Inline Therapies

27/11/2025

If tight calves or the occasional cramp wakes you up at night, a simple stretch before bed can make a real difference. Tight calf muscles can affect our circulation, ankle mobility, and even our walking pattern.

Give this a go:
Stand facing a wall, place your hands on it for support, step one foot back with the heel firmly on the ground, and gently lean forward until you feel a steady stretch through the calf of the back leg. Hold for around **30 seconds**, swap sides, and repeat **2–3 times on each**.

Don't feel you need to force anything— a gentle, consistent stretch helps the muscle relax and reduces the chance of those sudden cramps later on.

If tightness or cramps keep returning, consider hydration levels or gradually increase your daily walking, as stronger, well-used calves tend to behave better at night.

24/11/2025

Research consistently shows that **10 minutes of brisk walking a day** can help improve our cardiovascular health, circulation, joint mobility, and energy levels. It's a quick win as even small increases in daily activity can reduce the risk of conditions such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

It can help improve mood and reduce stress (thank you endorphins), support bone health and even 70 mins of brisk walking a week (ie. 10 mins/day) has been linked to longer life expectancy in several large health studies.

**How to build it into daily life:**
• Walk the long way round the car park or get off the bus one stop earlier.
• Use part of your lunch break or day to loop around the block.
• Pair it with a daily task — a phone call, a podcast, or a quiet moment to yourself.
• Make it the first 10 minutes after finishing work or your to-do list to help your body switch gears.

This can be a simple, achievable, and genuinely beneficial way to support your long-term health without needing to spend any money. If you’re unsure how to increase activity safely because of pain or an injury, consider getting some advice to navigate that.

23/11/2025

Your glutes are basically your body’s built-in shock absorbers. When they’re strong, it helps to reduce the demand on your lower back.

Two simple exercises worth trying:
• **Bridges** – lying on your back, feet flat, contract the muscles at the back of your hips (glutes) and keeping them contracted lift your hips off the ground. Pause at the top then lower slowly.
• **Squats** – slow, steady, and controlled. You can complete these leaning on a wall and sliding down the wall as low as you can control, pause at the bottom of the move and contracting those hip muscles again, push back up to standing again. 🏋️

A good starting point is to aim for **2–3 sets of 10–12 reps**, **3 times a week**. If the last few reps feel pleasantly challenging (not painful), you’re in the right zone. If you breeze through them while thinking about what to have for tea, you can make them harder by slowing them down or adding a little extra weight.

And if you're not sure what’s right for your body or your back, contact your local friendly physio for a bit of guidance 😁

10/09/2025

22/08/2025

Pain isn’t always about damage – it’s about how your body *modulates* (turns up or down) the pain “volume.”

Pain can act as our body's alarm system. Sometimes it’s turned up loud (even when the problem is small), other times it’s quiet (even when something bigger is going on). Stress, tiredness, mood, past experiences – they can all affect how loud the alarm feels.

The good news? Movement, understanding your body and your symptoms and finding the right support can help your body *turn the volume back down* so you feel more in control again.

20/08/2025

“*Sciatica*” is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot… usually to describe any back pain whether it involves the leg or not. True sciatica, caused by a disc injury (aka the infamous “slipped disc”), is actually pretty rare.

Most back pain with some leg pain isn’t a disc injury at all – it’s more likely just something grumbling in your back and referring pain signals outwards such as further down your leg. Discs, like muscles, can cause pain without being torn or pr*****ed.

To make things interesting, back pain with or without leg pain can be a mix of stuff going on, i.e. a stiff or aching back *and* a tight, overworked muscle in the leg from changing the way we sit or walk to avoid pain.

True sciatica often looks like: some back pain + severe leg pain (often worse than the back), running through the back of the hip, down the back of the thigh, then one or either side of the calf and sometimes in the foot.

A useful take home? Physio can help by getting a sense of what may well be happening and finding safe, sensible ways to keep you moving without stirring things up. Movement that is the right kind, at the right time – to help you to calm your body down and heal, so you can get back to doing the things you enjoy.

If all this feels as clear as mud, get in touch with your local physio. You’ll feel more confident knowing what to do’s actually going n – and more in charge of your recovery.

18/08/2025

Many people find massage helpful — but what you may have been told (or assumed) it’s doing is often very different from what’s actually happening.

Research shows that whether it’s firm or light pressure, hands or massage tools, the *specifics* make surprisingly little difference in long-term outcomes.

What does?
👉 Movement.
👉 Understanding your body.
👉 Finding strategies that help you achieve *your* goals.

That’s why I increasingly use much less manual therapy. If you come to me saying “I want less pain, less stiffness, fewer headaches, stronger knees, better balance, better posture, less aching etc.,” I want that for you too. But just “rubbing it better” won’t get you lasting change — and I’d be doing you a disservice if I pretended it would.

Instead, my focus is on helping you reach those goals in ways that actually stick.

18/08/2025

VR is being used in rehab for people recovering from strokes, long-term injuries, or balance issues. It can create a safe and immersive world that encourages movement, confidence, and even fun (physio...fun?!) 😁

Thankfully we don’t need fancy gear to get the same benefits. The principle behind using VR is engaged movement—aka being fully present and motivated.

It could mean trying Tai Chi, dance, doing the exercises using what's around your home instead of a gym, or practising balance moves on a wobble cushion at home (or use a sturdy cushion off the sofa!)

If rehab feels a bit repetitive, find a way to make it interesting! You’re more likely to stick with it—and that’s half the battle and will get you results.

14/08/2025

Would absolutely recommend this business to those who are trying to conceive, fall pregnant, or are navigating toddler mealtimes.
📍 Based in Lincoln | Supporting families from fertility to fussy eaters
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Supporting you through every stage of family life. I’m a dietitian specialising in fertility, pregnancy and paediatrics, including fussy eating and allergies. Based in Lincoln, offering online and in-person support.

06/08/2025

Pain and stiffness aren’t always just about posture or movement.

When life feels heavy, our bodies can carry it for us — tension in the neck, tightness in the back, that general sense of being ‘stuck’. It’s not just physical. The nervous system holds on, too.

As a physio, I see it often: the body quietly storing stress, emotion and unspoken thoughts.

Something gentle to try: write down what’s on your mind and try not to filter it or worry about spelling and grammar— or speak with someone who isn’t emotionally tied to your story. Getting thoughts out (without fear of judgement) can help reduce the internal load your body might be carrying. Lastly, seeing a therapist or counsellor is not just for when someone reaches a crisis point, it can be hugely helpful at different stages of our lives whether there's a decision to be made, unanswered questions, fears of the future or struggling with thoughts of the past.

Healing isn’t always about doing more — sometimes it starts with being heard.