Life Performance helps achieves your goals, no matter what age

Life Performance in West Melbourne is on a mission to help people pursue what they love in life.

Health meets passion for the state-of-the-art sports medicine and rehabilitation facility, which has a range of specialised programs designed to enhance physical wellbeing and quality of life.

“It’s the ability do the things that you love, and we would love to help people get to that,” senior physiotherapist Shane O’Sullivan said.

Among the programs available are Bones and Brawn – Muscle and Bone Health, Stay Upright – Falls Prevention, and General Health and Fitness which are geared towards people aged between their 50s and 70s, with the aim of putting unwanted changes in bone health decline and muscle mass to a stop.

It involves two group classes per week over a six- or 12-week period with classes including strength, mobility, power, and bone building exercises all in a fun and social environment.

Mr O’Sullivan said the program was suited towards people improving their balance system and “make them more confident on their feet”.

It’s about fostering resilience, preventing falls, and embracing the golden years with vigour.

Mr O’Sullivan said the performance programs also had an entry assessment and exit assessment before entering a new phase.

“We have some good research to show that we can offset the decline in muscle mass with an appropriate strength resistance training program,” he said.

Another program, Exercise Rehab, is perfect for managing a long-term injury, including chronic pain, recurrent injuries or any physical limitation that is reducing involvement in work, sporting, or leisure activities. Clients who will benefit from this may have an injury such as ankle sprains, achilles tendon pain, and chronic lower back pain.

“The program involves an individual session one-on-one with a clinician who then designs the program, digs down into the deficits that they have, and then puts the individual program in place,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

The third program offers is GLA:D from “Good Life with osteoarthritis in Denmark”. It was brought to Australia in 2016 to help those with hip or knee osteoarthritis.

People who completed the program within one year reported 35 to 42 per cent average pain reduction, 17 to 29 per cent reduced pain medication use, and 38-39 per cent had improvement in joint-related quality of life.

Mr O’Sullivan said all programs were about furthering life’s possibilities – not its limitations.

Life Performance offers physiotherapy, exercise physiology, podiatry, massage, and with an exercise and sports physician onsite, the business provides performance pathways for all ages. •