We’re excited to now stock Tiny Treads at GV Sportscare!

Designed by our podiatrists, Tom and Ryan, Tiny Treads were created after they saw a gap in the market for affordable, flexible, wide-fitting toddler shoes that actually support natural foot development.

Unlike many toddler shoes, Tiny Treads feature:

Wide toe box to let little toes spread naturally

Flexible sole that bends with growing feet

Lightweight design for confident little walkers

Designed by podiatrists and tested by real toddlers

Need help finding the right size?

Tom offers complimentary fittings every Thursday at 11am. Simply call us on 58977044 to book your fitting.

Currently stocking sizes from approximately 6 months to 2.5 years.

If you’ve been looking for healthy first walkers without the premium price tag, we’d love to help you find the perfect fit!

The post We’re excited to now stock Tiny Treads at GV Sportscare! Barefoot toddler shoes! appeared first on GV Sportscare.

GV Sportscare, founded by Tom and his wife Sophie (physiotherapist), providing physiotherapy, podiatry and Clinical Pilates classes to the Goulburn Valley.

Tiny Treads, co-founded by brothers Tom and Ryan, creating affordable barefoot toddler shoes inspired by what they see every day in the clinic and their own experiences as Dads.

Family, community and helping people move well have always been at the heart of what we do. We’re incredibly grateful to GVGS for sharing our story and proud to continue giving back to the community that helped shape us.

The post Podiatrists, Brothers and Toddler barefoot shoes feature in Goulburn Valley Grammar magazine appeared first on GV Sportscare.

You’ve probably heard the term ‘pelvic floor’ thrown around here and there, but what actually is the pelvic floor and why is it important?

The pelvic floor is a group of muscles located in our pelvis that stretch like a sling from the pubic bone at the front of your pelvis to the tailbone at the back of your pelvis, and side to side to each ischial bone (sitting bones).

In the simplest terms, the pelvic floor supports the pelvic organs that sit above it and prevents the pelvic organs from falling through. Above your pelvic floor sits your important organs including the bladder, bowel and the uterus, and the pelvic floor muscles help to control release of urine and faeces from these organs by relaxing and contracting muscles around the openings of these organs (sphincters). The pelvic floor also plays an important role in sexual function in both males and females.

Image source: https://www.continence.org.au/about-continence/continence-health/pelvic-floor

Just like any other muscle in your body, the pelvic floor muscles can become weak. This can happen in both females and males! This means that they are unable to support the pressure coming from your abdomen, or cannot control the flow of urine or faeces out of the bladder or bowel.

Some of the signs of this include bladder leakage with coughing, sneezing, laughing, running, jumping, urgency to use your bladder or bowels, or in females, signs of a prolapse including heaviness or pressure or the feeling as though something is coming out of your vagina.

Who is at risk of pelvic floor issues?

 Some people have a higher risk of developing pelvic floor problems:

• Women who are pregnant, recently given birth (regardless of the birth type) or who have ever been pregnant
• Women who are going through menopause or women post-menopause
• People who have had surgery on the pelvis e.g. women who have had gynaecological surgery, men who have had prostate surgery, or following pelvic radiotherapy
• People who participate in high-impact exercise e.g. running, jumping sports or high intensity cardio; or heavy lifting e.g. at work or at the gym
• People who have a chronic cough or sneeze e.g. due to asthma or smoking
• People who suffer from chronic constipation

So, what can physiotherapists do about it?

If you can relate to any of these symptoms, just remember you are not alone. 1 in 4 people (males and females) will experience bladder leakage, 1 in 4 women will experience a prolapse in their life, and 1 in 10 young women will experience bladder leakage during sport – but just because this is common doesn’t mean it is normal!

Physiotherapists are experts in managing musculoskeletal problems, and the pelvic floor muscles are no exception! The research suggests that exercises for your pelvic floor which are done for a minimum of 12 weeks can significantly reduce symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction, and if started during pregnancy can prevent pelvic floor issues after pregnancy!

Our Shepparton physiotherapists are trained in delivering these exercise programs which we can design for you to complete at home and can make sure that you are completing the exercises correctly. Alternatively, our Clinical Exercise (formerly Clinical Pilates) classes are also designed to target the pelvic floor muscles if this is an issue for you.

I want to exercise – how can I modify my exercise to take care of my pelvic floor?

 If you are worried about your pelvic floor during your regular exercise routine, here are some tips that you can start with to reduce strain on your pelvic floor:

• Engage the pelvic floor before performing an exercise, if you’re unsure how seek help from your Shepparton physiotherapist
• Perform exercises in sitting or lying down, rather than in standing
• Increase the number of repetitions (10-15) or sets (3-4) but reduce the weight you are lifting
• Avoid holding your breath while completing an exercise
• Switch from higher impact to lower impact cardio exercise e.g. walking or swimming rather than running
• Switch from single leg to double leg exercise e.g. skipping on two feet rather than one

Unsure where to start?

Our Shepparton physiotherapists can assist you to form an exercise regime that is safe for your pelvic floor based on your individual needs. We can also help guide if you need to see a specialist women’s health physiotherapist.

Helpful Websites:

Continence Foundation of Australia

Pelvic Floor First, Pelvic Floor Safe Exercises

Go Against The Flow (support for young women with incontinence)

–Emily Wiedemann

Physiotherapist Shepparton

GV Sportscare

The post What is the pelvic floor and how does it impact my exercise? appeared first on GV Sportscare.

Running is one of the most accessible forms of exercise. But behind every stride lies a complex interaction of movement, muscle control, and force absorption that, if not optimised, can lead to performance plateaus or injury.

Whether you’re a weekend jogger, competitive athlete, or someone looking to return from injury, a Running Assessment offers powerful insights to keep you running stronger, safer, and smarter.

At GV Sportscare Shepparton, we’re proud to offer comprehensive running assessments that go beyond just watching you run. Here’s what it’s all about and why it’s worth considering, no matter where you are in your running journey.

Why Is Running Gait Analysis Important?

Running is incredibly healthy, but it’s also a common source of musculoskeletal injuries. In fact, injury prevalence in runners ranges from 18–92% depending on the population and context. Most injuries stem not from the act of running itself, but from how your body handles the repetitive loads placed on joints, tendons, and muscles (Barton et al., 2016).

Research led by Prof. Christian Barton At Latrobe University  suggests that injury is rarely the result of one factor. Rather, it’s the outcome of a mix of load-related, biomechanical, and sometimes psychological contributors (Barton, 2017).

“Running gait” refers to the sequence of movements your body makes when you run, specifically the cycle of your legs during each stride you take while you run.

A gait assessment helps identify:

• Movement patterns that may overload certain tissues
• Areas of weakness or poor control (e.g. at the hip, knee, or ankle)
• Potential inefficiencies affecting your performance

We don’t assess your running just for the sake of it – we assess to better target our interventions so that we can be confident that they add real value to your training or rehab.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

How Do We Perform a Running Gait Assessment?

Depending on the runner and their goals, we may assess:

• Treadmill running: Ideal for high-speed video analysis, cueing, and real-time retraining.
• Overground running: Useful when symptoms arise only overground or at specific paces or distances.
• Economy vs Performance vs Pain Triggers

We’ll consider:

• Running economy for distance runners (how your muscles utilise oxygen while you run)
• Performance mechanics for speed-focused athletes
• Pain-based assessments, analysing form during the pace or distance that tends to aggravate your symptoms

This means some runners may be assessed at a comfortable jog, while others may run at race pace, uphill, or with a particular shoe or orthotic – whatever best recreates your natural movement and symptoms.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

What Should You Expect?

Verbal and Visual Cues

A subtle change in technique can have a big impact. Research suggests gait retraining should follow motor learning principles, including faded verbal feedback, mirrors or video, and continued progression in practice.

Strength & Conditioning Recommendations

If biomechanical faults are identified, we often prescribe targeted strength and conditioning. These are not generic gym routines – they’re tailored to your specific needs, and might include:

• Hip strength and power drills for runners with patellofemoral pain or dynamic knee valgus (Nunes et al., 2018)
• Gluteal and calf strength for Achilles or tibial stress-related pain (Beattie et al., 2014)
• Foot and ankle mobility/stability work for overpronation or plantar fasciitis (Seitz et al., 2014)

Strength training alone has been shown to improve:

• Running economy
• Time-trial performance
• Anaerobic power (vMART) in endurance athletes (Beattie et al., 2014)
  = strength training makes you run faster and better

We follow a process supported by strong evidence and led by expert clinical reasoning.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

The Role of Load Management

Running technique is important, but understanding your current training load and how it interacts with your body’s capacity is the cornerstone of injury prevention and rehab.

• Reduce overall load if needed
• Improve your body’s capacity to tolerate it
• Shift the load away from sensitive structures
• Keep adapting to your goals and context

Load management strategies may include:

• Modifying your weekly training structure
• Introducing cross-training or active recovery
• Use evidence based progression models to ensure you aren’t increasing load too quickly.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

What About Footwear and Orthotics?

Shoe choice can influence mechanics, but it’s rarely the sole factor (pun intended!).

We consider:

• Strike pattern (heel vs midfoot vs forefoot)
• Pronation/supination tendencies
• Stiffness and drop of the shoe

Sometimes changing shoes can offload sensitive tissues, but more often, footwear is one piece of a broader plan. Orthotic therapy may be used in cases where there are chronic injuries or other complex issues.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

So, who are running assessments for?

Everyone.

That’s not a cliché – it’s supported by the literature:

• Recreational runners: Often show biomechanical patterns that can be improved, even without pain
• Competitive runners: Looking for performance edge and injury resilience
• Post-injury runners: Needing a safe, structured return
• Triathletes: Who often show unique gait patterns following cycling due to altered hip/pelvis dynamics (Rendos et al., 2013)

Many runners think gait analysis is only for when you’re injured. That’s simply not true. In fact, many performance gains come from improving neuromuscular control, movement economy, and mechanical efficiency – all of which can be assessed and addressed in a gait assessment session.

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Are You Ready to Run Better?

A gait assessment is not about fixing every flaw. It’s about finding meaningful, individualised ways to help you run more efficiently, stay injury-free, or finally break through a plateau.

At GV Sportscare Shepparton, we take a personalised, evidence-informed approach—bridging biomechanics, clinical reasoning, and practical strategies to support every runner’s journey.

📞 Book your assessment today and take the next step in your running performance. Book online or call 03 58977044 to book a Running Analysis.

– Ryan Davey, Podiatrist, Shepparton

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beattie, K., Kenny, I. C., Lyons, M., & Carson, B. P. (2014). The effect of strength training on performance in endurance athletes. Sports Medicine, 44(6), 845–865.
Nunes, G. S., Barton, C. J., & Serrão, F. V. (2018). Hip rate of force development and strength are impaired in females with patellofemoral pain without signs of altered gluteus medius and maximus morphology. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 21(2), 123–128.
Barton, C. J., Bonanno, D. R., Carr, J., Neal, B. S., Malliaras, P., Franklyn-Miller, A., & Menz, H. B. (2016). Running retraining to treat lower limb injuries: A mixed-methods study of current evidence synthesised with expert opinion. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 50(9), 513–524.
Seitz, L. B., Reyes, A., Tran, T. T., Saez de Villarreal, E., & Haff, G. G. (2014). Increases in lower-body strength transfer positively to sprint performance: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 44(12), 1693–1702.
Barton, C. J. (2017). Managing RISK when treating the injured runner with running retraining, load management and exercise therapy. Physical Therapy in Sport, 24, 1–5.
Rendos, N. K., Harrison, B. C., Dicharry, J. M., Sauer, L. D., & Hart, J. M. (2013). Sagittal plane kinematics during the transition run in triathletes. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 16(3), 259–265.

The post Runners of All Levels Can Benefit from a Running Assessment appeared first on GV Sportscare.

You’ve probably heard the term ‘pelvic floor’ thrown around here and there, but what actually is the pelvic floor and why is it important?

The pelvic floor is a group of muscles located in our pelvis that stretch like a sling from the pubic bone at the front of your pelvis to the tailbone at the back of your pelvis, and side to side to each ischial bone (sitting bones).

In the simplest terms, the pelvic floor supports the pelvic organs that sit above it and prevents the pelvic organs from falling through. Above your pelvic floor sits your important organs including the bladder, bowel and the uterus, and the pelvic floor muscles help to control release of urine and faeces from these organs by relaxing and contracting muscles around the openings of these organs (sphincters). The pelvic floor also plays an important role in sexual function in both males and females.

Image source: https://www.continence.org.au/about-continence/continence-health/pelvic-floor

Just like any other muscle in your body, the pelvic floor muscles can become weak. This can happen in both females and males! This means that they are unable to support the pressure coming from your abdomen, or cannot control the flow of urine or faeces out of the bladder or bowel.

Some of the signs of this include bladder leakage with coughing, sneezing, laughing, running, jumping, urgency to use your bladder or bowels, or in females, signs of a prolapse including heaviness or pressure or the feeling as though something is coming out of your vagina.

Who is at risk of pelvic floor issues?

 Some people have a higher risk of developing pelvic floor problems:

• Women who are pregnant, recently given birth (regardless of the birth type) or who have ever been pregnant
• Women who are going through menopause or women post-menopause
• People who have had surgery on the pelvis e.g. women who have had gynaecological surgery, men who have had prostate surgery, or following pelvic radiotherapy
• People who participate in high-impact exercise e.g. running, jumping sports or high intensity cardio; or heavy lifting e.g. at work or at the gym
• People who have a chronic cough or sneeze e.g. due to asthma or smoking
• People who suffer from chronic constipation

So, what can physiotherapists do about it?

If you can relate to any of these symptoms, just remember you are not alone. 1 in 4 people (males and females) will experience bladder leakage, 1 in 4 women will experience a prolapse in their life, and 1 in 10 young women will experience bladder leakage during sport – but just because this is common doesn’t mean it is normal!

Physiotherapists are experts in managing musculoskeletal problems, and the pelvic floor muscles are no exception! The research suggests that exercises for your pelvic floor which are done for a minimum of 12 weeks can significantly reduce symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction, and if started during pregnancy can prevent pelvic floor issues after pregnancy!

Our Shepparton physiotherapists are trained in delivering these exercise programs which we can design for you to complete at home and can make sure that you are completing the exercises correctly. Alternatively, our Clinical Exercise (formerly Clinical Pilates) classes are also designed to target the pelvic floor muscles if this is an issue for you.

I want to exercise – how can I modify my exercise to take care of my pelvic floor?

 If you are worried about your pelvic floor during your regular exercise routine, here are some tips that you can start with to reduce strain on your pelvic floor:

• Engage the pelvic floor before performing an exercise, if you’re unsure how seek help from your Shepparton physiotherapist
• Perform exercises in sitting or lying down, rather than in standing
• Increase the number of repetitions (10-15) or sets (3-4) but reduce the weight you are lifting
• Avoid holding your breath while completing an exercise
• Switch from higher impact to lower impact cardio exercise e.g. walking or swimming rather than running
• Switch from single leg to double leg exercise e.g. skipping on two feet rather than one

Unsure where to start?

Our Shepparton physiotherapists can assist you to form an exercise regime that is safe for your pelvic floor based on your individual needs. We can also help guide if you need to see a specialist women’s health physiotherapist.

Helpful Websites:

Continence Foundation of Australia

Pelvic Floor First, Pelvic Floor Safe Exercises

Go Against The Flow (support for young women with incontinence)

–Emily Wiedemann

Physiotherapist Shepparton

GV Sportscare

The post What is the pelvic floor and how does it impact my exercise? appeared first on GV Sportscare.

Exercise can come in many different forms during pregnancy, the most important aspect is that we are diligent and safe with our choices. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) recommends that ‘Women without contraindications should participate in regular aerobic and strength conditioning exercise during pregnancy…. Importantly, there is no evidence to suggest that regular exercise during an uncomplicated pregnancy is detrimental to the woman or fetus’

It is important to speak with your GP, midwife or obstetrician about your pregnancy and whether there are any reasons for you not to exercise during your pregnancy. For some women it is not possible due to complications in their pregnancy.

For those that can exercise, there are many benefits to exercise during pregnancy, some of those include:

-improved maternal psychological and physical health (particularly cardiovascular health)

-reduced musculoskeletal pain and discomfort (including back, pelvic or leg discomfort)

-reduced depressive symptoms

-decreased lower limb oedema (swelling)

-evidence is growing that exercise prevents or helps manage gestational diabetes and pre eclampsia

-some evidence for reduced length of labour and fewer neonatal complications

-lower incidence of operative delivery of baby

-increased birth weight to normal range of baby

-lower rate of prematurity

Our Shepparton physiotherapist will consider when advising you on exercise programs:

-baseline level of fitness and previous exercise experience

-physiological changes in pregnancy and what type of exercise and positions are safe for the pregnant women. (Please note after week 16 there is a strong recommendation to avoid lying on your back to exercise!)

-previous injury or new pregnancy related pain

-pelvic floor, consider pre-existing weaknesses and aim to include pelvic floor exercise in all programs

If you are unsure please feel free to speak with our Physiotherapist Sophie who can help guide you on safe exercise prescription. This can be a program to do within your own home or for those who want to continue in the gym we can help modify programs for here as well. If you are unable to exercise due to complications and you are experiencing back or pelvic pain we are also trained to treat these types of conditions safely at our Shepparton clinic. 

Helpful info:

Exercise during Pregnancy guideline, including warning signs during exercise. 

PARmed-X for PREGNANCY: a guideline for health screening prior to participation in a prenatal fitness class or other exercise, used by our Shepparton physio.

References:

Field, T. (2012). Prenatal exercise research. Infant Behavior and Development, 35(3), 397-407.

Melzer, K., Schutz, Y., Boulvain, M., & Kayser, B. (2010). Physical activity and pregnancy. Sports Medicine, 40(6), 493-507.

Sophie Woodhouse

Physiotherapist Shepparton, GV Sportscare

The post Exercise in Pregnancy appeared first on GV Sportscare.