Grace Spiers

The Bay of Plenty’s top physiotherapy practice, Body in Motion, has recently partnered with Surfing New Zealand and is working closely with the Rip Curl New Zealand Junior Surfing Team in preparation for the 2011 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship in Peruin two weeks time.

Body in Motion has some of the Bay of Plenty’s most experienced, highly qualified physiotherapists using the latest proven techniques and already works closely with Bay of Plenty Rugby, Netball Bay of Plenty and Bay of Plenty Cricket.

 “I am really pleased to have Body in Motion onboard as our official physiotherapists. Their professional team are highly recommended and they have a lot to offer our national teams in terms of injury prevention, rehabilitation and preparing our top athletes for local and international competitions.” commented Surfing New Zealand Development Manager Lee Ryan.   

“Exceptional balance combined with core strength is crucial for professional surfers and therefore it is vital that a top surfer’s body is well tuned to increase performance and prevent injury” continued Ryan.

A number of Surfing New Zealand’s junior team representatives attended Muscle Balance Assessments (MBA’s) this week at the Mount Maunganui Clinic with Body in Motion’s Mike Ellis.

Muscle Balance Assessment

What is it?

Our body is a finely tuned machine. In order to perform the highly skilled, accurate and powerful movements necessary for our jobs, sports and everyday activities we are relying on our muscles to work in perfect position and timing. Unfortunately, because of our jobs, sports and everyday activities we develop habits that upset the tuning of this process. Often we let one muscle get really strong while others waste away. Eventually the strong muscle ends up trying to do the job of the weak muscles and becomes sore in the process.

During a muscle balance assessment, your physiotherapist will test out the strength of various muscles to determine whether you are over- or under-using any of you muscles. Once the imbalances are identified, you can begin work on correcting them in order to get back into the things you want to be doing.

What are the benefits of having a Muscle Balance Assessment?

Muscle balance assessments are great for people who are suffering from an injury however they are also an excellent tool for injury prevention. By identifying imbalances and then eliminating them through appropriate exercises, you are less likely to over work a muscle when starting or getting back to an activity. For example, many elite athletes are using muscle imbalance screening to help them reduce the chances of getting injured going into the start of their sporting season.

This is what the Junior Team representatives had to say post treatment.

“I have few points of weakness to work on, got some valuable points out of it...and some stretches to work on to improve those weak points.”   Joe Moretti, NZ Team Captain

“It was great. It actually made me feel good there was a little I had to work on! I'm really glad I did it, very interesting.”  Alexis Poulter, International Rip Curl Grom Search Finalist 2010

“Really good I really enjoyed it. I got a lot of good points out of it.”

Ella Williams, U16 National Champion 2011

“Physio went really well. Mike was very thorough and checked all muscle groups. I trusted his judgment and felt like he knew exactly what he was talking about. Thanks for the opportunity”

Grace Spiers, Rip Curl Raglan Pro Champion 2011

For more information on the services Body in Motion offer please go to www.bodyinmotionphysio.co.nz or call 07 575 2600

For more information on the NZ Junior Surfing Team contact
Lee Ryan on 021 1160160 or email lee.ryan@surfingnz.co.nz