Exercises Exercises Exercises!

At least weekly I see a new client who says to me: “I’ve never had this type of treatment before”, despite having seen one or more Physios previously.


My treatment always involves manual therapy of various methods, principally aimed at increasing the range of movement the body joint involved with the problem.


In my opinion this is a very simple Physiotherapy approach and is very effective.


I’m perplexed at the propensity, especially of more recently trained Physiotherapists, to concentrate their efforts (and treatment time) on demonstrating and instructing exercises to their clients without physically changing a joint with restricted movement.

Now I agree exercises have great value in assisting people to improve and maintain a condition but when a joint is not moving properly manual therapy is faster and more effective in addressing the problem in my view. 



If your treatment involves lots of exercises and you’re struggling to get better maybe you should call!

SHOULDER BURSITIS

By Brendan Dax • October 27, 2025
Bursitis is one of the many causes of impingement pain of the shoulder, giving restriction and pain when lifting the arm. Bursae are small sacks of fluid and when inflamed in the shoulder, take up too much space, getting squashed when raising your arm causing painful pinching. Like all musculoskeletal problems, this is a problem of mechanics. Something doesn’t move properly. From a manual physiotherapy perspective, bursitis, like all shoulder impingement problems usually responds well to joint mobilisation. In all my years of treating shoulder impingement almost all presentations have associated neck/upper back spinal joint stiffness. Manual mobilisation (loosening up) of the neck/back and shoulder joints will always yield improvement, unless there is structural damage. Having seen 100s of acute onset (within the previous two days) shoulder problems in the industrial sector, I can assure you that most of them come in with chronic, stiff upper backs that they’ve had for ages. True bursitis usually responds as well to a guided Cortisone injection. Bear in mind if the neck and shoulder joints are still stiff the jab may not solve the problem. If you have shoulder pain that has not responded to injection and/or seeing a Physio who just uses machines and/or exercises, consider manual physiotherapy from someone like me, before we all retire!

SIDE HIP PAIN

July 1, 2025
Pain on the side of the hip from bursitis or gluteal tendon inflammation is an annoying problem often more so at night because lying on it frequently disturbs people’s sleep. It is a reasonably common problem for me to see. Tendons and bursae degenerate as we age and weakness in hip musculature can be a cause. But it can happen to anyone. Guided steroid injections can help, but most people respond well to soft tissue manipulation. The lower back should definitely be assessed and (usually) treated manually as related spinal joint stiffness frequently contributes to the issue. The hip joint should also be assessed and treated if necessary. Exercises can be helpful but need to match the pathology so an Ultrasound image might be needed give a diagnosis.