Action Harpenden Physiotherapy Clinic

18/07/2025

What If You Could Rewrite How You Age?

Here’s the exciting truth: you can.

Even in your 70s and beyond, it’s possible to change the way you experience aging — not just physically, but emotionally and mentally too. Moving better helps this journey.

To do that, it helps to understand some powerful (and often hidden) players in the aging process:
• Cytokine storms
• Sarcopenia (muscle loss)
• Growth factors
• Inflamm-aging (chronic low-grade inflammation as we age)
• Adipose (fat) tissue & stress hormones like cortisol

Stress hormones such as cortisol don’t just make you feel tense — over time, they can weaken your body, increase fragility, and accelerate aging. And here’s another key fact: excess body fat is pro-inflammatory, meaning it actively fuels the processes that make aging harder.

The good news? Reducing body fat and managing stress isn’t just about looking better — it’s a long-term investment in strength, resilience, and vitality.

Want to dive deeper? Look up renowned scientist Janet Lord — search “Janet Lord inflamm-aging” or check out this fascinating interview: BBC Radio 4 Interview. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001v3wq

Your age is just a number — how you feel is something you can help shape.

How to reduce inflammation - in a few simple tips - with Professor Janet Lord.

17/03/2025

Avoid Injury This Spring 🌿

With longer (and hopefully warmer) days, many of us are eager to be more active. But before you jump in, here’s why gradual progression is key:

Tendons adapt more slowly than muscles, making them prone to overload injuries if you increase activity too fast.

Stay Injury-Free:
✔ Follow the 10% Rule – Increase activity by no more than 10% per week.
✔ Strengthen Smartly – Eccentric exercises (like slow calf drops over a step) improve tendon resilience better than regular strength training.

Ease in gradually, and your body will thank you!
At Action Harpenden Physiotherapy, we are happy to help with any problems affecting your movement. Just give us a call, or book online.

28/12/2024

I love learning and imparting knowledge📚. Education is a lifelong gift, and knowledge is the one thing that can (almost) never be taken away or lost. I have teenagers trying to create their best future and in this season of giving and receiving, I am feeling especially grateful to the teachers, leaders, instructors and coaches in their lives.
Medical education is incredibly important to us at Action Harpenden Physiotherapy. The one thing that most people want from us physios, is to be empowered and to know how they can help themselves.
Education is a critical social leveller, and there was so much evidence for the biopsychosocial model in healthcare, and the role that therapeutic education plays in helping people improve their health.
All medical conditions are helped by the therapeutic education process, but particularly long standing pain conditions. 🎁💝 Message us for further information.📧

05/12/2024

My son plays rugby, and I provide on-field first response physiotherapy at the England Hockey junior camps so, recently, I renewed my Sports Trauma Certification. A vital part of my work is to be able to distinguish between serious and minor injuries, as the severity of pain alone should not be the determining factor.
Early management of injuries leads to better outcomes, which is why we emphasise the importance of the right response to acute pain or injury. The correct approach can significantly shorten recovery time. If you experience recurring bouts of pain, discussing a plan with your physio can set you up for less pain and quicker recovery, allowing you to return to the activities you love.
Your physio can map out your recovery plan for the next few weeks, detailing what you should be doing to promote healing. At Action Harpenden Physiotherapy, we excel at helping you determine how and when to adjust your activities or routines, putting control back in your hands.

21/07/2024

There seems to be a plethora of foot and ankle injuries this summer. At Action Harpenden physiotherapy, we find that the incidence painful foot conditions can rise when people are wearing sandals, flip flops and sliders in the warmer weather. Often faulty, but painless, biomechanical issues in the lower limbs can transition into a painful conditions once there is less support from footwear. The foot is a complex structure, and assessment includes an evaluation of several aspects and interplay between the soft tissue, bones and movement, including individual medical conditions. Specific leg, foot and ankle exercises can strengthen and support and reduce strain on ligaments, tendons and nerves of the foot.
Book to see our physiotherapists at Action Harpenden Physiotherapy for all foot and ankle problems affecting your mobility, including Planter fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis, Severs disease, bunions and neuromas.

01/07/2024

Persistent back pain. Did you know that low activity levels, poor sleep, low mood, stress and fatigue are factors which rank higher in susceptibility to persistent back pain, than posture.
A good question for your physiotherapist is "How do I to learn and develop new tools to manage my pain?" Integrate the skills your physio teaches you (including movement skills) into managing your pain better.
That’s where good back pain management should be aiming.
Managing persistent spinal pain is a journey. Start this conversation at Action Harpenden Physiotherapy today by emailing info@actionharpendenphysio.co.uk

18/01/2024

Get Ready for the Ski Slopes with Our Physiotherapy Knee and Hip Treatment!
Do you have concerns about previous knee diagnoses such as meniscal or cruciate injuries, chondromalacia patellae or knee cap pain? Then this medically proven, physio-led approach and trusted advice could be for you. More details here:

Get Ready for the Slopes with Our Physiotherapy Knee and Hip Treatment! At Action Harpenden Physiotherapy, we understand the thrill of conquering the mountains. That’s why we offer a comprehensive knee and hip treatment program tailored for skiers, ensuring you’re at your peak performance this s...

31/08/2023

My son bumped his head, whipping down the zip wire in the park this week.
Having two young teens playing hockey, rugby and lacrosse, that head bump triggered a reminder to me to have some baseline testing for concussion before the school term kicks off. This gives a preseason baseline test reference for concussion using the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool. Further considerations in interpreting the tool, needs to be made for children with neurodivergence:

Results elucidate patterns of baseline performance for athletes with ASD, demonstrating that there may not be significant differences between ASD and healthy controls on four of the five ImPACT composites, and no symptom reporting differences. Cognitive and symptom differences found for other NDs sh...

18/08/2023

Absolute fan of this top Physio, Peter O’Sullivan, and other pain scientists like him, who are shaking up old and outdated concepts of back pain, and filling in with evidence based information.
Here is one on the myths of good posture:

For ages, bad posture has been blamed for back pain. But now a physiotherapist is among international experts who are now questioning that logic. ➡️ SUBSCRIB...

03/08/2023

At the England Open Trials Under 16 boys this week. Not quite the weather you would expect in August! ☁️☁️
Taking the warm-ups and cools down/stretch:
My dynamic warm-up check list:
✅jog
✅pelvic/hip mobility
✅spinal mobility
✅depth and range in joint movements
✅plyometrics
✅directional change
✅graduated pace increase