Physical Modalities

Active VIII physiotherapists use a wide variety of physical agents to help reduce pain and/or inflammation. We also use special modalities to stimulate weak muscles, to measure muscle activity, and muscle performance.  These modalities include:

Electrotherapy

Equipment such as ultrasound, laser, interferential, TENS are usually used for pain relief and or to reduce swelling and inflammation.

EMG and Pressure Biofeedback, Nerve and Muscle stimulators 

these modalities are used to diagnose the electrical activity of muscles or to stimulates nerves recovering from injury or to provide you with biofeedback during exercise in order to help activate and re-educate muscle contraction. Active VIII's physiotherapists are experts in their use.

Cryotherapy (Ice Therapy) 

Used for acute injury in conjunction with compression to help reduce pain, tissue and joint swelling and inflammation. It can also be used to reduce neural pain.

Acupuncture

We have a number of staff trained in acupuncture for "pain relief" . We often use acupuncture as an adjunct to treatment for sciatica, nerve pain, tendinitis and arthritis.

Diagnostic Ultrasound

We may use diagnostic ultrasound to "assist" us in our clinical diagnosis or to determine changes in the tissues following physiotherapy intervention. For example:

• diagnostic ultrasound has enabled us record substantial reduction of achilles tendon thickening following physiotherapy treatment and rehabilitation.
• it has enabled our clients to see changes in the activation and thickness of muscles as they improve with exercise and biofeedback. An example are improvement in the pelvic stabiliser muscles following core stability exercises.

We do not undertake diagnostic ultrasound "on its own" to provide you with a diagnosis. Full interpretation of diagnostic ultrasound scans are undertaken by a Radiologist.

Ultrasound	Nerve Stimulation	Acupuncture