Baroona Physio Fact Sheet
What is a Diagnosis?
What is a Primary Contributing Factor?
What is RM?
What you can expect following treatment
Mild Reactions
What is Accumulative Strain?
Pain-Free and check-ups
What is a Diagnosis?
- A diagnosis is the recognition of a condition by its outward signs and symptoms.
- A good diagnosis is helpful as this can be important information for guiding best treatment
- It is important to note that in musculoskeletal conditions a good diagnosis doesn’t
necessarily relate to the underlying cause of the problem
- Many people know their diagnosis, yet they continue to suffer because knowing the
diagnosis often doesn’t directly indicate the best solution for the problem causing it.
- The Baroona Physio’s way of thinking focuses on finding the underlying physiological cause;
which is the factor that leads to a diagnosis.
- Baroona Physio does not let many common diagnoses such as arthritis, tennis elbow, carpal
tunnel, muscle tears, a slipped disc or a pinched nerve get in the way of finding the
underlying cause. We have found that these conditions can resolve quickly once the
underlying cause is found.
- Once the Primary Contributing Factor is resolved, most clients will return to full pain free
movement.
When the primary contributing factor is treated, the diagnosis will resolve
What is a Primary Contributing Factor?
A primary contributing factor (PCF) is the main underlying cause of symptoms and dysfunction/s that
you have been suffering from.
What is RM?
- RM is a standardised process which all Baroona Phyio's utilise. RM has been delevoped to allow fast and effective discovery of the PCF (underlying cause) in all body parts through a
unique and progressive type of thinking.
- Only the physios at Baroona Physio and a handful of other physios around Australia who have done the RM course use this type of thinking
- It focuses on targeting muscles, joints, nerves and actions to help rapidly restore movement,
achieve goals and relieve pain.
- RM is a holistic approach, which requires the practitioner to 'think outside the box', while allowing all possible factors that contribute to pain and injury to be resolved
allowing all possible factors that contribute to pain and injury to be solved.
- Specific local and global muscle rehabilitation is involved in order to ensure that all gains are maintained between and after each physio sessions
- The RM process is also successful at finding problems that are accumulating, and can solve the problem before you suffer any pain.
What you can expect following treatment
Best results are achieved when a client self-monitors, and maintains improvement of their muscles and posture; as explained by your physiotherapist.
Since pain is sometimes not a reflection of improvement it is best to rely on muscles and function as a gauge of initial improvement.
The pain settles when the brain is convinced all is improving.
Some experience Post Treatment Soreness
Joints or muscles that have been treated by your physiotherapist can occasionally be sore for 24-48
hours post treatment. Normal feelings are tenderness (like a bruise feeling), or a deeper achy feeling
(like after the first time with resistance exercise). These feelings will usually subside naturally,
however, if the areas are particularly sore, it is recommended to either apply ice to the area, or take
pain medication to ease the sensations (we recommend you consult your pharmacist or doctor for
the most appropriate pain relief medication). You could also have an Epsom salt bath, use
approximately 250g per bath to reduce muscle tension and soreness. If soreness lasts longer then
48 hours please talk with your physio, as treatment can be modified to better suit the individual (ie.
Decrease the intensity of treatment, however, this may mean your condition will take slightly longer
to resolve.)
Mild Reactions
Occasionally, a structure that has been a problem for a long time that is ‘released,’ can trigger an autonomic response. These responses are temporary and normal for a small percentage of the population and may include:
- Pallor (pale skin)
- Clamminess
- Light headedness
- Nausea
- Tingling
- Laughing or crying
- a feeling of dizziness (that is not vertigo)
Adding extra normal sensory input such as a cold drink of water, or a cold pack on the back of the neck often settles symptoms more quickly. It is important not to undertake skilled activities such as driving until these symptoms have settled.
What is Accumulative Strain?
- Process of minor forces repetitively acting on ligaments, joints, muscles or nerves due to a
lack of good control (poor position) of the body parts involved.
- If you imagine a door with its hinges positioned incorrectly and the corner rubbing against the frame every time it moves – eventually the structure of the edge of the
door breaks down. Our bones are like the frame and door while the hinges are like
our muscles controlling the door.
- Other tissues suffer accumulative strain through sustained tension over time
- Sustained or repetitive tension applied to the body’s tissues can cause this structure to
weaken. It therefore doesn't take much force (just slouching is enough), or time (just twenty
minutes or more each time repeated frequently over months or years) for the fibres
to 'strain' to the point that your brain perceives the damage becoming dangerous. Muscle
tightness and pain are the result.
- A simple example would be a rubber band that has been held in position for a long time (e.g. a year); its structure is weakened and requires very little force to 
Deload ‘Fixing’ Model
- At Baroona Physio we follow a standardised process that provides treatment to each of the
factors in your body that may be the cause of your condition.
- When the best treatment to the right structure is found we can dramatically change your
symptoms over each session. (see diagram below)
- This improvement in dysfunction can be maintained between sessions through your
effective posture and muscle activation training.
- With each physiotherapy session we can achieve improvements that aim to drop below the
pain/symptom threshold
Pain-Free check-ups
- Once you are pain free, further physiotherapy is still required to achieve as close to 0% strain
as possible.
- We teach you how to monitor yourself to assess the build up of strain you are experiencing.
These are valuable lessons that you can apply for the rest of your life, including when you
are pain free.
- Once your condition has resolved to 0% strain remaining, your challenge is to see how long
you can go between sessions and not let any strain return. This process is used to prevent
the build up of accumulative strain which leads to recurrence of overload and
pain/dysfunction.
- If the condition is 'holding' well between sessions i.e. strain is building at a manageable level, your
physiotherapist will continue to further progress the time between sessions and your level of achievement
- Further check ups are required to give you the maximum chance of no recurrence of your condition - just
like you do with your teeth at the dentist!
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