Meet the Physio Team
Harry Collier
Physiotherapist
B.ExSc & M.Phty
Harry is a skilled and passionate physiotherapist. Harry enjoys the process of understanding who you are as a person and this assists in developing an optimal plan that will guide you to your physical goals. In your initial appointment, Harry will provide you with a diagnosis for your injury, an explanation of how/why it may have occurred and finally a clear action plan going forward. Harry is a hands-on physiotherapist who, over time, has developed excellent manual therapy skills to reduce your pain and improve your range of motion.
Harry is also proficient at exercise prescription and movement coaching. Having years of experience coaching on the gym-floor, in a variety of roles, Harry utilises principles of rehabilitation, functional anatomy and strength and conditioning to optimise your health and performance.
Harry has considerable experience working in sport. Originally from Queensland, Harry has worked in with a semi-professional rugby league club (Tweed Seagulls). This involved; guiding elite athletes through their return to sport process in an accelerated but safe manner. This requires Harry to display excellent diagnostic, treatment, and communication skills within multi-disciplinary environment of football coaching staff, strength and conditioning staff and club doctor.
Harry also is a sporting participant himself; currently playing 1st Grade at Sheffield Cricket Club, and previously 1st Grade at Valley District Cricket Club in Brisbane. Harry has experienced a number of injuries which has led to his empathy and an understanding of the need for an accelerated return to sport, without compromising on high quality rehabilitation.
Although sport is a passion, the principles remain the same for people from all walks of life. Harry utilises both exercise and hands-on interventions to manage pain, injuries, orthopaedic rehabilitation, and some neurological conditions.
the 7 steps explained;
Assessment
At Summit Physiotherapy we value thorough and detailed assessment. Initial assessments are long appointments which allow time for your physiotherapist to conduct subjective and objective pieces of assessment that are required for your injuries or musculoskeletal pain. The subjective assessment will involve discussing your exercise and training history, prior injuries, medical conditions and then explore in detail your current condition. Objectively, measures will be recorded such as joint range of motion, strength, reactive strength, endurance, balance as well as special orthopaedic tests. These can be used to inform the diagnosis as well as detect deficits in/around your injury which can be targeted for rehabilitation.
Diagnosis
We pride ourselves on providing a clear and accurate diagnosis. Often this can be achieved without the need for imaging or referral particularly for short term and minor injuries. When medical input is required your physiotherapist will liase with surrounding medical practitioners (General Practitioner, Sports Physician and/or Orthopaedic Surgeons) to escalate your level of care and optimise your musculoskeletal health outcomes. Referral to trusted medical practitioners may be for; i) second opinion and management advice, ii) pharmaceutical options (particularly for pain relief or anti-inflammatories), iii) injection therapy, for example Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP), Corticosteroid Injection (CSI) or iv) surgical procedures.
Patient Education
You deserve to truly understand your injury. Your physiotherapist will explain the main findings from their assessment, the diagnosis, and what this means for you. This may involve the specific anatomy involved and the various causal factors associated with your injury. Ultimately, if you understand your injury well you may have the knowledge to better manage your injury risk factors in the future.
Collaborative Management Plan
Once you are familiar with your diagnosis, your physiotherapist will discuss the management and treatment options for you and your condition. This will be discussed in the context of your injury history, medical history, your preferences, your goals and your current sport trainings, commitments and competitions. At Summit Physiotherapy North West we value building genuine, trustworthy relationships with patients so that together the most appropriate management plan can be made for you and your injury.
Hands on Treatment - Manual Therapy
One main area of treatment that is a focus at Summit Physiotherapy North West is hands-on manual therapy. This involves soft tissue massage techniques, joint mobilisation techniques and also therapeutic dry needing techniques. Manual therapy is beneficial for modulating or reducing symptoms of an injury as well as improving range of motion of an area of the body affected by pain and stiffness. These benefits of manual therapy create a window of opportunity to expose the body to load and movement that was previously painful prior to treatment.
Clinical Exercise and Injured Site Rehabilitation
Another critical part of the injury management process is the rehabilitation of the injured tissues. When you have a muscle, bone or joint injury or orthopaedic surgery the tissues ability to tolerate load often becomes compromised. Thus your physiotherapist will prescribe and coach you through specific exercises that are targeted at improving various qualities. Often the goal will be strength orientated, aimed at addressing deficits identified in the objective assessment. This can be reassessed with dynomometry which measures force as well as gross weight with exercise in the gym.
Strength and Conditioning
On top of rehabilitating the injured area, at Summit Physiotherapy North West, we strive to return you to your sport or your goals in better physical condition then pre-injury. This is achieved by encouraging all patients to complete a modified training program to maintain or ideally improve their other fitness capacities. For example, if you under go an ACL reconstruction surgery, you have a 9-12 months opportunity to not only rehabilitate your injured knee but also maximise your cardiovascular fitness and upper body strength. We have experience coaching on the gym floor and are passionate about this side of the rehabilitation. Further, because Summit Physiotherapy is a gym-based model, we surround ourselves with highly skilled personal trainers and strength and conditioning coaches who we refer to for aspects of this strength and conditioning service..