The Perform Prevent Recover Podcast

In Episode 35 of the PPR podcast, Anthony had the pleasure of interviewing Neil Mitchell - one of Australia's greatest journalists and radio hosts! But to make Episode 35 happen, there was an agreement of a "return bout" for Episode 36 where Neil interviewed Anthony. And in usual Neil Mitchell style, he went deep and covered a multitude of topics including: - Why Anthony chose physiotherapy as a career. - The early footy days, and the tough personal toll of being told "You're not good enough". - Highlights and lowlights of the Physiotherapy career. - The beginnings of SSPC. - Critical health advice for people of all ages. - Pain! What it is, why we feel it, and what we can do about it. ... and a whole lot more. So dive into this episode and listen to someone who has been in the Physiotherapy profession for 35 years and at the very least, you'll take home some great health tips!

Cherie Horne was an athlete with the world at her feet - a 15 year old running star, and a realistic Olympic dream awaited. But then her body let her down, time after time after time. What followed would be familiar to many athletes with shattered dreams - a sense of loss, a struggle with identity, a battle with mental health! And at the young age of 43, the diagnosis of Osteoporosis was delivered - a brittle bone condition usually diagnosed in people much older than Cherie. This diagnosis hit hard - for someone so active, and with an intense love of health and fitness, the idea that her body was so fragile was truly devastating. But rather than give up, Cherie found a love of trekking, and from the trekking came the massive climbs, attempting five of the highest summits in the world, including the feared Denali in Alaska. In a raw and honest conversation, Cherie details the highs and the battering lows, and explains how she went from a shattered teenage athlete, through the fears of a vulnerable osteoporotic body, to now being the happiest, healthiest, strongest person she has ever been - and with the amazing side story of reversing her osteoporosis!

In this episode, we team up with Melbourne Orthopaedic Surgeon Vishal Pai to explore the entire knee replacement journey — from the very beginnings of considering a knee replacement, right through to your end stage rehabilitation and optimal outcomes. You’ll learn: - how important your scans are in determining your need for a joint replacement - what a knee replacement actually is, and how the surgery happens - robotic vs non robotic procedures - risks of knee replacement surgery and how to reduce them - how to prepare adequately for your operation - the crucial role of rehab in achieving a strong, pain-free knee. - whether you can run, golf and snow ski afterwards - age considerations and how long knee replacements last for ... and a whole lot more! Take a listen to the detailed descriptions that Mr Pai gives - honest and up to date advice that all prospective knee replacement patients should know before embarking on this life changing journey! This is the ultimate guide for anyone considering or recovering from total knee replacement surgery.

In episode 30, SSPC Physio Rob O'Donnell takes us inside the Falls Creek altitude training camp of the ON Athletics Club. Living in himself as physio for the ON team, Rob is in the perfect position to see first hand how the team approaches altitude training, a concept not foreign to many elite athletes. Rob gets Jodie McCann and Bendere Oboya during a break from their intense training, and delves deep into the camp and how altitude training effects their training and their performance. As well as talking altitude, Rob also takes the opportunity to get Jodie and Bendere to chat about their normal training regimes, strength training, footwear, and technology. Here is your chance to get an idea of how the elite train, and why altitude training forms such an important part of their program.

Episode 28 sees us chat to former SSPC colleague Brendan Goonan, who is currently physiotherapist for the Victorian Women’s cricket team, and excitingly is about to move into a new role as Head of Sports Science and Sports Medicine for Cricket Victoria. Brendan has been heavily involved in cricket from a young age both personally and professionally, and now finds himself with a lead physio role under the Cricket Victoria umbrella. During the episode we’ll discuss: - the most common injuries in cricket - which injuries are more common in males and which in females - prevention of cricket injuries - load management (and why match days aren't often the real problem) - what to look for to try and catch the dreaded lumbar spine stress fracture early - strength, flexibility and warm ups for cricket... and a stack more. For cricketers of all ages and levels, there's something in this episode to help you stay fitter and healthier this cricket season.

It hasn't always been an easy path for females in Aussie Rules Football, and Eliza James has been through it all - from starting with boys teams (when no girls teams were available), through to the fledgling girls competitions with minimal teams and minimal girls, and now into the elite world of AFLW. In this episode Eliza talks to us about her beginnings in football with local football club St Peter's East Bentleigh, through to her position now as an up and coming star in the AFLW for Collingwood. For any young person aspiring to greater levels, especially females in sport, Eliza's journey is a fascinating one and a great example of how passion and hard work can result in dreams coming true!

Coast To Koscioszko is one of Australia's toughest endurance events, beginning in the town of Eden in southern NSW and ending 240km later at Australia's highest point at the peak of Mount Koscioszko. The 2021 event, delayed due to COVID, presented some of the most challenging weather conditions the event and the athletes had ever seen - torrential sideways rain and floods that brough a whole new dimension to race tactics and survival. Today we speak to ultra marathon runner Donna Urquhart and track her progress from her COVID impacted training schedule right through the race until her incredible finish. The cold, the wet, the terrain, the tiredness, the nutrition - it's all covered! And as an extra bonus we get to speak to chief crew member, Donna's husband Rhys about the preparation, and the challenges that the crew also faced, and the battle they had to keep Donna dry and warm! Tune in and listen to one of our toughest endurance athletes talk about one of our toughest endurance events, at the same time gaining insight into what it takes to conquer events such as C2K!

Today we welcome Sports Physio and ACL guru Mick Hughes to the podcast to talk about the "diagnosis that devastates" - Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries and Ruptures. Nearly everyone who plays sport knows what an ACL is, and also knows that if you receive this ACL Rupture diagnosis, you'll likely miss 12 months of sport, and need surgical reconstruction to fix it. But that's what used to happen, and in this episode Mick will separate fact from fiction, and talk us through so many aspects of the ACL journey. Mick covers topics such as: - why the ACL is so critical - why the rates of ACL injury and reconstruction are increasing so rapidly - what makes females so at risk of ACL injuries - the reason young kids are also suffering more and more ACL injuries. - how we diagnose ACL ruptures and why "no pain" after injury isn't necessarily a great sign. Mick discusses all this and more in the first part of our ACL podcast, and then in the next episode, goes on to talk about: - why a reconstruction is not necessarily a "given" anymore. - how we decide who gets an operation and who doesn't. - why delaying your decision on surgery may be the best decision you make. - the critical importance of the ACL rehabilitation process and why strength must form the foundation of your rehab program. - how we can make a massive difference in preventing ACL injuries - the essential factor that guides our rehabilitation and progressions (and it's not the factor of time). Take a listen to this first episode to get a great understanding of the ACL and why it's such a common injury in sport, and then in Episode 2 we'll get into the "nuts and bolts" of how you get yourself back to sport.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis in Australia. An estimated 2.2 million Australians have this condition, and whilst it affects people of all ages, the prevalence increases sharply from the age of 45 years. 1 in 5 Australians (22%) over the age of 45 have osteoarthritis with the number increasing to just over a third in adults aged 75 and over. Hip and knee joint replacement is often the recommended surgical intervention for those suffering severe pain associated with end stage OA. Joint replacement has been shown to be a clinically effective treatment for severe osteoarthritis, which is just as well, because approximately 100,000 hip and knee replacements are performed in Australia every year. Whilst Total Knee Joint Replacements (TKJR) do so often completely change a person's quality of life for the better (much better), no doubt it is a big operation, and with it comes some nervousness and hesitancy on behalf of the patient - understandably. But a lot of this nervousness and hesitancy stems from lack of in depth knowledge about the surgery and its effectiveness! So today we chat to leading Orthopaedic Surgeon, Mr Chris Jones, about all things knee replacements. As the Podcast title suggests, we discuss WHAT a knee replacement is, WHEN it should be performed, HOW the surgery is actually performed, and WHY it is necessary for so many people. Plus there's a stack more information for anyone suffering OA of the knee, and is a "must listen" for anyone who is considering, or has been recommended, a Total Knee Joint Replacement. In fact, Mr Jones had so much invaluable information that we broke this podcast into two! By the end of the two part series, all your questions about TKJR should be answered. And if you are suffering pain and OA issues with your hip, much of the information in this two part podcast is just as relevant.

RECOVERY - what a fascinating topic and one of the most investigated topics in our sporting world. Once upon a time recovery was mostly about what you didn’t do - basically having a day away from training was considered your recovery strategy. Now we’ve got google and social media on our side, and as a result we’ve got what seems like an unlimited amount of recovery gadgets and strategies we can use. Together with Load Management and Tendinopathy Management, Recovery has become one of the most investigated and researched topics in the physio world. And the new information we are finding out has as much relevance to athletes as it does to people recovering from any tissue damage, injury or even surgical intervention. There are so many aspects of recovery to discuss and the obvious ones are the modalities that everyone uses, and are obviously so familiar with and have used over decades. It seems so many people, once their training session has finished, are still solely worried about how they’re going to recover, grabbing their ice packs, jumping in cold water baths, using foam rollers, compression gear etc, but what is so fascinating now is it's not just about HOW we recover and WHAT modalities we use, but just as much, and perhaps more importantly about WHEN we should be recovering. So it really excites us to welcome Dr Shona Halson to the PPR Podcast, someone who has been touted as the ‘world’s leading expert on athlete recovery’, a topic that is massive for all athletes - from recreational to elite, and all in between. As a bit of background, Dr Halson was the head Recovery Physiologist at the Australian Institute of Sport for almost 16yrs, Director of the AUS Olympic Committee Recovery Centre at the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympic Games. Dr Halson is currently a Professor at the Australian Catholic University in the school of Behavioural and Health Sciences, as well as an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance; she also provides consultancy services to the Australian Open Tennis Tournament and Nike as part of both the Nike Performance Council and Nike Sports Research Advisory Group. Dr Halson also consults to a number of international professional sporting teams and Defence organisations. Dr Halson’s research focuses heavily on recovery science and strategies, in particular over recent times the topics of fatigue and sleep, and she has over 130 scientific papers and research projects, and many book chapters to her name. So there's no-one better to educate us on what the "Recovery Science" is telling us, and how we must change our traditional thoughts around recovery in order to ensure we achieve optimal athletic and sporting performance.

In episode 16 we get to chat to John Van Wisse - utra distance marathon swimmer and triathlete from our own bayside area of Melbourne. Over a 25 year career, John has won numerous international events, and set world records in gruelling ultra distance events, including the English Channel swim and the gruelling Arch to Arc triathlon from London to France. John takes us through the complexities of the Channel swims, talks about the time he almost died, and details the incredible difficulty of each leg of the Arch to Arc. John has amazing experience in many of the world's most famous triathlon and swimming events, and still has unfinished business with the Arch to Arc! He combines his current triathlon training with his swim coaching in Melbourne, overseeing hundreds of swimmers with their own fitness challenges, yet still manages to find the time to train to the level needed not only to complete these events, but to break world records. Listen in to one of the great ultra endurance athletes of our time!

The COVID pandemic has seen many people turn to running as their exercise saviour - including many who have never run before. There's a whole new subgroup of runners out there trying to run that seemingly magical 5km distance. But do you know how to design the best program to make sure you optimise your fitness and time? Is running the same distance three or four times a week the best way to get fit? Will you get fitter and faster just by staying compliant to the same program over a long period of time? In this episode we go to "The Running Man" David Eadie and find out everything you need to know about designing the best running program for you. David is a veteran on the running circuit, starting out with four marathons by 12 years of age, progressing to Cross Country running for Glenhuntly Athletics Club, making Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games selection trials, completing a sub 10 hour Hawaii Ironman, then onto the brutal scene of ultradistance running. David has literally "been there, done that" with all aspects of running, and over recent years has combined his running with coaching and training people by designing individualised running programs through his online business therunningman.com.au Whether you're one of the new "5km Phenomenon COVID runners", a recreational runner, or a super keen runner, there's information in here that will help everyone improve their programs and their performances. And David has kindly passed on a basic outline of what he covers in depth in the podcast - click this link to see his suggestion for a training program for all you 5km runners out there, and there's options for 3 and 4 and 5 day a week runners. Enjoy the episode!

In this follow up to Episode 11, SSPC Podiatrist Scott Murray looks at the topic "Fit For Purpose" and outlines how important it is to find a shoe that fits your activity. Many topics are covered relevant to shoe selection including: the type of activity you are performing younger vs master athletes the relationship of shoes to injury prevention the importance of variety - and not just in your shoe footwear in kids the ideal lifespan of footwear running and osteo-arthritis ... and the single most important factor running athletes should be looking at to reduce injury risk - and it's not footwear! By the time you have listened to Episode 11 and 12, you should be able to confidently walk into any retail store and come out with the shoe that is best suited for you.