Spinalphysio

16/09/2026

Life is a game.
The rules are simple.
Finite capacity. Infinite demands.
Playing the game, however? That’s more complicated.

Recently, I realised that over my 30-year career I’ve carried out more than 60,000 appointments.
The one constant throughout that time has been pain.
I’ve come to understand pain as one of the feedback systems the body uses to grab our attention.

Sometimes it’s a subtle ache or recurring headache. Sometimes an occasional flare-up of that “bad back”. Sometimes a dramatic spasm that simply forces you to stop.

All too often we see pain as a frustrating, inconvenient interruption to the urgency of now. Perhaps even as something unfair, or some sort of punishment.

But what if pain is actually trying to look out for us?

What if it’s trying to help us navigate the complexity of finite capacity and infinite demands — for both our current self and our future 85-year-old self?

I explored this idea in my book, Pain: The Ultimate Mentor, bringing together the science, empirical evidence and real-world experiences from my clinical work. From that came the Health Hexagon® — a framework for thinking about the six areas that have the greatest influence on how we juggle those competing demands.

Health Hexagon® AI is the next logical step.

It takes those discussions out of the clinic room and puts them into a simple conversational tool that anyone can use to explore the choices they face — and the rationale behind those choices — for both their current and future self.

Because it isn’t only pain that lets us know when we’re exceeding our capacity.

Irritability. Anxiety. Doubt. Low mood. Frustration. Insecurity. Nihilism. Imposter syndrome. Fatigue. Pain.

They can all be feedback.

Pain may shout the loudest, but perhaps rather than always trying to squash these signals, we should sometimes ask what they’re trying to tell us.

That’s really what Health Hexagon is about.

Playing the game of life a little smarter — for who you are now and the 85-year-old you’re becoming.

The video below explains the idea.

Have a watch. Try Health Hexagon® AI for free.

09/09/2025

Exercise is hard. In fact it's D.A.R.N hard but there in lies the secret to success for your current and future self. Read on to discover how a simple thought experiment can help you take care of your 85-year-old-self.
https://spinalphysio.co.uk/darn-exercise/

Exercise is hard. It's D.A.R.N hard but there in lies the secret to success for your current and future self. Read on to discover how a simple thought experimen

15/05/2025

Fearing the worst when it comes to pain is very common. The general assumption is that pain is bad and needs to be quashed but really it's an incredibly sophisticated system designed to guide us. We understand this when it comes to hydration as outlined in the infographic below but the same is true of many painful signals the body uses to grab our attention. Working with this vital mentor rather than trying to kill it can help you update the systems you need to put in place for the health and wellbeing of your current and future self.

06/03/2025

First, Do No Harm.
The all to common path to chronic pain.
Last week I gave a lecture to a group of medics about the impact of their words and the narratives they can reinforce or create for patients in pain and how this can relatively quickly go from a fairly simple acute event into chronic pain.
Have a listen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc8dMOb1huw&t=4168s

17/02/2025

Hurt and harm are not the same thing.

The latest Health Hexagon Podcast explores the various signals the body gives us to help optimise our health. Some of them do hurt but this is the bodies sophisticated way of trying to prevent us from harm.

https://rss.com/podcasts/the-health-hexagon/1900273/

In this episode, physiotherapist Kevin Hunt discusses The Purpose of Pain and why hurt and harm are not the same thing. He asks us to question what the role of pain is when it comes to looking after our health and wellbeing and why sometimes these important signals can become fearful triggers if we....

30/01/2025

In this episode Physiotherapist and author Kevin Hunt discusses how the brain learns and how it makes associations directly and indirectly. He explores why these circuits of information known as "neurotags" can be helpful and unhelpful. How they influence our view of the world and impact on the choi...