Don Kelly physical therapy and Acupuncture clinic

03/08/2026

Oscillating child pose

Start on your hands and knees.
Inhale and flex your entire spine, gently pulling through your navel and tucking your chin in.
Exhale whilst bending your knees to sit down on your heels.
Stay in this position for a moment as you inhale.
Exhale and arch over to your left side, inhale and come back to the central position.
Exhale and arch over the right side.
Continue this movement for a few repetitions.
Returning to the start position inhale and push your shins into the floor, pushing yourself back on to all fours, keeping a c-shaped spine.
Exhale and soften your spine, gently contract your back muscles to increase the extension and relax your abdominal muscles.
Gently inhale and return to a neutral, flat-back position.

Better fascia and tissue mobilization — small rocking motions help glide fascial layers along the lower back, hips, and thighs rather than just stretching them in one fixed line. This can release tension that a static hold misses.

Increased blood flow to the lumbar spine — gentle oscillation acts almost like a pump, pushing blood in and out of the lower back tissues, which can reduce stiffness faster than static stretching alone.

Self-myofascial release for the hips — rocking side to side shifts weight between the hips, letting you find and ease into tighter spots (like one hip being more restricted than the other) without forcing a stretch.

Gentle spinal segment mobilization — a slow forward-back rock can mobilize the vertebrae one at a time, similar to how cat-cow works but with gravity assisting rather than active flexion/extension.

03/08/2026

If you are struggling with persistent pain in your knees, hips, or lower back, the solution might not be where the pain is.

https://donkellypainrelief.ie/how-the-kinetic-chain-causes-pain-and-how-custom-orthotics-solve-it/

03/08/2026

Glute stretch - supine

Start position is lying on the back with the legs bent and the feet on the floor.
Lift one leg and cross that ankle over the opposite knee.
Reach between the legs grasping the back of the knee of the lower leg and then pull both legs in towards the chest.
The non-stretch leg should exert a slight pressure that assists in pushing the crossed leg upwards toward the chest.
Hold for as long as prescribed.

Better Hip Motion: Loosens tight glute muscles to make walking, climbing stairs, and squatting easier.
Lower Back Relief: Eases tension in the pelvis and lower spine caused by sitting too long.
Piriformis Relief: Calms the deep piriformis muscle to help reduce minor nerve or buttock discomfort.
Safe Support: Keeps your back flat on the floor, making it a safer choice than seated or standing stretches if you have poor balance or knee strain.

03/08/2026

Kneeling hip adductor stretch "Frog"

Kneel down and place your forearms on the floor in front of you.
Keeping your back straight, walk your knees out to the sides with your hips in the air.
You may need to use your hands to move your knees further apart.
When you feel a stretch down the inside of your thighs, hold this position.
Dropping your hips back towards your heels will increase the stretch.
Pushing your hips to one side will increase the stretch on the opposite side.

Stretches inner thighs: Lengthens the adductor muscles along the inside of your legs.
Opens tight hips: Helps your hip joints move outward and rotate more easily.Fixes stiffness from sitting:
Relieves tension caused by long hours in a chair.Improves squats and lunges: Allows your lower body to move deeper and more freely during exercise.

03/08/2026

We’ve all felt them—those stubborn, tender “knots” in our shoulders or neck that seem to radiate pain to places they have no business being. In the clinical world, these are known as Myofascial Trigger Points.

While they might feel like simple muscle tension, trigger points are complex physiological phenomena that can significantly disrupt your quality of life. Understanding how they work is the first step toward effective relief.

Suffering from chronic muscle pain? Our Physio Clinics in Limerick and Charleville specialize in Dry Needling and manual therapy to deactivate trigger points and restore mobility.

03/08/2026

Dynamic hamstring to hip flexor stretch on the spot

Stand up straight with a wall to your side.
Swing your affected leg up in front of you.
Keep this elevated leg straight as you rise up onto the ball of your stance foot.
Reach your opposite arm forward, aiming to kick your foot to your hand.
Swing this elevated leg down and back, allowing your knee to bend and your foot to swing behind you.
Your stance foot will flatten on the floor.
Reach your opposite arm up towards the ceiling as you do this.
Repeat this movement.

Key BenefitsWarms up muscles: Raises your body temperature and gets blood moving to your legs before exercise.Boosts flexibility: Lengthens tight hamstrings and opens up the hip joints dynamically.Better mobility: Helps you move smoothly during daily tasks or workouts without lowering muscle power.Prevents strains: Prepares the muscle fibers for active running, kicking, or bending.

01/08/2026

Hip flexor and knee extensor stretch in half-kneeling

Start in half-kneeling.
Take hold of the ankle behind you and support yourself by placing one hand on your thigh.
Pull your heel slowly towards your buttock while tightening your buttock muscles and straightening your hip.
Hold the stretch for a moment and then relax.

Benefits

Hip flexor group:

Lengthens the iliopsoas and re**us femoris, which shorten significantly from prolonged sitting
Reduces anterior pelvic tilt tendencies that come from chronically tight hip flexors pulling the pelvis forward
Can ease compensatory lower back extension/arching that often accompanies tight hip flexors during standing and walking

Knee extensor (quad) specific:

Targets the re**us femoris more completely than a standing quad stretch alone, since the half-kneeling position adds hip extension simultaneously with knee flexion
Useful for people with quad dominance patterns (common in cyclists, runners, and those who squat with excessive forward knee travel)

01/08/2026

Hip side opening in 90/90

Adopt a 90/90 seated position with your back upright and both knees bent to one side. Place your hand to the side of your front leg hip. Slowly rotate through your hips by lifting the buttock of your back leg and guiding it toward the opposite side, allowing your hips to rise slightly off the floor. As you move, reach your opposite arm overhead, letting your ribs gently open and expand to the side with an inhale.
Pause briefly, then return to the starting position by lowering your arm and hips with control. Aim to bring your buttock fully back to the floor. If that’s not yet possible, focus on guiding your sit bone toward the ground as far as is comfortable.

Benefits

Hip rotation (front leg):

Deepens the external rotation stretch on the front hip, targeting the deep hip rotators (including piriformis) and posterior glute
Improves rotational range needed for pivoting movements — useful for sports involving direction changes, and for general gait mechanics

Hip rotation (back leg):

Simultaneously stretches the internal rotators and anterior hip capsule on the back leg side
Since 90/90 trains both directions of rotation in one shape, it's efficient for addressing rotational asymmetries between hips (common after single-leg-dominant sports or old injuries)

Lateral hip/side body (the "opening" component):

Leaning into the side opening stretches the lateral hip structures — glute medius, and the IT band/TFL region indirectly — which don't get targeted much by front-to-back stretches alone
Opens the side ribcage and obliques on the stretched side, since the lean typically involves reaching the same-side arm overhead
Can relieve tightness that builds up from asymmetrical standing postures or hip-hiking compensations

Functional/movement quality:

90/90 transitions (moving hip to hip) build active hip control alongside the passive stretch, making this more functional than a pure static stretch
Improves comfort in seated positions that require rotation (floor sitting, some yoga and dance positions)
Often used in mobility training for runners, dancers, martial artists, and rotational-sport athletes to address hip capsule restrictions

31/07/2026

Pelvic tilt in hip adductor kneeling stretch

Start on your hands and knees, with your hands under your shoulders, and your knees under your hips. Place one leg out to the side at hip height, keeping your foot flat on the floor.
Start by arching your lower back and allowing your buttocks to tilt upwards.
Keep your neck and upper back in the same position.
Then flatten your back and allow your buttocks to tuck in underneath, ensuring you keep your neck and upper back in the same position.
Repeat.

Benefits

Adductor-specific:

Changes the stretch angle through the adductor group depending on tilt direction — posterior tilt tends to bias the stretch more toward the upper/proximal adductors near the p***c bone, while a neutral-to-anterior tilt shifts emphasis toward the mid-belly of the muscle
Helps address adductor tightness that doesn't fully release with a single static angle, since muscle fibers run somewhat differently across the group
Useful for athletes in cutting/lateral sports (soccer, hockey, tennis) where adductor strain and tightness are common

Pelvic/lumbar integration:

Trains active pelvic control while under a peripheral stretch — a coordination skill that's often missing when people only stretch passively
A posterior pelvic tilt in this position can also gently stretch the hip flexor on the kneeling-leg side, so you get a two-for-one effect
Helps people who tend to compensate for hip tightness by overarching or flattening their lower back learn to dissociate pelvic movement from spinal movement

Motor control/functional:

Builds the mind-muscle connection between pelvic position and hip mobility, which carries over to squatting, lunging, and running mechanics
Useful rehab tool for people with groin strains once acute pain has settled, since it reintroduces controlled movement rather than pure passive stretching

31/07/2026

Squatting frog stretch

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, and squat down between your legs with your knees turned out.
Put your fingers underneath your toes for balance, and bring your chest up.
Push your elbows into your thighs to push the knees out further, stretching the inside of your thighs.