Matrix Health & Performance

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Matrix Health & Performance • Osteopathy
• Performance optimization
• Rehabilitation
• Evidence-based

22/07/2026

Dry needling the rotator cuff and deltoid muscle for stubborn shoulder pain, particular with pressing movements at the gym 👌🏻

13/07/2026

Cortisone shots can offer relief, but what’s the real cost?

Often they mask pain for 2-4 weeks, but if the root cause isn’t fixed, it generally returns.

Cortisone can be an effective tool, but consider it a temporary band-aid for most people, unless you use that window to get stronger.

Other impacts can be structural costs to the body in terms of reduced tendon and cartilage health, so this is very important to keep in mind.

01/07/2026

Do I need a scan?

In the majority of cases you don't need to get a scan.

The main reasons are:

1. It often doesn't change what needs to be done. You'll likely just need conservative therapies like osteopathy and corrective exercises. Very few people that come to see osteopaths or present to GPs go on to need more invasive things like surgery or present with "red flag" symptoms that warrant a scan.

2. A lot of what we see on images isn't well correlated with pain. Recent studies show that 50% of people in their 60s have disc bulges without any pain at all. Getting a scan can lead to unnecessary therapies or put too much weight into the findings rather than your function.

3. An experienced and skilled practitioner will be able to make the correct diagnosis in the vast majority of cases and the scans will only prove the hypothesis.

However as mentioned, if you've tried conservative therapies and had a good honest crack at things and you're still struggling then maybe it is time to get one.

If you want to talk through scan results or think you might need one, feel free to reach out. We can have a chat.

12/05/2026

Starting early phase tendon rehab:

Something that we're always prescribing our patients with tendon problems, whether it be the knee, the achilles, the elbow, or elsewhere, is isometric holds.

These are a fantastic place to start to get tendons loading in a healthy way that isn't going to aggravate but is actually going to promote healing and reduce pain.

Tendon rehab can be difficult because the area is overloaded but often still needs strengthening.

If you've had a sore tendon and the only thing you do is rest, it's likely to come back or even get worse because as you rest the area can become weakened further.

We like to start relatively easy and then we can progress this quite heavily as pain allows.

In this instance that would look like longer reps at a lower depth, potentially even adding weight or then moving to single leg.

08/05/2026

Nathan's Sore Back Continued:

Here we can see a really clear example of how a locked-up glute and hip is contributing to lower back pain.

In this case we can see that Nathan's left side is lacking internal rotation and the compensation leads to an over-reliance or an excessive amount of rotation taken up by the sacroiliac and lower lumbar joints, exactly where Nathan's pain is.

In this case we don't know if the hip is the chicken or the egg but it’s clearly a big contributor and there’s a large difference in movement that can be seen from the left to the right side.

If you were seeing a practitioner who doesn't treat holistically and was only treating the lower back, you'd be missing a huge part of the puzzle!

TLDR: Stiff hips can lead to back pain - make sure your treating practitioner doesn’t miss this if you’ve got a sore back!

07/05/2026

Sore lower back right in this area?

Nick and Nathan discuss the structures that might be causing your pain.

Often it’s a combination of the joint, ligaments and muscles that attach in the area.

06/05/2026

Nathan’s Bad Back: Part 1 - Assessment

Dr Nathan’s back is giving him grief, so we’re going to treat him but first we’ve got to assess and see what’s wrong.

Back pain tends to prefer flexion or extension and this preference of movement tells us the likely structures that are involved.

A back that doesn't like moving forwards into flexion tends to be more nerve-related.

Back pain which doesn't like going into extension is most often the joints but again it can also be the muscles as well.

We're going to dive in, see where Dr. Nathan's limitations are, diagnose what’s wrong and then go after that in our treatment.

Comment below if you’ve had back pain like this before!

04/05/2026

Nick’s Sore Neck: Part 2 - Treatment

A gentle spinal adjustment from Dr Nathan to get movement through stiff and painful joints!

14/04/2026

Common Patterns We See In Clinic: Postural Strains

If you’re feeling tight and sore through your mid-upper back and neck…

Have a watch to see one of the most common patterns that we see in clinic especially among desk workers.

Hunched shoulders, tight chest and overworked traps. Sound familiar?

Address

256 Lower Heidelberg Road, Ivanhoe East
Melbourne, VIC

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 8pm
Tuesday 8am - 8pm
Wednesday 8am - 8pm
Thursday 8am - 8pm
Friday 8am - 7pm
Saturday 9am - 2pm

Telephone

+61390887514

Website

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