Just A Physio

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Just A Physio No declarable conflicts of interests. Just bit about how I got to this point. How can I do exercise based on my genetics to resolve my diabetes? Az

Our Goal: Provide a forum for helpful evidence based opinion on a range of different treatments & approaches to allow for informed decision making for consumers & professionals within the health & fitness sectors. During my time as a Physiotherapy student, I worked as a Personal Trainer and Gym Instructor at a very large Auckland gym. Training for Athletics (Hammer & Discuss) under the guidance of one of New Zealand’s top coaches and qualifications in coaching had set me in good stead for training others – and I loved the effect that could be gained. I started my clinical career as most Physiotherapists would, I qualified and realised that I really didn’t know as much as I thought that I did. This was brought home to me in my first 8 months of working in a rural South Island practice where we saw literally every kind of condition a Physiotherapist could be asked to treat. After this I moved to Auckland and took on a number of more senior roles in private practice there. After a significant injury, I ended up off of work with a reconstructed thumb (a big deal for a manual therapist) and so focused more on Sports & Exercise Physiotherapy, working with rugby teams, basketball teams, individual athletes and patients with Chronic Pain disorders. It was during this time that I was approached to work for New Zealand’s national level funder of accident injury rehabilitation. My time there was split between; considering if treatment requests were for appropriate treatment modalities given a specific patient’s needs and stage in rehab, providing comments on Medico-Legal issues, providing education to providers on how to deal with the funder, providing education to Medical and Clinical providers on causation and the role of trauma, being a representative on professional body panels and educating/training new clinical advisors in the role. Throughout this time I saw a huge variance in what treatments were being provided, by allied health as well as medical and even surgical providers. Some of these were new and cutting edge, some were just complex ways of charging more money for less effective treatment. I also realised, while I have colleagues out there with significant post-grad qualifications, critical thinking was not always present in those clinicians. Sometimes, all a critical thinker would need to be was someone with the ability and background understanding – perhaps, JUST A PHYSIO would do? When I left this role I returned to my home town in Rural Tasman Region at the top of the South Island (NZ) and wanted to provide some evidence based treatment in a region littered with alternative practitioners. Part of this included trying to collaborate with other exercise professionals in the area, which inevitably lead me to starting this journey. After investing a huge amount of time (and money) into a registered Personal Trainer, I was approached and asked to look into a “Scientific” programme that answered all of the questions of exercise and health – you know, like; Why is this client not losing weight but my other similar one is? How can I use measurements to determine my genetics and then use that to decide where I should go on holiday to improve my health? What does my body type tell me my career should be? – so just the every day questions…

Needless to say, given two of the “Sciences” were Traditional Chinese Medicine (not a science) and Ayurvedic Medicine (sooo not a science), I recommended against getting involved with it. The response from the Personal Trainer was – “But it is what I want to do with my career!”. This really was a turning point for me, I realised that people were engaging “Professionals” who were acting in anything but a professional manner and the waves of sciency sounding misinformation were achieving only one thing – the removal of money from their (sometimes ill affording) bank accounts. It was time to put some good information out there to balance the scales. I then met a PhD Exercise physiologist (based in Australia) and one thing lead to another – after putting off starting this page, doing some collaborative work meant I needed to take the plunge – and here we are! Hopefully, at the very least, you get to hear a reasoned response/counter to some of the information out there. I intend to review the good information & articles as well as the bad, so please let me know if there is something that you would like me to turn the lens on and I will do my best. I won’t promise to say what you want to hear all of the time, but if I do the job right, you’ll understand more and be able to form your own reasoned opinion – so handy when discussing the misinformation so prevalent today. Wishing you all a well-educated/informed Health & Fitness experience.

Just a reminder, not all physios are as uneducated about spinal health and strength as this guy. Cheers to The Sports Ph...
01/08/2025

Just a reminder, not all physios are as uneducated about spinal health and strength as this guy.

Cheers to The Sports Physio for shooting down the rubbish yet again!

Every profession has its issues with quality in research. But even some of the poor research can have some level of valu...
31/07/2025

Every profession has its issues with quality in research. But even some of the poor research can have some level of value.

Check out this post - I might just try the high percentage 1RM, high volume training…. What do YOU think? 🤔

The struggle is real!!
27/07/2025

The struggle is real!!

03/07/2025

Myotomes just being cultural like myotomes do!

In case this needs to be reiterated - it’s not a good thing and here in NZ chiropractors and even personal trainers lay ...
25/06/2025

In case this needs to be reiterated - it’s not a good thing and here in NZ chiropractors and even personal trainers lay claim to this approach.

A 56-year-old university professor with psoriatic arthritis goes to see a doctor because his condition is worsening. Psoriatic arthritis is a disease where your immune system rebels against you, creating patches of abnormal skin and aching joints. Does the man leave the doctor’s office with a pres...

25/02/2025

A great example of an evidence based approach being used, within scope of practice, to help a needy population.

Great work team!

Yup, the number of times I need to confirm fascia research always results in failure when we get to the question: “So wh...
05/02/2025

Yup, the number of times I need to confirm fascia research always results in failure when we get to the question: “So what?”

Now we just need to get exercise education providers to stop promoting the gurus!

A timely reminder that things are rarely that simple. Cheers to Dan Feldman for another great post.
04/01/2025

A timely reminder that things are rarely that simple.

Cheers to Dan Feldman for another great post.

No, diabetes isn’t caused by eating too many carbs.⁣
⁣
Obesity (especially abdominal obesity), non-white ancestry, family history, history of gestational diabetes, metabolic syndrome components (e.g., high blood pressure and cholesterol), and increased sedentary time are just a few risk factors for type 2 diabetes.⁣
⁣
While yes, diabetes is characterized by high blood sugar levels, and carbohydrate intake is a key driver of blood sugar, carbs don’t “cause” diabetes, and avoiding carbs won’t necessarily prevent diabetes.⁣
⁣
Many foods that contain carbohydrates (whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes) are important sources of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, and you shouldn’t avoid them. Maintaining stable blood sugar levels and controlling (but not avoiding) post-meal increases in blood glucose are essential to prevent complications in patients with diabetes.⁣
⁣
It sounds cliché, but maintaining an active lifestyle, eating an abundance of nutrient-rich foods, maintaining a healthy body weight, and monitoring blood glucose on at least an annual basis (ideally via monitoring HbA1C at your annual check-ups) is the best way to prevent diabetes—no need to fear carbs.⁣
⁣
And no, carbs don’t make you fat.⁣
⁣
⁣

Seeing this funny little pic, and working through the final details of a research review myself, I was reminded of some ...
04/01/2025

Seeing this funny little pic, and working through the final details of a research review myself, I was reminded of some awesome work from Critical Fitness. So I thought that it was a great opportunity to promote this clear and easy to use guide.

Reading literature is a geeky skill, no doubt, but a guide to keep you even handed can be worth a read anytime.

Keep sharp people

Yours in Health & Fitness

Az

https://criticalfitness.com.au/read-research/

Not in our rehab gym………
01/01/2025

Not in our rehab gym………

Yup, shut the hole in your face….
22/12/2024

Yup, shut the hole in your face….

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The Story of Just A Physio

During my time as a Physiotherapy student, I worked as a Personal Trainer and Gym Instructor at a very large Auckland gym. Training for Athletics (Hammer & Discuss) under the guidance of one of New Zealand’s top coaches and qualifications in coaching had set me in good stead for training others – and I loved the effect that could be gained.

I started my clinical career as most Physiotherapists would, I qualified and realised that I really didn’t know as much as I thought that I did. This was brought home to me in my first 8 months of working in a rural South Island practice where we saw literally every kind of condition a Physiotherapist could be asked to treat. After this I moved to Auckland and took on a number of more senior roles in private practice there.

After a significant injury, I ended up off of work with a reconstructed thumb (a big deal for a manual therapist) and so focused more on Sports & Exercise Physiotherapy, working with rugby teams, basketball teams, individual athletes and patients with Chronic Pain disorders. It was during this time that I was approached to work for New Zealand’s national level funder of accident injury rehabilitation.

My time there was split between; considering if treatment requests were for appropriate treatment modalities given a specific patient’s needs and stage in rehab, providing comments on Medico-Legal issues, providing education to providers on how to deal with the funder, providing education to Medical and Clinical providers on causation and the role of trauma, being a representative on professional body panels and educating/training new clinical advisors in the role.