FAQ

This list is going to be looooong. The short answer is that our area of physio helps mainly with movement and pain. Problems with muscles (eg: hamstring strains), ligaments (eg: ACL injury), tendons (eg: patellar tendinitis), bones (eg: stress fracture), bursa (eg: bursitis) and joints (eg: osteoarthritis). 

It depends. The critical thing to ask your physio is ‘What is your plan?’. They should be able to give you a timeframe and this helps your expectations of whether its a ‘2-3 wk job’ or ‘we should see some change before 3 months’. A mild calf strain could be as fast as 2 wks. A frozen shoulder might be closer to 12-18 months.

Clarity here is King. And Queen. The key thing to understand is: what is your goal?. Not the Physio’s goal. Not the GP’s goal. Not Elon Musk’s goal. YOURS. Once you understand what your diagnosis is (what have I got?) and where you want to get to (the goal), your physio can tell you how many sessions it might take to achieve it. Ask direct Qs so your physio can help answer these key details.

Here’s the 3 Qs physios at Brightside will answer:

1. What have I got? Diagnosis is key. Should be simple enough to be explained to a 6 yr old.
2. How long is it going to take? Is this a short spell on the sidelines or have I got something to learn some patience from?
3. What can you do to help? How is the physio going to help you get to your goals? At Brightside you can expect a combination of hands-on therapy, exercise/movement and education to help you understand what the heck is going on.Also at Brightside: Bad jokes. Good decor. Nice smells. Great playlists.

Here’s some pointers on physio exercises:

1. Keep it lean: 1-3 exercises is a good start. Too many and you probably won’t do them
2. Helps if you like it: Too boring? Probably won’t do it. 
3. Habit forming: Connect it to something nice – calf raises with your coffee? Shoulder movement in the shower? Butterfly stretch in a warm bed?

Mostly physios get too over-enthusiastic about weird exercises. The reality is, the best exercise is the one that you’ll actually do.

Preferably clothes. Best to have garments that mean we can see the area of the body that is a problem – so shorts for knees, singlets for shoulders and hips – well, get creative. Most of what we do can be done without removing clothing and we will make you as comfortable as we possibly can. 

Yes! If you have extras cover on your private health insurance, we can process 99% of these through our payment terminal. All the funds have different levels of cover so if you want to know how much your rebate is, ask your fund!

Yes. Back pain can be a life-stopper. Statistically, most people will have at least some back pain in their life so if this is you – you’re in good company. Work with your physio on the ‘why’ – understand this and you can start to treat the root cause rather than just getting some short term benefit (you need this too though!). Aim for quick pain reduction – then build up your capacity. Calm it down > Build it up.

Yes. We have a special interest in Knee pain at Brightside. We’re nerdy about knees! So whether you have arthritis, a torn ACL, a dodgy meniscus or patella-femoral pain. We can help. 1st step is to get a clear diagnosis, then understand how long its likely to take and then PLAN. How can the physio help? What can you do yourself? Why do I have to do weird exercises?

Yes. If you feel like your neck is stuck. Like a drawer off its runners. Or a ‘pinched nerve’. We can help. Its key to work out what the cause is – not just if its a joint or a muscle or a nerve. Often we will look at the upper back (thoracic) as if its stiff and sticky it can put a bunch of pressure into the neck. Then most neck issues will need strength to help reduce the risk of reoccurrence. No-one really wants to be at the physio – a stronger neck means its less likely!

Yes. Problem shoulders can be a real pain and its common for shoulder pain to affect your sleep. Which can double the misery! It helps to understand what the issue is (diagnosis) and how long it might take (expectations) and then what your physio can do to help (what do we do). We can help with rotator cuff issues, bursitis, impingement, frozen shoulder, dislocated shoulders, AC joint injuries and many more. 

Yes. Find out what the problem is first. Is it arthritis? Bursitis? Gluteal tendinopathy? Hip impingement? Figure out this bit first and then plan out what recovery and rehab will look like. Your physio will try and reduce pain first and then look at building some strength – usually your buttock muscles!