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Scott Robertson Bodywork, Hillcrest Avenue, Kirkcaldy (2026)

05/05/2026

RED FLAGS 🚩

Since my last post on ‘inventing problems’ there’s been messages from randoms asking my opinion on specific therapists…

I’ve experienced this before, where acquaintances of practitioners and therapists send me false queries that are clearly an attempt to catch me out!

For anyone who is thinking about doing this, please note, this is not my first rodeo 🤠 and if you feel the need to get involved in this kind of behaviour, then you’ve already answered your own questions about your abilities as a therapist!

Of course I don’t share my opinion on individuals, and if you’ve followed my page for a while, then you’ll know I keep my awareness posts generic, and don’t share names of people or businesses!

If you want to know my red flags, then here they are…

🚩 Avoid anyone who claims to be making ‘adjustments’ especially in short sessions. The cracking and popping is just gas escaping, and it’s the reason I call them spine farters 💨

🚩 Avoid anyone who has internet qualifications. Make sure they’ve completed a comprehensive curriculum with a face to face assessment from an experienced practitioner and assessor!

🚩Avoid anyone who has a history of over-diagnosing herniated disc, twisted pelvis or sacroiliac joint dysfunction. To reiterate previous posts…

1️⃣ The majority of back problems are not related to discs, or even the vertebral column. There may be compression, but the root cause is nearly always soft tissue. Once the actual problem has been taken care of, the disc issue will naturally subside!

2️⃣ A twisted pelvis is a fake condition, unless it’s related to a rare congenital defect. What catastrophic event could have possibly occurred to cause the pelvis to twist on so many people? Pelvic tilt however, is an easy fix that does not require manipulation!

3️⃣ Sacroiliac joint dysfunction can only be found on a very small number of clients. More times than not, the client has referred pain from a common back issue which usually responds well to treatment!

🚩 Avoid anyone who is doing body altering ‘treatments’ as a side gig, and I don’t mean massage therapists. If their main job is anything other than therapist, do you really need to know any more?

Would you let a mechanic or a plumber carry out a surgical procedure?

If the answer is no, then why would you allow them to use any other type of skeletal intervention?

28/04/2026

INVENTING PROBLEMS

Sometimes when I meet clients for the first time I know who treated them before me without them even telling me!

They just need to tell me the ‘diagnosis’…

I haven’t met most of these people but they often have a certain therapy signature!

I’ll give you some examples…

I’ve mentioned on here before, you’ll only hear a chiropractor use the words ‘twisted pelvis’ and there’s a local chiro who really loves this diagnosis, and distributes it more often than the Royal Mail delivers parcels 🚚

If you’ve followed my page for a while then you’ll know a ‘twisted pelvis’ isn’t a real thing, but instead a made up term to make you think you need to get booked into the chiro’s office multiple times 💰 before you need to apply for a disability benefit. You can read more about this in a post dated 19th September 2024.

For another local therapist, SI joint injury is their favourite diagnosis!

This therapist has magical skills ✨ and uses a technique to “put the joint back in”, however with this, there’s nothing to come out, meaning there’s no need to put anything back in! 🤦‍♂️

Most people who come with this don’t have it, and for the small percentage who do, then stabilising the joint is the correct way to treat it.

Manipulation and mobilising will contribute to the problem by creating excessive and painful joint movement!

There’s a local sports massage therapist who likes to tell all and sundry that they have weak glutes!

I recently treated one of these clients with their so-called ‘weak glutes’ only to find out he’s got bum cheeks like Beyoncé, and what he actually had was a common back complaint!

These are serious blunders, and it sets the client up to fail in their attempts to find pain relief!

Some therapists invent problems when they run out of ideas, or when they don’t want to appear ignorant. When a chiro does it, it’s usually because they have more interest in your bank account than your musculoskeletal disorder!

I’m generally the last therapist to pick up the problem after it’s been passed around the conventional clinics. I usually get to the root of it because I don’t think conventionally!

When I was training therapists earlier this month, we talked about the importance of not being the kind of therapist that puts every client in the same pigeonhole.

This is a top tip for anyone who is new to the industry. Don’t get into the habit of telling clients the same jackanory, especially when the treatment doesn’t go to plan, otherwise this will soon be your identity as a therapist!

If you don’t know, say you don’t know. The client will give you far more respect for being honest than they will if you’re inventing problems!

15/04/2026

DIAGNOSTIC SCANS

I don’t claim to be an expert in this area, in fact I know very little. I guess that’s mainly because my job title is Bodyworker and not Radiographer however, experience gives me perspective. Allow me to give you my take on it…

On first contact, some clients will give me an overview of their history, and even send me results of their scans 🩻

Honestly, it makes no difference if clients provide this or not, but I always take everything into account. The thing is, I’ve heard it all, so what we can see on a scan really has no bearing on the treatment!

I don’t mean to sound arrogant, it just means if you’re contacting me then you’ve ran out of ideas, as well as practitioners and therapists.

Chiros, physios, and other conventional therapists generally follow the same guidelines when it comes to assessing bodies. Most of them will happily use a scan to guide them!

We all know technology allows us to access information that we couldn’t in the past, however when it comes to helping people recover from pain, we need to be cautious!

This is what I’ve learned, and really, there’s only two things to consider…

1️⃣ Has the scan found the root of the problem?

2️⃣ Is it a red herring, and the anomaly has no connection to your pain?

This is where an experienced bodyworker comes in. We use touch and experience to assess the body, so all the textbooks and university lectures in the world wouldn’t help us, because they tend to be a one size fits all approach!

What does a scan really tell us?

It tells the person looking at it, that your body either represents the norm or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t fit with their expectations of what’s ‘normal’ then they need to inform you of it!

But is it causing you pain? Or is it something a scan could have picked up ten or twenty years before you were in pain?

This is why I don’t rely on it, but I do rely on touch and experience. It rarely lets me down!

10/04/2026

REMEDIAL THERAPY WORKSHOP

I finally got started on my quest to pass on valuable knowledge and real remedial techniques to qualified massage therapists. I want to prove that massage therapists have far more pain relieving skills than a chiropractor or physiotherapist!

I’m changing my approach though, or at least for now…

My target audience is newly qualified therapists with a recognised massage qualification, and experienced complimentary therapists. The goal is to take them from where they are now, and fast track them into skilled remedial practitioners!

Meet Adele and Shona. They are the first two members of the Scott Robertson Bodywork remedial therapy tribe!

The reason I’ve decided to start with only two therapists is I want to get this right! This isn’t about making a quick buck, but it is about having the best and most comprehensive remedial therapy training available!

I have a lot of interest in this workshop however, Adele and Shona approached me first, and this was before I had even decided to do it!

They both asked me the same question… will you be my mentor?

Adele, Revival Therapies (right) is a firefighter who has a passion for fitness and maintaining a healthy body. She recently qualified as a therapist and has been receiving treatments from me for a few years, so she knew she was going to up-skill at the earliest opportunity!

Shona, Shona Massage (left) is an experienced spa therapist who is now self employed. She wants to offer her clients additional services by taking her therapeutic abilities to the next level!

They’re doing it the right way because in this industry plagiarism is common, but it doesn’t work when you don’t know why you’re doing something. This is a dangerous thing!

Building clientele on merit and reputation is the best way, and not by stealing other people’s techniques then doing a botched job of it!

There are actually trainers out there encouraging therapists to hijack clients on social media by commenting and reacting on other therapy profiles. It’s happened on my page and these people get blocked 🚫 This isn’t because I’m concerned about my clients choosing a substandard therapy, but rather to teach obtuse therapists a lesson in common courtesy!

So with this in mind, I plan to support these two girls to provide both a skilful and ethical service for their clients. The original plan was to deliver this in a two day course, which is actually still the plan, but if I decide to roll this out as a regular workshop, then I need to do it justice!

This is just as much a learning experience for me as it is for them and, by the end of our time together, I plan on having the best training out there for massage therapists who want to move into providing remedial therapies.

Because I want this to be a learning experience that can’t be rivalled by any other training provider we will meet as often as necessary. This way I can find out what’s working, but more importantly what isn’t, then I’ll make the appropriate changes for any future workshops.

I know there are therapists desperate to get started, but I’ve decided not to rush into this full steam ahead. I’d rather take the time now to iron out anything that needs to be, so that I can deliver the slickest version possible!

The goal of this workshop isn’t to show therapists what I do on the floor, but rather how to simplify all of the complicated problems that clients commonly seek help for, and to give them the confidence to successfully treat them!

11/02/2026

LIANA’S PAIN RELIEF STORY

Liana messaged me a while ago to ask if I could help with her awful back pain and sciatic discomfort.

I’m close friends with her dad, and I previously helped him fully recover from his own sciatic pain. You can read about his story in a post dated 16th April 2024.

I’ve known Liana since she was a wee girl, so of course I was going to help ASAP! She’s obviously a lot younger than her dad so I was expecting a quick recovery!

She had tried all of the usual conventional treatments, and heard all of the usual blah. She did the exercises that she was told to do, but nothing helped. The pain killers she was taking barely touched it! 💊

She didn’t come sooner because she lives in Bathgate, and needs to consider work and childcare obligations. A 60 mile round trip for therapy definitely wasn’t going to make life easier!

I eventually got her in for an assessment and treatment and, as usual, I was feeling confident I could help.

Back pain is a bread and butter treatment for me, so experience tells me there’s a high probability her pain will be gone in four treatments or less!

I’m going to give the short version of this story, and as much as I want to tell you I fixed her after four treatments, I didn’t!

We managed to get a week or two without pain on a couple of occasions, but ultimately it returned, especially after sitting for hours at her desk!

This was frustrating for me, and disappointing for her. I had identified the problem and I could feel the dysfunction, but it was being stubborn!

At this time Liana was waiting for an orthopaedic appointment, and she eventually saw the consultant in August last year.

Her scan showed a herniated disc and a decision was made to add her to the waiting list for a microdiscectomy. This gave Liana time to drop some weight before the surgery!

She decided to eat better and walk regularly, and not only did she lose weight, but she reached her target in less than six months. As you can see from her transformation pic she’s looking great, but more importantly she’s feeling great!

The best thing of all is her back and leg pain has disappeared, and she has now been pain free for three months! In addition, she continues to do daily stretches that I gave her for prevention!

Of course I wanted to be the guy who fixed this for her, but she got there on her own. Sometimes I have the audacity to think I can fix everything, when actually I need to recognise that manual therapy isn’t always the only answer. The most important thing, is Liana no longer requires invasive surgery that comes with risk!

I’m not the diet and exercise police, and quite frankly, there’s already too many windbags dictating on how we should be living our lives on social media! The truth is, I see more gym goers with back problems than I do couch potatoes!

I know I’m carrying some extra luggage myself at the mo. I should really be taking a leaf out of Liana’s book. Maybe less wine and more trips on my bike is in order! 🚲

Of course not everyone who has an extra tyre around the middle has back pain however, for every pound of weight we put on, the spine experiences four additional pounds of compressive force!

This is something we should all probably remember in terms of looking after our back health, not to mention other areas of our general wellbeing!

Anyway, I wanted to share this as an inspiration for others who may be living everyday in pain or struggling with other health issues. If there’s a chance that one or more people reading this will be inspired to make changes that may eliminate their own suffering, then it’s definitely worth putting it out there!

Well done Liana, be proud! 😊 x

29/01/2026

REVERSING CHRONIC BACK PAIN

1️⃣ Spinal Decompression

2️⃣ Paraspinal Manipulation

3️⃣ Whole Body Rebalance

14/01/2026

BLENDING TECHNIQUES

I have certification in multiple modalities but I rarely do them as stand alone treatments!

If you’re coming for a maintenance treatment I want you to feel not only maintained, but the best bodily version of you! If you’re coming for a remedial therapy, I want you to feel repaired!

I view my treatments as a toolbox meaning I can pick the right tool for the right job! 🧰

You wouldn’t try to change a plug with a plunger!
🔌 🪠
Repairing a car generally requires more than one tool 🔧

Therapy is exactly the same! I can choose from a large array of tools and usually that means using them in combination to get results!

I’m not the only therapist to think this way! I’ve met quite a few fusion therapists on my travels, yet none of us do it in the same way!

As you know, I’m planning on delivering remedial therapy workshops for massage therapists. Once they’ve completed the training, it’s unlikely they’ll blend their techniques in exactly the same way as me, or even each other!

One of my teachers/master in Thailand told me that it’s perfectly okay to work intuitively, because it’s the only real way to grow as a therapist. Obviously this comes with experience, and I’ve lost count of the times I’ve helped someone in pain by using a technique I haven’t used before, nor has anyone shown it to me! If it works, then I add it to my toolbox!

This is the reason conventional therapists are limited in what they can offer, because they all work in the same textbook manner!

Fortunately, there are some who think differently…

I once received a treatment in South Africa from a physio who is now a shiatsu therapist. He was frustrated by not getting results for his patients and wanted to prove that actually, a leopard can change its spots 🐆

He had taken his shiatsu techniques from the floor and adapted them to work on a wooden chair that he designed himself! 🪑

The treatment was excellent, but he hadn’t abandoned his physio training, he had just blended western and eastern approaches to therapy!

An American chiropractor once commented on one of my posts in a FB therapy group. He said he incorporates traditional Thai massage into his treatments…

This makes perfect sense to me, because if the goal is to decompress the vertebral column, then the only way for it to stay this way is by adding soft tissue manipulation, and to do this properly isn’t happening in five or ten minutes!

Some people believe that therapy should stay either traditional or conventional. Clearly, I’m not one of them! There are disruptors in every industry, and without them there would be no change! That doesn’t mean fixing something that isn’t broken, but it does mean considering the alternatives when it doesn’t work!

It’s unacceptable for anyone to think that they know it all, no matter what line of work they’re in. It’s the reason I’ll always continue to learn and look for ways to blend new techniques with my current ones!

A problem only remains a problem until you find the answer. Alternative therapists are nearly always at the end of the line for people looking for pain relief, and more times than not, we are that answer!

Why? Because we don’t leave a stone unturned. We have the tools, knowledge, experience and of course, intuition to find the root cause and to treat it in a short timeframe.

For me, this usually involves changing the client’s mindset to their problem created by other practitioners. I then blend techniques, in ways that you won’t find elsewhere, to get results!

It may be called alternative, but actually, the word we should be using is meticulous!

24/12/2025

Have a great day tomorrow everyone 🎄 and thanks for a brilliant year! Cheers 🍻

08/12/2025

REMEDIAL THERAPY WORKSHOP FOR MASSAGE THERAPISTS

In a previous post I stated that I wanted to prove that massage therapists have far more pain relieving abilities than physios, chiropractors and other conventional therapists!

The goal is to deliver a two to three day workshop that will cover all of the common areas of pain, and will include the topics at the bottom of this post…

When you read it, you may be thinking the same as I was to start with… it’s impossible to learn all of that in two or three days, when it takes some conventional therapists years to learn as part of a university curriculum, and yet, they often still fail to get results!

It’s a valid point, because individually they would normally be considered time consuming subjects to learn! However, on reflection, I believe that it is possible for three reasons…

1️⃣ Most of these conditions are secondary problems and share the same primary sources of pain. This reduces the content considerably!

2️⃣ Massage therapists already have many of the skills required to help their clients with all of this, it’s just that the majority of them don’t know it yet!

3️⃣ My techniques involve structured and targeted soft tissue manipulations. I avoid hit and hope techniques such as aggressive spinal manipulation, and I don’t hand out low impact exercises!

Today, I was thinking back to a previous employment, way before I was a therapist. I developed and coordinated a project where I recruited and trained volunteers to support people with poor mental health…

Some clients were referred to my service because they had difficulty engaging with other mental health services, including psychiatry, psychology and social work!

This was an award winning project that made huge differences in people’s lives, such as clients leaving their homes for the first time in months and other milestones, like getting a job!

Amazing, right? But what does this have to do with pain relief?

Well it proves that you don’t need a university education to help people with health needs, even when a graduate is left scratching their head!

Peer support is a powerful thing, and maybe it’s not the same as showing massage therapists remedial therapy techniques, but the life changing potential is just as real!

When I’ve learned and retained anything in a training environment it’s because there’s been three key ingredients…

1️⃣ A small group
2️⃣ Interaction
3️⃣ Fun

Whenever I’ve delivered training in the past, I’ve made sure that it included these three factors and excluded ‘death by PowerPoint’!

I’ve already got eight therapists interested, who I know personally, and have all had treatments from me. There’s still some work to do and I haven’t decided on group size yet, but I’ll get dates in the diary at the first possible opportunity!

If the feedback is positive, and I enjoy the experience, then I’ll take it forward with more workshops, locally or perhaps even further afield.

Here’s an overview of the workshop…

BACK AND HIPS

Remedial techniques for the following…

Lumbar pain

Herniated disc

Sciatica

Piriformis syndrome

Pelvic tilt

Iliotibial band syndrome

Sacroiliac joint dysfunction

HEAD, NECK AND SHOULDERS

Remedial techniques for the following…

Frozen shoulder

Trapped nerve

Impingement syndrome

Rotator cuff disorder

Neck pain

Whiplash

Headaches

Dizziness/Vertigo/Labyrinthitis

Trapezius myalgia

Temporomandibular joint disorder

THE EXTREMITIES

Remedial techniques for the following…

Generic knee pain

Plantar fasciitis

Tennis elbow

Golfer’s elbow

Carpal tunnel syndrome

WHAT ELSE?

Understanding referred pain

When is arthritis not arthritis?

Fibromyalgia versus hyper-contraction

Working intuitively

Scott’s fascia theory, based on practical experience. It’s not the usual explanation, so bring an open mind!

Sensitively explaining barriers to a successful treatment, such as body habitus and other contributors of pain.

What have I missed? Anything can be included!

17/11/2025

DIAGNOSIS DISGRUNTLEMENT

The thing that always surprises me is how disappointed some people get, when you tell them they ‘probably’ don’t have the thing they turned up with. Here are some examples…

FIBROMYALGIA

It seems like, everyone and their granny has this now, and more times than not I can help. However, there’s only really one type of fibro client I can help, and here are two examples…

1️⃣ A few months ago I said to a young girl living with awful pain “I don’t think you have fibromyalgia“

She almost knocked me over with an ecstatic hug, and sure enough, three treatments later she was pain free!

2️⃣ Recently, I said the exact same thing to a guy with similar symptoms, but this time his reaction was very different…

He looked at me as if I had just kicked his puppy! 😡

“What do you mean? The doctor tells me I’ve definitely got fibromyalgia“

“That’s great, however the Oxford dictionary tells me there’s definitely a word called misdiagnosis“

As you can imagine this didn’t improve his mood, and I could feel his annoyance all the way through the treatment!

Here’s a top tip for anyone considering a treatment… come with an open mind, because if you don’t, you’re already up against it! I haven’t heard from him since, so who knows 🤷🏻‍♂️

Some people really own their label once they get one, to the point it’s a conversation piece at a dinner party…

“Yes Dorothy, they tell me I have the fibromyalgia and there’s nothing they can do, cheers” 🥂

To be serious for a moment, I know someone who struggles every day with pain and other symptoms, and there’s no doubt that it’s life changing for her.

She’s been told it’s fibromyalgia… is it?

I don’t know! I’ve treated her a few times with only minor improvements, mainly because she can’t tolerate the smallest of pressure. She’s not getting answers and I can’t help feeling that something has been missed!

Now, before I get it with both barrels in the comments, consider this… my opinions relate directly to my experiences. Should this be a concern for anyone reading this with fibro? No, however a culture of over-diagnosing should be a concern. Let’s face it, if you have a true fibromyalgia diagnosis, what you should be annoyed at, is GP’s trivialising your condition by handing it out willy-nilly!

ARTHRITIS

You may have arthritis, but is it causing you pain?

My wife injured her knee at the tail end of last year doing box jumps in the gym. She heard a pop and then felt intense pain!

Long story short, my treatments weren’t appropriate and she tried some rehab therapists for treatment and advice. Unfortunately nothing helped and the exercises aggravated the problem!

Fast forward 3 months, she had it MRI’d to find out it was a meniscus tear. Not great news, but Sharon is made of tough stuff and continued to train and let her body heal with time, as well as keeping her quads strong! 🦵

She’s made a full recovery, however the MRI scan also showed arthritis. It’s not causing her problems and she still trains multiple times a week.

I hear the arthritis diagnosis a lot, and I’m talking about clients in their forties and fifties. I can pick up on their disbelief when I say that it ‘probably’ has nothing to do with their pain.

Any therapist should be able to tell you that, because seeing arthritis on a scan doesn’t always equate to pain! That’s not unusual, however patients don’t necessarily know that, but yet the doc said it, so it must be true! Fortunately their disbelief turns into joy if I can help them return to their normal activities! 🕺🏻

HERNIATED DISC

I’ve already posted enough info on herniated disc and sciatica, so if you want to read about it, have a look at posts dated, 13th January 25 and 16th April 24.

I will share this though in keeping with diagnosis disgruntlement…

Earlier this year, a guy comes in with his ‘bulging disc’ diagnosis. He knows, he’s got it because the scan said so. No argument from me!

As I was assessing his back, I could tell that his pain ‘probably’ had nothing to do with the disc!

So I told him that, and he laughed!
“Of course it is! The scan, GP, physio and chiropractor have all said it’s a bulging disc!”

“And which one of them helped you?” 🤐

It was actually really straightforward. He had an overworked back from a strenuous job. Thirty minutes later and hey presto! ✨

The problem for some clients is that I often use the word ‘probably’ when I say what I think it is, and that’s not good enough for them! They want to hear ‘definitely’ just like when the ‘fibromyalgia’ guy was told that by his doctor!

To me, this is a dangerous game to play, so ‘probably’ is a safer word to use, even when I’m feeling confident I can fix it!

We all know what ‘probably’ means, right?

Is it impossible to hum while holding your nose?
Probably!

Should deep fried mars bars be banned?
Probably!

Does a bear actually s**t in the woods?
Probably! 🐻 💩

‘Probably’ is the word you’ll likely hear from me until I’ve fixed it, unless it’s something obvious like someone getting a fibro label chucked at them when it’s clearly not! 🏷️

There’s no point saying ‘definitely’ if there’s a chance it’s an arthritis only problem!

There’s no point saying ‘definitely’ until we’ve ruled out the disc completely, and even then, whatever it is I’ve found is likely to be the true cause of the herniation, whether it’s contributing to the pain or not!

So if you come for a treatment and you get disgruntled with me for having an opinion, try putting your poker face on until we know for sure!

Or try to hum while holding your nose. I bet you can’t do it! 👃

14/10/2025

GRATEFUL PAIN

Claire describes my treatments as ‘grateful pain’. Before meeting her I hadn’t heard this term, but I like it!

I’ve heard it called good pain or therapeutic discomfort but I think grateful pain describes it better!

Claire is one of those clients who just immediately lets go of her body and hands it over to the therapist. When this happens the treatment reaches levels that can’t be rivalled by any other therapy!

It changes the treatment from discomfort to the ultimate heights of relaxation, so in turn offering unparalleled results!

I would describe Claire as a therapy lover! She has travelled around Southeast Asia and has experienced multiple therapies, therefore I value her opinion.

She loves every single stretch, compression, manipulation, rub, knead and chop, and she can feel exactly what every technique is doing for her body!

Not everyone would agree with Claire…

Some clients love the results but probably wouldn’t call it grateful pain.

Other people’s idea of relaxation is a beauty therapy style massage with a light touch.

For some, remedial therapy only means physiotherapy 🕺🏻 or a visit to the chiro for…
✌🏼an adjustment✌🏼

If I could be on the receiving end of my treatments then I’m sure I’d feel exactly the same way as Claire, but why is everyone’s experience so different?

You know what? I’ve stopped trying to work it out, because we’re all made of the same stuff but how we react and respond to therapy is very individual!

I suppose the obvious answer is it’s really down to what you’re bringing and how long you’ve had it for! There’s no doubt a maintenance treatment is far more enjoyable than a remedial therapy!

Some people are just better at relaxing and letting go than others, which is the real secret to a successful session!

Claire is a testament to that. She leaves my treatment room feeling off the scale relaxed as well as pain and tension free.

She can go to bed with a guarantee of having the best nights sleep. The only downside for Claire, is after feeling so chilled, she has a drive home to Haddington 🚙

Scott Robertson Bodywork

05/05/2026

28/04/2026

15/04/2026

10/04/2026

11/02/2026

29/01/2026

14/01/2026

24/12/2025

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