Pollinate Health physiotherapy is a specialist musculoskeletal practice. We provide a comprehensive assessment and diagnosis of musculoskeletal injuries, which are those relating to your bones, muscles, joints, soft tissues and nerves of the body.
Once we have fully assessed your condition, we adopt an evidence based approach to understand your goals, give you a proper diagnosis, develop a treatment plan and provide a clear time frame for recovery.
We use a range of different techniques to help you reach your goals, which might include joint and tissue mobilisation, massage, exercise, rehabilitation and education.
Pollinate Health physiotherapists are experts at assisting patients with complex conditions that have not been improving with previous approaches.
We look at your scans and explain, in simple terms, what they mean. There’s nothing more confusing than having an MRI with all of these scary terms and no-one explaining them to you.
If we find your current scans don’t tell the full story, we discuss the option of further imaging so that we can put all of the pieces of the puzzle together for you.
This might even involve referring you to orthopaedics, a sports doctor or rheumatologist for specialist input.
Many people think that physiotherapy is a very general type of treatment and the average physiotherapist can assist with most conditions.
There are in fact many different areas of specialty in physiotherapy.
For example, women’s health physiotherapists deal with issues relating to a woman’s reproductive system, whereas vestibular physiotherapists help people who might have issues with being dizzy or off balance.
In the same way, musculoskeletal physiotherapists specialise in treating issues relating to bones, muscles, joints, soft tissues and nerves of the body.
When you choose your therapist, it is important to consider the level of expertise and post-graduate qualifications of the person you are visiting.
Physio’s who call themselves advanced physiotherapists have completed a master’s degree in musculoskeletal physiotherapy, which is post-graduate education.
All general and advanced musculoskeletal physiotherapists may work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, private practices, community centres, sports clinics and rehabilitation centres.
Advanced physiotherapists with post-graduate qualifications receive this title when they work in advanced roles in the hospital system. This could include working in the emergency departments or managing clinics linked to orthopaedic surgeons. In these clinics, advanced physio’s typically screen patients and recommend physiotherapy interventions where appropriate.
All general musculoskeletal physiotherapists are able to diagnose, manage and treat issues relating to the musculoskeletal system after undertaking a four-year degree in physiotherapy.
As a results of their post-graduate training and advanced responsibilities in the hospital system, an advanced musculoskeletal physiotherapist has developed advanced clinical reasoning and treatment planning.
Our principal physiotherapist Jimmy Goulis is an advanced musculoskeletal physiotherapist.
He is well qualified to diagnose and treat your injury, regardless of whether it’s a simple, acute or chronic condition. Here are his qualifications and details of his study:
Post-graduate programs help musculoskeletal physiotherapists to refine their research skills, as well as analyse and evaluate new studies. They use this information and evidence in their day-to-day practice.
Committing to evidence based practice means patients benefit from the most current developments and techniques.
All physiotherapists can work in hospital departments including emergency, orthopaedics, neurology, cardiorespiratory, cancer care, cardiac care, geriatrics and rehabilitation.
Musculoskeletal physiotherapists are found in the emergency and orthopaedic departments.
They commonly practice alongside doctors, nurses, other allied health professionals like dieticians and occupational therapists.
Musculoskeletal physiotherapists also work with orthopaedic surgeons, radiologists, and sports medicine physicians, to comprehensively treat patients.
This cross-pollination offers musculoskeletal physiotherapists the unique opportunity to develop advanced skills.
As a result, many physio’s take a multidisciplinary approach to treatment and provide the best possible care for their patients.
Pollinate Heath’s Jimmy Goulis also works in two busy emergency departments in Melbourne, and brings the high-level skills from these role into his private practice.
It’s unusual to find this level of skill hiding away in your local suburban physio practice!
No, chiropractors and osteopaths are not allowed to work in hospitals and you will find them in private practice.
Many people think musculoskeletal physiotherapists mainly treat people using manual therapy, like pressing or massaging the bones in the neck and back.
It turns out the skillset and role of a musculoskeletal physiotherapist is a lot broader and takes a more nuanced approach.
Musculoskeletal physiotherapists have an in-depth knowledge of the body’s anatomy. A good musculoskeletal physiotherapist will be highly experienced in:
Assessing and diagnosing your condition.
Understanding your goals.
Providing you with an achievable treatment plan.
Offering you a clear time-frame for recovery.
In addition, a skilled musculoskeletal physiotherapist will have a wide range of diagnostic skills and techniques that they bring to every consultation with you.
The common techniques used by skilled musculoskeletal physiotherapists can be divided into (1) diagnosis and (2) treatment.
The second part of this process involves the physio physically examining you. Although the focus of this assessment is usually the primary area of concern, the physio will also assess your general musculoskeletal system and overall function.
To help form a true picture of your condition, musculoskeletal physiotherapists use their:
Assessment techniques may also include biomechanical, ergonomic, and sport-specific technique correction. These are all approaches used to analyse and improve the way the human body moves during different activities.
Overall, the goal of all these techniques is to optimise movement efficiency, reduce the risk of injury, and improve performance, whether in daily activities or in sports and exercise.
A proper diagnosis takes time. At Pollinate Health, we offer a 45-minute initial appointment, which is longer than industry standard, for this very purpose.
Musculoskeletal physiotherapists use a range of evidence based manual techniques to treat patients. These techniques aim to mobilise, manipulate, and massage the body so that normal functioning returns, pain decreases, and range of movement improves.
Some of the most common techniques that musculoskeletal physiotherapists employ include:
This includes the following techniques:
Dry needling is a technique used by physiotherapists and other healthcare professionals to treat musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction. It involves inserting thin needles through the skin and into trigger points or muscle knots, in order to release tension and alleviate pain.
Unlike acupuncture, which is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine and uses specific meridian points, dry needling targets trigger points, which are areas of tightness and sensitivity in the muscles.
During a dry needling session, the therapist will insert the needles into the trigger points and manipulate them to create a local twitch response. This twitch response is believed to release the tension in the muscle, increase blood flow, and promote healing.
Dry needling is generally considered safe, but like any medical procedure, it does carry some risks, including bleeding, infection, and nerve damage. It is important to only receive dry needling from a trained and licensed healthcare professional.
Modalities such as shockwave therapy and heat and/or cold therapies can also be used to reduce pain and inflammation
Hydrotherapy can be used for people who find it too painful to exercise on land.
Using water exercises and aquatic therapy means the buoyancy of water reduces the weight placed on joints, which makes them effective for conditions such as severe osteoarthritis or for those recovering from joint replacement surgery or people with bad fractures or experiencing a lot of pain after surgery .
Hydrotherapy can also help improve range of motion, strength, and overall function.
The types of conditions that musculoskeletal physiotherapists treat can be broken down into the following categories:
Musculoskeletal physiotherapy is just one of the branches of physiotherapy. The other specialist areas include:
Pollinate Health practitioners are members of the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA). Members of the APA benefit from focused online and face-to-face professional development opportunities, access to the latest research and publications, mentoring by more experienced physiotherapists, and a variety of tools and resources designed to support both them and their practice.
Patients experience a number of benefits when they visit Pollinate Health’s musculoskeletal physiotherapy practice. Seeing someone who specialises in this area of physiotherapy means that you receive relevant and up-to-date treatment for your injury. Further benefits include: