One of our athletes Luke Williams has been suffering from Achilles tendonitis. We came up with a strategy to help manage it so that he could continue to play and also recover from the tendonitis during our breaks. To make sure we were on the right track he got a referral to go and see Dr Donald Kuah to see how to best go about it. Dr Kuah told Luke that it would typically take around 4 months of rest to fully recover from this. To Luke this would pretty much mean his entire season would be over. He asked Dr Kuah if he could play through it and Dr Kuah told him he could possibly manage it but explained that there are risks like rupturing his Achilles tendon.
Luke wanted to play through so I continued with our plan and he booked in to see Dr Kuah for some injections during one of our weeks off from playing and to follow up with his progress. Luke had said that his Achilles are feeling much better and the pain is easing so he was confident when going back to see Dr Kuah about making good progress.
Below are some photos Luke took of his before and after ultrasound:
Now if you are like me, these images may not mean all that much to you. The thing that Dr Kuah told Luke we are looking at as progress is the dark areas. The photo on the top right you can see like a dark circle on the right side of the picture (that is before), on the left you see it is smaller. Same as bottom left photo, the top is before and the bottom is after. (If someone who knows what we are looking at and can explain it better please send me through a better explanation).
These results have happened in 3 to 4 weeks and this is while Luke has still been training and playing on it. It is very impressive considering he was looking at 4 months out to get it right.
People often ask what it is we do to get these results. Well, I can't label it as it is a mix of all different types of things I have learnt from many great people over the years. It is unconventional but it works. I just work with the athlete and listen to what they are telling me and use the best tools I have to get the job done.
This is why it is an investment when you come to see us. For Luke, and other semi-professional athletes they get paid per game, not a sign-on like the NRL. Now, if Luke missed 4 months which would roughly be 16 games, and say he was paid $500 a game (for easier math), he would be out of pocket $8,000 in match payments. That doesn't include all the physio treatments, travelling to training, and spending time training 3 nights per week (as it is a requirement of injured players to still turn up to training). I can tell you know our services are far less than this so by working with us, in an example like this, you could be saving close to $8,000. I would take that.
Also if you are an athlete trying to progress through the ranks, being out for 4 months could cost you your opportunity to do so. Staying on the field is invaluable. I can't put a price on achieving my dreams.