Back Pain Doctor

Sports and Exercise Medicine

Most sports injuries are load problems rather than structural ones, and most of them are managed without surgery. What they need first is an accurate diagnosis, an honest view of what imaging will and will not add, and a plan that gets you back to the activity rather than away from it.

This is a Brisbane musculoskeletal practice run by Dr Joshua Hatch, working with recreational and club athletes across running and endurance sport, gym and strength training, field and court sport, and masters-age athletes who have no intention of stopping. Treatment is matched to the diagnosis rather than to the equipment available, and procedures, where they are indicated, are performed under ultrasound guidance.

No referral is required and a Medicare rebate applies to the consultation. Appointments are booked online through HotDoc, where current availability is shown.

Scope of practice

Dr Hatch is a Fellow of the RACGP — a specialist general practitioner — with extended skills in musculoskeletal, sports and exercise medicine. He is not a Sport and Exercise Medicine Physician (FACSEP) and does not hold specialist registration in that field. Where a problem needs a sport and exercise medicine physician, an orthopaedic surgeon or another specialist opinion, you will be told and referred rather than managed here by default.

Start with what you do

Injuries make more sense grouped by the activity that produced them than by the tissue involved. Each of these pages covers what we see most, when imaging is actually warranted, and what a graded return looks like.

Running Injuries

Running Injuries

Tendon pain, shin pain, bone stress injury and the knee that only hurts after 5km.

21 related conditions →
Gym and Strength Training Injuries

Gym and Strength Training Injuries

Shoulder, lower back and elbow pain from loaded training — and how to keep training around it.

27 related conditions →
Field and Court Sport Injuries

Field and Court Sport Injuries

Hamstring, ankle, knee and corked-thigh injuries, and what the first 48 hours should look like.

24 related conditions →
Masters Athletes and Staying Active After 40

Masters Athletes and Staying Active After 40

Tendinopathy that behaves differently after 40, early arthritis, and bone health — without being told to give it up.

36 related conditions →

Concussion

Concussion assessment and return-to-play clearance

Australian community sport requires a medical doctor to clear a player before they return to contact, and finding one is the most common gap clubs and families run into. This is a detailed section in its own right, following the ANZ Concussion Guidelines and the AFL and Rugby Australia protocols.

Go to the concussion section

Where treatment fits

Rehabilitation and load management come first, and for most sports injuries they are the whole treatment. That is not a preliminary step to get through before the interesting equipment comes out — it is the intervention with the strongest evidence, and nothing offered here substitutes for it.

Beyond that, options are considered against your specific diagnosis and only where rehabilitation has had a genuine trial: focused and radial shockwave therapy for persistent tendinopathy, ultrasound-guided injections where a targeted diagnostic or therapeutic block will change the plan, and platelet-rich plasma in the situations where its mixed evidence base supports discussing it. You should expect to be told when the evidence for something is weak, including for treatments available in this clinic.

The full staged pathway is set out under non-surgical treatments, and what an appointment involves is described in the patient journey.

Sports conditions by body region

57 of our condition guides cover presentations that commonly arise in sport and training. Each one explains the likely symptoms, whether imaging helps, and where treatment fits.

Not listed? The full conditions index covers everything we assess.

For referrers

Physiotherapists, podiatrists, exercise physiologists and GPs

Referrals are welcome and a formal referral is not required for the patient to be seen or to attract a rebate. The usual reasons colleagues send patients here are a diagnosis that is not behaving as expected, a question about whether imaging is warranted, an ultrasound-guided procedure, or a tendinopathy that has stalled despite a well-executed loading programme.

If you are referring, the most useful things to include are the working diagnosis, what loading has already been trialled and for how long, any imaging already performed, and what you want answered. Rehabilitation goes back to you. Where a patient arrives without an allied health provider, they are referred on to one and a letter goes back to whoever referred them — the intention is not to take over the patient's care.

Common questions

Do I need a referral to see a doctor in this clinic?
No referral is required to book. Dr Hatch is a specialist general practitioner working in musculoskeletal, sports and exercise medicine, so the appointment is billed under GP attendance items and a Medicare rebate applies without a referral. Referrals from GPs, physiotherapists, podiatrists and exercise physiologists are welcome, and any existing imaging or correspondence is worth bringing.
Is Dr Hatch a sports physician?
No. Dr Hatch is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners — a specialist general practitioner — with extended skills in musculoskeletal, sports and exercise medicine. He holds the Diploma in Musculoskeletal Medicine from the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine (UK), with ten years in musculoskeletal MRI and four years as a hospital orthopaedic registrar behind that. He is not a Sport and Exercise Medicine Physician (FACSEP) and does not hold specialist registration in that field. Where a problem needs that opinion, or an orthopaedic one, you will be told and referred.
What does a sports injury appointment involve?
A long consultation focused on establishing what the problem actually is: history, examination and a review of any imaging you bring, with further imaging requested only where it would change the plan. You leave with a diagnosis or a clear differential, a plan, and an explanation of what is likely to help and what is not. Where a procedure is indicated it is performed under ultrasound guidance, and treatment in the same visit is possible where that is appropriate, but it is not the starting assumption.
Is a Medicare rebate available for sports injury treatment?
A Medicare rebate applies to the consultation, which is billed under time-based GP attendance items. Appointments are not bulk billed, so an out-of-pocket gap applies. There is no specific Medicare item for certain injections, and private health funds cannot rebate out-of-hospital medical consultations under Australian law. Current fees and the rebates that apply are set out on the fees page.
Do you work with physiotherapists and coaches?
Yes, and that is the intended arrangement. Most rehabilitation is best delivered by a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist. The role here is the diagnosis, the imaging decision, the medical management, procedures where they are indicated, and deciding when a surgical or specialist opinion is needed — then handing rehabilitation back. If you already have a physiotherapist, bring their details.
Do you see athletes of all ages?
Yes, from junior and school-age athletes through to the ageing athlete. Growing athletes have injury patterns adults do not — growth-plate and apophyseal problems in particular — and adult management should not simply be extrapolated to them. At the other end, tendon and joint problems in older athletes behave differently again and are too often met with advice to give the sport up. Both groups are worth assessing properly rather than managing repeatedly at the sideline.

Ready for a clearer plan for your back or musculoskeletal pain?

Book an assessment with Dr Joshua Hatch.

Your assessment focuses on understanding the likely source of your pain and the most appropriate non-surgical options for your diagnosis, with the aim of reducing pain and improving function.

Book an appointment
Book an appointment with Back Pain Doctor
Book now Call