At Proactive, we focus on our Four Corners of Health approach to underpin the way in which we with the people in our care. Our Four Corners of Health approach focuses on Function (physical activity) Mindset, Nutrition (what we eat), and Sleep form the foundation of our health.
This is relevant whether we are recovering from illness, from injury, working to improve our wellbeing or striving to become the best version of ourselves.
Our Four Corners of Health approach means we work with you to build the knowledge and insight needed to improve your wellbeing, you will have a platform from which to thrive.
Humans were not made to be sedentary. And while rest is important to help us to recover or recuperate, we need regular physical activity in order to be the best that we can be.
While most of us get this, it’s not always easy to know what we should be doing, and how we should be doing it. That’s where Proactive comes in. Function and physical activity programmes are an integral part of the service that we provide, and an essential component of recovering from injury or illness, rehabilitating, building mental resilience and performing at your best.
Maintaining physical activity after injury is an essential part of the recovery process. Keeping fit without aggravating your injury can help the injury to recover, help you to maintain your fitness and improve your chances of returning to sports or work, help reduce pain and keep your attitude focussed as you work through your recovery. Our team of Physiotherapists and Clinical Exercise Physiologists are experts in helping you to put a Physical exercise plan in place following injury.
Exercise and a graded return to normal activities at work and home are cornerstones of rehabilitation. However sometimes, doing too much or doing the wrong thing can lead to setbacks in the rehabilitation process. Our team of Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists and Clinical Exercise Physiologists can help you to put together a safe physical activity plan that will both suit your approach and meet your needs. They can help you to recognise the early signs of “over-doing it” and teach you how to manage any setbacks that come as a result of overdoing physical activity while rehabilitating.
More and more research is proving that exercise and physical activity are vital for mental health and resilience. Within our team are experts who can guide you in building physical exercise programmes that will help you to manage stress and low mood both safely and effectively.
We all know the importance of exercise and physical in making sure we perform at our best – however this comes with risk of injury and overdoing it. Our Physiotherapists and clinical exercise physiologists can provide assessments which identify injury risk, and then put together an injury prevention programme consisting of mobility, stability and postural improvement exercise that will help you to keep fit while and staying injury free on the field and at work.
The way we think, attitudes, beliefs and how we approach different situations have a profound effect on our health, our wellbeing and what we achieve in life.
This may sound straight forwards, however when push comes to shove it’s very easy to fall back into old, negative mental patterns. Helping clients to understand this, and then arming them with tools to build strength and resilience within their mindset is a cornerstone of our approach to injury recovery, rehabilitation, and wellbeing.
Immediately following an injury can be a dark time for many. It can force you to withdraw from activity you love, social interaction, work and make completion of day-to-day tasks seem impossible. Engaging with a Proactive Physio soon after injury will help you to understand your recovery pathway, help you to form recovery expectations, set goals and stay motivated. From time to time, we recognise that some people may benefit from specialist input through a clinical psychologist and can make this referral. Getting on top of your mindset early following injury will set you up for recovery.
It’s natural for motivation to ebb and flow during a rehabilitation programme, however from time to time more serious aspects of our mindset can interrupt the rehabilitation process. Excessive fear of getting back into activities, negative thought patterns, anxiety or depression and low self-confidence can all impact on your recovery, and sometimes even lead to an increase in symptoms of pain or fatigue. Proactive’s Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists and Clinical Exercise Physiologists are all trained to help clients keep motivated during the rehab process and can recognise the more sinister factors that may impede recovery. They are able to access our team of Clinical Psychologists to help make sure that you have all the support needed to ensure that you rehabilitate safely and effectively.
Our mindset sets the scene for us in making the choices that will either detract or add to our health and wellbeing. However, its also important to understand that mindset can also directly impact on our health. More and more research is pointing towards the negative effects of stress on our physical health. With this in mind the healthcare providers within the Proactive team are able to help you to recognise the signs of stress and learn techniques and approaches that will empower you to take control of stress, improving your health and wellbeing.
You are what you eat. It may be that never a truer word was spoken. What we eat becomes what and who we are. Fats from food help to produce our nervous system, hormones and our cell walls. Protein is a large component of muscle tissue, tendons, ligaments and the chemicals that help to send signals around our nervous system. Vitamins and minerals help keep our body and brain balanced and functioning as it should, while carbohydrates provide the energy that keeps us moving and focused. What we eat and when we eat it have a profound effect on our recovery from injury, our rehabilitation and our overall health and wellbeing.
As you recover you need to make sure that your body has the right fuel and building blocks to enhance that recovery. Getting this right soon after an injury will help you to set yourself up to improve your body’s ability to manage inflammation and rebuild damaged tissue and nerves. Proactive Physiotherapists are trained to give the baseline advice and guidance around how to ensure that you are eating in a way that will support recovery; and they have access to a number of Nutritionists across New Zealand who can help to provide specific advice.
As many people rehabilitate, their normal eating patterns fall by the wayside as their routine changes or their motivation wanes. Proactive’s Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists and Clinical Exercise Physiologists are all able to provide you with the advice and the understanding to help you to eat in a way that will support your injury recovery and help you to get the best out of your rehabilitation.
When we sleep we repair and we regenerate. Simple. Not enough, or poor quality sleep will impede your performance at work and play, may contribute to a whole lot of health issues. Following an injury or illness, it will impede your recovery.
Learning to sleep well is one of the most important steps that you can take to recover faster and to improve your wellbeing.
In the early stages of recovery from an injury, sleep is often impaired due to pain and discomfort. Because damaged tissue repairs and reforms while we sleep, this reduced level of sleep can significantly impact our recovery. Proactive’s Physiotherapists can help assist in strategies that will help to reduce discomfort and improve the sleep that you get in the early stages of recovery.
A normal sleep-wake routine is a really important part of the rehabilitation process. Following injury, or simply due to ones lifestyle; optimal sleep – wake routines may be disrupted. This has an impact on a persons ability to recover, their mood, their ability to manage pain, fatigue levels and ultimately their success in rehabilitating from illness or injury. Anxiety and low mood also have an effect on a person’s sleep. Proactive’s Clinical Psychologists, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists and Clinical Exercise Physiologists are all trained in helping clients to improve their Sleep Hygiene; and are able to help you to establish routines that will help you to improve the quality and quantity of sleep that you get.
From time to time a person’s sleep may be disrupted by sleep disorders such as sleep apnoea. Our team are trained to recognise this and make appropriate referrals to help you to get on top of clinical sleep disorders.
Sleep deprivation is one of the leading causes of accidental injury at work and on the sports field – in fact you are much more likely to injure yourself while playing sports or training if you have had less than 8 hours sleep. Proactive is able to provide coaching and workshops that help your teams to understand the importance of sleep in preventing injury, and take the steps required to improve they way in which they