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What Causes Joint and Muscle Stiffness? Here are 4 things!

Mar 15, 2023

What Causes Joint and Muscle Stiffness?

 

Joint and muscle stiffness can be felt in any part of the body. While it may be accompanied by pain, this is not always the case and can have many different causes. Feelings of stiffness can be easy to ignore, however, they can be a sign that you are at increased risk of injury or pain. Here are a few reasons why you might be feeling a little bit less flexible.

Muscle Weakness

Muscle stiffness can be a sign that strength is missing. Our body will prioritise stability over flexibility if our muscles don’t have the ability to provide both. This means that your muscles will be a bit tighter and stiffer to compensate for any weakness. If you are feeling a little tight and sore, your physiotherapist can help to identify any muscles that maybe need strength targeting to help with feelings of tightness.

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)

Many of us are familiar with post-exercise pain and stiffness. This is a somewhat protective mechanism to help you recover from a bout of increased exercise. This kind of stiffness will be present in muscles that have been used recently and usually lasts for just a day or two. This kind of stiffness usually goes away on its own, although it can be quite uncomfortable, this is usually nothing to be too concerned with. Your physiotherapists can help you with tips to avoid DOMS in your regular workouts.

You can find out more about how to beat delayed onset muscle soreness by clicking HERE.

Lack of movement

Along with muscle weakness, inactivity can lead to joint stiffness. Joints need to move through their full range regularly to maintain their flexibility, as anyone who has kept their joints still in a cast will know. Lack of movement can lead to a reduction of blood flow and nutrients also impacting joint health. Your physiotherapists can help you to identify any joints that are not moving well and advise you on how to restore joint flexibility. Activities such as Pilates aim to help you move all of your joints through their full range safely and maintain flexibility.

Arthritis

Stiffness is the hallmark of arthritis, often noticeable as increased stiffness on waking that progresses gradually over time. Pain and stiffness caused by arthritis can often be helped by a targeted muscle strengthening program to help support the joints.

Find out HERE, just how physiotherapy can help arthritis.

Speak to your physio about any tightness or inflexibility and see how they can help you feel your best.

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Physiotherapist
  • Are you comfortable working with different people to achieve their health goals?
  • Are you stuck in a boring job with little chance of learning, development or career opportunity?
  • Do you want a fresh flexible opportunity that will allow you to grow professionally and personally?
  • Our dynamic and fun business is looking for the right person to join the team.

Ideal Characteristics Required 

  • People person
  • Highly motivated
  • Outstanding references
  • You actually want to learn and work

Why work at Gav Noble Physiotherapy? 

  • Join an established, respected and busy set of clinics
  • Excellent work environment with learning opportunities in both Clinical & Business

Skills Required 

  • Commitment to ongoing professional development
  • Demonstrated ability to work as part of a team
  • Practical and able to problem solve
  • Demonstrate ability to market and advertise your skills
  • Able to use a computer
  • Strong musculo-skeletal and manual therapy background
  • Relevant Qualification 

Desirable skills/interest 

  • Manual therapy
  • Pilates training
  • Dry needling
  • Kinesio tape
  • Marketing/Business
  • Previous MSK Private Practice background

Perks

  • Opportunities for developing manual therapy skills.
  • Mixed Caseload
  • Flexibility, accountability, autonomy, transparency
  • Ability to make changes and improvements to clinical practice easily and quickly.
  • Flexibility and freedom to be creative in your approach with patient care
  • Flexible working hours
Client Care Specialist

THIS JOB WILL BE PERFECT FOR YOU IF:

  • Have amazing personal and phone communication skills
  • Have a record of speaking to people at length and the ability to deal with complaints in an empathetic manner
  • An understanding of KPIs in business and the ability to optomise their own performance
  • Help our clients get the best outcomes they can
  • Want to learn on the job and are keen in evolve your current skills
  • Computer and Social Media Literate
  • Able to handle taking payments and managing money

THE OPPORTUNITY:

  • Join a hard working, fun group who enjoy making a difference every day you come into the clinic
  • The opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives and health through communication and education

IF YOU CAN SEE YOURSELF:

  • Helping potential clients determine if our clinic is the right fit for them and their problem?
  • Answering and returning phone calls of potential, current and past clients?

JOB TITLE: Client Care Specialist

  • Are you comfortable with talking to strangers both in person and on the phone?
  • Are you a motivated to learn?
  • Is being “organised” a top priority in your life and are you able to multi-task and prioritize projects, while simultaneously meeting deadlines and prioritizing your day?
  • Can you communicate effectively with people from all different backgrounds – both written and verbal?
  • Are you able to speak up when you see something that is not working and can you anticipate the needs of other people because you show up for work knowing that the smallest details always make the difference?
  • Do you have a positive outlook on life? Are you flexible and open to change, committed to learning?

THE ROLE:

  • You will be responsible for managing a busy front desk and waiting room.
  • experience, meeting and greeting our patients, answering the phone, converting inquires into paying patients and ensuring that all of our patients are looked after and made to feel welcomed whenever they enter your world.
  • Ultimately, your job is to help us grow the revenue of the clinic by booking in new patients via the phone or those who walk into our clinic directly and excelling at retaining those patients as lifelong customers of the business.
  • You’ll do that by creating the type of customer service experience that patients will be happy to pay for – and just as happy to tell others about.

THE TASKS:

  • Communicate the value of our services (in person and on the phone) and be able to explain how what we do, is worth the price we are asking
  • Successfully handle price objections.
  • Hold a lengthy (at least 15-20 minute) conversation with new patients on the phone ensuring that patients are committed and bought into our service.
  • Provide an exceptional waiting room environment for our patients that they’ll look forward to coming back to.
  • Ensure that people who call requesting appointments are placed on schedule and understand the true time and cost commitment involved in physical therapy.
  • Ensure people show up excited for their first appointment after scheduling.
  • Communicate with patients before, during and after appointments to ensure satisfaction is being achieved.
  • Ensure that all invoices are raised on time, every time and are sent to the appropriate person (in house or externally).
  • Organise and plan all schedules – maximising efficiency and revenue for the clinic.
  • Foster deep relationships with patients ensuring NP score hits agreed levels.
  • Develop and regularly update the procedures library so that every aspect of the role is documented and can be achieved by anyone else in the business.

SKILLS/COMPETENCIES NEEDED:

  • Be able to hold meaningful conversations with prospective patients on the phone for longer than 20 minutes (empathy).
  • Be able to answer all questions asked on the phone in a such a way that increases the likelihood that the person asking will want to become a customer (insightful and knowledgeable).
  • Recall names and faces of patients and in doing so making all our patients feel welcomed and remembered.
  • Provide a warm and welcoming greeting to patients when they arrive in the clinic (experience).
  • Organisation and planning: plans and organises, schedules and budgets in an efficient, productive manner.
  • Focuses on key priorities.
  • Follow through on commitments: lives up to verbal and written agreements regardless of personal cost.
  • Demonstrate an ability to quickly and proficiently understand and absorb new information.
  • Attention to detail: does not let important details slip through the cracks.
  • Persistence: demonstrate tenacity and willingness to go the distance to get something done.
  • Proactivity: acts without being told what to do.
  • Bring new ideas to the company.

WHAT WE WILL DO FOR YOU:

  • Provide you with ongoing training and support in the field of customer service and front desk administration.
  • Give you an amazing environment to work in that includes working with a team of wonderful and very supportive staff – as well as very
  • friendly customers.
  • Opportunity to develop and grow in a team that is value driven and strongly encourages personality based service.
  • Competitive salary with chance to earn even more as we grow as a result of your impact.

Salary: On Application.

Hours: Full time, 37.5 hours.