Info, Author at Active Health

Get Ready for Winter Sports: Your Pre-Season Checklist

by Info | Apr 3, 2025 | Active Health Blogs, Christchurch, Hamilton, Rangiora

As the winter sports season approaches, now is the time to prepare your body for the demands of netball, rugby, hockey, and football. Pre-habilitation (pre-hab) is key – it’s about proactively strengthening and conditioning your body to create a solid defence against potential injuries. Whether you’re starting to feel some pre-season niggles or simply want to stay injury-free, a structured pre-season plan can make all the difference.

Why Pre-Hab Matters

Injuries can have a significant impact on a young athlete’s sporting future. Sporting success isn’t just about skill – it starts with proper training, conditioning, and injury prevention. By taking the right steps now, you can reduce your risk of injuries and set yourself up for a strong season.

Pre-season preparation should focus on building physical resilience through strength training, mobility work, and cardiovascular fitness while incorporating sport-specific drills to condition the body for the demands of competition.

Your Pre-Season Checklist

Build Strength & Stability – A strong, stable body helps prevent injuries. Rugby players, for example, benefit from compound lifts such as squats, deadlifts, and bench presses, while netballers and footballers should prioritise single-leg stability exercises like step-ups and Bulgarian split squats. Core strength is also essential for balance and injury prevention.
Improve Mobility & Flexibility – Tight muscles increase the risk of strains and tears. Dynamic stretching before training and static stretching after are crucial. Foam rolling and active recovery, such as yoga, can also enhance flexibility and movement efficiency.
Enhance Cardiovascular Fitness – Sport-specific fitness training ensures you’re ready for game day. Rugby and football players should incorporate interval running, while netballers and hockey players benefit from agility and lateral movement drills. Building endurance while improving short bursts of speed will help prevent fatigue-related injuries.
Prioritise Recovery & Nutrition – Recovery is just as important as training. Proper sleep, hydration, and balanced nutrition – including adequate protein and carbohydrates – are essential. Active recovery techniques like massage, stretching, and using compression gear can also improve performance and reduce injury risk.
Follow a Structured Warm-Up Routine – Warming up properly before training and games reduces the risk of injuries. The A.P.P. warm-up (Gradual, Active, Progressive, and Planned) ensures athletes gradually increase their heart rate and muscle activation before high-intensity movements. Sport-specific drills such as agility ladder work, bounding, and controlled impact exercises prepare the body for match conditions.
Listen to Your Body – If you’re already experiencing pre-season niggles, don’t ignore them! Address minor issues before they become major injuries. Seeking advice from a physiotherapist or sports rehab expert can help you stay in the game.

How Active Health Can Help

Our expert physiotherapists are trained to spot muscle imbalances and biomechanical issues and can test range of motion, flexibility, muscle strength, and function. Identifying these factors can be key in avoiding injury.

We can also tailor individualised exercise programs, warm-ups, or drills to ensure you are correctly loading your muscles and optimising your training load.

Our podiatrists can also offer expert advice. They are trained in assisting with shoe selection, which is particularly helpful for those new to a sport or spending a lot of time in their chosen footwear. The right shoes can help reduce injury and muscle soreness.

Podiatrists can also conduct gait analysis, which is extremely useful for analysing your walking and running style. Identifying any inefficiencies can help in injury reduction by providing targeted exercises to improve movement patterns.

Stay in the Game with Active Health

If you need guidance on pre-season training, injury prevention, or managing niggles, our expert team is here to help.

Book an assessment with us today and give yourself the best start to the season!

Unlocking Performance & Injury Prevention with VALD Equipment

by Info | Mar 19, 2025 | Active Health Blogs, Christchurch, Rangiora

Tracking performance, supporting rehabilitation, and enhancing injury prevention – VALD technology provides key insights to help athletes stay at the top of their game.

Professional footballer and Football Fern, Gabi Rennie, recently stopped in to one of our Rangiora clinics to test out our VALD equipment while back home!

At Active Health, we are always looking for the best ways to assess, treat, and enhance performance for our clients. Our cutting-edge VALD equipment allows us to take a data-driven approach to rehabilitation and training. Here are just a few of the many tests we can conduct to assess movement, muscle imbalances, and performance limitations.

Countermovement Jump (CMJ)

The countermovement jump (CMJ) is a functional test commonly used to assess lower limb performance, particularly for athletes. With hands on the hips, the individual performs a quick downward movement (eccentric phase) followed by an explosive jump (concentric phase). This test provides valuable insights into force development, limb imbalances, and overall jump mechanics. By analyzing each phase of the movement, we can identify weaknesses and tailor rehabilitation or training programs accordingly.

Drop Jump

The drop jump test involves stepping off a box onto force decks and immediately jumping as high as possible. This test helps assess limb imbalances and force absorption in the legs, providing crucial information about an individual’s ability to efficiently manage impact forces. It is particularly useful for identifying potential injury risks and optimizing training strategies to improve landing mechanics.

Push-Up Test

The push-up test performed on VALD force plates helps us break down upper body movement patterns and assess muscle imbalances. By capturing force data throughout the movement, we can pinpoint asymmetries and deficiencies, allowing us to develop targeted rehab or strength programs that promote balanced and efficient movement.

Why Use VALD Technology?

VALD technology allows us to take the guesswork out of movement assessment and provide precise, actionable insights. Whether you are an athlete looking to enhance performance or recovering from an injury, these tests help us design personalized rehabilitation and training plans to optimize your health and performance.

If you’re interested in how VALD testing can help you reach your goals, get in touch with us today!

Enhancing Patient Care with Advanced Technology: How VALD DynaMo, and ForceDecks Are Transforming Physiotherapy

by Info | Feb 13, 2025 | Active Health Blogs

In the ever-evolving world of physiotherapy, precision and accuracy are key to effective patient management. At Active Health Waikato, we are committed to providing the highest standard of care by incorporating cutting-edge technology into our assessments and treatment plans. That’s why we use VALD DynaMo, and ForceDecks—advanced systems designed to accurately measure strength and function, helping us tailor rehabilitation programs for optimal recovery.

Why Objective Testing Matters in Physiotherapy

Traditional strength and function assessments rely heavily on subjective measures, such as manual muscle testing or patient-reported outcomes. While these methods provide valuable insights, they lack the precision needed to track progress accurately. With objective data from VALD DynaMo, and ForceDecks, we can:

Identify strength deficits and imbalances with greater accuracy
Track progress over time with measurable outcomes
Customise rehabilitation programs based on real data
Reduce injury risk by ensuring patients regain full function before returning to activity

By integrating these technologies, we take the guesswork out of rehabilitation, giving our patients the best possible chance of a full and lasting recovery.

VALD: High-Tech Performance Testing

VALD is a leading provider of human measurement technology, offering a range of innovative systems designed for strength testing, movement analysis, and injury prevention. At Active Health, we utilise VALD to assess key functional movements, providing real-time feedback that enhances our clinical decision-making. Whether you’re recovering from an injury, looking to improve athletic performance, or seeking to prevent future issues, VALD allows us to accurately measure your progress and adjust treatment accordingly.

DynaMo: Portable Strength and Range of Motion Testing

DynaMo is a handheld dynamometer that enables precise testing of muscle strength and joint range of motion. Unlike traditional muscle testing, which relies on therapist interpretation, DynaMo provides quantifiable force measurements to assess muscular imbalances and track rehabilitation progress. This allows us to:

Identify specific muscle weaknesses
Monitor improvements in strength over time
Ensure that patients are meeting strength benchmarks before returning to full activity

ForceDecks: Measuring Functional Movement with Precision

ForceDecks is an advanced force plate system that evaluates balance, stability, and neuromuscular control. This technology is particularly beneficial for:

Post-injury rehabilitation – ensuring patients regain proper movement mechanics
Return-to-sport assessments – reducing the risk of re-injury by confirming sports-specific strength, reactive strength, stability and function are restored
Fall prevention – identifying balance deficits in older adults and creating targeted interventions

By incorporating ForceDecks into our assessments, we gain valuable insights into movement efficiency, helping us design more effective rehabilitation strategies.

How This Technology Benefits You

At Active Health, our goal is to provide evidence-based, data-driven physiotherapy to support your recovery and performance. With VALD, DynaMo, and ForceDecks, we can:

✔️Accurately diagnose strength deficits and functional limitations
✔️Develop personalised treatment plans based on real data
✔️Monitor progress with objective metrics, ensuring continuous improvement
✔️ Provide better outcomes, reducing recovery time and injury recurrence

Ready to Take Your Recovery to the Next Level?

If you’re looking for precision-driven, high-performance physiotherapy, our team at Active Health Waikato is here to help. Whether you’re recovering from an injury, managing a chronic condition, or striving to improve your athletic performance, our advanced assessment tools ensure you receive the most effective treatment possible.

Book an appointment today and experience the difference that cutting-edge technology can make in your recovery journey!

All images in this blog were taken during a VALD workshop for our new grads and physios from other clinics!

Keeping Your Body Healthy

by Info | Oct 23, 2024 | Active Health Blogs

Keeping your body moving is crucial to maintaining autonomy at all ages. Here are some useful tips from our physiotherapist to help keep your body healthy.

Take regular breaks

Taking regular hourly breaks while working in prolonged positions will help relieve muscle and joint stiffness. Take a walk, stretch, or stand up – try and move your body. A change in position will also help improve circulation to your lower body as well!

Posture

The way we sit and hold ourselves affects where the load is placed in our body. Areas of the body, like the neck and back, can carry increased stress and tension if held in sustained positions. Keep a conscious effort not to slouch to prevent pain and dysfunction.

Exercise

30 minutes of moderate intensity activity a day is proven to have significant health benefits for our hearts, bodies, and minds. It prevents and manages a variety of diseases as well as being good for the mind. Strength training is also an important part of looking after our body for building muscle mass, protecting bone health and prevent injury.

Stretching

Flexibility is a key component of a healthy body so stretching after you exercise is important to minimize injury. It keeps the muscles flexible, strong, and healthy, which is needed to maintain range of motion in the joints.

Balance

Balance is an important aspect of health. Incorporating balance exercises into your routine will improve mobility, joint stability and body awareness as well as reduce the risk of falls. Try standing on one leg while you brush your teeth or while you wait for the jug to boil.

POLICE method

After sustaining a soft tissue injury, we recommend you use the POLICE method straight away to aid your recovery – protection, optimal loading, ice, compression, and elevation.

Ergonomics

An ergonomically correct workstation helps to maintain a healthy posture and prevent work-related injuries. Both the height and distance of the computer, chair and desk has a direct impact on your posture. Discuss your work desk set up with your physiotherapist to ensure your body is supported and well aligned.