Partner Highlight, Northern Inland Chiropractic

At SportUNE we’re ever grateful to have collaborative partnerships with many incredible businesses in our community.

Northern Inland Chiropractic is one of the legendary businesses supporting our community, by offering expert services to our staff, the community and our students – especially our elite athletes, the Sports Academy crew, University Games students and the UNE Lions Rugby team.

We recently took the opportunity to talk shop with Michael Griffith who shares some of his passion and tips with us. 

What inspired you to become a chiropractor, and where did you study?

I Studied at Macquarie University Sydney where I completed my 3 year Bachelor of Chiropractic Science and 2 year Master of Chiropractic Degrees, Graduating in 2009.

I was inspired to study based on personal results as a child. I started getting Chiropractic care around the age of 7 for maintenance with growth spurts and general falls from sport as a kid. I really noticed big improvements in my recovery from sport when incorporating chiropractic in my early teens. Due to extensive rep soccer, I began to develop Osgood-Schlatter’s syndrome – a general yet painful overuse injury to the knees. I noticed by keeping my body aligned it decreased my knee pain which enabled me to perform and importantly recover whilst competing through many rep tournaments.

Some of my favourite memories of the student days were travelling around sporting events working as a sports chiro during fieldwork in my final year of study. We had the opportunity to work at the world masters games, numerous rugby events and surf life-saving events throughout summer. The athletes were extremely appreciative of our work and we gained valuable experience in the process.

Can you please explain what a chiropractor does?

First, a Chiropractor will assess your spine and overall joint/movement capacity to diagnose the root cause of your complaint. Then we utilise gentle and specific adjustments/mobilisations to return movement to restricted joints in the body. A good way to think of this is the adjustment is an exercise for your spine.

In essence, we are taking your spine back to the gym.

By restoring correct movement patterns to the spine through the chiropractic adjustment, the strength and conditioning of underperforming spinal segments will increase, whilst nerve and blood flow is enhanced. This also ensures other spinal regions compensating for these restricted spinal segments will not have to work overtime and fatigue any more. Your body can then heal naturally without relying on pain killers or surgery.

You’ve always been into sport and fitness can you please tell us a few stories about this?

As a child, I played every sport that I could. However, by year 6 soccer was the clear winner and this became a year-round obsession. During high school I represented New England, Northwest, Northern NSW and NSW combined high school rep teams.

Do you think this has added to your interest in your field?

Due to the need to maintain optimum function and avoid overuse injuries, I can definitely say playing at these tournaments kept me interested in Chiropractic and general maintenance of the human frame.

Describe a regular day in the office for you?

I run a solo practice with two receptionists. This has been going strong since 2012. A regular day starts at 8 am and goes until 6 pm with a lunch break at midday. The days are busy with all types of patients and conditions. Young and old, acute pain, chronic pain and maintenance care make up the bulk of the day.

When should someone visit the chiro?

Chiropractic helps with many things. The more common complaints that I see and treat are neck pain, tension headache, migraine, upper back pain including rib fixations, low back pain from sciatica, acute facet locks, general osteoarthritic pain and pregnancy care. Common peripheral injuries include rotator cuff injuries to the shoulder, hip, foot and knee pain. We also work with dentists to help with jaw pain (Temporo-mandibular dysfunction).

What are a few suggestions you can give to people to keep active?

Throughout lockdown, the old classics of swimming, cycling and running are always a safe bet for cardio. In my opinion, the most comprehensive way to help with strength training and total body fitness without a gym would definitely be kettlebells. I personally have found kettlebell fitness to be a fantastic way to maintain overall strength and tone whilst the gym was on hiatus. The types of workouts are almost limitless. If you have been less active over COVID and are returning to the gym now that restrictions are easing it is important to build back up to full fitness gradually to avoid injury.

How can people help prevent injury after a long period of non-activity?

With returning to weight lifting I would first recommend people increase their base levels of endurance first through a higher rep, lighter load workouts. Then gradually increasing weight. Following the general principles of adaptive load aim to lift a certain level of weight over a period of weeks until it feels light, before going up to a heavier weight. This will allow your muscles, joints and ligaments to adapt to the progressive load increases and avoid injury in the long run. These gains are also longer lasting.

How can individuals help aid recovery and keep mobile after participating in physical activity?

Adequate nutrition, water intake and stretching is a must for recovery. Consistency of exercise will also help minimise the effects of delayed onset muscle soreness. And of course, maintenance adjustments can help keep your spine aligned and joints functioning smoothly.

You work closely with some of our high-performance sports teams and Sports Academy Athletes at UNE. Can you tell us a little about your partnership and how you help the students?

For the past 3 years, I have been a sponsor of SportUNE. Whether we are helping the everyday academic with neck pain/headaches from constant study or getting student-athletes fit to compete at Uni games after an injury, it is a pleasure to be able to help in any way possible.

Thank you so much for spending time to chat with us Michael, and for supporting our students, staff and the wider community with your expertise. 

If you’re looking for a Chiropractor – we highly recommend Northern Inland Chiropractic,
you can contact them on (02) 5713 0055,
via their website or follow them on Facebook and Instagram for advice and updates.