Dr Notley - Chiropractor / Athletic Therapist

07/31/2026

Stop blaming your posture for your headaches. 

For years, we've been told to sit up straight, buy expensive chairs, and hold ourselves like statues. But the current clinical evidence points to a different culprit: Spinal Postural Variability (SPV).

When we freeze our bodies in one position—even a "perfect" one—we reduce our movement variability. This stillness is often intensified by stress, poor sleep, and high-pressure work environments, leading directly to those frustrating cervicogenic headaches.

Because your upper neck (C1-C2) acts as the primary movement pivot for your head, static restriction here refers pain signals straight to your temples.

The solution isn't fighting your chair. It's restoring your body's ability to vary its load. That's why we use Chiropractic to unlock the restricted joints, and Athletic Therapy to build the muscle endurance to handle your desk day.

 Try the Active Rotation Screen. Do you feel a difference between left and right? Let me know below.

07/10/2026

07/08/2026

Stop treating the symptom and start finding the source.  Many people spend years taking painkillers for headaches that may actually start in the upper neck. If this sounds like you, it's worth exploring a different approach.

Read the full evidence-based guide on my site (link in bio).

06/16/2026

If your shoulders are feeling stiff r stuck, you've got to try this movement It's a simple way to gel things moving again without any of the fancy, complicated stuff. Give these a try and see if your range of mo tion doesn't feel a little smoother.

06/08/2026

Running destroys your hips. Right?

Wrong. And the data is overwhelming.

A meta-analysis of 125,810 people found that recreational runners develop hip and knee osteoarthritis at 3.5% compared to 10.2% in sedentary people. That's nearly 3× higher risk from NOT running.

The Lancet (2025) put it plainly: "For those who enjoy running, there is no evidence that it causes osteoarthritis."

So why are people still being told to stop?

Because X-rays get over-read. Because structure gets mistaken for symptoms. Because 1 in 5 people with arthritis on imaging have zero pain and we're treating pictures instead of people.

Your joints don't need rest. They need movement.
Movement releases hyaluronan, your body's natural joint lubricant.

Cartilage has no blood supply. It feeds through compression and load.

Motion is lotion.

If you or someone you know has been told to give up running because of their hips — save this post and swipe through the evidence.

Questions? Drop them below. 👇

—

🦴 Hip OA | Running | Evidence-Based Physio

RunningMyths

06/04/2026

"I just bent over to pick up a pen—and my back completely went." 🖊️💥

If you’ve ever said this, it feels like that simple bending movement was the exact moment your back broke down. But new research suggests the bending wasn't actually the problem.

The problem was already there. The pen just found it.

A 2026 study published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders tested people with and without chronic back pain across eight different movements. The results were eye-opening:

94% of people with chronic back pain passed a basic forward bend test with no issues.

Only 48% passed a loaded box lift test.

What does this mean?
Your spine's real job is to stay controlled and precise while the rest of your body moves. This is called lumbar motor control. When that control is missing, even an empty, unloaded movement can suddenly tip your nervous system past its limit.

If your previous back assessments only involved simple, unweighted movements, they probably weren't sensitive enough to spot where your movement system actually breaks down.

The Reassuring News:
A control deficit is not a permanently broken spine or structural damage. It’s a specific, highly trainable gap in how your nervous system manages movement. Your nervous system adapts, and motor control can be retrained.

If your back keeps giving out but you've been told "everything looks fine," it might just mean nobody has tested your movement under a functional load yet.

👉 Read more in the link below

06/04/2026

Lumbar Motor Control: Why Your Back "Goes Out" Picking Up a Pen
Why Your Back Pain Shows Up When Life Gets Heavy — Not When You Bend Over

Many patients walk in

Back pain isn't a broken spine; it's a trainable deficit in lumbar motor control. Find out why simple back assessments miss it and how to retrain your movement.

05/30/2026

Ever feel a tight hamstring that just won't go away no matter how much you stretch? It might not be a muscle issue at all.

Your nerves aren't fixed in place-they are designed to slide and glide through your body like a rope through a tunnel as you move. But when that moverment is restricted, you feel it.

A recent study highlighted on .review found that individuals with a disc herniation had almost 40% less nerve movement in their affected leg compared to healthy individuals.

This means a disc isn't always just pressing on a nerve-sometimes it's actually anchoring it, causing a restriction that travels all the way down to your knee and calf. If you've been aggressively stretching without relief, you might just be pulling on an already irritated nerve.

The key to recovery isn't pulling harder. It's about gently restoring that natural movement with targeted exercises called nerve sliders or nerve glides.

Want to understand the science behind nerve mobility and how to get things moving again? Check out the full breakdown of the study at the link in our bio!

Mobility SpineHealth Rehab

05/29/2026

It wasn’t the groceries that caused your back to seize. You didn’t "lift it wrong"—the control deficit was already there, and the movement simply found it.

Most back pain assessments rely on movements that are too simple to reveal where your system is actually breaking down. If you’ve been told you’re "fine" but your back keeps giving out on daily tasks, it’s time for a more functional approach.