A GP referral is required to see any of our Specialists, and it entitles you to a higher Medicare rebate. For complex patients with underlying medical problems, a GP referral is essential to ensure comprehensive, joined-up medical care.

No GP referral is required to see our Sports Medicine Registrar.

For practical reasons, our Specialists are unable to offer phone discussions prior to a consultation.

If you have a question about treatments, or whether your problem is suitable for consultation with our Specialists, please email our Practice Manager and we'll point you in the right direction.

For all patient queries, we much prefer that you email our office or complete an Enquiry Form.

Our phone lines can get very busy, and because our Specialists work across a number of practices, an email gives us clear detail and allows the Practice Manager to come back to you with a helpful, accurate response. We aim to respond within 3 business days.

We are a private billing practice, and payment is required at the time of consultation. Full details of our fees, billing arrangements, cancellation policy and practice policies are set out on our Fees & Practice Policies page.

Please book a review appointment so the Specialist can review the images and interpret the report. Results are always given in the context of your treatment plan, so they can't be discussed over the phone or by email.

• The radiology or pathology practice provides an electronic report to the Specialist within 3–5 days of your scan or blood draw. Our Sport & Exercise Physicians are trained to interpret your MRI, but it's always best to wait for the report before your review.
• A report alone is never sufficient — the Specialist personally reviews all images using a computerised viewer.
• If you had an MRI at a public hospital or outside NSW, please contact them and ask for an electronic link to the images to be sent to office@drdavidsamra.com.au.

Yes. Our Sport & Exercise Physicians perform injections under ultrasound (image) guidance to ensure maximum safety and accuracy. A doctor's referral is recommended for these injections. Every injection is combined with education and advice on how to manage the underlying problem.

Our Sport & Exercise Physicians perform PRP injections at all locations. If your Specialist assesses your problem and it's suitable for PRP, they may offer it during the initial consultation — provided it can be performed within the consultation time (it takes about 20 minutes).

Yes — these are done under ultrasound. Please call our clinic to check whether we have the product in stock, or obtain a script from your GP to pick up the product from your pharmacy (the private cost of Durolane is approximately $506), along with a referral to the Specialist for the injection. The consultation and injection are done as part of an assessment of your overall problem.

Every injection requires a dedicated consultation, as the Specialist reassesses your injury, your rehabilitation plan, and the diagnostic and therapeutic value of the injection at the time. For most injections the fee is separate; for PRP, the injection fee already factors in the consultation.

Our Sport & Exercise Physicians perform certain spinal injections, such as sacroiliac joint injections. While they can direct your spinal treatment and long-term plan, they do not perform injections for nerve pain — these must be done under CT guidance rather than ultrasound.

Yes. Our Sport & Exercise Physicians help patients achieve and maintain improved metabolic health — which is accompanied by weight loss and often reduced inflammation and pain. This requires careful, individualised assessment and optimisation of diet, activity, stress management and sleep quality.

Our Sport & Exercise Physicians have lectured in this field with Low Carb Down Under and recommend a "low-insulin lifestyle" to all patients. This is a key treatment they use to help patients with joint and tendon pain.

A CGM is a small device that sticks to your upper arm with a tiny filament (which you can't feel) and measures blood sugar continuously for two weeks — giving you real-time feedback. It's especially useful when you've tried everything and aren't seeing results, because it helps identify the foods, fasting periods, stressors, sleep and activities that influence your metabolism. Consistently stable, normal blood sugars reflect good metabolic health, and weight loss tends to follow.

Tips to get the most out of your CGM:

• Measure frequently — at least 4–5 times a day, and definitely around meals — to gather as many data points as possible.
• Make notes in the app each time, so you can correlate readings with food, sleep and stress.
• Avoid submersion in deep water (it's water-resistant, not waterproof), and use a dressing to cover it. Be careful taking shirts on and off so it isn't pulled out.
• Accept that some readings will be inaccurate — expect underestimates overnight and overestimates after a hot shower.
• Read the "Low Carb Checklist" and complete your 5-day food diary so you get the most from your review with the Specialist.

The Progressive Longevity Clinic is our specialist-led "Medicine 3.0" program, focused on long-term health, function and disease prevention — guided by Sport & Exercise Medicine physicians working within a multi-disciplinary team. It isn't about extending lifespan at any cost or endless testing; it's about preserving your physical function, metabolic health and independence across decades, by identifying risk early and intervening before disease or decline becomes established.

It's designed for patients who want a comprehensive, physician-led approach to long-term health optimisation. The first step is to complete our online Assessment Form — every form is reviewed to make sure the program is appropriate for your goals before you begin.

The program follows a structured journey:

• Initial Assessment (0–6 weeks): specialist consultation and Medicine 3.0 lifestyle assessment; full metabolic, lipid, hormonal and inflammatory blood panels (including insulin sensitivity, apoB and Lp(a)); a continuous glucose monitor; aerobic capacity, metabolic efficiency and body composition testing; and input from a dietitian and exercise physiologist, consolidated at 6 weeks.
• Implementation (months 3–6): ongoing exercise and nutrition coaching with your EP and dietitian, plus optional specialist follow-ups.
• Longitudinal Review (6 & 12 months): repeat DEXA, VO₂ max and blood profiling, with collaboration alongside your GP and any other specialists to ensure continuity of care.

At this stage, our Sport & Exercise Physicians are no longer prescribing Pentosan (PPS) to new patients. Pentosan does not yet have TGA approval in Australia for osteoarthritis, and remains investigational for knee OA until the Phase 3 trial is completed and published.

While earlier Phase 2 studies showed promising results, large-scale Phase 3 data is essential for establishing efficacy and safety, and for regulatory approval and clinical adoption. Our Specialists will only consider prescribing PPS once TGA approval is obtained.

No. Our Specialists do not undertake phone consults to discuss Pentosan. They will only reconsider prescribing PPS once TGA approval is obtained. Please see the dedicated Pentosan page for the current evidence and our position.

Sport & Exercise Physicians have a special interest in concussion, having worked extensively with professional contact sports. Our Complete Concussion Management program is based on scientific evidence supporting a specialist-supervised, multi-modal approach (medical, vestibular, cognitive and rehabilitation interventions, especially in the early stages of recovery).

Our clinicians who actively work with sporting codes that frequently deal with concussion — such as Dr Ben Weber and Dr Leigh Golding — are best placed to manage these patients. Dr Ben Weber is Head Doctor for the NSW Waratahs and our Sports Medicine Registrar.

Chronic / persistent low back pain. Dr Samra does not consult for persistent low back pain (more than 6 weeks). It's a complex, multifactorial condition better managed by pain specialists or sports physicians with a special interest in this area. Our other Specialists and Registrars continue to see these patients, while Dr Samra focuses on Sports and Metabolic Medicine and related research.

Concussion management. As above, concussion is best managed by our clinicians with hands-on professional-sport experience — Dr Ben Weber and Dr Leigh Golding.