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At this time of the year, many people have plans to fly north for their summer holiday or to escape our winter. Now is the time that they come to the clinic as a part of their preparations. So, what are they doing this for?

Reasons include:

• Getting loosened up to avoid any stiffness on a long flight.
• Ramping up their fitness for the trip, like carrying their luggage on their backs, playing 6 rounds of golf in 8 days, walking the Cinque Terra or the Camino Trail
• Keeping supple so that they don’t get a stiff back in a ‘different bed’

So, in many instances they start to get physically prepared 2 – 4 months in advance of their holiday. Much in the same way, if I go on next year’s trek, I’d start walking 4 months or so out to build up the underlying fitness. Three weeks before may be a little late to get a big enough impact.

To make the most of your holiday plans, let’s talk and get the ball rolling.

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There’s no doubt that you could massage yourself, but it can be a bit like the trick where you pat your head and rub circles on your tummy. The kind of skills you need to play a drum kit. You need to be able to relax the muscle concerned while another set of muscles do the work. Alternatively, you can have an Osteopath do it while you relax.

After an injury or spasm there is a degree of inflammation. This makes the area sore or painful. With time the inflammation often resolves and the pain seems to substantially subside. However, a muscle stiffness for whatever reason can remain. An Osteopath can help to work you through this and take you that extra distance to fully recover from the injury. Sometimes the muscles just don’t seem to release with stretching and that’s where an osteopath can identify and work on those intransigent muscle tensions.

There is a degree to which we are working with prevention. Helping to avoid things progressing and spreading from an initial localized injury site to joints close by i.e. a regional or later global issue. We call these compensatory changes. Sometimes pain is a problem that can become crippling. An Osteopath can help you on your turn around and come back campaign!

Want to know more? Ask how we can help.

Call on 9888 6877 or go to www.fong.com.au

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After practising Osteopathy for what seems to be a lifetime, well perhaps a generation (18 years) and the maturation of the internet and website development, I bring to you the Geoffrey Fong Osteopathic Services website.

New technology is a very useful tool.

Prior to this I had gradually been implementing the use of email appointment scheduling as a sort of back up for both myself and my patients to curtail transcription errors. It has proved very helpful. Occasionally there can be a hiccup when someone’s iCal switches over to Hawaii time.

My road to Osteopathy may have begun before I was born.

My grandfather had been one of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners practising in Melbourne and country Victoria in the early 1900s. The philosophy and influences were passed down via osmosis.  I am a curious person and like to know how and why things happen. Mechanisms including that of the human body are fascinating.

When things are running smoothly, poetry in motion is a wonder to behold. When things are thrown out of kilter, it is time for the mechanic to have a look. In terms of the human body, the reason may not be clear, but clues come in many forms.

My journey as an Osteopath has its roots in my study of ergonomics during a Bachelor of mechanical engineering course.

One of the facets of Osteopathy that drew me to the field was the ability to look at a person’s posture and movements and to be able to tell what sort of injury the person was suffering. (In some cases, the person may have felt things were not quite right, only to be queried as to whether there was really anything wrong at all.)

It seemed like magic: a blend of science and art.

In 1987 I enrolled in the 5 year BAppSci  program at what was Phillip Institute of Technology, later to become RMIT University.  It was one of the first time’s that such a course would be conducted at a government institution. Things had begun to change for the Osteopathic profession.

At the beginning of a course, 5 years seems like a long time, but in no time at all we were half way and before we knew it, it was over.

At the beginning, a graduate pines for experience.

In a blink, I had progressed 5, 10 , 15 years down the road. I travelled to the USA to visit the places where Osteopathy began and thrives today; Kirksville Missouri and other Universities, hospital and clinics. It was fascinating.

Later, I was fortunate enough to work in the clinic of the British School of Osteopathy in London and then in Hong Kong .

After my travels, I returned to my favourite, beautiful home town, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

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