeth.
Dizziness is a common complaint, and can be both disabling and incapacitating. Aging increases the risk of developing any of several conditions that may cause dizziness.
The treatment of dizziness depends on the cause and your symptoms. Keeping your sense of balance depends on your brain processing a variety of information from your eyes, your nervous system and your inner ears. If your brain is not processing the signals properly, or if your sensory systems are not functioning correctly, you may experience dizziness and loss of balance.
Vertigo is a hallucination of movement or spinning, the most common symptom of dizziness. Certain movements may provoke the spinning. Sometimes vertigo is severe enough to cause nausea or vomiting.
Physiotherapists at Northcare Physio who are trained in vestibular rehabilitation base the treatment of dizziness on the cause and your symptoms. This often involves balance exercises and visual retraining exercises using head and neck movement. Your physiotherapist will develop an individualised treatment plan, including a home exercise program.
In recent years, the Federal Government initiated the Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) plan which is funded by Medicare. People who satisfy the criteria for “chronic pain” are entitled to up to five (5) treatments per calendar year from Allied Health providers.
Speak to your doctor for further information if you think you may be eligible.
Diabetes is on the rise, yet most cases are preventable with healthy lifestyle changes. Sometimes even reversed. Taking steps to prevent and control diabetes doesn’t mean living with limitations; it means eating a tasty, balanced diet that will also boost your energy and improve your mood. Our dietitians will help you to still take pleasure from your meals without feeling hungry or deprived. Working individually with patients to design meal algorithms, our dietitians and exercise physiologists highlight appropriate and realistic nutrition and exercise goals, and provide ongoing patient support, tailoring programs to meet patients’ lifestyle, motivation, and specific needs.
Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight requires a multidisciplinary team care that offers practical, realistic approach to lifestyle modifications. At Northcare we provide the guidance, education and support required to ensure a sustainable approach to weight management.
Our dietitians and exercise physiologists work as team to help clients achieve personal health goals and improve well-being.
At your first appointment our dietitians collect relevant information about your current health situation, any past medical history, your activity level and ask some general questions about your food habits. In your first session, there will also be questions about your diet and how you eat in a regular day. Collecting this information then allows our dietitians to provide personalised, accurate and effective suggestions that address your concerns.
At least one follow up session is recommended. This session is used to reinforce the provided education, as well as discussing the possible barriers to implement the suggestions provided in earlier sessions. Moreover, in most cases one session is too short to discuss all dietary aspects of presenting issue.
In conclusion, dietitian services are available at our Salisbury Plain clinic.
Compared to acupuncture, dry needling is more directly concerned with treating specific neuromuscular problems that are causing pain or hindering mobility whereas acupuncture, generally speaking, seeks to address the flow of energy around the body and vital organs by inserting needles in established meridian points on the body.
The evidence base for dry needling in various areas of physiotherapy has increased substantially over recent years. In particular, research has grown to provide evidence-based support in the treatment of acute and chronic back pain, chronic neck pain, tension type migraine headaches, pelvic girdle pain, knee osteoarthritis, lateral elbow pain and shoulder conditions.
The way it works is through complex neural pathways and chemical releases in the body. Simply put, following dry needling there is some increased blood flow to the area, endorphins (natural painkillers) are released and nerve pathways may be inhibited or to a degree blocked with the aim of helping to ease pain and promote healing.
Dry needling is a very safe and relaxing process. In some cases, a needle being inserted into a trigger point muscle can create a slight ache but many patients do not feel the needles being inserted at all. After a dry needling session, it may be that patients feel a little tired but there are no lingering effects and most people are able to continue with their day to day activities.
Many patients respond positively to dry needling almost at once, finding that the problem muscles are less taut and contracted, and that they are able to move with more freedom. In some cases, it may take a day or two for the benefits to be felt. Generally speaking, several sessions may be required to give a longer lasting benefit and for the muscle to resume functioning normally again. Usually appropriate stretching and strengthening exercises are prescribed to maintain and further improve someone’s symptoms.
Dry needling is therefore a very effective means of addressing a wide range of acute and chronic conditions that cause pain or hinder mobility, and is suitable for treating a number of musculoskeletal dysfunctions such as back and neck pain, hamstring problems, headaches, muscular tightness and sporting injuries.
Research has shown headaches are often related to problems in the upper neck. Neck dysfunction can trigger some headaches, including migraine and tension headaches, and contribute to the frequency and intensity of others.
In the early 1980s, based on headache treatment by physiotherapist Geoff Maitland, researchers Nic Bogduk, Gwen JulI and others were able to prove a relationship between the joints of the upper neck and symptoms frequently reported by headache sufferers.
Headaches, including migraine, can have as contributors, structures inside your skull, chemical influences on your brain and dysfunction of your upper neck. All of these may be present with your headache.
Research has clearly established neck related headaches (cervicogenic) are as common as migraine and tension headaches, and often accompany these headaches.
In an initial assessment (approximately 30 minutes), your physiotherapist will assess your headache with a series of examination techniques, often temporarily reproducing some of the symptoms associated with your headache, to determine the point of origin and prove a definite link between your neck and headache.
Usually about six treatments will clear or significantly reduce your headache.
We understand there are other causes for headaches and we will work in association with your doctor, who is skilled in dealing with these other causes.
Gift vouchers are available to purchase for a 30-minute or a 60-minute treatment session. Contact us for pricing and availability.
Our remedial massage therapists are trained in pre and post pregnancy massage. Many women suffer from low back pain and spinal pain during pregnancy. Massage therapy is a safe and effective way of dealing with this pain. Massage also has the added benefit of relaxation more generally.