Running injuries in recreational runners are often due to poor preparation and always due to overuse of muscle or joints. When you run, you are basically doing the same stepping manoeuvre over and over again therefore small problems become bigger problems when you are doing this tens of thousands of times. But there’s a lot you can do to prevent issues along the way, a lot of things you should NOT do. Let’s get started.   GETTING STARTED 1)     Don’t start off too fast.  The

Aah Christmas.... whether you’re a fan or not, it definitely asserts its presence…and that includes Christmas-specific injuries. I kid you not, so to add to your Christmas cheer, I’m going to tell you about those physical dangers lurking amidst the mistletoe. Come January, we physios see a whole host of Christmas-related injuries at our clinics. Back injuries, fractured ankles, all kinds of bumps and bruises. To help you avoid these, I’ve complied my top 5 Christmas injuries

#lymphaticsystem #lymphatics   If you are wondering what the lymphatic system is or does, believe me, you are not alone. It is THE most forgotten-about and neglected system in the body but I promise that by the time you finish reading this, you will be a fan. To whet your appetite, here are 4 fun facts about your lymphatic system:   1)     Without it, we would be 3-4L bigger every day . That’s right, we swell and go back to size every day and it’s our lymphatic system that do

The cause of Accidents The risk & safety industry uses a phenomenon known as the Swiss Cheese Effect to describe how accidents occur. Imagine you've got 5 slices of Swiss cheese ( all with holes in them and each hole representing an accident risk factor). If you stack the slices together to make one super-thick slice, you then can see if the holes line up. If the holes from all 5 slices line up, then your super-thick slice has a clear hole going through it – the equivalent

Going plastic-free is obviously good for the planet…… but it’s also hard work, inconvenient, expensive and (worst of all) you risk becoming holier than thou and annoying everyone (Ha Ha! Is this kind of like going vegan???). Being a green warrior takes a delicate balance of trying your best while also turning a selective blind eye to things. I also know that the greater expense incurred is something that not everyone is in a position to choose, particularly when there is a f

#whiplash #whiplashrecovery #chronicpain #physiotherapy # nervoussystem   Whiplash injuries are one of the most complex things for a physio to treat….and sometimes one of the most frustrating because they don’t quite obey the normal rules for soft tissue injuries! You’ve got insurance claims in the mix, emotional response to the accident adding in a psychological/trauma element to the pain and the whole thing gets a bit messy for use simplicity-loving physio folk. Whiplashe

Thankfulness is all the buzz these days and ‘counting your blessings’ has never been cooler. Not only that, but the research shows that being thankful is good for your mood and beneficial to your mental health. The spiritually-inclined folks even have a theory that being thankful attracts even more good things because like attracts like. Now, I’ll put my cards on the table here: I get a rash every time someone goes on about how blessed they are on Facebook or in conversation

#lowbackpain #backpainprevention #physiotherapy #yogaforbackpain Low back pain is one of the biggest causes of sick leave in the Western world but in most cases, it’s entirely preventable. It’s one of my favourite things to treat but the fun part is working out the different factors that led to it and putting in a plan to prevent it happening again. Here’s the thing: unless you have had an actual injury ( a fall or a knock), there is no ONE cause for your low back pain. Whil

In Limerick we have a slang saying that something is ‘chronic’ meaning hopeless/crazy/mad so I need to give you a medical explanation of chronic! Chronic is anything that lasts longer than 3 months.  Are you feeling a bit less mad about your chronic pain now?? Let’s have a bigger look at what chronic pain entails and how we see its recovery pan out in clinical practice.   The Faulty Lamp Imagine you’ve got a lamp and it’s not working. Let’s have a look at how you go about sor

Because it impacts on the success of my physio treatments, I often check to see if patients have, what I like to call, an over-sensitive nervous system. This is when your system is in a state of stress or, in other words,  the sympathetic part of your nervous system ( the fight or flight response) is activated , even when you are at rest.   THE BASICS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM Here’s the background to this….. Our nervous system consists of our central nervous system (CNS, which c

Most people have this idea that doing a meditation retreat is relaxing, giving you time to unplug from life and slowly pondering your options. It’s quite the opposite! Yes, you are indeed unplugging from life but it’s hard-going for lots of it and you really don’t ponder much. Instead,  it’s all about getting your mind clear ( which takes a few days at least and with lots of effort) before things emerge for you to work on. You don’t get to choose your agenda, it just happens.

I’m on a meditation vibe at the moment, because I am finding it so helpful since I started doing a daily practice in January.  I also...

By now, I’m convinced that poor breathing can contribute to ill-health, not because I’m a yoga teacher and we’re meant to believe in hocus-pocus stuff, but because I’ve spent a lot of my career as a physio observing breath and breathing patterns in my patients. Now, good breathing patterns on their own cannot guarantee good health ( sigh! nothing is THAT simple) but breathing properly has lots of physiological benefits…and it’s FREE! Oh, and it feels good too…..   It all star

Once upon a time, I was asked to write a chapter on fatigue for a physiotherapy book. I researched it for months and thought I knew all about it after that. Well, life has a way of humbling you, and a few years ago I had to take a painful dose of my own medicine when I developed an autoimmune disorder and chronic fatigue. I had to adopt all the strategies I had been telling patients about for years and it wasn’t fun. But it WAS enlightening, so I’m now going to share them w

All about me How I got involved in healthcare. I landed in hospital for a month when I was 11 with osteomyelitis of my right hip,...

This is a collection of Q and As about lymphoedema that I did on social media during March 2023 for Lymphoedema Awareness Month. Q1: What...

I hate the word ‘chronic’. It sounds, well….. kinda chronic! In medical terms, chronic pain is considered to be pain lasting longer than...

Lymphatics are a subject close to my heart but sadly they either get ignored or get such a bad press – mainly because when they are...

Relaxation: just the mention of it makes some people YAWN with boredom and others go a bit crazy and run for the hills. And, by golly,...

All the evidence points to the fact that exercise, both aerobic and strength training, improves the quality of life in those living with...