The Woodford Physio

The Woodford Physio Specialist physiotherapy & sports injury clinic in Woodford, Stockport. Led by Rick Porter, with elite-sport experience.

We treat back, neck, knee & shoulder pain with expert, personalised care. Move beyond pain — book today or grab a free 15-min consult.

16/09/2026

If you have been stretching your hip flexors for months with nothing to show for it, watch the left side again.

Three ways this goes wrong. Leaning sideways to find the stretch. Bracing stiff instead of letting it relax. Lifting the hip instead of rotating it.

Every one of them feels like a stretch. None of them is doing what you think it is doing.

Which one caught you out? Tell me below, I do read them.

Follow for more like this 👣

📍 The Woodford Physio

15/09/2026

Your knee probably did one of these two things. Which one it did changes everything about what happens next.

The reel shows you the difference. Fully straighten or not. Stand on it under pressure or not. Swelling, or catching on rotation.

What it does not show you is how I actually test for each one, because a side by side comparison is not an assessment.

Comment KNEE and I will send you the video where I do the assessment for both.

Which side was yours? Tell me below.

14/09/2026

Before you argue with me about foam rolling being D tier, read this.

The ranking is not the point. Every one of these has a place. The problem is which one you are spending most of your time on.

If your hips have been tight for years and your routine is mostly stretching and rolling, you have been living in C and D. That is why it keeps coming back.

S tier is not an exercise. It is a process: assess, find what is limiting you, address it, then progressively challenge it. The reel tells you that. It does not show you how to do it.

Comment TIER and I will send you the video where I walk through the assessment and what to do at each step.

Where would you have put foam rolling? Tell me below, I do read them.

Follow for more like this 👣

13/09/2026

If your knee popped, swelled up fast, and you are now reading this instead of getting it looked at, keep going.

Those three clues are not there so you can diagnose yourself. They are there so you know what to say when you do get assessed, because "it just hurts" gets you a very different appointment to "it popped, swelled within the hour, and locks when I turn."

The clues tell me what to test next. The reel stops there.

Comment KNEE and I will send you the video where I actually do the assessment for each one.

Which clue matched yours? Tell me below.

Follow for more like this 👣

10/09/2026

Parts of your legs you probably aren't training, but you should.

1. Popliteus. Train it with tibial internal rotation, the JEMS listening foot.
2. Deep hip rotators. Train them with a lying ball press.
3. Medial fibres of soleus. Train them with a rotated seated heel raise.
4. Foot and toe control. Train it with toe-ga.

Most leg work covers the big movers. These four are the ones that quietly get missed, and they matter for how the whole leg handles load.

Save this for your next leg session.

Follow for more like this 👣

08/09/2026

If your pelvic movements feel fine on the floor but nothing changes when you stand up, this might be why.

Follow for more like this 👣

If you stretch your hips every day and they still feel tight, more stretching is not the answer. That tension is often y...
07/09/2026

If you stretch your hips every day and they still feel tight, more stretching is not the answer. That tension is often your hip guarding itself, and mobility is about how easily you move, not how far you can reach. I swapped the four most common hip stretches for what I actually use with patients, all in this week's video. Comment FREEHIPS and I will send you the link.

General information, not a diagnosis. If it is not settling, please get it assessed.

06/09/2026

Before you stretch your lower back again, try this.

Your lower back is influenced by the hip and the pelvis from below, and they may be contributing more to it than you realise. These two movements help relieve the tension that is playing onto your lower back.

Start with the pelvis. Forwards and backwards, side to side, then round and round. 6 to 8 repetitions of each movement in each direction, nice and smooth.

Then a dynamic hip mobiliser. A smooth movement down towards the floor, taking your hip towards your heel, then press through your feet to come back. Hold onto something for support or relax onto your own leg. 8 to 10 repetitions each side.

Share this with a friend who is always stretching their back.

Follow for more like this 👣

04/09/2026

The way you stand in your squat decides which muscles are doing the work.

Normal squat. Vertical force moving through the hips.

Twisted squat. A combination of movements across multiple joints, combining the fascial slings.

Pulse squat. Preparing the body for more rapid changes in shock absorption.

Same exercise, three different jobs. If you only ever do one of them, you are only training one of them.

Follow for more like this 👣

03/09/2026

If you stretch your hips every day and they still feel tight, this is for you.

These are the four hip stretches I see most often in clinic. Each one gives you a strong stretch sensation, and each one tends to buy you about an hour before the tightness comes back. Here is what I use instead.

1. Hip flexor stretch. Instead, an eased hip flexor lengthening. Hand on the area, breathing, moving gently back and forth for about 30 seconds a side.

2. Pigeon stretch. Instead, the bent knee fallout. One knee falls away, your pelvis stays calm, and on the return you get a small, clean rotation through the hip.

3. Hip wipers. Instead, the side-lying thigh slide. It teaches your pelvis to rotate as the socket of the hip, separate from your trunk. Keep the distance between pelvis and ribcage constant.

4. Forcing rotation under load. Instead, the static lunge rotation. Still load through the hip, but it learns to rotate with the trunk and pelvis together. If you are short on time, this is the one to do.

Stretching still has a place. But if the tightness keeps coming back, your body is asking a question the stretch is not answering.

Comment "HIPS" and I will send you the full video with the reps and sets for each one.

Follow for more like this 👣

Address

431b Chester Road
Woodford
SK71QP

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 9pm
Tuesday 1pm - 9pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 9pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 11am - 4pm

Telephone

+447595321858

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Woodford Physio posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to The Woodford Physio:

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category