The Skiing ACL Many healthcare professionals believe that tearing your ACL is a binary event. You’ve either done it or you haven’t. But thanks to the improving quality of MRIs, we can categorically say this is false. There is a Spectrum of Injury, from mild to moderate to severe. This spectrum of damage aligns very closely with the ability of the ACL to heal. A minimally damaged ACL will likely heal on its own without much treatment, but a severely damaged ACL has less chance to heal and may require surgery. Spectrum Of ACL Tears A 3mm slice MRI, ideally a double oblique view, is necessary to ..read more

What is Involution, and why does anyone involved in acute injury management need to know? Involution isn’t a word we come across daily, but it is an essential principle in physiology, particularly with our new understanding of knee injury management. But what does it mean? If we look at the word itself in-volution,it is the antonym of evolution. We know that to evolve is to become something more substantial, more significant or better, so it suggests that to involute would mean to regress, go backward and become nothing or less than we were before. The Oxford Dictionary describes involution in ..read more

The recently published Cross Bracing Protocol is a bracing regime designed to maximise the healing ability of the ACL by keeping the knee bent at 90 degrees for four weeks post-ACL injury before releasing it slowly into a more straightened position. It works on the hypothesis that at 90 degrees, the ACL is in the ideal healing position and that after an ACL rupture, there is a ‘healing window’ that closes at about 14-20 days post-injury. The first publication in the British Journal of Sports Medicine is a ‘case series’ outlining the results of the first 80 people who have undergone the pr ..read more

At Asia Physio, we have been operating in the ski fields of Japan for over 17 years and have seen thousands of ACL tears of all types, usually a day or two post-injury. We are in a unique position to be able to help these patients during their time of need, and we take our responsibility very seriously. Consequently, we keep a close eye on the latest developments in ACL injury management, a fascinating and controversial area. To say the past few years have been a turbulent time in ACL management would be an understatement. Evidence for best practice care for ACL has changed; however, clinical ..read more

Did you know? According to University of South Carolina researchers, running up to 20 miles (32 km) once a week can prolong your lifespan. Running is becoming increasingly popular, which suggests that the frequency of injuries associated with running would likely also rise not only among athletes but also in the general population. In this blog, we’ll look at some commonly encountered running injuries and how to deal with them. Running injuries A research study revealed the incidence of running injuries in novice and recreational runners to be 17.8 and 7.7, respectively. (Videbæk et al., 2015 ..read more

Tokyo Singapore and Asia Physio; Our 20 year journey. It was 20 years ago that we opened the doors of Tokyo Physio and excitedly greeted our first-ever patient. In 2002, Vanessa and I arrived in Tokyo as newlyweds with nothing more than a couple of suitcases, a few tickets to the upcoming soccer World Cup and a container full of treatment tables and physiotherapy equipment pre-loaded on a ship from Sydney to Yokohama. We had to work quickly to find a location to start our clinic before the boat arrived. The pressure was on from the start. On reflection, it was a bold move, but that’s the ..read more

Osteoarthritis is one of the most common causes of pain in joints (1).   Often known as OA, the condition becomes more common as we age, and some joke that OA stands for Old Age. Although many people think OA is degeneration of the bone caused by reduced bone density, OA is characterized by cartilage degeneration. Cartilage is a smooth, spongy tissue that covers the end of bones to reduce joint friction and act as a shock absorber to permit smooth and functional joint movement. Cartilage degenerates for many reasons, including the wear and tear associated with aging, previous history ..read more

Understanding IBS Written by Registered Dietitian Ellie Cheale BSc What is IBS? Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a common and misunderstood condition that is estimated to affect around 10-20% of the population worldwide. The symptoms of IBS can vary greatly from person to person. Some of the most common symptoms include: diarrhoea and/or constipation, stomach cramps, bloating, wind, increased / decreased frequency passing stools, urgency to go. People with IBS also report increased anxiety, depression, difficulty sleeping and reduced quality of life. If this sounds similar to you then keep r ..read more

Most ACL injuries are managed along the same lines. An athlete feels a pop playing sport, so they book in to see a GP or physiotherapist, they get an MRI and are then referred to a knee surgeon, who then books an operation to reconstruct the ligament. In Australia reconstructions are done on over 90% of ACL tears. Most people are never really given much of a choice in their management and the gravity of their injury is often amplified at each step. However, it is rapidly emerging that there are many patients who do well without surgery. And even some who shrug off the injury almost as if it ne ..read more

For More: TheKneeGurus.com Show Notes There is probably no one on the planet who has researched the best practice management of ACL injuries as extensively as Dr Stephanie Filbay. Read More In this episode we delve deep into the best options for people who have recently ruptured their ACL with Kieran Richardson. Keiran is a specialist musculoskeletal physiotherapist who has a Master’s in Clinical Physiotherapy from Curtin University, and is founder of Global Sports Physiotherapy, a consultancy company of academics, researchers and educators offering formal mentoring second opinions for co ..read more