Collins Physio

09/04/2026

September has a particular kind of energy — routines reset, kids back in school, the pace of summer finally slowing down.

It's also when a lot of people notice things they'd been quietly ignoring. The knee that's been off since July. The shoulder that didn't quite recover. The lower back that's been compensating all season.

Summer keeps you busy enough to push through. September gives you the space to actually deal with it.

If something's been nagging at you — this is worth paying attention to.

08/31/2026

If you only have 90 seconds for your hips today, do this: just sit in a deep squat.

Feet flat, drop your hips down, elbows gently pushing your knees apart. That's it. Toddlers do it instinctively and then we spend the next 40 years losing the ability.

Hold it while you scroll your phone. Hold it while the kettle boils. Hold it while you're waiting for someone to text you back.

Your hips, lower back, and ankles all get a little something out of it — and it costs you nothing but the slightly undignified process of getting down there.

Try it today. Bonus points if someone in your house asks what you're doing.

08/30/2026

08/26/2026

Post-treatment soreness is real, and it's also often a good sign.

When I do manual therapy or dry needling, I'm changing things — releasing restrictions, stimulating tissue, shifting patterns your body has held for a long time. Your nervous system notices.

For most people, 24–48 hours of increased soreness after a physiotherapy session means we got somewhere. It doesn't mean we made it worse.

The exception: if something sharp or neurological comes up, or the soreness doesn't resolve in 48 hours — that's worth flagging. Message me.

08/23/2026

Things patients have casually mentioned that turned out to be clinically significant.

"'I've always had a weird hip, I just thought that was normal'"

"'I had a car accident like 15 years ago but it healed fine'"

"'My stomach has been off but that's not related, right?'"

"'I sleep on my stomach but I can't fall asleep any other way'"

Every single one of these came up in a physiotherapy intake conversation as an afterthought.

Every single one changed the treatment plan.

Say the thing you think isn't relevant. It might be the whole answer.

08/20/2026

A flare-up is not a setback. I know it feels like one.

I know you were doing everything right — the exercises, the sleep, the ergonomics — and then something flipped and you're back in pain.

Here's what's actually happening: your nervous system got overwhelmed. It might have been the physical thing — a long drive, a bad sleep, too much too soon. It also might have been stress, a hard week, a fight with someone you love.

All of those inputs go into the same system.

A flare-up tells us your system is still sensitized. It doesn't mean the work you've done is gone.

08/16/2026

When your lower back is tight, the instinct is to bend forward and touch your toes — but that often aggravates the exact thing that's bugging you. Try these three instead.

➡️ Knees to chest to decompress.
➡️ A figure-4 to get the glutes and piriformis that so often refer pain into the back.
➡️ A gentle spinal twist to restore rotation — keeping both shoulders on the floor.

Ease into each one; none of them should hurt. Hold, breathe, repeat on both sides.

Save this for your next tight-back morning.

08/12/2026

Most people don't realize their jaw and their neck are in a constant conversation — and it's one of the most underdiagnosed connections in physiotherapy.

The muscles and fascia that control jaw movement connect directly to your skull, cervical spine, and hyoid bone. TMJ dysfunction can show up as chronic neck pain, headaches, ear fullness, or dizziness — nowhere near the jaw itself.

If you've been treating neck pain that keeps coming back, it might be worth looking at what your jaw is doing.

08/04/2026

People ask me what fancy recovery gadget they should buy. Massage gun? Fancy foam roller? The $400 one?

Here's my honest answer: a tennis ball.

Stand on it and roll out your foot. Lean it against a wall and roll your upper back or glutes. Put it under your forearm at your desk. It gets into spots a foam roller can't, it costs about two dollars, and it fits in a drawer.

I'm not anti-gadget. But before you spend real money, get really good at using things you already have.

Your move: find a tennis ball tonight and roll out whatever's been bugging you. 🎾

07/29/2026

The neck tension you've had since you opened your laptop this morning? This 3-minute routine is for that.

Chin tucks to reset your head position. A side stretch with your hand anchored under your thigh so you actually feel it. Then "nose toward armpit" to get the muscles a basic tilt misses.

The model's showing the form — slow and controlled is the whole game here. No yanking. Do it once mid-morning and once mid-afternoon.

Save it so it's there when your neck starts talking.