Simply the Best...Podiatry!
This is a series of short podcasts to giving simple tips to assist and enhance your best Podiatry practice.
Simply the Best...Podiatry! discusses clinical issues with many guests and is presented by Podiatrist Jason Agosta and guests.
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Simply the Best...Podiatry!
Ep.40 Ben Sweeting: Elevating Netball Performance Through Podiatric Expertise
Join us for an insightful journey with Ben Sweeting, the passionate podiatrist behind the scenes of the Queensland Firebirds netball team. Discover how Ben's childhood love for sports carved his path into the world of podiatry, culminating in his role as a specialist in sports injuries and rehabilitation. From his academic roots at Queensland University of Technology to the creation of Sports and Family Podiatry, Ben has honed his craft in orthotic manufacturing to support elite athletes. Listen as he shares his experiences at the Queensland Orthotic Lab, where he refined his expertise alongside top practitioners, becoming a vital part of the athletes' support system.
Explore the critical role podiatry plays in preparing netball athletes for the rigors of their sport, as Ben delves into the pre-season screenings that ensure these high-level players stay at peak performance. Uncover the challenges and intricacies of selecting the perfect footwear for netball, as Ben discusses the influence of basketball and tennis shoe designs and the ever-evolving demands of modern netball. Gain a deeper understanding of how collaboration with physiotherapists, strength and conditioning coaches, and dieticians is essential in maintaining the health and performance of these athletes. Whether it's managing common injuries or customizing orthoses, Ben's insights illuminate the dedication and teamwork required to keep the Firebirds soaring.
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This podcast is recorded and produced on Naarm and Bunurong the traditional lands of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respects to the elders, past present and emerging and the land, seas and skies for which we all live.
Hi there and thanks for tuning in to Simply the Best Podiatry, where we want to pass on simple tips for your best podiatry practice. I am Jason Agosta, and joining me for this episode is Ben Sweeting. Ben has practiced in Brisbane since graduating in 2004. He has specialized in sports injuries and rehabilitation and is also involved in the QUT students podiatry program. Ben's focus includes netball, where he is the podiatrist for the Queensland Firebirds team. Hey, thanks for joining me on Simply the Best Podiatry. So yeah, I'm stoked to have you on and I came across your name as I know you're presenting at the Sports Medicine Australia Netball Symposium. But first of all, I'm interested. You have two practices you work in.
Speaker 2:So sports and family podiatry is a new practice. So I opened my doors here a little on six months ago, so I have a tenancy within a wellness precinct. So this is a brand-new building. It went up last year in part of a bigger community, what we call the Clem Jones Centre. So the Clem Jones Centre is run by the Carina Welfare Association and they have a big block of land that was owned by one of our old former Lord Mayors, clem Jones, and his ethos was to basically keep kids off the street and get them into sports. So his motto was keep them in sport and out of court. So there was a growing need to, I guess, cater to not just providing health facilities like the pool and the gym, but for health services. So they had this sort of vision that we could provide basically a one-stop shop where you know you could come and see your GP, your physio, podiatry, dietician, all under the one roof, and that's where the Clem Jones Wellness Centre was born.
Speaker 1:So yeah To you talking about the. You know the sports and musculoskeletal side of podiatry. What really takes your interest? What's been your fascination as a podiatrist?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, probably like all Australian kids, we just love our sport. Yeah, cricket and soccer. I grew up with three brothers. We're forever in the backyard kicking the soccer ball, football, hitting tennis, you know, tennis balls, cricket balls, breaking windows to the neighbours and things like that. Always loved sport, always loved watching sport. It kind of worked out pretty quickly that unfortunately I wasn't ever going to make it as a professional athlete not even close but I thought it would be really cool to be involved in sports somehow. I went through the QUT program almost 20 years ago so at the end of the year it'll be 20 years I've graduated and I guess kind of the early 2000s where you know, really sports podiatry was just, you know, emerging as a bit of a specialty and I went that's really cool. I kind of looked at physio and thought, yeah, that would be also good. But you know the number of physio.
Speaker 1:I kind of saw podiatry as as a little bit niche-y yeah, exactly, and I must say also you know I'm a little bit down the track from you but back in those times of, say, the 2000s and even now, the reputation of QUT podiatry has been absolutely like fantastic and so consistently well-respected. So, from you know, being here in Melbourne, we always have spoken and heard about QUT podiatry program.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we had some really good teachers. I was headed by Alan Crawford back in the day and you know Lloyd Reid, steve Ury, phil Perlman, and you know lloyd reed, steve uri, phil perlman, um, you know, and just a number of really good um teachers and and tutors do you have an area of interest, real fascination that takes you?
Speaker 2:oh look, I I as as much as I say like sports and m, I think, the more complicated stuff. You know, going back about 12 years I sort of developed it was a commercial link to the Ritchie Brace, so I used to. I was consultant podiatrist at Queensland Orthotic Lab very early on in my career, about third year, and I was. My first job was with Linda Garbutt who, along with her husband, linda Garbutt, who along with her husband, tony Garbutt, owned Queensland Orthotic Lab. And that was one thing I always loved at uni was making orthotics and using my hands and shaping and just sort of enjoying the science but also really loving the art side of things and the little nuances and always, always loved making orthotics at uni.
Speaker 2:So I moved away from Linda and set up a practice with my brother, kent, who's a podiatrist, and Tony said, hey, I really need another podiatrist to come and help me consult, you know, talk the talk and the idea.
Speaker 2:Just, you know, just, while your practice is building, come and do a couple of days a week with me. And I was like, oh, you know, that seems pretty good to me, sort of a little bit different to being patients all day and, as I said, I certainly had a fascination in the manufacture of foot orthoses so I thought it ends to be good while I'm building up West End, but just absolutely fell in love with the process and, you know, I guess, really tightening up. You know quality control but also learning a lot. So you know I probably got more out of that time with Tony than he did out of me in terms of. You know, I'm seeing hundreds of casts come through from practitioners across the country and really high-quality practitioners you know Alan Boyes and Paul Fleet and the like. So you know, and talking to them and looking at their cast and how they cast and you know trying to replicate how they do, but then also looking at their prescription and what that looked at the other end when it had been through production.
Speaker 1:So you know, and after a while it's a huge leverage. That is a huge time, isn't it? I mean, I'm assuming the answer is yes, but you know that time, would you say even now, after all these years, that has been crucial in your development and just being getting your hands dirty and really, you know, just being hands-on and having that craftsmanship, oh, a hundred percent.
Speaker 2:And look, I know that the industry's moved from being that very hands-on. You know, plaster modification, pressing different thermoplastics, carbon fibers, evas, and then shaping that, and you know we've got medial flares and lateral flares and we're going, you know, extending, you know, down the medial side and all these different things, because again, the art side of things we had, you know, practitioners going. I think I want to do this. How am I going to do it? You know how can I replicate this with my script? And we go, let's just give it a go and see what happens. So you kind of get what we can do and sort of outside that sort of checkbox and you know a couple of little instructions and I really love, you know, I guess, being that link between what the practitioner wants and then going to the technician saying, hey, this is what so-and-so wants, what can we do?
Speaker 2:So definitely, the hands-on, huge, huge, huge advantage, absolutely. So I think that you've got to have a bit of an understanding of that old process, of you know what we used to do. I don't believe that we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. And obviously digital. You know CAD design is the thing now. Obviously mill, know CAD design is the thing now. Obviously Milling printing I'm going to assume that the old-style plaster is still being used by a number of practitioners, but obviously the younger generation coming through now will certainly have a. You know they'll lean into the technology side of things, naturally.
Speaker 1:But the point is and we've mentioned this a lot on this show, especially in the Orthosis series and some of the older practitioners we've always spoken about it doesn't matter what process you go through, at the end of the day you still need to know how to fix a problem or make that device better than what it is.
Speaker 2:Oh 100%.
Speaker 1:You need to know how to do that.
Speaker 2:I couldn't agree more. I mean I'm a big believer in that. I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all. I don't think that all feet need to be neutral suspension cast. I don't think all feet should be semi-weight-bearing or fully weight-bearing or foam box or STS or plaster cast. I think as long as you're aware of how you've manipulated the foot during capture and the, the pitfalls and advantages of each method, how you might need to translate that to your lab if you're not doing the design work yourself is yeah, we know, if you're off weight bearing and not loading up the foot, you're probably going to see high medial natural borders.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, phone box used to see a lot of phone boxes where people put the heel down and then the forefoot and unsurprisingly we've got this big high medium lateral heel. They kind of seesaw the foot over the foam with that. You know, you've got to recognise that. That's what foam does. Sts kind of has a bit of a. You know the resin socks has a bit of a bowstring effect from the heel up to the forefoot, so you kind of see that sort of dip down. That's fine.
Speaker 2:You've just got to be aware of the limitations of each and how you're going to manipulate that and have that design and then therefore contour to the foot. But also, what influence do you want in the foot? How much do you push the foot by how much force do you need? What tissues need to be deloaded? How are we going to achieve it with a product? So you know plastics, carbons, evas. You know I would say you know close to 100% of my orthotics now that I prescribe are EVAs, for the versatility and adaptability and how I can design that with the software that I use. But yeah, I'm one of those people that say you know, if you're doing it this way, that's the wrong way. I think you know, if you have a consistent approach and you're aware of what design parameters you want, then go that way.
Speaker 1:That's it. You're so spot on. It doesn't really matter, does it? I think you know your parameters, but know how to fix things up and get your hands on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I certainly. I mean I've been involved with the QT program on and off for 10, 15 years and I still think we have to teach the students how to plaster cast initially. You know I'm a big believer in Hands on feet.
Speaker 2:Hands on feet. Firstly, any way, anything doing anything. But you've got to be able to. I love picking up a cast and having that. You know we take a good 3D scan and look at it on a 2D screen. You just you don't get the same appreciation. I think if to take a good scan you have to be able to take a good plaster cast. So I think I'll have an appreciation. But also, whatever you do, you have to be able to sort of critique it as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and one of the things we have spoken about on this show is that you need to know how to take a scan properly to it.
Speaker 2:Oh, this is the starting point.
Speaker 1:Not just, you know, pump it out and it's all done.
Speaker 2:You've got to make sure, no no, no, and having experienced the manufacturer side of things, you see the good, the bad and the ugly.
Speaker 2:And there's a lot of ugly and there's a lot of you know, fixing by the lab, which you know. I just don't know if many practitioners kind of appreciate what goes through and what needs to be involved with the actual manufacturers to spit the other one. So I think the onus always has to be on the practitioner and that's why I'm a big believer that having a bit more of a hands-on approach with your modelling, as opposed to having technicians do that who haven't seen the patient. There's a lot of nuances in the art that I'm kind of manipulating little bits here and there on my design and I get pretty finicky about my prescriptions and the designs is that I want to be the one that's responsible for that and I've got to say the particular last six years you know where I've done all the design work myself is that certainly the comfort and outcomes have been outstanding. Yeah, far, far better Less adjustments, less remakes and significantly less remakes.
Speaker 1:That's good. Well, you sound like you've got a wealth of experience with it and you've put yourself into the lab to know exactly what goes on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I think I was circling around. So in terms of interest is going back to my time at QOL and I bought QOL again with Kent in 2012. And that was around the time we were growing the Ritchie braces. So we brought Doug Ritchie out when I was consulted with him around about 2010. Yeah, and that's where he was looking for a more traditional laboratory to make his Ritchie braces.
Speaker 2:So Ritchie braces they've been sort of manufactured in the States since the mid to late 90s and it kind of just made sense to get them done over here. So through I think it was through Paul and Alan, doug had a connection that they sort of referred him on to Tony and QOL. So really around that time was like I had to upskill myself really quickly in the adult quad flat foot AFOs. You know principles around AFOs and kind of being able to use the Ritchie braces. So behind that is the understanding of the why, because we were going out promoting this and running seminars and teaching other practitioners across the country. So yeah, I still have a fascination with the adult quad flat foot. I have learnt a tonne from Doug Ritchie Lucky to spend a lot of time with him, certainly when I had the lab and that commercial interest. Together that partnership Learned a lot about the adult acquired flat foot in particular, but lots of other stuff, and I still find it a fascinating but challenging condition to this day.
Speaker 1:Just describe to me the Ritchie brace and the important features of it.
Speaker 2:Well, the Ritchie brace is a line of podiatric AFOs, so it's simply, it's a custom foot orthotic or functional foot orthosis based on podiatric principles braced up the leg.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:So its initial use was for you know Doug had sort of said more for sporting applications. So you know lateral ankle instability, but they worked out pretty quick it's actually good for the post-typic insufficiency. Back back then I guess they didn't know heaps about it. Like I think the the research has really evolved over the last 30 years for the, the adult quiet flat foot, or what they're calling now progressive collapsing foot, yeah, and the staging and how to assess but then also how to treat. So yeah, I think it was by a bit of a coincidence they found that it was really remarkable results for that particular patient cohort and essentially all it does is it connects the leg back to the foot because when you have that progressive collapsing, the ligaments are attenuating, they're failing and you're just losing that coupling between the leg and the foot. So bracing restores that coupling essentially.
Speaker 2:You know I've been involved with Netball Queensland's contracted athletes and the Firebirds athletes for the last six seasons and you know we've been pretty fortunate with how we've been able with athletes and the Firebirds athletes for the last six seasons is. And you know we've been pretty fortunate with how we've been able to position podiatry over the last sort of six or seven seasons and that's a lot to do with Tom Brough, who I kind of work with at Ashgrove, so but together we've implemented a number of strategies and we're kind of seeing as the people are go-do now for anything, knee and below, so we're really positioned with the firebirds.
Speaker 1:The firebirds, yeah. Are you talking about queensland netball generally?
Speaker 2:uh, firebirds, yeah, okay, so we're kind of you know on. You know we have a full-time physio that works with the athletes but anything kind of note, knee and below is it comes through through podiatry, um, but you know we'll work with sports physicians, the wellness psychologists, strength and conditioning coaching, often what sort of input, what's been going on? So, but you know that's kind of years of you know just sort of promoting the profession really and educating and saying, hey, we're actually and we're seen as we are seen as pretty important members to the sports medicine team. So you know we'll round table each athlete, usually once or twice a season, where we sit down at Netball Queensland and, as I said, we've got we'll have a sports doctor online, typically coaching high performance physiotherapy, dietician, psychology, and we go, okay, athlete A, what have we got each and each? You know I learn a lot from sitting in on those, particularly like things like sports psychology, because you know I think our profession, we're in a unique position in that we can work on feet and legs but you know what, we can talk to them at the same time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I really enjoy talking and you do know that with some of these higher-end athletes they get tired of people going. You know how's this injury what's. You know how's your ankle, how's your toe. It's like sometimes they just want to know how are you doing? A lot of these girls have got jobs outside of the airport that don't get paid very well, so they have to support their income with particularly the not really high-profile players with other jobs. A lot of them study as well, so they have to really juggle a fair bit because the training commitments during pre-season and season is pretty demanding. So quite often you know you've got to have a connection with all your patients, and it's no different with our professional athletes is that they are people at the end of the day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you're involved in the pre-season of the Firebirds, yep, yep. So would you be there like once or twice a week, involved with the team?
Speaker 2:So I guess that typically works, and we do have pre-season coming up. Actually, it's the day I fly down to Melbourne on the Tuesday, no, sorry, the Monday before. So we do pre-season screenings. What that typically is usually all the athletes although we know a number of the girls really well, so we don't really need to dedicate heaps of time but particularly the new players that are coming in, some of our new training partners that will come in is that we have half an hour with each athlete. We do that at Disson Arena, which is the stadium where they train, and we do that in conjunction.
Speaker 2:So we have podiatry, strength and conditioning, physiotherapy, and typically the dietician is there as well as the sports physician, where we kind of almost have this sort of rotation of athletes coming through. So again, it's a lot of fun because we get to chat to not only the athletes but also our colleagues as well. And, yeah, so we're involved with pre-season screening and what that looks like is you know basic biomechanical, um, you know injury history, which we usually have a pretty good idea of, but, um, because that's all usually reasonably well documented um, some of our new players, some, some might come from overseas, which we don't have much of a background on. So just getting getting that information. Uh, footwear is a big thing, you know. A previous interventions, previous podiatry if they're using foot orthoses, braces.
Speaker 1:And so the pre-season usually runs up to March. I think the season starts in April, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right and honestly, it's a really long pre-season. It is yeah, it's actually longer than the AFL. So none of the girls have links to the AFL. They'll have, you know, brothers or partners that are AFL players and I've heard you know it's like, you know, our preseason is actually longer than the AFL boys.
Speaker 1:I think the season usually starts in April and finishes about August.
Speaker 2:Yeah, usually have finals in July.
Speaker 1:Yeah so it's not a particularly long season, but it's usually pretty extensive and what would you say the most common problems you have to deal with?
Speaker 2:Oh, this is kind of backed up by the stats that Maddy collected a couple of years ago. So she researched it in Newcastle. But we know that foot and ankle injuries or below the knee make up a huge proportion. Around about 70% of injuries are lower limb related. So most common stuff that we would see would be ankle sprains and blisters, toenail issues, and then things like corns calluses, stress, fractures, tendinopathies, and then things like corns calluses, stress, fractures, tendinopathies. But yeah, probably the main one would be ankle sprains is a huge proportion and then blisters is another big thing as well.
Speaker 1:So this is what I love about the netball, because it's so fast now. If you go back years ago, now the women are so much more athletic, they're super fit, but it is so fast. I mean, I would encourage anyone listening to this who's into netball and wants to learn about it. Just sit there and watch what happens with foot and ankle and it's amazing. The forces are huge but you know the agility involved is under. Speed is just amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so there's all that. Yeah, they are wonderful athletes and they're really committed athletes as well. They train really really hard. But yeah, 100% right, you've not only got those sort of agility and cutting and running forces, but you've got running forces as well. And you've got jumping. You know, end of quarters a lot of jumping and mid-quarters a lot of running and cutting. So there's a huge amount of stress that obviously goes through feet and ankles and knees.
Speaker 1:I think that's the thing is, you've got to be really strong, really explosive, you've got to be well-coordinated. I'm doing this off the top of my head and, yeah, I mean that endurance is to keep going and keep pushing. Oh, yeah, yeah, I think now you know, they seem so much fitter and athletic than ever before.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean that's yeah. It's like most professional sports is that you know, what we see today compared to you know, even 10 years, 20, 30 years ago, was that we've got a really strong athlete and they really prepare their bodies. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Now just quickly. You mentioned, while you're screening in pre-season, footwear is a really big aspect of what you have to look at. So what sort of things are you looking at and what sort of shoes are people wearing, and what can you tell me about that scenario?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and what sort of shoes are people wearing and what can you tell me about that scenario? Yeah, well, I think I mean footwear prescription is always a difficult thing, isn't it? I mean, you kind of look at when I went through uni how we used to prescribe footwear whether you want to call it prescription, because I always struggled with it and you know, now we know. But now we know that we can't prescribe footwear like a GP prescribes the right antibody. So I think we've got to sit back and go okay, what are the design features, or preferred design features, that we want in a shoe that is going to suit this athlete and that's going to be based on, maybe their injury history current injuries, certainly their injury history, current injuries, you know certainly, positional playing, how their style of play, you know, if they want something enlightened and responsive versus an end of quarter who's just sort of really just jumping and catching and shooting.
Speaker 2:The athletes you know now, certainly in netball, is that there's a bit more choice to what there was. Even five years ago, two seasons ago, it was a bit of a problem with footwork because what we found was we had a brand come in and go okay, we want to give you these shoes, yeah, can you try them? That was kind of outside our control and you also kind of go. Well, I don't blame the athlete if they want to try and either get an endorsement or if they get paid for wearing certain shoes. But we're seeing shoes being sort of chopping and changing and the shoes that were coming in were based off of men's basketball shoes, so they weren't specifically designed for the female foot and we do know there is differences between women and men's feet obviously. So you know we also have to work with the athletes. So what we sort of did the following season was we said, okay, we're going to lock in your shoes for the year.
Speaker 2:If you want to change, you know we need to talk about why we're changing. What are some of the design features and characteristics of the particular shoe that we're going to change to? Because, as we know, if we change how our loads are too soon, that's when we tend to see problems crop up, and that's certainly what we experienced a couple of years ago. So if we go, okay, well, you've got a particular brand that you want to wear, let that, let's work with that, but let's do it in the pre-season, well, before regular season starts and it may be that we experiment during some of the pre-season games.
Speaker 2:Obviously get them to use the courtship prior in training gradually Some of the girls you know we're more than happy to go. Okay, this is the model. You know. We have access to ASICS, obviously our sponsor, and they do wonderful footwear for our netball athletes and have done so for a number of years and obviously they were the pioneers in the netball space, being very niche-y. What we also have to look at is what footwear are we using outside of the court? What are we using off the court?
Speaker 1:What are we using in the gym?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know. So we do know that a lot of these girls previously were using these really soft high-stack shoes in the gym and you can see them kind of moving under load as you go. You know particularly they've got a history of ankle stuff, you go, okay. So what we said last is we're going to use our old court shoes in the gym which are sort of low and firm and pretty stable, or, if you've got lifting-type shoes or gym-style shoes, yeah, so correct me if I'm wrong, but has it become easier to deal with the footwear scenario and the netballers?
Speaker 1:Because it seems that the quality of the netball shoes is so much better now than you know, like you mentioned five years ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look, yes and no, obviously, these models evolve and they change. Sometimes the changes are less desirable.
Speaker 2:And we'll pick that up. So they'll, you know, go well, I've always worn Model X, but this most recent, and a lot of times they can't articulate it it is just a comfort and a performance thing. Sure, yeah, and we certainly have come unstuck where we have had model updates. And again, the good thing about sort of working with particularly someone like ASICS is that we do have a little bit of input and say, hey look, this is the feedback we're getting from some of our girls. You know what? What other shoe can, can we, can we try, you know?
Speaker 1:what's going on Are many people using basketball footwear or tennis shoes?
Speaker 2:Well that's really where I guess where Nike a couple of seasons ago have have come in. So they are kind of built off the basketball. Obviously they're huge in basketball, so I guess some of the girls are Now I tend to find that it's usually the taller sort of heavier girls that probably can cope with that, but our lighter girls that want a little bit more responsiveness and step off and lightness, they tend not to do so well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, going back to talking about orthoses, are there many netballs that wear orthoses?
Speaker 2:Oh look, I guess if you look at a professional squad, I'd say probably less than half would wear custom foot orthoses. You know there's a requirement for all girls to wear for all sessions and games, but no, not all girls have a requirement to use those.
Speaker 1:And if they are, what sort of device or what's the approach with that for Netball?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and look, it's probably no different to the approach that I use is that you know we do the software through Paramed, and so that gives us the ability to customise what their needs are. It gives us the ability to select different types of densities of EVA, so it's really horses for horses type things. So whatever it does change and it can change throughout the season, as well, now, I'm assuming you have watched tons of netball.
Speaker 1:I want to know what happened last year with the Firebirds, because I'm looking at the ladder here and out of 14 games, there was a significant difference between the top three of four teams and the bottom four teams as far as you know the outcomes of their games. And I have to say, the Firebirds, you know what were they? Four and ten, was it? Yeah, four and ten, but the interesting thing is the top three were like 11 and three.
Speaker 2:There was really a standout, wasn't there? The top three, yeah, look what are the differences.
Speaker 1:If you've been watching a lot, can you see what the big differences are between these teams.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look, it's tricky. Look, I wouldn't certainly call myself a netball commentator or a netball expert by any stretch. Certainly there's a lot that goes within the walls of any club, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is for my own interest. I'm interested in, like what you see on court.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look, it is interesting. There's no doubt that all of these girls are really talented at the top level. Yeah, it wasn't a great season. During the season we had sort of coaching changes midway through and a lot of stuff that sort of I'm not privy to, which no doubt contributed to, I guess, their on-court performances. So, yeah it's. I wish I had a really good answer for you, mate. Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1:You can just sit in the outside perspective anyway.
Speaker 2:I'm happy that I keep him on the court and it's not the feet that's inhibiting time off court.
Speaker 1:Yeah, fair enough, fair enough. Hey, I've got to say also, there's nearly one and a half million people playing netball in Australia annually. It's huge, isn't it?
Speaker 1:It's a huge number I mean there's as many skateboarders, I'll give it that. But if anyone, you know, I mean for all of us as podiatrists, we're going to have people who play netball come into our rooms at some point and I think having that understanding of the forces and you know the movements that it takes to play at a really high level and what's involved with stability, as you mentioned, with footwear and orthoses, I think it's really important to keep up with, you know, the athleticism of netball.
Speaker 2:Oh, 100%. You know, my first exposure to netball was probably close to 10 years ago with my daughter, and growing up with three brothers we weren't exposed to netball, never played netball. But yeah, if you've ever been down to a local netball club on a Saturday, it's massive. There's that many kids running around and parents and whatnot. It's huge at a community level. So, yeah, no doubt that most practitioners that sort of deal with musculoskeletal or sports are going to see a netball athlete at some point, and I totally agree. Having staying abreast of particularly around footwear is really important. Well, my big thing is I think netball should be in the Olympics.
Speaker 1:staying abreast of, particularly around footwear, is really important. Well, my big thing, is.
Speaker 2:I think netball should be in the Olympics. I'll leave it up to the.
Speaker 1:Olympics. Everyone is a little bit controversial. When I say that to people. I say yeah, but there's so many countries that play netball. Yeah, it should be in the Olympics.
Speaker 2:We had breakdancing in the last Olympics. Come on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2:Surely there's a lot more skill than athleticism involved in the netball athletes that's a whole another episode we can talk about sports, ben.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hey, thanks for coming on the show and, uh, just before we finish off, how's your photography?
Speaker 2:oh, you know what, jason? Um, this is, uh, one passion I wish I had a little more more time for, but, as you can imagine, with the new practice, the last 12 months has been pretty hectic. But yeah, certainly a passion of mine is landscape photography and allows me to, I don't know, maybe my creative side, but I'm hoping we've got a long weekend. Next weekend is the plan. I've got a trip planned up to Noosa around Noosa National Park. Love coastline photography, so the camera's coming with me.
Speaker 2:You know podcasts I listen to a number of sports medicine podcasts and I think you know, with how people learn and how the younger generation are learning, now to have access to material like what you guys are putting out is unreal. So you know, absolutely hats off to you, because you know, I know how busy you must be and you know I find it hard to fit everything in. So you know, certainly I also appreciate what you do. No, and you need to talk to other people. Yes, back in the day you'd say what are you doing for a recalcitrant plan of heel pain like? Tell me, is it?
Speaker 2:yeah you know, what are you doing for insertional tendinopathy? What are you doing, hey, what's what sort of design features you'd be incorporating for for your orthotic, for for this? So, um, you know, that's, that's. I don't know if we kind of try to hold on to that too much or people don't don't want to open up and go, you, you know, kind of make them look vulnerable, maybe, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, we've discussed that on the show a lot actually about I think people are quite guarded because they're either unsure about what they're doing or they just don't know enough, and that's okay, though, to talk about. How else are you going to learn? Oh, mate, do you know what I mean? You told me about the Ritchie Brace. I don't know about the Ritchie Brace. I mean, there's so much to learn from other people, and if this show facilitates some of that, that's great. But having people like you come on and talk about your history and your pathway, I think, is really important for a lot of younger people. The practicalities and then getting involved with you know really high-level sport is. You know, it's like a fascinating part that can drive you for a long time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a great pathway.
Speaker 2:Well done, well done. Yeah, I still have fun, it's good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's crucial. Hey, thanks a million. I really appreciate it so good, mate. Anytime mate appreciate it so good, anytime mate. Yeah, we'll stay in touch. That'd be good. I really appreciate coming on. Thanks for listening to simply the best podiatry. You can follow ben sweeting at bensweetingphotos. You can also follow this show at simply the best podiatry. Check out the show notes for the show and this episode. You can can also follow this show, which helps enormously Stay tuned and I'll be back with you soon.
