When we think of low back pain, an image immediately manifests itself; a slumped over, poor postured individual who has pain bending forward. This is correct in a lot of ways. But what if just as much low back pain came about from standing 'too' straight? Or holding to...

Occasionally in a physiotherapy practice we will get a patient walk through the door and tell us how extremely 'tight and stiff' they are. They're the ones you see in the gym who are constantly stretching, to then head over to the exercise bike for 5 minutes before hea...

There comes a point in time when everyone has the feeling that they don't move the way they used to. 'I used to be quick', or 'I used to be strong' is such a common catchphrase that it's almost become a cliche'. People generally aren't interested in the things we 'used...

An ‘Old Wive’s Tale’ is a widely held traditional belief that is now thought to be unscientific or incorrect. Old Wives Tales are often blindly believed without ever questioning how the original opinion was conceived and born. In the exercise world, one of the biggest...

What is pain? 

Pain is all about meaning. What does this mean?

Our brain weighs up how dangerous is the current situation or experience and then sends a message about what to do about it.  When there's a 'Danger situation'; such as stepping on glass in bare feet, we need...

If you have pain around your lateral hip (outside of hip) with stair climbing, crossing your legs over, rolling in bed and putting your ankle up onto your opposite knee, it's highly likely you have an unhappy gluteus medius tendon. 

Time and time again this is mis-diagn...

Nerves have feelings too.

I've come across a few cases of upper limb referred nerve pain and symptoms in the clinic this week, and it got me thinking about nerves in general. Our nervous system is a remarkable structure, but when it becomes sensitised or sensitive, it c...

Chronic Ankle Sprains - How a small structure creates big problems.

When it comes to ankles, we tend to think differently to most other body parts. You will frequently here someone remark that they are 'forever rolling an ankle'. This is common, and for some reason it i...

The term 'Functional' is thrown around lightly in the fitness world these days. It seems every week there are new techniques, new exercises and new theories. The inclusion of the term 'function' into an exercise description hints that the movement should specifically r...

If you were to ask an aspiring professional tennis, golf, basketball, soccer, or football player whether they lifted weights to help with their on field performance, the answer would undoubtedly be; of course. Yet, for some reason running and runners, either high level...