Sports injuries and recovery – with the help of physiotherapy

Quick answer: How much does sports injury rehabilitation cost in Australia?

The total cost of sports injury rehabilitation in Australia depends on your injury type, its severity, and how many sessions you need, as well as any Medicare or private health insurance rebates you’re eligible for. Because every injury is different, the best way to get an accurate cost estimate is to book an initial assessment with our physiotherapists.

We all want to live a healthy and active life and our bodies were made to move. Staying active supports optimum physical and mental health and helps to combat many health concerns, from anxiety to arthritis. Engaging in our preferred sport or exercise is safe and can make us feel great! Whether your preferred form of movement is running, hitting the gym, bushwalks, or team sports.

Sometimes though, injuries can happen. In fact, injuries are a very normal and expected part of being active, and they shouldn’t be a deterrent from engaging in exercise. Our bodies were not only made to move, but also made to heal and adapt. In the background, our bodies are constantly repairing, rebuilding and adapting and that is a big part of what makes us human. All our parts undergo this process which includes muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones, nerves and joints.

Why do sports injuries happen?

Injuries can often be out of our control. They can happen due to external circumstances such as contact with another player or a misstep on a slippery surface. Other times injuries can come about over a longer process where we exceed our bodies capacity to adapt and recover. Each time we exercise we are putting load through our bodies, and if this load is too much to handle, we could sustain an injury.

What to do if you injure yourself during exercise

If you are working out or playing your favourite sport and you believe you’ve injured yourself, it’s a good idea to take a moment to assess the sensations in your body. Is the pain excessive? Is the pain becoming increasingly worse as you exercise? Is there significant swelling or bruising? Or do things just generally not feel or look right? If the answer is yes to any of these, it could be a warning sign from your body that you should cease your activity and possibly seek medical attention. There are times when pushing through an injury might lengthen the recovery period after.

However, staying active after any kind of injury is important. After an injury, try to maintain some level of activity that is tolerable. Listen to your body and monitor how your symptoms progress. If things feel good, you resume your sport and they still feel good, they most likely are. If symptoms are worsening or not improving it might be time to consult with your GP or a physiotherapist.

How to help prevent sports injury

Injury prevention is a hot topic. As mentioned before, many injuries occur due to what could be termed as the “too much too soon” phenomena. If we exceed our body’s capacity, we potentially expose it to injury. This means that the secret to injury prevention is rather simple: build up our body’s capacity over time and expose our bodies to potentially injurious situation but in a controlled fashion. An example of this could be preventing hamstring strain. Hamstring strains happen when the hamstring muscle contracts very forcefully during high-speed running. Injury prevention would therefore involve contracting the hamstring muscles forcefully and running at high speed.

There are other things we can control to prevent injury. Recovery is a huge factor at play and is influenced by diet, hydration, training volume and sleep. Maintaining good sleep habits is one of the most effective recovery and injury prevention strategies there is, and it is accessible to everyone. We should consider what is the overall volume and intensity of the exercise that we do. Is it too much to handle? Or is it not enough to build us up? We should aim to be somewhere in that goldilocks zone where we can reap the benefits of exercise, without overdoing it and making parts of our bodies annoyed.

Warmups prior to activity are important to improve the strength and elasticity of our bodies and raise our core temperature. Warmups don’t need to be fancy; they just need raise your heart rate, get blood flowing and simulate your activities movements at a lower load. This could look like jogging, jumping on the spot or performing a set of a gym movement at a lighter weight.

Physiotherapy’s role in injury rehab and prevention

A physiotherapist is an expert in all things injury and injury recovery. The above information is helpful to know but tailoring that information to your own situation can be the tricky part. A physiotherapist will discuss, examine and assess your injury to work out what’s going on and why it’s happening. From there, we will work with you to formulate a plan to get back to the activities you enjoy. It is our role to find what advice will work best for you and answer all questions you might have about the process.

Some of the things you might expect during physio include:

• Acute care advice – We can offer advice about how to care for an injury in the early stages, whether that might involve resting, elevating, compression, or staying mobile as tolerated.
• Manual therapy – Hands on treatment such as massage, trigger point release, dry needling or joint mobilisations can help manage pain in the short term.
• Tailored exercises – We often think of rehab as simply training in the presence of an injury. We will work together to develop an exercise program that suits your needs and goals and works on building your capacity.
• Taping, strapping, casting or mobility equipment – we can help decide if immobilising or supporting an injured area might assist the healing process.
• Posture – advice about moving more often, changing your posture and avoiding postures that might be irritating your injury.
• Load management – Assessing your level of exercise and coming up with a structured plan to balance recovery and exercise intensity and volume.
• Hydrotherapy – Everybody Physio has an onsite hydrotherapy pool, and a tailored hydrotherapy program can be excellent for when exercise on land isn’t possible yet. Learn more about our hydrotherapy services here.

What affects the cost of a physiotherapy session?

The cost of a physiotherapy session in Australia varies depending on the type of appointment, the clinic’s location, and the physiotherapist’s experience. Initial consultations are generally priced differently to follow-up sessions because they involve a full assessment and treatment plan. Specialised sessions, such as sports-specific rehabilitation or hydrotherapy, may also be priced differently to a standard consultation. Contact our Penrith clinic directly for our current session pricing.

How many sessions will I need, and what affects the total cost?

The total cost of your rehabilitation depends on how many sessions you need and the severity of your injury. A minor strain or sprain may only require a small number of sessions, while a more significant sports injury, such as a moderate hamstring or ligament strain, often needs an extended course combining hands-on treatment with exercise rehabilitation. Complex or post-surgical injuries can require ongoing care over several months. Book an initial assessment with our physiotherapists and we’ll outline a session plan and cost estimate tailored to your specific injury.

Does Medicare or private health insurance cover sports injury rehabilitation?

Many Australians can reduce the cost of their rehabilitation through Medicare or private health insurance. If you have a GP Chronic Disease Management Plan (CDMP), you may be eligible for a Medicare rebate towards up to five allied health sessions each calendar year. The rebate helps cover part of the cost of your physiotherapy but does not usually cover the full consultation fee. We do not bulk bill. Instead, you pay for your appointment on the day and can claim your eligible Medicare rebate through HICAPS, the Medicare app, or at a Medicare service centre. If you have private health insurance with extras cover, you may be able to claim a portion of your treatment cost, depending on your level of cover. A GP Chronic Disease Management Plan (CDMP) rebate cannot be claimed together with private health insurance benefits for the same consultation, so you’ll need to choose one option. Speak with our reception team if you’d like to discuss your Medicare or private health fund rebates before booking.

At Everybody Physiotherapy we aim to get you back to the sports and exercise you love as quickly as possible, while minimising the risk of further injury. View our Sports Physiotherapy page for a full list of conditions we are able to treat and support you with, and get in touch with us today to have you back on the road to recovery as soon as possible.

Disclaimer

All information is general and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Everybody Physio can consult with you to confirm if a treatment is right for you.

References:

• Sports injuries. Accessed 14 July from https://patient.info/bones-joints-muscles/sports-injuries
• Too hard, too soon – When more exercise isn’t better, Accessed 25 July from https://exerciseright.com.au/too-hard-too-soon-exercise/
• Huang K, Ihm J. Sleep and Injury Risk. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2021 Jun 1;20(6):286-290. doi: 10.1249/JSR.0000000000000849. PMID: 34099605.