Have you ever been told you have 'weak Glutes' or heard of the term 'Glute Amnesia?A super interesting study, published in 2024, investigated whether experimentally induced gluteal muscle weakness affected how healthy people squat. The main 3 takeaway results from this study were: Gluteal muscle weakness did NOT change how the ankle, knee and hip joints moved on the affected side, despite a bigger anterior pelvic tilt (the researchers hypothesised this may be due to muscle ...

"I cried when they told me"This was how a Pilates class member responded when she learned that her MRI scan showed osteoarthritis in her spine. MRI scans are a fantastic medical tool, but they also have a dark side and their limits.Here's the good, bad and ugly sides of MRI scans:The Good Can detect very small changes in bones and soft tissue Good for finding pathology (injury or disease) The Bad: Very poor association with pain - changes seen on MRI scans don't correlate well ...

Knee pain is one of those conditions that often makes physiotherapists roll their eyes in despair because it often either won't go away or keeps recurring.Here's a typical conventional therapy programme for knee pain: Strengthen the quads - wall sits, squats, lunges etc. Mobilise the hip joint Stretch or release 'tight' muscles around the hip eg. TFL, adductors Release the IT band with a foam roller or deep tissue massage And this is why many cases of knee pain don't go away or continue to ...

Have you ever been told that you "have to live with pain and stiffness, it's just part of getting older". I call bulls**t! That's not just me being provocative. My class members tell me every week of their exciting light bulb moments  in unlocking movements that had been lost to them for months or years. Here are some of their amazing breakthroughs: 1) Finally getting relief from a headache that dragged on for 3 months despite seeing a doctor and optician for blood and eye tests2)  A ...

The health and fitness world is full of helpful suggestions for relieving pain. You've probably heard of these three super common tips, and perhaps you've tried them yourself. But they're actually not true, and could be prolonging your pain. Tip #1: Strengthen your core if you have back painTip #2: If you have knee pain or a tight IT Band (IT Band Syndrome) foam roll, strip or release your IT band.Tip #3: Take Ibuprofen to reduce inflammation if you have acute (sudden onset) back pain eg. a ...

Did you know that the average recovery time for shoulder pain is 3.5 years?! In other words, if your shoulder starts hurting, the chances are that you'll be in pain for over 3 year! That sounds crazy, and yet a story I hear many times as a fitness instructor. Why on earth does it take so long for shoulder pain to improve? The reason is that even though you feel the pain in your shoulder, that's often NOT the root cause of the issue. This is why treatments like steroid injections, physiotherapy ...

I'm regularly asked if I'm a physio after my Stretch and Pilates classes. And today one member asked me if I was a witch whilst chatting about her painful tennis elbow! The short answer is "No!" I'm NOT a physiotherapist, and I'm not a witch either!! I have a diverse and unique skillset (work and personal), combined with 13 years as a fitness professional and a decade of experience working with hundreds of people managing chronic pain and injuries. This week's blog article is a personal one. If ...

Do you seem to get so far in recovering from an injury where the pain gets better, and then....it comes back or just refuses to go away completely?It's soooo frustrating and annoying isn't it? It's like, you're missing something but, for the love of god, you can't seem to find THE thing that makes the pain go away so you can enjoy ALL the things you love again.Most people try to fix the place where they feel the pain, so they see doctors, physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors and ...

You may have heard or been told that: Certain activities damage your body eg. Running is bad for your knees Wear and tear happens as you get older and you just have to live with it But are these truth or popular myth?The real secret formula to being injury resilient that few people know about is this:WHAT you do is less important than HOW you do it and HOW OFTEN. It may surprise you that running can be protective against knee pain from osteoarthritis. There's a growing body of  ...

Current treatments for pain relief include manual therapy (chiropractor / osteopath), massage, stretching, foam rolling and trigger point tools. These often make you feel better quickly, but the pain always returns a few days or weeks later. The only way to keep your body moving and pain free is to keep repeating the treatment, often with diminishing returns over time. The reason that these pain relief treatments are less effective for resolving chronic pain long-term is they're aimed at ...