Myth 3 – There is a perfect posture/leg length

Have you ever been told that your running/cycling/backpain etc is a result of leg length differences? Interesting. Have you ever met ANYONE with exactly the same length of legs? No? Quite. We are NOT symmetrical. In fact, if you can find me a person who is exactly symmetrical I’d love to meet them. The rest of us have to make do – and there are many many people out there with various leg length differences etc. who are running/cycling etc quite painlessly. No symptoms. Nothing. Does this mean that leg length is totally unhelpful in diagnosing problems? Not quite. I … Continue reading

Myth 2 – you shouldn’t squat

The number of times I have heard people say that they have been told they “shouldn’t squat”- or do anything with any kind of weight – is fairly high. I don’t know who gives this advice out, but I’d like to meet them and have a bit of a friendly word. My main problem with this is that the squat is a normal, regular human movement. In fact, every time you sit down, you do the down portion of a squat, and every time you stand up, you do the up portion of the squat. Why do I get a bee … Continue reading

Myth 1 – I shouldn’t lift weights

I saw a patient with back pain the other day. Formerly a strong guy, rugby player, used to go to the gym etc. He still does gardening, but because of a previous injury many years ago, he had been warned off any type of heavy lifting, running or significant activity. He came to see me after carrying a 2 year old grandchild around a museum for half a day. So here’s a thing. A formerly strong and fit person who got back pain from carrying a kid around a museum- and in his day to day life, he doesn’t really … Continue reading

Magic hands?

Oooh I ache. I need a massage. Yes, massage and the myth of magic hands goes a long way. Sore muscles seem to know that the touch of a skilled therapist will help wipe away the fatigue and pain of long, hard sessions of training. Maybe even to the point of healing injuries and enabling the person to make a miraculous recovery, rising Lazarus like from the depths of injury to race-winning health within an hour. This, I regret to inform you, does not happen in the real world. No matter how magic you might think a person’s hands are, … Continue reading

Misconceptions – how many appointments do I need?

Something that comes up when talking with people about physio and appointments is the number of treatments they might or might not need. I know that in the realms of the NHS, 3-4 and sometimes up to 6 appointments are often suggested and you continue to go until those appointments are done. There are other physios and other professions that also work on this kind of basis, suggesting, or sometimes insisting that you pay up front for a course of a number of sessions over the next few weeks or months so that you can come back whenever they deem … Continue reading

Physio Misconceptions – what to expect?

It was suggested to me that I do a quick blog about common misconceptions about physio. Now, I don’t profess to be an absolute expert on this, I can only really recount a few experiences of the mismatch between what some people appear to expect from physio and how that differs to the way we work. I have also drawn from previous experience based on my experiences with physios when I was injured – and how I would expect to be treated as a patient now. What do people expect? Originally, way back when I did my original training in … Continue reading