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Bradley Blair Osteopath, Bradley Blair Osteopathy, Auckland (2025)

30/11/2025

The Achilles tendon connects the calf muscles to the heel bone and is the main structure that allows you to push off when walking, running, jumping, and changing direction. When it ruptures, people often describe a sudden snap or being “kicked” in the back of the ankle, followed by weakness and difficulty walking.

Surgery is commonly recommended for complete ruptures, particularly in physically active people, as it lowers the risk of re-rupture and helps restore strength more predictably.

Healing and Rehab Timelines

These are estimates. Everyone heals differently based on age, general health, activity level, and how the rehab is progressed.

First 2 weeks
The leg is usually immobilised in a cast or boot. Weight-bearing is often limited or avoided. Swelling, stiffness, and pain are expected.

Weeks 2 to 6
Gradual introduction of partial weight-bearing in a walking boot. Early controlled ankle movement may begin under guidance. The tendon is still vulnerable at this stage.

Weeks 6 to 12
Progression to full weight-bearing usually begins. The boot is slowly phased out. Strength work for the calf starts gently. Walking becomes more comfortable, but the tendon is not yet strong.

3 to 6 months
Strength, balance, and control continue to improve. Many people can return to normal daily activities and light gym work. Jogging may be introduced later in this phase for some patients.

6 to 12 months
Return to higher-impact sport, sprinting, and jumping is usually considered in this window. Full confidence and strength often take close to a year to return.

Even after the tendon has physically healed, the calf muscle often feels smaller, weaker, and slower to respond. Stiffness in the ankle is common. Swelling at the end of the day can persist for months. These are all normal parts of recovery and don’t mean the surgery has failed.

The tendon heals faster than the strength returns. Feeling “normal” does not mean the tendon is ready for high-speed sport. Rushing rehab is one of the biggest risk factors for long-term weakness or re-rupture. Confidence usually lags behind physical healing, especially in athletes.

29/11/2025

Rotator cuff muscles

Image 1 posterior view

Image 2 medial view

Image 3 anterior view

28/11/2025

Celebrating my 4th year on Facebook. Thank you for your continuing support. I could never have made it without you. 🙏🤗🎉

28/11/2025

Patients with an Achilles tendon rupture frequently present with complaints of a sudden snap in the lower calf associated with acute, severe pain. The patient reports feeling like he or she has been shot, kicked, or cut in the back of the leg, which may result in an inability to ambulate further.

Most Achilles tendon tears occur in the left leg in the substance of the tendo-Achilles, approximately 2-6 cm above the calcaneal insertion of the tendon. That the left Achilles tendon is torn more frequently may be related to handedness; right-handed individuals “push off” more frequently with the left foot.

The most common mechanisms of injury include sudden, forced plantar flexion of the foot; unexpected dorsiflexion of the foot; and violent dorsiflexion of a plantar-flexed foot. Other mechanisms include direct trauma and, less frequently, attrition of the tendon as a result of longstanding paratenonitis, with or without tendinosis.

Achilles tendon rupture resulting from forced dorsiflexion during active plantar flexion is commonly seen in basketball, diving, tennis, and other sports that require forceful push off from the foot.

Other risk factors for Achilles tendon rupture, aside from those previously noted (ie, age, systemic illnesses, medications, blood type), include poor conditioning and overexertion.

27/11/2025

This image shows a patellar tendon rupture with avulsion of the tibial tubercle. This is not your standard tendon rupture. Instead of the tendon tearing through its mid-substance, the force has pulled a fragment of bone off the tibia where the tendon attaches. That alone tells you the force involved is high.

It most often affects young males involved in jumping, sprinting or explosive change of direction, such as football, basketball, rugby and athletics. In older adults, when it does occur, it is usually associated with reduced tendon quality rather than sheer speed or power.

Risk factors include previous patellar tendon pain, recent growth spurts in adolescents, high training loads, systemic conditions that affect tendon health, and the use of certain medications such as steroids or fluoroquinolone antibiotics. Smoking also increases the risk by reducing tissue quality and healing capacity.

Treatment is almost always surgical. Because the tendon has pulled bone away from the tibia, the fragment needs to be fixed back in place and the tendon tension restored. This is not a condition that settles with rest and exercise alone. Early surgery is linked with better outcomes.

26/11/2025

If something has been building up over a long period of time, it rarely disappears in thirty minutes just because someone lays on a treatment table. That’s not how the body works. And it’s not how recovery works either.

This is why I always talk about expectations on the first visit. What are you actually expecting from today’s treatment? If the answer is a total fix in one session with zero effort outside the clinic, then you’re almost guaranteed to be disappointed.

When expectations don’t match reality, people don’t just feel let down by the treatment. They feel let down by themselves, they feel frustrated, and they often don’t come back. Not because nothing changed, but because change didn’t happen on their timeline.

Managing expectations isn’t being negative. It’s being honest. It protects the patient from unrealistic promises, and it protects the therapist from being judged against something that was never realistic in the first place.

If you’ve had pain for a long time, the goal of early treatment is usually progress, not perfection. A shift in symptoms. A change in how it feels. A bit more movement. A bit less irritation. That’s how recovery actually starts.

And if someone genuinely believes they should be completely fixed in one session after doing nothing about their problem for years, that’s not a treatment issue. That’s an expectation issue.

26/11/2025

A Baker’s cyst, also called a popliteal cyst, is a build-up of joint fluid that sits behind the knee. It is not a separate injury on its own. It is a sign that something inside the knee is irritating the joint and causing excess fluid to be produced.

The most common drivers are things like a meniscal tear, knee osteoarthritis, ongoing joint irritation, or swelling after an injury. The fluid has to go somewhere, so it tracks backwards into the space behind the knee and forms the cyst. That tight, full feeling people describe behind the knee is simply pressure from that fluid.

Some cysts are painless and found by accident. Others feel tight, achy, or restrictive when bending or straightening the knee for long periods. Occasionally they can leak and cause calf pain and swelling, which can be alarming but is usually not dangerous once properly assessed.

The real focus is calming down whatever is irritating the knee joint in the first place. If the knee settles, the fluid production reduces and the cyst often shrinks on its own.

Management can include guided loading of the knee, modifying aggravating activities for a short period, and improving how the knee tolerates bending, squatting and walking again. In some cases imaging is useful to confirm what is happening inside the joint, particularly if progress is slow or symptoms are worsening.

In more persistent cases, a GP or specialist may discuss aspiration or corticosteroid injection, but even then, if the underlying knee issue is not addressed, the cyst often returns. Surgery is uncommon and only considered when there is a clear structural driver that has failed conservative care.

26/11/2025

Pectoralis major rupture.

What you’re seeing is the classic visual pattern after a significant tear at or near the tendon. There’s extensive bruising spreading across the chest, upper arm, and into the axilla, which happens because blood from the torn fibres tracks through the surrounding tissue planes. The loss of the normal chest contour near the armpit is another big clue, where the muscle belly has recoiled after the tendon has failed.

This type of injury almost always happens during heavy pressing movements, especially bench press, dips, or any movement where the shoulder is abducted and externally rotated under load. The person usually feels a sudden tearing sensation or “pop” at the moment of injury, followed by rapid swelling and loss of pushing strength.

From a clinical point of view, full-thickness ruptures in active people are usually surgical, particularly when the tendon has detached from the humerus. Partial tears may be managed conservatively depending on function, symptoms, and goals.

25/11/2025

Upper traps treatment using MyoNest VibX Pro

I have been using it for a week now and I like it. 😊 Using the bullet tip.

The MyoNest VibX Pro delivers fast, deep relief for muscle fatigue, soreness, and stiffness—safe for sensitive areas.

MyoNest VibX Pro delivers 5,500–7,500 RPM vibration

MyoNest VibX Pro with 4 attachments and 5 speeds

To get your discount use this code: BRADLEY_BLAIR

24/11/2025

Some of the things I still hear from new patients are honestly unbelievable. These are things they were confidently told by previous practitioners, and it makes me wonder how this stuff is still being said in 2025. People have been told their pelvis is “twisted” and needs to be “untwisted,” or that their spine is “misaligned,” and that this is the reason they’re in pain. I’ve had patients told their scoliosis can be “corrected” through regular manipulation, as if a few clicks are going to change the structure of their spine. People get told their uneven leg length is the reason they’re in back pain, even though every single person on the planet has some degree of leg-length difference. Then they’re sold the idea that manipulation will somehow “fix” it.

Some have been told they have “spinal decay” and that regular manipulation will reverse it. Others have been told the curve in their neck is “straightening” and that this is why they have neck pain, or that their pain is because they “look at their phone too much.” I’ve even heard people being told their discs are pressing on their nerves and that a quick manipulation will “push the discs back in.”

This stuff gets passed around like it’s gospel, and it isn’t helping anyone. Most people don’t need to be scared into thinking their body is falling apart. They need clear explanations, reassurance, and treatment that focuses on what’s actually going on, not dramatic stories that make people dependent on endless appointments.

If any of this sounds familiar, it isn’t your fault you were told it. It’s just the kind of nonsense that still gets thrown around. I don’t do scare tactics. I don’t do fairy tales. If you’re in pain, it’s never because your body is “out of place.” It’s always more complex than that, and you deserve someone who actually explains things properly.

23/11/2025

I once had a patient try to talk about “reverse racism.” So I asked them a very simple question:

Tell me how white racism has adversely affected the lives of Black people, and then tell me how Black racism has adversely affected the lives of white people.

You can guess which part they struggled with.

People use terms they don’t actually understand because it helps them dodge accountability. But if you’re non-white, you know exactly how racism shows up, and you don’t sit quietly to make anyone feel comfortable. You call it out.

And if someone doesn’t like it? Good.
If they don’t want to come back? Also good.
No interest in treating racist idiots.

Bradley Blair Osteopath

30/11/2025

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23/11/2025

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Monday	9am - 8pm
Tuesday	9am - 8pm
Wednesday	9am - 8pm
Thursday	9am - 8pm
Friday	9am - 8pm
Saturday	10am - 1pm