Jaydn Nixon is the Principal physiotherapist and owner of Recharge Physio, located in ReDefined health club in Papamoa, Bay of Plenty. Having over 15 years experience using Power Plate in his practice, Jaydn talks to us here about accelerating recovery outcomes with Power Plate.
Lower back injuries led Jaydn to a career in rehab
As a youngster Jaydn was a self-confessed science geek with a questioning mind and a passion for helping others. With his own experience suffering a lower back injury while playing on the sand dunes as a 12-year-old, and witnessing his dad endure years of work-related back pain, it seems perfect that Jaydn pursued a career in physiotherapy. Now, with over 20 years’ experience under his belt, Jaydn classifies himself as a generalist in terms of rehab, with a special affinity for muscular skeletal physiotherapy.
Over Jaydn’s career he has successfully treated around 8,000 clients and has been fortunate enough to travel and work all over the world, including in hospitals, private practice, gym-based settings and physio-related education roles in NZ, Australia, UK and Asia-Pacific.
Jaydn was exposed to all aspects of patient rehabilitation in his early career at Waikato hospital. He recalls an experience with one patient who presented with five massive medical files. His curious mindset kicked into overdrive around the holistic approach to this patient’s rehabilitation and he asked himself – “I wonder what he needed and hasn’t received” and “what was being missed”. He describes many scenarios of patients like this as being on “struggle street”. These exposures developed Jaydn’s appreciation of how inter-connected everything is, and shaped his holistic approach to rehabilitation where he considers the “whole person” in his patients’ assessments, rather than just the symptom they present with.
In the NZ physio practice model phsyiotherapists could typically see up to 25 patients a day, with fewer than 30 minutes per patient. This model doesn’t allow time for the whole-person approach Jaydn prefers for achieving long-lasting recovery outcomes.
Power Plate’s Medical Device Certification
Searching for ways to move away from being the “ambulance at the bottom of the cliff” and more into the “prevention space”, using his skills in a “wellness vs. sickness” capacity, Jaydn discovered Power Plate. The science and research behind Power Plate’s whole body vibration technology piqued his interest, and the rapid physiological response of the body to vibrations provided Jadyn with the perfect tool to deliver his holistic wellness approach in his practice. With Medical Device Certification in the EU and troves of published peer-reviewed research studies, Power Plate provides Jaydn with a multitude of applications for use in his treatment protocols.
From experience, Jaydn knows that being time poor yet with the financial pressure to see as many patients as possible in a day, has its drawbacks. Power Plate has proved to be instrumental in solving this problem. Because Power Plate whole body vibration warms up the muscles more quickly, and achieves neuromuscular activation effectively in a short amount of time, it presents an extremely time-effective solution for achieving positive rehab outcomes. Patients gain quicker results with less effort and in less time.
80% pain dampening
Jaydn’s approach with his patients revolves around his mantra of “relief, repair, and recharge”, alongside his desire to good rehab outcomes sooner. Jaydn believes this is a crucial aspect to patients’ mental and emotional wellbeing. If a patient’s progress is too slow, a feeling of hopelessness can creep in, leading to a diminished lifestyle. Jaydn aims to combat this hopelessness by integrating Power Plate into his treatment plans. He is now achieving around 80% pain dampening for his patients and accelerated repair to their injuries, with less effort required from both patient and himself.
The exceptional thing about Power Plate, as a tool for a physiotherapist, is its versatility to rapidly improve range of motion, balance, circulation and pain reduction. Jaydn uses the whole-body vibration technology to apply precision in his decision making with the rehabilitation regime. He gives the example of a simple ankle sprain injury, where there are many aspects to be aware of and treat. He finds that Power Plate positively impacts all the areas of the injury, and they can be targeted with a single exercise activation for a duration of only 30 seconds. These results Jaydn has experienced have given Jaydn such an appreciation for Power Plate’s speed and thoroughness and how important these factors are in creating that upward spiral to achieving a great recovery.
Jaydn has also started using the Power Plate MINI+, a handheld percussive vibration massage gun, in some of his treatment sessions. He explains how the percussive vibration can help reach “around the corners”, transmitting to tissue that may be behind or under a bone, and not easily accessible for manual therapy.
The benefits Power Plate brings to physiotherapists and orthopaedic rehab specialists are being recognised around the world. The ability to cut down on the time needed in treatment sessions, the number of exercises needed to be done and the multiple pieces of equipment required in a typical session benefits both patient and clinician.
Power Plate is incomparable for its ability to accelerate recovery. To any physiotherapist looking to improve patient experience and outcomes that go a long way in building word of mouth referrals, I encourage each of you to experience the Power Plate technology and discover how it can add so much value to your practice.
- by Belinda Kropach