Frequently Asked Questions

What Can We Help With?

  • Lower back pain is the major reason patients present to our practice. A thorough understanding of anatomy, physiology and biomechanics is the key reason why we can treat this problem effectively. Knowing the current research on back pain and the structures that are likely to be causing your pain allows us to target treatment to the right area. While other practitioners might get caught up in ‘stuck joints’, a ‘twisted pelvis’ or ‘weak glutes’ it is unlikely that these are the reason for your pain. Very often these problems only come about because your body is adapting because you are in pain. A detailed history, accurate examination and a high level of understanding allow us to quickly determine if it is a disc injury, nerve irritation, joint or muscle problem and apply treatment accordingly or refer out if necessary.

  • Neck pain and headaches are the second major reason why people attend our practice. Again it is important to know the current research when treating for these conditions. Like lower back pain, neck pain and headaches can have many different causes. Some headache symptoms will respond very well to manual treatment and others not so well. Our priority is to determine the cause of your headaches and whether or not treatment will be effective to save you time and money.

  • Sciatica is a general term for pain that can be anywhere from the glutes all the way down to the foot. Using nerve tension tests and palpation, we aim to determine the cause of your sciatica which often involves locating adhesion between the nerve and muscles. Once identified, we use shockwave and manual therapy to break down the adhesion and improve the function of the nerve.

  • Shoulder problems like rotator cuff injuries, bursitis, supraspinatus or bicep tendon tears are common not only in athletes, but also in people who sit in front of a computer all day every day. Knowing how each of the muscles work together is important in helping with these problems. It is also important to correct the functional problems before you try to just stretch or strengthen the shoulder so you don’t add to the problem.

  • Hip pain is a very common problem and in many cases can actually be the cause of lower back pain. We can effectively manage problems such as a catch or a pinch in the joint itself, pain down the side when laying in bed, hip bursitis and ITB pain.

  • Knee pain can be a very frustrating problem to have. Simple stretch and strengthening exercises for the knee can play a part in management, but shouldn’t be used until normal range has been restored with proper treatment.

  • Scars are a natural part of the body’s healing process and can result from multiple factors including surgery, trauma, injury, acne, inflammation.

    Because the body works so quickly to repair the damaged tissue, quite often the collagen that is laid down is disorganised and random which can impact the underlying blood vessels, nerves, and lymph vessels.

    This can result in pain in or around the scar, a lack of mobility in the area, ridging or pitting in surrounding skin, as well as altered or weird sensations.

    Dr. Elyssa has undergone further to become MSTR® certified, allowing her to be able to treat these scars that may be causing you discomfort.

What Can I Expect?

  • After filling in our new patient form, we will take a detailed history to find out as much information about your pain as possible. We will then perform a targeted examination that involves assessing how well you can perform key functional movements, palpation of the painful area and other supporting structures. The findings of these tests will allow us to properly assess and diagnose your problem so that the best course of treatment can be determined.

  • It is not routine at our practice to x-ray every patient. We only use x-rays to rule out suspected serious conditions, or if you have had previous treatment that has not worked before.

    If you have previous x-rays or scans such as an MRI or CT then please bring them with you.

  • If there is no need for further evaluation and you have a problem that we can help with, then with your consent, treatment is likely to begin on the first visit. The number of visits you will need varies from person to person and is based on a number of factors; from the type of condition we are dealing with, how long you have had it and how well you follow the at-home advice.

  • We use a combination of targeted soft tissue therapy and shockwave therapy. Treatment focuses on breaking down adhesion between the involved muscles, nerves, ligaments or joint capsules. There is some manipulation of joints when indicated. We don’t click, poke or rub everything, instead we focus on your biggest problem tissue at each visit and use a test-treat-retest system so that we know there has been improvement.

  • Shockwave, also known as Radial Pulse Wave (RPW), is a non-invasive machine that creates a high pressure shockwave (sound wave) by a small bullet firing against the metal endplate within the hand piece. This pressure wave can can travel up to 4cm into the tissue, meaning that it can reach the tissue that we can’t quite get with our thumbs.

    If you’ve heard of shockwave before, there’s chance you’ve seen it being used to treat issues such as tennis elbow or plantar fasciitis. Whilst we use it for these problems, our practitioners have undergone further training to be able to use the machine more extensively for issues such as low back pain, sciatica, neck pain, headaches.

    We utilise shockwave as part of our regular treatment at no extra cost to the patient.