When I was a kid at high school in the 1960s, I became friendly with an immigrant Finnish brother and sister whose dad had installed a wooden box sauna out the back of the humble commission house next to the bathroom and laundry.
Unable to replicate the snow-covered lawn to roll on or the ice pond to jump in, the dad would fill the bath with cold water then nick down to the ice works and get a block to throw into it. I knew nothing about recovery science or hot and cold exposure but I knew that after a long session in the surf, the aches and pains subsided with every transfer from the steaming box to the icy bath.
I was thinking about all of this the other day as Chris Mallac and Freya Simmonds, along with their Brisbane-based associate Nathan Carloss, were walking me around the slick recovery machinery, infra-red saunas and hot and cold water contrast therapy pools at their recently-opened Integrated Rehabilitation Centre at the Noosa Lakes Resort. I was thinking, this is old Heikki’s dream come true.
“If you went down to the Broncos high performance centre in Brisbane you’d find what is essentially a much bigger version of what we offer here,” says Chris. “And no one else in Noosa has the same variety of equipment and expertise,” adds Nathan, “but what we’re doing here is actually based on a very old and simple idea. It’s what the Finnish people have been doing for 1000 years – frequent saunas followed by jumping in the frozen lake. The anecdotal evidence is that for centuries they were a lot healthier than their neighbours and didn’t have the same mental health concerns. Eventually the scientists started looking at it and found the benefits were enormous.”
Apparently, heat acclimation and cold exposure create a little bit of stress and you get a massive body response which is protective. Nathan continues: “They did a 20-year study on Finnish people and found that, among many other benefits, if you had a sauna four times a week you were 66 percent less likely to get Alzheimer’s. Saunas mimic the effects of exercise, so you can achieve the same benefits through sensible exercise programs. But if you’re injured and can’t exercise, then hop in the sauna.”
The trio behind the large and gleaming Integrated Rehab Centre below the Noosa Surf Museum in what used to be the Noosa Convention Centre know their stuff. Chris Mallac has degrees in sports science and physiotherapy and has been a practising physio and educator for 23 years, spending a lot of that time working with elite athletes, including at the highest levels of rugby. While working as a high performance coach with the Queensland Reds, he took on physio Nathan Carloss as his 2IC.
When Chris eventually travelled internationally to further his experience with leading teams in Europe, Nathan decided to give the wheels of industry a spin, opening his own physio centre in Brisbane. By the time he and Chris hooked up again, Integrated Physio Centre and associated businesses were a roaring success, so the two men started talking about working together again.
Meanwhile Chris had met Freya Simmonds while they were both working on contracts at the same Noosa gym. A physiologist for 14 years, Freya had also worked in rehab and physical therapy for mental health patients. She thought Chris was “super arrogant” at first, but mellowed towards him as he worked on her shoulder injury. She became the third amigo at IRC.
According to Nathan, the philosophy of both IRC in Noosa and IPC in Brisbane is that the same processes used to rehabilitate an injury can be used to allow us to live better for longer. He says: “As a physio you’re looking after people’s injuries, but you’re also trying to make them as healthy and strong as they can be so they can live better for longer. That’s not just a slogan, it’s a form of wellness, and it’s where the hot and cold thing comes in. In my late 40s, I’m halfway through life and I’m wondering what the next 40 years is going to look like. Selfishly, I’m trying to protect myself now for the rest of my life, but in doing that I can use what I know to look after my clients as well.”
Chris adds: “You come to see a physio in reactive mode, as in when you’re hurt and you have a problem to deal with. What we’re doing here is more long term, working with you so you don’t fall over and have to come and see us in a reactive way. The demographic we see here in Noosa is from 15 to 85, ranging from athletes to people like a group of DVAs who have just joined. It’s about wellness, longevity and general health, so you don’t have to be an athlete to get benefits.
Nathan: “What we do is to take what we’ve learned from working with elite athletes and apply the same techniques to everyone. You take the same principles and tone them down as required.”
An active septuagenarian whose athleticism is far from elite, I took the plunge (literally) and came away from a recovery session pretty much sold on what it offers. I can’t say it’s all fun, but I want to surf to 100, so I’ll see you in the ice pool or the sauna!
For more information call Integrated Rehab Centre on 5324 0080.
