Move Beautifully with Braithwaite Physiotherapy

Live too far away for Physiotherapy in Toronto’s Yorkville and Annex and University neighborhoods? Good news, we offer housecall physiotherapy! As a general rule, anywhere that can be reached within 30 minutes of our office (in traffic) falls in our catchment area.

The service is the same as that you’d receive in clinic, we will bring all the equipment needed including a treatment table and any other gear as appropriate.

Please call us to book an appointment (416 270 4066) as housecall physiotherapy service is not bookable through our online portal at this time .

Currently we are offering a twice weekly shoulder and neck stability class online over Zoom. This quick 20-25 minute class runs at noon every Monday/Wednesday and involves a variety of exercises to strengthen the muscles that stabilise the shoulder and neck.

It’s a great option for those with minor shoulder injuries like rotator cuff strains/tears or who need to work on neck stability.

There is no charge for this class and you can sign up to receive invitations by email here. These invitations go out on Monday morning.

Bear in mind these are not physiotherapy sessions and I am unable to assess injuries during the class. If you are unsure about exercising with your injury please book an appointment using our online booking portal to examine and discuss your specific issue.

Currently we are offering a weekly callisthenic (body weight exercise) strength training class online over Zoom. This quick 45-45 minute class runs at noon on Friday and involves a variety of exercises including squat variations, deadlifts, bridge variations, pushup variations, pulling and pressing exercises for a full body workout that requires little to no equipment!

Don’t let the description intimidate you, it’s a flexible fit for many ability levels. Exercises are offered in series of 4 sets, starting with very basic variations on the first set and getting increasingly complicated over the remining 3 sets. Participants are encouraged to stop progressing at the level most appropriate for them.

There is no charge for this class and you can sign up to receive invitations by email. These invitations go out on Friday morning.

Bear in mind these are not physiotherapy sessions and I am unable to assess injuries during the class. If you are unsure about exercising with your injury please book an appointment with us using our online portal to examine and discuss your specific issue.

Frozen shoulder, technically known as adhesive capsulitis (AC), Is one of those conditions that significantly restricts  shoulder mobility and therefore function and overall life usefulness!

The issue from an anatomical perspective is a shrinking and thickening of the shoulder capsule that is marked by a sticking of that capsule to the structures underneath.

Adhesive capsulitis can be very painful with movement in specific ranges being particularly sensitive. Typically external rotation is most painful. Raising your arm to the side (abduction) and internal rotation are also particularly painful.

Most cases get completely better or at least will not restrict participation in normal activity in the long term. The down side though, is that resolution of symptoms takes a while. It can be months before symptoms are fully resolved.

There ARE things we can do to treat ourselves, have a look at our blog entry on frozen shoulder to learn more.

For athletes in sports with a lot of overhead action, like racquet sports athletes, baseball pitchers and volleyball players, a common complaint is neck, shoulder and arm dysfunction characterised by weakness and sensory changes (numb/tingle or burning/electric pain).

One cause for this dysfunction, known as Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS) is  a compression of a nerve bundle called the brachial plexus in a region of the neck and chest that includes a few key muscles as well as the clavicle (collarbone), shoulderblade and the first (uppermost) rib.

TOS can onset from a traumatic incident or from repeated stress.

Thankfully there are a number of very solid avenues to treat this issue, all of which help to decompress the vessels and nerves in the thoracic outlet. Most of these treatments are things that you can practice easily at home or in the gym. 

Check out our blog entry on Thoracic Outlet Syndrome  for more details on things you can do to help manage the condition.

Tendinopathy is a damaged state of tendon tissue that manifests in pain during activity. It is characterised by damaged, thickened and painful tendon tissue without a lot of inflammation (the healing process)! Because the inflammatory process is dulled  these injured tissues can stay that way for a long time and become quite chronic! Achilles tendinopathy 

Often (but not always), the onset of  the problem is associated with a change in physical activity patterns. Increased running or jumping patterns are a common history. People with this situation will often complain of pain that onsets with activity and slowly reduces as activity progresses.

Thankfully there are many things that can be done to heal the damaged tissue. Treating your tendinopathy as early as possible will put you in the best position for full recovery and reduce the risk of further complications including tendon rupture. 

Check out our blog post on achilles tendinopathy for some details on how to manage this situation.

Patellar tendinopathy is a very common injury that affects athletes  of all stripes! It is especially an issue among jumping athletes, think volleyball and basketball players but other athletes and non athletes are affected too.

The presenting symptoms are fairly consistent and are marked by a pain with resistance type load or repeated load. For most people this would look like pain that presents consistently on activity like sitting down into or getting up from a chair. The pain is also highly localised, this is typically at the low aspect of the kneecap (patella) where the bony piece meets the soft tissue piece.

Treatment can be very successful for this problem and traditionally centers around eccentric strength training exercise, resistance on the muscle and tendon while it is lengthening – like the down phase of a squat or the dropdown phase of a seated quadriceps extension. The trick is that the strength training should be targeted and heavily loaded.

Check out our blog post on patellar tendinitis for more details on how you can do this on your own at home or at the gym.

The ulnar fovea is an anatomic region at the  base of the pinky side (ulnar side) of the wrist. It’s just filled with lovely little sensitive structures -cartilage, tendons, ligaments and the like…  If you’ve ever experienced ulnar sided wrist pain that onset from a sporting injury, woweee… you know what doozy of a pain it can be!

Structures in the ulnar Fovea are susceptible to injury  from sports that require lots of wrist rotation, wrist flicking (backhand/forehand type movements), or load bearing through the wrist.  Injury here is characterised  by a point tenderness over the ulnar side of the wrist that feels like a very distinct point tenderness over the soft area just underneath the end of the ulna.

With almost all cases of ulnar wrist pain the first line treatment is the same. A period of immobilisation sometimes with the help of tape or a brace for a few (up to 6) weeks. Additionally, sometimes the use of anti-inflammatory medication is useful, although this is something that can be discussed with your physician. in some cases a progressive strength training protocol will be part of the rehab package.

For more details on this problem, have a look at our blog entry on the topic!

Foam rolling involves the use of your body weight over a foam (or at least a foam covered) cylinder to mash your tissues (muscles and tendons and fascia) into submission.

Foam rolling is sometimes compared with stretching as a management technique for muscle dysfunction . Personally, I think stretching is very often inappropriately used. There are many reasons for this that I discuss more in our blog article on this topic. 

What stretching does do is train flexibility. So achieving the goal of increased flexibility is the primary reason to perform stretching.

Foam rolling is an alternative method for training ROM. Using foam rolling to improve ROM is not uncontroversial, not all researchers agree that it’s an effective intervention, especially when compared to stretching. However, at this point more of the current research suggests that, at least in the short term, foam rolling can improve muscle compliance and by extension, flexibility.

Ultimately, if you are looking to train flexibility, focus more on stretching protocols. However, in a warm up, as an alternative to stretching you may consider keeping foam rolling for short term flexibility improvements.

For more details on this topic, have a look at our blog entry on foam rolling vs. stretching!