Simon Crittenden - Remedial Massage Therapist

Simon Crittenden - Remedial Massage Therapist Fusing East & West...Remedial, Sport and Relaxation Massage. Specialist in Short Right Leg Syndrome

Responding to an enquiry about unremitting knee pain that is defying all treatment...https://www.massageworksdandenongra...
02/08/2026

Responding to an enquiry about unremitting knee pain that is defying all treatment...

https://www.massageworksdandenongranges.com.au/

I practice a fusion of East and West with 20yrs experience as a therapist and many decades as a worker and athlete. Through long association as a young man with Prof Wong Lun OBE OAM, 10th dan Tang So Do, a martial arts Grandmaster and Traditional Chinese Medical practitioner of high esteem, I have knowledge of energetic Qi flow and its effects. I have some understanding of the physiology contributing to inactive gluteal musculature, sabotaging stability, straining and overloading lower limbs and knees. I've seen and experienced the effects of age and injury damaging joints. Dietary supplements can assist. In the presence of acute injury, medicinal dosage of collagen is like a wonder drug. Sometimes a thorough deep working through the musculature from lower back through to the plantar fascia in our feet can improve comfort and function...massage, stretch and exercise. This is part of my approach.

However, there is another aspect to my practice not considered by therapists and medico's generally. We all have a structurally short right leg that no Chiropractic or Osteopathic adjustment can alter or remedy. The bones are different lengths. This is Short Right Leg Syndrome.

It came about through evolutionary adaptation giving mother and child a greater chance of survival in prehistoric times. It is to do with the mechanics of carrying a baby on left hip, freeing the strong right arm for work and defence. This was the most successful model and today it is a dominant genetic trait. Even leg length is rare. We do not see short left legs. How this plays out through our structure impacting comfort, mobility and internal health is complex. I have been studying this condition since 2014 and the first dramatically successful treatment commenced in 2016. My research findings, assessment and treatment protocols are described here...

https://critsvcs.wixsite.com/shortrightleg

As we age beyond the life expectancy of our prehistoric ancestors, distortion and strain generates a rigidity through the pelvis which becomes ingrained. Impacting lower limbs through pelvic misalignment and blocked energetic Qi flow. A fundamental energetic principle of physical therapy in my practice is a proximal blockage at hip or shoulder has a distal effect in the limb. Where Qi flow is blocked, a subtle thickening and tightening occurs through the connective tissue. Under the influence of loading and other factors this can escalate to acute dysfunction, pain and injury.

There is much more to the story of the Pelvic Block, the fourteen acupuncture meridians passing through the pelvis and consequent effect on internal health. Also too, an uneven foundation for the spine encourages mild scoliosis working up the spine generating strain through upper back, neck and shoulders leading to chronic dysfunction, pain and injury. This is the bread and butter of the massage industry.

Inexplicable lower limb dysfunction including escalating rheumatic pain in the knees is one outcome from this condition I describe. I am Case 4 (parts 1 to 13) under the Notes tab. Five years deterioration of lower limb function from lumbro-sacral injury at age 60 knocked me out of sport and had me facing the prospect of forced retirement from active life at age 65. Three Medical Doctors, five Allied Health Doctors and multiple physical therapists failed me. Several had huge opportunity to treat the condition. I commenced self-treatment for Short Right Leg Syndrome in January 2021. Dramatic enduring change for the better commenced from the very next day.

https://critsvcs.wixsite.com/shortrightleg/case-4-part-1

This was the beginning of a four stage recovery process that played out over five years before drilling down to the core at structural ground zero at the sacrum. Knowing what I do now, this could have been accelerated to undo what many decades under the influence of gravity and a 21mm structural leg length discrepancy had done to my condition. This is not a unique case. A vast range of acute conditions present in my clinical practice for which the short right leg is a component of the underlying causation.

For your consideration. Thankyou.

Simon Crittenden
Remedial Massage Therapist
Member of Massage & Myotherapy Australia

mbl 0416 268 255

https://www.massageworksdandenongranges.com.au/
https://critsvcs.wixsite.com/shortrightleg

Massage Works Dandenong Ranges
158 Emerald-Monbulk Rd
Emerald VIC 3782

Signage at new location for Google Maps verification video. Just happened to have a 600x900 piece of perspex to stick th...
23/07/2026

Signage at new location for Google Maps verification video. Just happened to have a 600x900 piece of perspex to stick the letters to for stealth effect. It's a tight squeeze in the treatment room but I have been managing. Temporary until the studio upgrade is complete.

I was taught the basics of TCM pulse diagnosis long ago. Now frequently monitor my own condition. My knowledge is limite...
08/07/2026

I was taught the basics of TCM pulse diagnosis long ago. Now frequently monitor my own condition. My knowledge is limited. Requires many years experience and the standing of a doctor to effectively diagnose and treat internal health.

16/06/2026

Hands are important to the massage therapist. These are things I do to maintain strength, function, and resolve arthritic pain.

Bovine collagen haphazard maintenance dosage of 25gms daily. In the presence of acute injury, medicinal dosage (2-3, 25gm doses daily) is like a wonder drug healing injury and improving joint function.

Fish oil good for arthritic joints in hands. Usually fully resolves. Continue taking it when appears "cured".

Strength training these days is largely axe work splitting firewood, carrying and stacking firewood. When a cyclist doing a couple hours a day wrangling the handlebars, hand strength was superb.

Wrist warmups rotating wrist of one hand into palm of the other 36x in each direction. Keep palm of hand in constant contact so the Heart Qi permeates the wrist being treated. In this clip left hand is treating the right wrist. A count of 9 rotations or multiples of 9. That is, 9, 18, 27 or 36 rotations.

Hand treatments stretching fingers back, loosely shake hands, arm and shoulders. Escalate hand shaking action to very vigorous for several minutes. When stopping, hands and fingers should be buzzing energetically.

Similarly, ensure shoulders/torso loose and flexible with an abundance of mobility exercises.

Magnesium glysinate supplementation helpful.

Intermittent fasting and vegetable juicing clears liver fire, improves digestion and joint function.

Avoid massage technique that is too finger-centric. Start using heel and palm of hand, forearms and elbows. Support thumb with the heel of the other hand.

Hip Alignment Influenced by Leg Length DiscrepancyThe most common pelvic alignment sighted in my practice is a left hip ...
11/05/2026

Hip Alignment Influenced by Leg Length Discrepancy

The most common pelvic alignment sighted in my practice is a left hip in high range anterior rotation sagittally about the SIJ, with a level right hip and slight right leaning pelvic tilt in the frontal plane. This is not good posture but it is so common I call it normal. By my definition, high range anterior rotation amounts to 30 degrees or more. Very high range is 45 degrees.

Assessment for this is carried out with the client standing, therapist seated at their side placing fingers of one hand on the posterior aspect of the iliac crest and fingers of the other hand on the ASIS and noting the line between these two points in relation to horizontal. Where they are aligned horizontally in the standing position, that is normal. Where the ASIS is inferior, that is anterior rotation. Where the ASIS is superior, that is posterior rotation.

This method of examining hip alignment was taught in the Remedial Diploma at Swinburne University. On commencing practice, I identified a correlation between high range anterior rotation of the hip about the SIJ and dysfunction down the backline of the lower limb.

High range anterior rotation of 30 degrees is something like six times beyond normal range of motion for the SIJ. This binds and tightens the ligamental structure and connective tissue about the joint. My observation is it blocks energetic Qi flow, causing a subtle thickening and tightening from gluteals to plantar fascia that can escalate to acute pain, dysfunction and injury. Why the hip rotated in this manner and resisted attempts to realign it through treatment and rehab was a mystery.

The first case of plantar fasciitis resolved by normalising left hip position dates back to 2008 in my practise. This client afflicted by the condition for 10yrs had been examined by medical doctors in both Melbourne and London, and subjected to surgical intervention to release the plantar fascia to no avail. Massage and physiotherapy treatment was similarly ineffective. When I realised discomfort and binding at the SIJ from anterior rotation might be cause for distal effects in the lower limb, I applied an intense hip flexor stretch, reducing anterior rotation sufficiently to allow the energetic Qi flow to resume. Within 3 days, the plantar fascia symptoms resolved.

I understand there is scepticism for energetic Qi flow concepts. That is fine. Nevertheless, I have observed the correlation between the twisted SIJ and dysfunction down the backline of the lower limb. That I have repeatedly resolved acute conditions such as Piriformis Syndrome, unrelenting hamstring and calf tightness, and Plantar Fasciitis by normalising hip rotation and releasing the bound SIJ remains is a fact. One can give whatever reason they like to explain why a proximal anomaly at the hip and lumbro-sacral region has a distal effect in the limb. It does not invalidate the observation.

I suspect medico’s and therapists generally do not consider hip alignment as I describe above. If so, there would be considerably more discussion on the topic of an SIJ that is typically being forced into chronic high range anterior rotation multiple times beyond normal range of motion. This presentation is so common that despite it not being good posture, I consider it to be normal. Also too, it is not surprising the left SIJ being pushed six to nine times beyond normal range becomes symptomatic. In the short term experiencing pain and impacting the backline of the lower limb. In the longterm (decades), jeopardising stability of the joint and making it vulnerable to injury.

Why the left hip was in unilateral high range rotation was a mystery to me until in 2014 when I was told by an instructor that 68% of his clients had a structurally short right leg. I began examining hip alignment and structural leg length of every client presenting in my practice. I was sceptical of his claim but within two months I got back to him admitting it was true and if anything, it was more like 99% have the short leg condition.

Considering the mechanics of hip alignment, I realised anterior rotation the left hip is an unconscious anatomic adjustment functionally pulling up the longer leg, reducing pelvic tilt, making us feel more comfortable and protecting the lumbar spine to some degree. As the hip rotates sagittally about the SIJ, the femoro-acetabular joint moves in an arc posteriorly and superiorly. The occasional exception case sighted with both hips level will present greater right leaning pelvic tilt and more prominent lumbar symptoms.

Address

158 Emerald-Monbulk Road
Cockatoo Creek, VIC
3782

Opening Hours

Monday 10:30am - 7pm
Tuesday 10:30pm - 7pm
Thursday 10:30am - 7pm
Friday 10:30am - 7pm
Saturday 10:30am - 5pm

Website

,

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Simon Crittenden - Remedial Massage Therapist posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category