Physioworks Health Group Director and Collingwood Football Club Head Physiotherapist David Francis has been presented an Honorary Lifetime Membership by the Collingwood Football Club.

Collingwood Life Membership was bestowed on David Francis for 24+ years’ service as head physiotherapist to the club & over 500 AFL matches preparing and supporting the Magpie players, including the 2010 AFL Premiership.

David attended the 2019 Collingwood FC AGM with his family & Physioworks Co-Director Andrew Dalwood, where he was presented with Life Membership by Collingwood Football Club President Eddie McGuire.

“The strength and integrity of football clubs is very much dependent on the quality and commitment of the people who serve it. Great clubs have great people…and all are great Collingwood people,” McGuire said in reference to David and other life member inductees.

In his role as head physiotherapist, David expressed most enjoyment in seeing the development of players, as both athletes and young people.  He believes the ongoing challenge of working in a dynamic, high pressure elite sporting environment, has ensured his own continued professional advancement in sports injury prevention, management and rehabilitation.

“I love the club” said a humble David. “It has been and is a wonderful journey, honour and experience to work at Collingwood Football Club” added David while thanking his family and the many at the club for the opportunity, their support, guidance and friendship.

Read more about Physioworks Director David Francis being presented with Collingwood Football Club Life Membership:

http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2019-02-13/life-membership-for-premiership-pies

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/architect-of-collingwood-turnaround-formally-joins-board-20190213-p50xjy.html

Football pre-season is now in full swing with the 2019 season less than 8 weeks away for most leagues.

Physioworks Health Group APA Sports Physiotherapist Matthew Lynagh was in Adelaide last week as part of allied health care team completing the U18 SANFL combine testing.

This was the 5th year that Matt and the team have collected U18 SANFL player data. For the last 4 years the team have used the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) as the tool to help predict player’s injury during the season.

This year, now having plenty of data with the FMS, was the first time the team have used the Y Balance Test. It is a similar concept to FMS looking at poor movement/asymmetries in player movement to predict injuries. The Y tool gets used commonly as a “return to sport” measure to make sure a person is moving well.

Need pre-season testing? APA Sports Physiotherapist Matthew Lynagh consults at Physioworks Health Group Camberwell, Cranbourne & Pakenham clinics. Please contact your preferred clinic.

APA Sports Physiotherapist Matthew Lynagh helped prepare the Victorian U18 Girls Metro team for the first ever night cricket game played at the U18 Girls National Cricket Championship.

Matt continued his long standing role as the team physiotherapist for the Vic Metro team at the championships, which was held in Bendigo and Ballarat in January.

The first week of the Nationals is a T20/T20 format, followed in the second week with 50 over one day games.

With soaring temperatures, all games were pushed to early and late in the day, rather than in the heat of the day; with all games being completed.

This meant that nutrition, warm ups and recovery for the players was really important, especially with early and evening start times, and so was ensuring all the players kept hydrated.

“None of the team had any serious injuries, but a lot of the players were very sore as they had big increase in work load from what they are used to. So management and injury prevention was critical and I was pretty busy keeping them on the park, and hydrated, especially by the second week” said Matthew.

Need to be stronger? Need to be faster? Need more power? Need to sustain performance for longer periods in your chosen sport?

Clinical Strength & Conditioning (SC&C) Assessments are now available at Physioworks Health Camberwell to assist you to prevent injury and optimise your performance in 2019.

Physiotherapist Irwin Kim, an ASCA Accredited Strength & Conditioning Coach, conducts and manages the SC&C program at Physioworks Camberwell, and he will guide and support your tailored CS&C training program.

Physioworks Health Group Director and Head Physiotherapist to the Collingwood Football Club (AFL) David Francis said that specific S&C education is critical for injury prevention and optimising sports performance. 

“Too often I see young footballers and athletes in trying to improve their strength & conditioning lacking the basic fundamentals, such as correct weight lifting technique. At Physioworks Health Group I’m passionate that we educate and manage young athletes, helping them to avoid injury and perform at their best. Irwin Kim, with his physiotherapy experience, combined with his S&C coaching background, is well placed to educate & ensure a tailored S&C program to assist with strength, muscle endurance and power” said David.

Injury prevention and one-on-one coaching on correct techniques is a key aspect of the SC&C program. “There are a huge number of in-season injuries that are easily preventable” said Irwin Kim. “Fail to prepare, prepare to fail” he added

The CS&C program at Physioworks Camberwell includes one-on-one initial 60 minute assessment, individually tailored weights program & education, Exercise Guides, follow up/review sessions and support/guidance via phone/email with S&C coach Irwin Kim

For further details or any enquiries please contact our reception team at Physioworks Health Group Camberwell regarding the Clinical Strength & Conditioning program on (03) 9889 6611.

The Victorian Netball League (VNL) is the premier netball competition in Victoria, and Physioworks Health Group will in the thick of the action as the physiotherapy, allied health care and community partner to the Casey Demons Netball Club.

Casey Demons are one of 10 clubs selected to be part of the new BUPA VNL, with the season commencing in early 2019.

Physioworks Health Group Director and Specialist Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist* David Francis (FACP) will oversee the Casey Demons Netball program for the inaugural season, with Physiotherapist Amanda Robertson and Soft Tissue Massage Therapist Karyn Wheeler already busy supporting the Casey Demons squad during pre-season training and practice matches.

“It is an exciting time for the Casey Demons and the development & participation of netball in Casey region. Physioworks Health Group are delighted to support the club as community partner; and work together with all the Casey Demons athletes in their inaugural season, and beyond, to help the squad achieve optimum performance and success.” said David Francis.

*As awarded by the Australian College of Physiotherapy in 2009.

Three of the Physioworks Health Group physiotherapy team recently spent three days at the MCG – not watching sport but in-fact learning from world renowned speakers on pain sciences and chronic back pain.

Physioworks Director Andrew Dalwood, APA Sports Physiotherapist Scott Williams & Physiotherapist Jack Manson attended the Neuro Orthopaedic Institute “Explain Pain” course.

Keynote presenter was Dr. Lorimer Moseley, Professor of Clinical Neurosciences & Chair in Physiotherapy at the University of SA, who has world leading expertise in pain management with over 25 years of clinical experience working with people in chronic pain, and has contributed to extensive research with publications in international journals.

Physioworks Health Group is committed to further education of our team to ensure latest clinical and research learnings can be applied in patient assessment and management.

The Physioworks team attended to further their clinical understanding in assisting people experiencing acute and chronic pain, particularly chronic back pain. The aim of the course was to advance thinking, understanding and treatment of pain with a blend of lectures, interaction and practical workshops.

Key learnings and outcomes for the team from “Explain Pain” course include:

• Latest biological understanding of chronic pain and how different body systems can influence the amount of pain a person has; including
  – The role of the individuals thoughts or beliefs about their condition
  – The impact of scan findings can have on a person’s pain
  – The important role of quality sleep, impacts of the immune system and its health on the individuals pain level.
• Management of persistent back pain was discussed; including questioning beliefs about the correct postures to adopt and methods on lifting, all of which enhances our management of patients with long standing back pain.

Please contact your preferred Physioworks Health Group clinic for assistance with chronic back pain or the assessment and management of other long standing pain issues.

Physioworks Health Group Physiotherapist Millie Berkhout, who is the current team physiotherapist for Collingwood AFLW and VFLW teams (since 2017), discusses why a high level of injuries are occurring in woman’s football.

Over the last two-three years there has been a large increase in participation in elite and community women’s football at both junior and senior level.

Health care professionals working in the female football environment are focusing on injury rates, including conducting research and reporting looking at aspects unique to females and how we can work to reduce or avoid injury.

The AFLW 2018 Injury Report showed that the two most common injuries leading to missed time in women’s football at the AFLW level are Concussion and ACL rupture – a pattern that is echoed in other contact sports involving women. The Report stated:

• Concussion: There is 3.2 injuries per 1000 player hours in AFLW compared to just 1.5 injuries per 1000 hours in AFL (men)
• ACL rupture: The rates are even more alarming; with 4.31 injuries per 1000 player hours in the AFLW compared to 0.7 per 1000 hours in the AFL (men)

There are many factors that lead to these injury differences; including:

• Concussion: One of the key differences is neck strength
• ACL rupture: Females are more susceptible due to a wide range of factors including differences in hormones, anatomy, strength, biomechanics.

As physios we are working with the athletes (and the clubs) to try to change the factors which we have control over, including strength and biomechanics (in particular jump and land technique).

As a physiotherapist working in an AFLW environment, I am contributing to a research study with Latrobe University called “Developing an optimised knee injury risk reduction training program for elite female Australian Rules Football players”.

New guidelines are being developed though this study to show a group of exercises that any females taking part in football should follow as a preventative for ACL rupture. These types of exercise programs should then be put in place all the way down to the community female football level.

If you are a female playing football, or any other contact sport (as many of these injury factors are similar across various codes) a basic screening by a physiotherapist at Physioworks Health Group can help develop and tailor a program to help you reduce your risk of injury, while also improving your strength and your performance.

Contact your preferred Physioworks Health Group clinic.