Movement Dynamics Physical Therapy - Baguio

04/05/2026

3 Rules to Master Exercise Prescription in Physiotherapy.

Experienced physiotherapist, Steven Collins, explains his three rules to mastering exercise prescription in physiotherapy.

30/04/2026

🚨Get Up and Go Test (TUG): What It Tells Us—and What It Doesn’t

🧑‍🦯‍➡️The Get Up and Go Test is a quick, widely used screening tool for assessing basic balance and functional mobility, particularly in older adults. It evaluates a person’s ability to stand up from a chair, walk 3 meters, turn around, walk back, and sit down safely.

Performance is typically rated on a 5-point scale:
1 = normal,
2 = very slightly abnormal,
3 = mildly abnormal,
4 = moderately abnormal,
5 = severely abnormal.

♦️The test is useful for identifying obvious mobility and balance impairments in a controlled clinical environment. However, it has important limitations. The TUG does not account for the varying balance demands of real-life situations such as walking on uneven surfaces, navigating crowded environments, or dual-tasking. Balance requirements differ significantly across these contexts and may not be revealed by a single, straight-path assessment.

✅In practice, the Get Up and Go Test should be viewed as a screening tool, not a comprehensive balance assessment. Combining it with functional, environment-specific evaluations provides a more accurate picture of a patient’s true mobility and fall risk.

25/02/2026

Skeletal muscle retains a molecular memory of repeated inactivity, influencing recovery and resilience. While young muscle shows protective adaptations, aged muscle becomes more vulnerable to further wasting. These findings highlight the importance of tailored exercise strategies to support muscle health, especially in older adults.

Muscle loss (atrophy) due to inactivity is common after illness, injury, hospitalization or falls, and becomes increasingly frequent with aging. New research published in Advanced Science shows that skeletal muscle retains a "molecular memory" of repeated disuse—and that this memory differs marked...

04/02/2026

The Unexpected Culprit Behind Lower Back Pain: It’s Often Not What You Think

For more info about Low Back Pain check send me a message.

The Unexpected Culprit Behind Lower Back Pain: It’s Often Not What You Think Table of Contents…

18/01/2026

Radicular Pain or Radiculopathy? Not the same thing!⁠
Both sound similar, but the difference changes your assessment and rehab approach completely.⁠
⁠
Understand the distinction:⁠
• Radicular Pain = Symptom⁠
• Radiculopathy = Clinical Syndrome⁠
⁠
Know it. Spot it. Treat it right.⁠
⁠
Credit: Trust Me I'm a Physiotherapist page

06/09/2025

Fall is one of the most common causes of disability in older adults.

When talking with older adults about falls prevention, highlight what matters most to them:
• Staying independent
• Aging in place, in the home they love
• Continuing daily activities and traditions that bring joy

Emphasize the importance of culture and family—many older adults are motivated to stay healthy so they can support loved ones and participate in their community.

Acknowledge the fear of falling. Many patients have experienced a fall or know someone who has, which can increase anxiety and even lead to isolation.

Encourage proactive prevention strategies. While patients may be open to removing tripping hazards, they may feel hesitant about canes or walkers. Framing exercise and activity as a way to protect independence can be especially motivating.

By connecting prevention to independence, family, and community, you can help older adults feel empowered to take steps toward reducing their fall risk.
📚https://www.ncoa.org/article/how-to-talk-about-falls-prevention-what-the-research-says/

31/08/2025

The 'Training-Injury Prevention Paradox'

A phenomenon whereby athletes who are chronically exposed to higher training loads experience fewer injuries than those with lower or inconsistent workloads. Contrary to traditional assumptions that more [of certain types of…] training inherently increases injury risk, strength training appears to confer dose-dependent protective effects when implemented progressively and with appropriate targeting.

In a 2018 meta-analysis (PMID: 30131332), strength training interventions reduced sports injuries by an average of 66%, with a ~4% risk reduction for every 10% increase in weekly training volume, provided the intensity and duration were held constant.

Credit: William Wallace, PhD

25/04/2025

An update on the 2019 editorial by Caneiro et al. on joint-by-joint approach to joint pain vs. the biopsychosocial approach.

They recommended "five actions" that all manual therapists should do when working with patients with [chronic] joint pain (or almost any kind of pain).

1. Spot the red flags
2. Use an updated pain questionnaire
3. Let patients be the storyteller
4. Personalize joint pain relief education
5. Build independence, not reliance on joint pain treatment

The biopsychosocial model of pain also applies to joint pain, but how could massage therapists apply this model to practice. Science may have an answer.

22/03/2025

It's very very common for physios to tell their back pain patients not to bend or curl their back. And sit ups or crunches are a big no. This in part is because of the prevalent but very wrong information that our spinal discs are like donut filled jellies where bending forward can squeeze the jelly outward that can cause disc bulging.

True enough, my patient's former physio told him exactly that. Imagine telling a young, active person to not bend on his back. That would put limitations on his movements and has to bend on his hips and knees every time he needs to pick something off the floor.

Nothing hurts a chronic pain patient more than telling them what they cannot do instead of empowering them to explore what their bodies can do.

So here, I made him do what many physios and chiros tell their back pain patients not to do.

17/03/2025

Most of the time. Certain things are worried about WAAAAY too much.

This can often be detrimental to actual engagement in the rehab or training process

So try not to sweat the small stuff too much. It often makes people look smart or attentive. But there is a dark side also

Credit to: CoreKinetic

01/03/2025

Tendon health is multifaceted and many of the factors can potentially be targets for treatment. It’s important to recognise this bigger picture, especially in complex tendinopathy cases that aren’t improving as expected.

Credit to: The Running Physio