Should I give up on my physio if my exercises make me worse?
“I had one session with a physio and the exercises that they gave me made it worse so I’m not going back.” Ok, so this is a problem because rehab exercises are designed to stress your injury to create an adaptation to improve the sensitivity and ultimately improve your function. If an exercise seems to […]
What gym exercises can help me to sprint faster?
“I want to get faster-sprinting speed, what exercises should I do?” So, people will often look at the muscles involved in sprinting and work on strength and power with exercises that target these muscles but does direction or range of movement matter on your exercise selection? What gym exercises can help me to sprint faster?
How much more effective is your treatment if you have a preference for it?
“I couldn’t get into see my usual physio so I’ve had to book in with you.” Sounds innocent, doesn’t it? But this type of thinking is already creating a problem. It is the negative connotation that you won’t be as good as their usual physio even though they have never seen you before. Believe it […]
Can exercise positively influence the Intervertebral Disc?
“I can’t squat because I have disc problems!” This is interesting because many people say this and have experienced pain when lifting but little do they know that most patients with back pain are generally inactive and even astronauts get a higher percentage of disc herniations than people on earth so load is good, not […]
Does an ACL reconstruction surgery increase knee osteoarthritis?
“I’ve torn my ACL so I need surgery otherwise I will have long term knee problems!” So I have previously done videos on ACL tears and spoken about whether surgery is the right approach or not but one thing that we previously discussed was that knee osteoarthritis was likely worsened whether you had reconstruction or […]
Can you target parts of a muscle with certain exercises?
“Dude, I am isolating the inner pecs with this exercise!” Now, this is interesting because bodybuilders have said this for many years and you can certainly feel parts of your muscle more involved in certain ranges or movements. Yet in the science, it never made sense as the muscle is totally supplied by a motor […]
Do we need to stretch anymore? The case for full range of movement strengthening
“I have gone off stretching!” Do we need to stretch anymore? Is there a better option? The case for full range of movement strengthening. With the evidence showing no injury prevention benefits and a chronic loss of power from stretching and now with evidence highlighting that you can increase range just as well with full […]
Does Thoracic Kyphosis cause shoulder pain?
“I have shoulder pain due to the excessive curvature in my mid-back!” So, this is often thought to be a potential risk factor in shoulder pain as Thoracic extension occurs with full shoulder elevation. But does this mean that if we have, what is called excessive Thoracic Kyphosis, that we are at greater risk of […]
How does lack of sleep affect sporting performance?
“Sleep! I ain’t got no time for that! I have to train!” Sleep is often neglected in today’s society as we are always trying to squeeze more into our days and we know this is bad but we still do it! But, how does lack of sleep affect sporting performance?
Does stretching your ITB make it less tight?
“I’m going to stretch my ITB as it’s tight!” Now, this exact sentence is said to me so frequently but is it tight or short Interestingly, there is previous research that we have covered before showing that you can’t lengthen the ITB so why do people stretch it? Today we will discuss, does stretching your […]
Is there a relationship between Glute size and sprint performance?
I like big butts and I cannot lie! Seriously though, is a ‘big butt’ an advantage for sprinters? Here they looked at the differences in muscle volumes and strength between male elite sprinters, sub-elite sprinters, and untrained controls. They assessed the relationships of muscle volumes and strength with sprint performance to find out if there […]
Does scapular dyskinesis cause shoulder injury?
“My shoulder blade wings is this a problem?” The posh name for this is scapula dyskinesis, which is when the shoulder blade moves and sits abnormally on the rib cage. it is commonly thought to be linked to shoulder pain and injury but what does the evidence say about this link? Here is a study […]
Does the Supraspinatus initiate shoulder abduction?
“I have torn my Rotator cuff so I won’t be able to lift up my arm.” I remember many years ago at university, being taught that the Supraspinatus muscle initiated the first 15 degrees of shoulder abduction. We were also told that if you ruptured the Supraspinatus then you would need to lean away from […]
Does Physiotherapy help Tennis elbow?
“Tennis elbow! What can help me!” Tennis elbow is extremely common and people try many different things to help it to go away but does Physiotherapy help Tennis elbow?
Does acupuncture help Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder?
“You can’t put needles in my jaw it’ll leak when I drink!” On a serious note jaw pain also known as Temporomandibular disorder (TMJ) is a real issue for people and today we are going to look at acupuncture as a treatment for it. So, does acupuncture help Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder?
Does mechanical Traction help Lumbar Radiculopathy?
“You’re pulling my leg, right?” Yes, today we are going to talk about mechanical traction, which is more pulling your back than your leg, really. So, Does mechanical Traction help Lumbar Radiculopathy?
Can you sleep funny?
“I woke up with a bad neck, so I must have slept funny and injured my neck!” I hear this all the time and another one is that somebody lifting funny. So where does this idea come from and can you sleep funny or lift funny and get injured?
Corticosteroid injection or Dry needling for Tennis elbow?
“You want to stick a needle into my Tennis elbow!” Ouch! Yes, some of the treatments for tennis elbow include sticking a needle into the painful bit, whether it be a corticosteroid injection or dry needling, which is acupuncture without using the meridians etc. So what is more effective Corticosteroid injection or Dry needling for […]
Does kinesiology tape help neck pain?
“Can you just stick some of that fancy tape on my neck, I see athletes with it on all the time?” This is kinesiology tape and the colour doesn’t matter. So does kinesiology tape help neck pain?
Is a combination of hands-on treatment & exercise better than just exercise in knee replacements?
“I’ve had a knee replacement and the physio is only doing exercise with me. Is the right?” It is very common for exercise only approaches after total knee arthroplasty, especially in the NHS, but in the private sector I have seen many patients that are struggling to get anywhere with their exercise only approach. In […]
How important is it to follow the research guidelines for acute low back pain?
“Oh, I don’t follow the research guidelines because everybody is different and experience is more important than evidence!” So, that sounds like an interesting statement so today we are going to look at how successful treatment is comparing between guideline-driven vs non-guideline driven treatments. In particular, how important is it to follow the research guidelines […]
Hawkes Physiotherapy Talke clinic walk-through tour
If you haven’t been to the Hawkes Physiotherapy clinic in Talke then you may feel a little uncertain or nervous about coming to your first session or you may be curious about what our clinic looks like. This is why we have made this clinic walk-through video so that you can see what the clinic […]
Are stronger painkillers more always more effective for acute injury?
The stronger the pain killer the better the pain relief, right? This sounds logical doesn’t it but is it true? Here we will examine the effect of painkillers on acute musculoskeletal injury outside of back pain and discuss, are stronger painkillers more always more effective for acute injury?
Is allowing your knees to pass your toes a bad idea in exercise?
“It hurts when I do this, so I have stopped doing it”. This is a common thing that people do but this can be the wrong approach. For example, if somebody has knee pain when they squat and when doing activities such as walking down the stairs then avoiding these activities will seem to help […]
