What Is Orthopaedic Physiotherapy?

Orthopaedic physiotherapy focuses on conditions affecting the muscles, joints, bones, tendons, ligaments, and other parts of the musculoskeletal system.

Whether your symptoms began suddenly after an injury, developed gradually with repetitive activity, or followed surgery or a fracture, physiotherapy aims to restore the function you need for everyday life.

Treatment is based on your individual assessment and may focus on mobility, strength, balance, movement, load tolerance, and functional capacity.

The goal is not simply to reduce pain. It is to help you regain the physical abilities needed to return to work, exercise, recreation, sport, and everyday activities.

What Sports Injuries Do We Treat?

Sports injuries can occur suddenly, such as landing awkwardly or changing direction, or develop gradually when training demands exceed the body's current capacity.

At Strathcona Physical Therapy, we assess and rehabilitate a wide range of recreational and athletic injuries, including:

• Ankle sprains

• Muscle strains

• Tendon injuries and tendinopathies

• Knee injuries

• Shoulder injuries

• Hip and groin injuries

• Foot and ankle conditions

• Running-related injuries

• Overuse injuries

• Injuries following falls, collisions, or changes in direction

• Rehabilitation following fractures or orthopaedic surgery

You do not need to be a competitive athlete to benefit from sports rehabilitation. Treatment is adapted to your activity, your goals, and the physical demands you want to return to.

Sprains & Strains

A sprain involves a ligament, while a strain involves muscle or tendon tissue.

These injuries can range from relatively minor to more significant injuries that affect strength, mobility, balance, and the ability to walk, run, lift, or participate in sport.

Early rehabilitation may focus on protecting the injured area while gradually restoring movement and function. As recovery progresses, treatment typically becomes more active, with progressive strengthening, balance or neuromuscular training, and functional exercises relevant to your activities.

The appropriate progression depends on the tissue involved, severity of injury, symptoms, and functional demands.

Tendon & Overuse Injuries

Tendon and overuse injuries often develop when the demands placed on a tissue repeatedly exceed its current capacity to tolerate them.

Common examples include:

• Achilles tendinopathy

• Patellar tendinopathy

• Rotator cuff tendinopathy

• Lateral elbow tendinopathy

• Running-related overuse injuries

Rest alone is not always the answer.

For many tendinopathies, rehabilitation involves managing aggravating loads while progressively rebuilding strength and the tissue's capacity to tolerate activity.

Your physiotherapist can help determine an appropriate starting point and gradually progress exercise based on your symptoms, goals, and activity demands.

Shoulder Injuries

The shoulder needs both mobility and control to perform everything from reaching overhead to lifting, throwing, swimming, and racquet sports.

We assess and rehabilitate a variety of shoulder presentations, including rotator cuff-related pain and tendinopathy, muscle and tendon injuries, instability, stiffness, and rehabilitation following certain shoulder surgeries.

Depending on your presentation, rehabilitation may focus on:

• Shoulder mobility

• Rotator cuff strength and endurance

• Scapular function

• Movement coordination

• Progressive resistance training

• Overhead capacity

• Work- or sport-specific movement

For athletes, rehabilitation may eventually progress toward the strength, speed, endurance, control, and load tolerance required for their specific sport.

Knee Injuries

Knee injuries can affect walking, stairs, running, jumping, squatting, work, and sport.

Physiotherapy may be appropriate for conditions involving the muscles, tendons, ligaments, patellofemoral joint, meniscus, or other structures of the knee, as well as rehabilitation following injury or surgery.

Treatment depends on the diagnosis and individual presentation but may include progressive strengthening, mobility work, balance and neuromuscular training, movement retraining, and gradual exposure to running, jumping, landing, or changing direction.

For significant traumatic knee injuries, appropriate medical assessment and imaging may be required before or alongside rehabilitation.

Ankle & Foot Injuries

Ankle and foot injuries are common in both sport and everyday life.

We assess conditions such as:

• Ankle sprains

• Recurrent ankle instability

• Achilles tendon problems

• Plantar heel pain

• Foot and ankle overuse injuries

• Muscle and tendon injuries

• Rehabilitation following fractures or surgery

Following an ankle sprain, rehabilitation is particularly important because symptoms improving does not necessarily mean that strength, balance, coordination, and confidence have fully recovered.

Treatment may progressively restore mobility, strength, balance, walking and running tolerance, and the ability to jump, land, or change direction when required.

Post-Fracture Rehabilitation

A fracture may be healed enough for a cast, boot, or other restriction to be removed while the affected area still feels stiff, weak, swollen, or difficult to use normally.

Physiotherapy after a fracture may help restore:

• Joint mobility

• Muscle strength

• Balance

• Walking and movement

• Functional use of the affected area

• Confidence with activity

• Gradual return to work, recreation, or sport

Rehabilitation is progressed according to the location and type of fracture, stage of healing, and any weight-bearing or movement restrictions provided by your physician or surgeon.

Physiotherapy After Orthopaedic Surgery

Physiotherapy can be an important part of recovery following many orthopaedic procedures.

Depending on the surgery, rehabilitation may focus on managing swelling, restoring mobility, rebuilding strength, improving walking or functional movement, and gradually returning to everyday and recreational activities.

Your rehabilitation program will respect the specific procedure, stage of tissue healing, surgical precautions, and guidance provided by your surgeon.

Because recovery timelines vary considerably between procedures and individuals, treatment is progressed according to both healing requirements and functional milestones, rather than using the same program for everyone.

What Happens at Your First Physiotherapy Assessment?

Your first appointment begins with understanding what happened, what you are experiencing now, and what you need to get back to.

Your physiotherapist may ask about:

• How and when the problem began

• Pain and other symptoms

• Previous injuries

• Medical and surgical history

• Work and everyday activities

• Exercise and training history

• Current training load

• Your sport or recreational demands

• Your goals for rehabilitation

The physical examination is individualized and may assess mobility, strength, balance, movement, joint or muscle function, functional tasks, and other findings relevant to your condition.

From there, your physiotherapist will discuss the findings and develop a treatment plan based on your goals.

How Does Sports Injury Rehabilitation Work?

Sports rehabilitation bridges the gap between recovering from an injury and being physically prepared for the demands of sport again.

Early rehabilitation may focus on symptoms, mobility, and basic muscle function. As your capacity improves, exercises become progressively more demanding.

Depending on your sport and injury, later rehabilitation may include:

• Progressive resistance training

• Running

• Jumping and landing

• Acceleration and deceleration

• Changes of direction

• Agility

• Sport-specific movement

• Repeated or higher-intensity efforts

The goal is to progressively expose your body to the demands it will encounter when you return.

Strength & Progressive Loading

Rest can be important after an acute injury, but long-term recovery usually requires rebuilding capacity.

Progressive loading means gradually increasing the amount of stress a recovering muscle, tendon, joint, or other tissue is asked to tolerate.

This might involve progressing:

body-weight movement → resistance exercise → heavier or faster exercise → running or jumping → sport-specific activity

The progression is not identical for everyone. Your physiotherapist considers your injury, stage of healing, symptoms, strength, function, and goals when determining how quickly loading should advance.

The goal is to provide enough challenge to promote adaptation without repeatedly exceeding your current capacity.

Returning to Running or Sport

Feeling better is important, but it is not always enough to determine whether you are ready for full sport.

Return to sport is better viewed as a progressive process, not a single test or date.

Depending on the injury and sport, your physiotherapist may consider:

• Pain and symptoms

• Range of motion

• Strength and endurance

• Balance and neuromuscular control

• Running tolerance

• Jumping and landing ability

• Agility and change of direction

• Sport-specific performance

• Confidence and readiness

• The demands and risks of your sport

You may progress from rehabilitation exercises to modified training, then toward fuller participation as your capacity improves.

For some injuries or surgeries, medical or surgical clearance may also be required before returning to unrestricted sport.

Injury Prevention & Reducing Re-Injury Risk

No rehabilitation program can guarantee that another injury will never happen.

However, rehabilitation can address modifiable factors that may contribute to re-injury risk, depending on the injury and sport.

This may include improving:

• Strength

• Balance and neuromuscular control

• Mobility when limited

• Landing and movement strategies

• Sport-specific conditioning

• Training tolerance

• Gradual exposure to higher workloads

Previous injury is an important risk factor for some future injuries, making complete rehabilitation particularly important.

Rather than promising to “prevent injuries,” our goal is to help you prepare your body for the demands you expect it to handle and reduce modifiable risks where possible.

At Strathcona Physical Therapy, rehabilitation is built around what you need to return to, not simply where you hurt.

Our approach includes:

• Individualized orthopaedic and sports injury assessment

• Exercise-based rehabilitation

• Progressive strengthening and loading

• Movement and functional retraining

• Sport- and activity-specific rehabilitation

• Return-to-running and return-to-sport progression when appropriate

• Post-fracture and post-surgical rehabilitation

• Ongoing reassessment as your capacity improves

Whether your goal is to walk without pain, return to work, get back to the gym, run again, or return to your sport, rehabilitation is designed around the demands that matter to you.

Our goal is not simply to get you through an injury. It is to help you rebuild the strength, function, and capacity needed for what comes next.