Spine & Dandy Shockwave and Physiotherapy

28/09/2026

How much porridge should you eat?

Last week we talked about eating your porridge — finding the right dose of exercise rather than blindly doing 3 sets of 10.

This is where RPE — Rating of Perceived Exertion — comes in.

In strength training, RPE helps account for the fact that your capacity changes from day to day.

Some days you’ve slept brilliantly and feel on top of the world.

Some days you’ve barely slept, you’re stressed, sore and running on fumes.

So why would exactly the same number of repetitions always be the right dose?

The problem in rehab is that most people don’t really know what a true 10/10 effort feels like, and when we’re working around pain, maximal effort usually isn’t the goal anyway.

So we keep it simpler.

Did you do enough that you could actually feel it?

Did you stop before you completely overcooked it?

Good.

More than not enough. Less than too much.

Eat your porridge :)

25/09/2026

This week’s newsletter is about eating your porridge.

No, we haven’t become a breakfast blog.

We’re talking about how much exercise is enough.

Too little? Too much? Or just right?

It’s something we call the Goldilocks Method in clinic — although I suspect you’re going to start hearing us say “eat your porridge” a lot more often.

This week’s newsletter explains why. And here's a meme.

24/09/2026

Sometimes eating your porridge gets a bit shaky.

Literally.

If your muscles start shaking during a rehab exercise, that doesn’t necessarily mean something is going wrong.

Often, it means we’re asking them to produce a lot of tension and coordinate something they’re not used to doing yet.

As long as it isn’t painful, that can be exactly what we’re looking for.

I think of it like learning to drive a manual car.

At first, the clutch is jerky and awkward.

Then, with practice, it gets smoother.

Your muscles can be a bit like that too.

So if the porridge gets a little shaky, don’t panic.

You might just be eating it properly.

23/09/2026

Eat your porridge.

When it comes to rehab exercises, the question usually isn’t just what should I do?

It’s how much should I do?

Too little and there may not be enough of a challenge to create change.

Too much and you can end up sore, fatigued, or wondering why you bothered.

What we’re looking for is the Goldilocks dose:

More than not enough. Less than too much. Just right.

When you finish an exercise, you should usually feel like you’ve actually done something.

You might feel lighter. Stronger. More comfortable. Or just pleasantly fatigued.

That’s eating your porridge.

16/09/2026

Hazel and I recently had the pleasure of meeting with some of the team at Highgate Hill Doctors.

We had a great conversation about how we approach persistent pain through the UnPain method, some of the more difficult musculoskeletal presentations we see, and where Shockwave Therapy can fit into the picture.

A couple of things stood out to me.

Firstly, they seemed genuinely interested in understanding their patients’ pain and what else might be able to help when things aren’t straightforward — particularly around Women’s Health and persistent pain.

Secondly, I loved their tea room. Tea balcony?

It opens out into a quiet little balcony/covered area where the doctors can actually get some fresh air and take a moment between patients.

I think things like that tell you a lot about the culture of a clinic.

Doctors are humans too. Giving people somewhere to stop, have a cup of tea and breathe for a minute seems like a pretty good idea when you spend your day looking after everyone else.

Thanks to the team at Highgate Hill Doctors for having us.

26/08/2026

Yesterday I attended an event at The Brisbane Business Hub where Hayley Campell, a local copywriter with a passion for mental health, walked us through The Mental Load of Ambition.

The whole concept hit me hard as a bit of an ambitious chap. Lately I've been trying to push our new idea of Strong & Dandy.

Initially it was 1-1 physiotherapist led strength training. I wanted to create a space and a service for people who didn't go to the gym but were told that they should do, wanted to, but for whatever reason hadn't or didn't know where to start. And while I still think there's a market for that, it still feels a bit forced.

Then the penny dropped a couple of weeks ago while developing strategies with a patient for the months ahead. All the ideas I've worked on over the years came together. And this is where I think Strong & Dandy is headed - helping people create a sustainable change to their strength, health, and life. I want something that outlasts a 6 week block of gym sessions or a sometimes used gym membership.

How do we create lasting change? Not just a new years resolution.

Problem is, we've got a lot of other things on our plate right now.

Yesterday Hayley said - "Not every thought needs to be a task". And I immediately thought about Strong & Dandy.

So for now I'm making the hard decision to park the concept until I can put all my focus and energy back into it.

But I'd still really value your thoughts which I'd love for you to share. Send us a message or even better, take 2 mins to fill out a quick survey to help us understand you better.

Hayley Campbell: https://hayleycampbell.com.au/
Brisbane Business Hub: https://businesshub.brisbane.qld.au/
The Strong & Dandy Survey: https://spineanddandy.com.au/strong-and-dandy/

29/06/2026

Last Friday we closed the clinic for a couple of hours and dug out the projector to watch the Socceroos in action.

Not the most exciting game but we'll take the draw!

Next game is:
Australia vs Egypt
Saturday 4 July - 0400

I don't think there will be a clinic watch party for this one but you never know.

17/06/2026

It was my birthday over the weekend so I sat down with the Wheel of Life to check on my alignment.

Like all wheeled vehicles, if the alignment is off, your tyres wear out, and you end up at the mechanic. At 35, my wheels have not fallen off, not yet.

In the clinic, this is a tool that almost every patient could benefit from. While health is usually the obvious one to slip, the rest of the scores follow all too often.

Pain can affect every part of the wheel so our job is to help with alignment (physically and figuratively) to get the body, and the person, moving in the right direction.

Perhaps as physios we're body mechanics after all.
— Dan

To complete your own Wheel of Life, mark how satisfied you are on a scale from the centre (1) to the edge (10).

09/12/2023

Do you have trouble getting to sleep?

I've been working on a breathing protocol to help with getting to sleep. It's worked a treat on myself as well as friends and family.

Have a read and give these a go. I guarantee they will improve your life and your sleep.

Yours in sleep,
Dan 😴

Have you ever laid in bed at night and felt too amped up to sleep?Or maybe your mind is on red alert and is rehashing the days events while also trying to predict the events of tomorrow. These are signs of being stuck in sympathetic drive. In my experience, this is where people have trouble with

19/06/2023

If you're out of the Acute phase of injury, it's time to show yourself some LOVE.

Remember PEACE & LOVE? This is the LOVE part.

L is for Load:
Injured tissues need to learn how to tolerate load again. Unfortunately this does not happen just because you're pain free.

O is for Optimism:
Injuries can get you down, there's no doubt about that. Especially if it's a nasty one and keeping you from doing what you want to do. Finding ways to stay motivated can get you back sooner.

V is for Vascularisation:
Get the blood pumping. Getting some pain-free cardio done while you're getting back to 100% promotes healing and keeps the body in good nick.

E is for Exercise:
Sooner or later you're going to have to use the injured thing again. I use an approach based on graduated exposure which basically takes you from where you are and gets you to where you want to be by exposing the injured site to more and more each week.