Sports injuries
The niggle you are
still training on.
You have been managing it for weeks. It is not getting worse, it is not getting better, and you have quietly started avoiding one movement.
Why it is not settling
Managing it is
not treating it
Foam rolling, stretching and taping all let you keep training, which is why the problem survives: it is being managed rather than addressed, week after week.
The assessment looks at what the joint does under load, what fires and what does not, how much your sport actually asks of it, and where in the chain the demand is going unmet.
Sound familiar
What people describe
- It warms up and goes away, then it is there again the next morning
- You have changed your technique slightly to avoid it, maybe without noticing
- It flares the day after a hard session, not during
- You have been rolling and stretching it for a month
- You are not injured enough to stop and not well enough to go properly
What happens
Treatment that
keeps you training
Hands-on work aimed at what the assessment found, with dry needling and cupping where they earn their place. Firm, and explained before it happens.
Then the part that decides whether it holds: what to keep training, what to pull back, and for how long. Specific to your sport and your week.
What else we treat
The others we
see most
Neck & shoulders
The one that starts at 3pm and is still there at bedtime.
Low back
Fine until you bend to put your shoes on.
Headaches
Starting at the base of the skull, not behind the eyes.
Tennis & golfer’s elbow
Six months of “it’ll settle”. It has not settled.
Desk & posture pain
Eight hours a day in one shape has consequences.
Practical
Before you call
Health funds
Claim it
on the spot
- Medibank
- Bupa
- HCF
- nib
- HBF
- Australian Unity
- ahm
HICAPS is on the desk, and it is connected to every private health insurer in Australia — not just the ones listed. Tap your card after the appointment, the rebate comes off on the spot, and you pay the gap rather than the lot.
What comes back depends on your level of extras cover, and myotherapy is not on every policy. The terminal tells you the exact number before you leave the room, so there is no invoice to chase and nothing to find out later.
FAQ
Questions people actually ask
Will I have to stop training?
Rarely completely. Usually it is a case of changing what and how much for a period, which you will leave knowing. Complete rest tends to send people backwards.
Do I need a scan first?
Usually not. A scan is worth it when the answer would change what we do, and for most soft-tissue and load-related problems it would not. If Dale thinks you need imaging or a doctor, he will say so.
Can I come in before an event?
Yes, and say so when you book. Work before an event is deliberately lighter — the week of a race is not the week to find out how you respond to firm treatment.
Book about your injury
Forty minutes in Mornington. What is going on, and what you can keep doing while it settles.