Sports injury assessment, gym-based rehabilitation and return-to-sport testing

What we offer at Fitness Physio

Our sports physiotherapy service can include:

The services used will depend on your injury, goals and stage of rehabilitation. Not everyone needs every form of testing or treatment.

Who sports physiotherapy is for

Sports physiotherapy is not only for professional athletes.

We work with runners, gym members, recreational athletes, weekend competitors and people involved in field, court, water and endurance sports.

We can help with:

• Running-related injuries
• Football, netball, basketball and field-sport injuries
• Gym and strength-training injuries
• Muscle strains and joint sprains
• Tendon pain
• Knee, ankle, hip, shoulder and spinal injuries
• Rehabilitation after surgery
• Recurring injuries or flare-ups
• Return-to-sport and return-to-training planning
• Strength and conditioning after injury

Your plan should reflect your sport and your current capacity. Returning to social running requires a different progression from returning to football, surfing, competitive netball or heavy strength training.

Sports injuries we commonly treat

Our physiotherapists regularly work with:

• Hamstring strains
• Other muscle strains
• Ankle sprains and ongoing ankle instability
• ACL and other knee ligament injuries
• Meniscus injuries
• Knee pain
• Achilles and patellar tendon pain
• Hip and groin pain
• Shoulder pain, instability and rotator cuff injuries
• Running-related pain
• Lower back and neck pain related to sport
• Post-operative sports rehabilitation

View all conditions we treat →

There often isn’t one single cause. An injury may involve a sudden incident, a recent increase in training, reduced strength or capacity, previous injury, limited recovery or the repeated demands of a particular sport.

Our role is to work out what may be contributing in your situation.

Objective testing with AxIT Stomp-IT force plates

Our AxIT Stomp-IT system uses two portable force plates, allowing us to assess selected single-leg and double-leg tasks.

Depending on your injury and stage of rehabilitation, testing may involve movements such as squats, jumps, landings or isometric strength tasks.

The force plates help us measure how you produce and absorb force. They may also help us compare how each side contributes during a task and track changes as rehabilitation progresses.

Force plates help us take the guess work out of your rehab, let you know where you’re at and whether you’re ready to return to sport.

This can be useful when:

• Returning after a knee, ankle or lower-limb injury
• Rebuilding jumping and landing capacity
• Assessing strength or force differences between sides
• Monitoring progress during rehabilitation
• Planning a return to running or field sport
• Checking whether later-stage rehabilitation needs to be progressed

Force-plate results are not interpreted in isolation. We combine them with your symptoms, strength, movement, training tolerance, confidence and the demands of your sport.

Handheld dynamometer strength testing

It can be difficult to accurately judge muscle strength by feel alone.

You might feel that your injured leg or shoulder is nearly back to normal, yet meaningful strength differences can remain difficult to identify without measuring them.

Our handheld dynamometer allows us to measure the force produced by specific muscle groups. Depending on your injury, this may include the:

• Quadriceps
• Hamstrings
• Calves
• Hip muscles
• Shoulder muscles
• Elbow or upper-limb muscles

Testing can establish a starting point, identify areas that may need more work and give us an objective way to monitor your progress.

The numbers do not replace clinical judgement or automatically determine whether you are ready for sport. They provide useful information that can make your rehabilitation targets clearer.

Blood flow restriction training

Blood flow restriction training, commonly called BFR, may be useful when heavier strength training is not yet comfortable or appropriate.

A specialised cuff is applied to the arm or leg while you complete selected exercises using relatively light resistance. This can create a useful training stimulus without requiring the same external load as traditional heavy strength training.

For some people, BFR may be considered during:

• Early-stage rehabilitation
• Selected post-operative programs
• Periods when pain limits heavier loading
• Rehabilitation where maintaining or rebuilding muscle strength is a priority

BFR is one option within a broader rehabilitation plan. It is not needed for every injury and is not suitable for everyone.

Before using it, your physiotherapist will consider your medical history, injury and stage of rehabilitation. The cuff pressure, exercise and dosage should be selected and supervised appropriately.

Return-to-sport testing

Feeling better does not always mean you are ready for the speed, fatigue, contact or unpredictability of sport.

Return-to-sport testing gives us more information about your current physical capacity and what may still need work. We follow evidence based criteria across multiple tests to ensure you’re ready to back at sport, with the lowest risk of re-injury possible.

We may compare the injured and uninjured sides, but symmetry is only one part of the picture. We also use objective data to see whether you meet the normal values for your age group.

We also consider movement quality, absolute strength, confidence, workload tolerance, previous performance and how you respond to increasing training.

Testing helps guide the return-to-sport decision. It should not be treated as a single pass-or-fail test, and no test can guarantee that another injury will not occur, however it dramatically reduces the risk.

Fast access to imaging and specialist referrals through Refr

Some sports injuries need more than a physiotherapy assessment alone. When imaging or specialist input is likely to change your treatment plan, timely access can help reduce uncertainty and avoid unnecessary delays.

Fitness Physio uses Refr, an allied health referral platform that can help eligible patients access online GP or specialist referrals for services such as MRI. Depending on the injury, referral pathway and Medicare criteria, this often provides faster and more affordable access than arranging each step separately.

Imaging is not necessary for every sports injury, and a scan does not replace a thorough clinical assessment. We will explain why a referral may or may not be useful in your situation and help you understand the next step.

If you already have imaging, reports or a specialist plan, bring them to your appointment so we can incorporate the findings into your rehabilitation.

Rehabilitation in our onsite gym

Our onsite rehabilitation gym allows your program to progress beyond basic treatment-room exercises. Our gym is fully equipped, meaning we can get you as strong as you need to be for returning to sport.

Using the gym helps us see how you move under meaningful load. We can adjust technique, select suitable weights and progress the exercises as your capacity improves.

This is particularly useful when you are trying to bridge the gap between early rehabilitation and returning to normal gym sessions, running, team training or competition.

A good rehab plan usually helps you build confidence as well as strength.

A guided, gradual return to activity

One of the hardest parts of sports injury rehabilitation is knowing how much to do and when to progress.

You may feel ready to do more but be worried about flaring the injury. Or you may be resting more than necessary because you are unsure which symptoms are acceptable and which mean you should stop.

Your progression may involve adjusting exercise load, training frequency, speed, range of movement or the complexity of the task. We will also look at how you respond during the activity and over the following day.

The goal is not to wait until everything feels perfect before moving forward. It is to build your capacity in manageable steps, with clear guidance about what to continue, what to modify and when you are ready for the next stage.

Returning to running

Returning to running often involves more than simply testing whether you can complete a few kilometres.

Your plan may need to consider your current symptoms, recent running volume, pace, hills, surfaces, strength and how well you recover between sessions.

For some people, the first step is a gradual return after injury. For others, it is working out why pain keeps returning whenever distance or speed increases.

We can help you plan an appropriate return and link your rehabilitation with the demands of your running.

Find out more about our Running Assessments →

Get a clear plan for your sports injury

Whether you have recently been injured, are rebuilding after surgery or feel unsure about progressing back to full activity, we can help you work through the next steps.

At Fitness Physio, your plan may include hands-on treatment, gym-based rehabilitation, objective strength testing and a guided return to running, training or sport.

Book a sports physiotherapy assessment at our Newcastle or Merewether clinic.