Journal
Notes on pain, movement and recovery
Plain-language explanations of what we see in the clinic every week, what actually helps, what doesn't, and how to keep progress going between sessions.
Knee4 min readKnock Knees and Bow Legs: When Parents Should Worry
Most children are bow legged at one, knock kneed at three and straight by eight. Knowing that timetable spares families a great deal of worry and a market full of unnecessary corrections.
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Knee4 min readMeniscus Tears: Why Most No Longer Lead to Surgery
There are really two different injuries wearing the same name, and mixing them up is how so many knees end up having surgery that trials show they did not need.
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Self Care4 min readSore Two Days After Exercise: What DOMS Is and Is Not
The workout felt fine. The next morning was fine. Then day two arrived and the stairs became a negotiation. That delay is the signature of DOMS, and it is telling you something useful.
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Self Care4 min readNight Leg Cramps: Why Your Calf Seizes at 3 AM
Few pains are as dramatic per second as a calf locking solid in the middle of the night. Here is what is actually happening, how to end one quickly, and what genuinely reduces them.
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Back & Sciatica4 min readThe Slipped Disc: Nothing Slipped, and It Usually Heals
The name suggests a part has slipped out of position and must be pushed back. Both halves of that idea are wrong, and the truth is considerably more reassuring.
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Posture & Ergonomics4 min readText Neck: What Hours on Your Phone Actually Do
The scare graphic says your head becomes a 27 kilogram weight. The truth is less dramatic and more useful: your neck is not being damaged, it is being under-prepared and over-held.
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Foot & Ankle5 min readAchilles Tendinopathy: Why Rest Makes It Worse
The tendon hurts most in the first steps of the day, loosens as you move, and comes back worse tomorrow. Resting it feels obvious and is the reason it lasts a year.
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Rehabilitation5 min readACL Reconstruction: What the Rehabilitation Year Actually Looks Like
The graft is not the recovery. What decides your outcome is the twelve months afterwards, and returning before you meet the criteria multiplies the risk of doing it again.
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Neurological & Balance5 min readThe Dizziness That Comes On When You Roll Over in Bed
Seconds of violent spinning triggered by a change in head position. It is usually crystals in the wrong part of the inner ear, and it is one of the few things we can genuinely fix in a single appointment.
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Elbow, Wrist & Hand5 min readGolfer's Elbow: Pain on the Inside of the Elbow
The same tendon story as tennis elbow, on the opposite side of the joint. The complication is that a nerve runs right past it, and telling them apart changes the treatment.
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Sports Injury5 min readHamstring Strain: Why It Keeps Happening to the Same Leg
Around one in three hamstring injuries recurs, usually within two months of returning. Almost always because the return was based on how it felt rather than on what it could do.
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Back & Sciatica5 min readPiriformis Syndrome: A Diagnosis That Is Usually Wrong
Deep buttock pain with something running down the leg gets called piriformis syndrome almost automatically. It is a real condition, and it is far rarer than the label suggests.
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