Mattias McAndrew is a respected physiotherapist and his background includes 10+ years in the fitness industry, 6 years of university education in human movement science and physiotherapy (honours), 4 years of international competition in martial arts, 3 years of rock climbing including placing in national level competition.
Aztec Fitness asked Physiotherapist Mattias McAndrew some questions regarding injury management.
- In your expert opinion, what are some key exercise tips that can prevent common injuries while exercising?
It’s important to warm up before exercising. Warming up protects muscles and joints during exercise. Movement in the joints moves the synovial fluid (the fluid within the joint) around, allowing nutrition to reach all the different areas of the joint. This is important for maintaining bone and cartilage health.
Movement and gentle exercise also encourages blood flow to muscles. This encourages everything to start firing; the muscle fibres ready themselves for movement, the muscle spindles get used to the ranges of movement that they’ll be expected to use, and the blood flow provides a constant flow of energy to the muscles.
- Why is it necessary to see a physiotherapist immediately after injuring yourself?
It is usually best to seek the advice of your physiotherapist, as they can often provide advice regarding the likely outcomes, and begin a treatment program, should that be required.
Many injuries will heal on their own, and require no treatment. However, receiving treatment by your physiotherapist, as well as a tailored rehabilitation exercise program can speed up the recovery process, but it can also decrease the chances of developing compensation strategies that can lead to injury further down the track. RICE management is still the go-to for acute injuries. Rest, meaning relative rest from aggravating activities. It’s important to keep moving, even when you’re injured, but not in a way that will aggravate the injury, or make the injury worse i.e. don’t go for a run on a sprained ankle. Ice is unlikely to provide any healing benefit, however it can numb the area which can reduce pain. Always be careful when using ice that you don’t apply it for too long, as this can result in “ice burn”. Ice should not be used on areas that have any numbness or problems that may decrease sensitivity to temperature. Compression is important for encouraging swelling to leave the area, which speeds up the healing process. Compression will also decrease future swelling to the area. While swelling and inflammation are important tissue healing to begin, our bodies tend to overreact and cause excessive responses. Compression should not cut off the circulation. The pressure should be around the same amount of pressure as the elastic on your socks. Elevation also assists in moving swelling away from the injury. Gravity assists the body to move the fluid up into the lymph nodes so that it can continue being transported around the body.
- How important is it to complete physiotherapy rehabilitation programs?
A common scenario is when a patient comes to see their physiotherapist after an injury, and they’re in pain. The patient will usually be quite diligent in completing the prescribed exercises, in order to speed up their recovery. But, what happens when the pain stops? Well, a lot of the time, so does the patient’s compliance with their exercises. Unfortunately, when we’re not in pain, this does not mean the process of healing is complete. The next few weeks after the pain goes away is the most common time that people will reinjure themselves. It’s common for people to take being painfree as a sign of 100% recovery. This is not the case. It’s important to ALWAYS discuss with your physiotherapist what to do next once the pain has ceased, and continue the rehabilitation program unless your physiotherapist says otherwise.
- Why is good posture so vital in everyday life and exercise?
Good posture allows the body to move how it’s designed to move. In many cases, pain can be reduced simply by changing the biomechanics of the movement i.e. changing the way the body performs the movement. It is all too common that people come to see their physiotherapist for shoulder pain, and simply by correcting that patient’s shoulder position, and changing the way the patient’s shoulder blades move with the arm movement, the pain can be dramatically decreased. This same concept can be applied to many parts of the body and the movements associated with them.
Mattias’ Qualifications:
- Bachelor of Physiotherapy (honours)
- Watson Headache clinician
- Mulligan’s Concept practitioner
- Western Acupuncture and Dry Needling practitioner
- Diploma of Fitness – Fitness Therapist
A big thank you to Mattias for taking some time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions for us. If you would like to use Mattias Physiotherapist’s service, you can him on 1800 800 118.