Get clear on what's happening, and what to do next.
At Adelaide West Physio + Headache Clinic in Fulham, we help people with sports injuries, running injuries, basketball injuries, soccer injuries and return-to-sport rehab.
No GP referral is required
Prefer to talk first? Call 8356 1000
Sport can be a huge part of people’s lives, whether they play competitively, train socially, coach, run, lift weights, or just want to stay active.
When pain or injury gets in the way, it can be hard to know what to do next.
Should you rest? Keep training? Get a scan? Strap it? Strengthen it? Wait and see?
These are common questions we hear in the clinic. The answer depends on the injury, your symptoms, and what your sport demands.
At Adelaide West Physio + Headache Clinic in Fulham, we help people with sports injuries understand what is happening, what they can keep doing, and what may need to change for now.
From there, we help you work back towards sport with a clear plan.
A sports injury is not always just about pain.
It can affect your training, your weekend plans, your confidence, your fitness, your role in a team, and your ability to do the things that help you feel like yourself.
You roll an ankle, pull up suddenly while sprinting, land awkwardly, or feel a sharp pain during training.
A knee starts aching after games. A tendon becomes painful every time you increase training. A calf feels tight every run. A shoulder keeps niggling when you throw, press or tackle.
A sports physiotherapy assessment helps make the next step clearer.
We look at the injury, the demands of your sport, your training load, your strength, your movement, and what you need to be able to do to return safely.
The aim is to help you build a plan that makes sense for your body, your sport and your goals.
Sports injuries usually need more than a generic exercise sheet.
A good plan should consider what has been injured, how sensitive it is now, what your sport demands, and what needs to improve before you return to full training or competition.
Your plan may include advice about what to keep doing, what to modify, how to settle symptoms, and how to rebuild strength, control, confidence and sport-specific capacity over time.
We start by listening to what happened, what sport you play, and what you need to get back to.
Your assessment may include movement, strength, balance, training load, and sport-specific tasks where relevant.
The aim is to understand the problem properly before deciding what to do next.
Early treatment is often about calming symptoms while helping you stay as active as possible.
This may include hands-on care, taping or bracing advice, education, load modification, and targeted exercises.
We help you work out what to avoid for now, what you can keep doing, and how to modify training.
As symptoms settle, rehab usually needs to progress.
This may include strength, mobility, balance, running progressions, jumping and landing, or sport-specific drills.
The goal is to bridge the gap between feeling better and being ready for sport.
Being less sore is not always the same as being ready to play.
Return to sport may need to consider strength, control, confidence, fitness, fatigue, contact, and repeated sport-specific movements.
We help you work through that process with a staged plan.
Concussion follows a different return-to-sport pathway from most muscle and joint injuries. If concussion is suspected, do not return to play that day.
Read about our concussion assessment and rehabilitation service.
Sports injuries usually need more than a generic exercise sheet.
A good plan should consider what has been injured, how sensitive it is now, what your sport demands, and what needs to improve before you return to full training or competition.
We start by listening to what happened, what sport you play, and what you need to get back to.
Your assessment may include movement, strength, balance, training load, and sport-specific tasks where relevant.
Early treatment is often about calming symptoms while helping you stay as active.
This may include hands-on care, taping or bracing advice, education, load modification, and targeted exercises.
As symptoms settle, rehab usually needs to progress.
This may include strength, mobility, balance, running progressions, jumping and landing, or sport-specific drills.
Being less sore is not always the same as being ready to play.
We help you work through strength, control, confidence, fatigue and sport-specific demands with a staged plan.
Sports injuries can happen suddenly, or they can build gradually over time.
Some are related to a clear incident, like landing awkwardly, changing direction, falling, tackling, or sprinting.
Others are related to repeated loading, training spikes, fatigue or recovery.
Ankle sprains and ankle injuries
Calf, hamstring and quads strains
Hip and groin pain
Recurring sports injuries
Running injuries
Overload injuries
Return-to-sport rehabilitation
Sports injuries can happen suddenly, or they can build gradually over time.
Some are related to a clear incident, like landing awkwardly, changing direction, falling, tackling, or sprinting.
Others are related to repeated loading, training spikes, fatigue or recovery.
Basketball places high demands on the ankles, knees, hips, calves and tendons.
Jumping, landing, rebounding, sprinting, cutting, defending, decelerating and repeated changes of direction can all contribute to common basketball injury patterns.
Basketball physiotherapy should consider more than day-to-day comfort. Our plan needs to account for jumping, landing, cutting, repeated efforts and confidence returning to court.
Basketball rehab may include:
Soccer places very different demands on the body compared with normal day-to-day activity.
A player may need to sprint, stop, cut, change direction, kick, jump, land, tackle, shield the ball and repeat those efforts many times across a training session or game.
Our soccer rehabilitation needs to account for speed, kicking, change of direction, contact, fatigue and a gradual return to training or games.
Soccer rehab may include:
Basketball places high demands on the ankles, knees, hips, calves and tendons.
Jumping, landing, rebounding, sprinting, cutting, defending, decelerating and repeated changes of direction can all contribute to common basketball injury patterns.
Basketball physiotherapy should consider more than day-to-day comfort. The plan needs to account for jumping, landing, cutting, repeated efforts and confidence returning to court.
Basketball rehab may include:
Soccer places very different demands on the body compared with normal day-to-day activity.
A player may need to sprint, stop, cut, change direction, kick, jump, land, tackle, shield the ball and repeat those efforts many times across a training session or game.
Soccer rehabilitation often needs to account for speed, kicking, change of direction, contact, fatigue and a gradual return to training or games.
Soccer rehab may include:
Pain is important, but it is not the only measure.
You may feel fine walking around day to day, but still not be ready for sprinting, jumping, cutting, contact, repeated efforts or match intensity.
That gap can be frustrating. It can feel like the injury has settled, only for symptoms to return when training increases or you try to play again.
In our clinic, we do not usually base return-to-sport decisions on pain alone.
We look at how the injured area tolerates the movements your sport actually requires, such as sprinting, jumping, landing, cutting, kicking, contact, fatigue and repeated efforts.
The exact markers depend on your injury, your sport and your goals.
The right markers depend on your injury, your sport and what you need to return to.
We take time to understand what happened, what you are feeling, what sport or activity you want to return to, and what you have already tried.
Your assessment may include movement testing, strength testing, balance or control tasks, and sport-specific movements where appropriate.
You will leave with a clearer understanding of the likely issue and a practical plan for what to do next.
As symptoms settle and capacity improves, your plan can progress towards the strength, control, confidence and sport-specific demands you need.
Adelaide West Physio + Headache Clinic is located on Henley Beach Road in Fulham.
We help people with sports injuries from across Adelaide’s western suburbs, including Henley Beach, West Beach, Grange, Lockleys, Findon, Brooklyn Park, Kidman Park, Torrensville and surrounding areas.
Our location makes us convenient for people involved in local sport, school sport, gym training, running, basketball, soccer and weekend activity across the western suburbs.
Whether your goal is to get back to competition, return to training, manage a recurring injury, or simply stay active with less pain, we can help you understand the injury and build a practical plan forward.
Prefer to talk to a physio first? Call 8356 1000
Adelaide West Physio + Headache Clinic is located on Henley Beach Road in Fulham.
We help people with sports injuries from across Adelaide’s western suburbs, including Henley Beach, West Beach, Grange, Lockleys, Findon, Brooklyn Park, Kidman Park, Torrensville and surrounding areas.
Our location makes us convenient for people involved in local sport, school sport, gym training, running, basketball, soccer and weekend activity across the western suburbs.
Whether your goal is to get back to competition, return to training, manage a recurring injury, or simply stay active with less pain, we can help you understand the injury and build a practical plan forward.
Prefer to talk to a physio first? Call 8356 1000
It is frustrating when pain makes sport feel uncertain.
A sports physiotherapy assessment can help you understand what is happening, what you can do now, and how to work back towards sport with a clearer plan.
Not sure whether to rest, train or get it checked?
Or call us on 8356 1000 and we can talk it through.
Common questions about sports physio injury assessment, scans, training modification and return to sport.
No. You can book directly with a physiotherapist without a GP referral.
If your injury is related to a claim, insurance matter, Medicare plan or third-party funding, there may be extra paperwork or referral requirements. Our admin team can help you work out what is needed.
Not always. This is a common question we hear.
Some injuries need a short period away from sport, especially if symptoms are severe or the injury is easily aggravated. Other injuries can be managed with modified training while you work on rehab.
Your physiotherapist can help you work out what is safe to continue, what needs to change, and how to keep as active as possible without making things worse.
Yes.
Recurring injuries often involve more than the original incident. Strength, balance, control, training load, recovery, confidence and previous injury history can all play a role.
Physiotherapy can help identify factors that may be contributing and build a plan to improve your capacity over time.
Yes.
We help basketball players with injuries such as ankle sprains, knee pain, jumper’s knee, calf strains, hip and groin pain, lower back pain and return-to-play planning.
Basketball rehabilitation may include strength, landing control, balance, jumping capacity, deceleration and change-of-direction work.
Yes.
We help soccer players with injuries such as hamstring strains, ankle sprains, groin pain, calf strains, knee injuries, Achilles tendon pain and overload injuries.
Soccer rehabilitation may need to include sprinting, kicking, cutting, acceleration, deceleration and gradual return to training.
Not always.
Many sports injuries can be assessed clinically. However, imaging or medical review may be appropriate if there has been significant trauma, major swelling, inability to bear weight, obvious deformity, severe pain, neurological symptoms, or symptoms that are not improving as expected.
Your physiotherapist can help you work out whether imaging or referral is worth considering.
Early advice can be useful, especially if pain, swelling, limping, weakness or uncertainty is stopping you from returning to normal activity.
If there is severe pain, major swelling, deformity, inability to bear weight, or significant trauma, urgent medical review may be needed.
For less severe injuries, a physiotherapy assessment can help you understand what to do in the early stages and how to progress from there.
Basketball injuries often involve jumping, landing, cutting, sprinting and repeated changes of direction.
ACL injuries can affect sport participation and often require a structured rehabilitation and return-to-sport plan.
Patellar tendinopathy can affect jumping sports and may need careful load management and strengthening.
Ankle sprains are common in sports such as basketball, soccer, netball and running-based activities.
