I’m often asked: which pillow is the best?

There are lots of good pillows and I wouldn’t recommend one over another but I think this is a good piece of advice:

Let’s put aside that most people wake up with a stiff neck not because of their pillow, but because they’ve been asleep and not moving so their stiff neck joint gets more stiff. (Get some treatment!)


Now back to pillows. Really there are not perfect pillows, only perfect pillows for your bed. They must be matched.

The aim (for side lying) is to have your head still in alignment with the rest of your body. That is, not tilted up or down. The diagrams illustrate this below.

You will note that one of these pillows is much bigger/higher than the other, but both people are in good alignment. The difference is that one person is sinking into the bed more and a smaller/flatter pillow is best.
If you sink into the mattress more because the mattress is softer or you’re heavier then you will need a smaller pillow. If your lighter or the mattress is harder, you’ll need a bigger pillow. Have someone look at you when you’re lying on your side and make sure you’re straight.

TEACHING MANUAL PHYSIOTHERAPY

I now offer one on one tutorials to physiotherapists and final year student physiotherapists. 

Physiotherapists using manual therapy for musculoskeletal conditions is becoming less and less frequent in private practice. Manual therapy for mechanical dysfunction (nearly all clients in private practice!) is the most effective form of treatment. There is a real concern for the death of manual physiotherapy in the next 10 to 15 years (when us oldies retire!)

If you would like to be a better physiotherapist and your undergraduate training has left you feeling less than competent or confident in using manual therapy, consider a tutorial with a manual physiotherapist of over 30 years experience.

Tutorials can cover instruction and demonstration manual techniques, assessments, advice on what works and any other private practice issue. You can decide what you want.

Tutorial fee: $90 plus GST for 30 minute tutorial. 

Worse in the morning?

This is always a key question I ask when someone comes in and I love it when the answer is: yes!

That's because I know I can help.

Being worse in the morning is a key indicator of a joint stiffness problem. So if you’re neck or your shoulder or your back or whatever is worse in the morning, it’s because you’ve been asleep and not moving much, allowing the joint to get more stiff. Any joint that doesn't move properly will give you pain. 

The answer to making those joints move better is to loosen them up and that is what I do all day via manual therapy.