Foot And Leg Pain Centre

Rehabilitation

Your feet and legs have been through a lot— now it’s time to help them help you.

Rehabilitation For Feet And Legs

After an injury or surgery, you may need rehabilitation to help your feet and legs regain their strength and flexibility. This can come in the form of exercises, stretches, manual therapies, or other modalities aimed towards restoring your physical freedom. Working with a podiatrist is essential following an injury to or surgery on your feet or legs, as they understand how to determine the type or types of rehabilitation that may work best for you.

Types of Rehabilitation

Foot Strengthening

Foot strengthening is a progressive program that aims to restore both strength and stability in the feet. Healthy arch function is imperative for efficient walking and running as it is responsible for 35% to 48% of your foot’s dynamic propulsive power.

Manual Therapy

There are many forms of manual therapy that aim to release muscle tension and joint stiffness, which are necessary for improved functioning. We offer deep tissue massage, dry needling, joint mobilisation and joint manipulation, tool-assisted myofascial release, superior stretching methods such as proprioceptive nerve facilitation, and neural mobilisation or flossing.

Dry Needling

Dry needling is a proven Western medicine approach designed to relieve active trigger points and aching muscles, relax tight muscles, and improve muscle length and function.

Neural Mobilisation And Flossing

Neural mobilisation aims to untether peripheral nerves and relieve neural tension, which may feel like generalised leg aches, localised stinging or burning sensations, or even the feeling of walking on broken glass.

Joint Mobilisation

This is typically used with other manual therapies to improve joint range of motion. Joint mobilisation also aims to help your joints function should they become stiff following an injury or with conditions such as arthritis.

Strengthening And Flexibility

Tight muscles are especially prone to injury during movement and restrict joint power, agility, and efficiency. Strengthening and flexibility exercises help to identify and work on improving functional range of motion of joints and surrounding muscles, and other soft tissues.

Shockwave therapy (ESWT)

Extracorporeal shockwave therapy is an evidence-based approach for the long-lasting treatment of many foot and leg inflammatory conditions, including heel pain, heel spurs, plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonitis, shin splints, hamstring strains and hip bursitis, to name a few. ESWT uses sound waves to stimulate the body’s natural healing process by causing the formation of cavitation bubbles within the tissues. These cavitation bubbles cause microscopic changes in tissues, resulting in reduced pain perception and a therapeutic effect with regenerative healing.

Foot And Leg Pain Centre

Why Foot and Leg Pain Centre?

30+ Years Of Experience

Dr Angus Chard, PhD, and his team have well over 100 years of combined clinical experience and are qualified to deliver the full scope of rehabilitative techniques to resolve your musculoskeletal problems, to restore your physical freedom.

Welcoming And Hardworking Team

The whole team at Foot and Leg Pain Centre is humble and passionate – ready to work together to ensure you are reaching your goals.

Evidence-Based Treatments

We strongly believe in using evidence-based treatments and balance this with our wealth of clinical experience.

A Note For Referrals

If you’re a practitioner looking for a podiatrist to refer patients to, we’re the team for you. We are leaders in our profession – in experience and qualifications. We balance the latest evidence with our extensive clinical experience to ensure world-class patient outcomes are experienced by your patients in a timely and cost-effective manner. We are also happy to collaborate with you and receive your patients under the Enhanced Primary Care Plan arrangement. Contact us to see how we can assist!

Foot And Leg Pain Centre

Your Rehabilitation Questions Answered

Will you come up with a personalised rehabilitation plan for me?

Yes, we will! Each patient is different, so each person’s rehabilitation plan will be different.

Will I complete my exercises during the session or at home?

You will receive access to your specific strengthening program via the Physitrak app which you can download onto your phone and track your progress (or just print them out if you prefer), in addition to the exercises we will help you with during our sessions.

Do you use an evidence-based approach?

Yes! We use evidence-based approaches to everything we do at Foot and Leg Pain Centre.

Bruening DA, Cooney KM, Buczek FL. Analysis of a kinetic multi-segment foot model. Part I: Model repeatability and kinematic validity. Gait & posture. 2012;35(4):529-34.
Chard AB. The effect of unsupportive and supportive footwear on children’s multi-segment foot dynamics during gait: The University of Sydney; 2017.
Dixon PC, Böhm H, Döderlein L. Ankle and midfoot kinetics during normal gait: A multi-segment approach. Journal of Biomechanics. 2012;45(6):1011-6.
Etnyre BR, Abraham LD. Gains in range of ankle dorsiflexion using three popular stretching techniques. American journal of physical Medicine. 1986;65(4):189-96.
Butler DS, Coppieters MW. Neurodynamics in a broader perspective. Manual Therapy. 2007;12(1):e7-e8.
Butler DS. The sensitive nervous system: Noigroup publications; 2000.
McKeon, P. O., et al. (2015). “The foot core system: a new paradigm for understanding intrinsic foot muscle function.” British Journal of Sports Medicine 49(5): 290-290.
MacWilliams BA, Cowley M, Nicholson DE, MacWilliams BA, Cowley M, Nicholson DE. Foot kinematics and kinetics during adolescent gait.[see comment]. Gait & Posture. 2003;17(3):214-24.
Ogden, J. A., et al. (2001). “Principles of Shock Wave Therapy.” Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research (1976-2007) 387: 8-17.
Speed, C. (2014). “A systematic review of shockwave therapies in soft tissue conditions: focusing on the evidence.” British Journal of Sports Medicine 48(21): 1538-1542.
Travell JG, Simons DG. Myofascial pain and dysfunction: the trigger point manual: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 1983.

Will I get a Health Fund rebate for Shockwave Therapy

Yes, assuming you are covered for podiatry. Podiatry is the only profession that has an individualised item number (F145) specific for shockwave therapy. Please check with your specific fund, as policies may differ.

Do I need a referral for podiatry rehabilitation?

No, you don’t need a referral for podiatry rehabilitation.

Foot And Leg Pain Centre

Let’s Get You Back On Your Feet

If you’re looking for an experienced team of podiatrists to help you on your journey to recovery, we’re more than happy to help. At Foot and Leg Pain Centre, we put you first so you can put your best foot forward in everything you do! To get started with rehabilitation, book an appointment today.