And osteopaths, chiropractors or any other manual therapist.

Unless they are making special claims for their technique,  which they can back up with evidence,  the truth of the matter is that all manual therapies are doing one of three things-

• Breaking down adhesions, scar tissue and restrictions, whether in fascia, muscle or connective tissue
• Resetting the joint position sense and neural signalling around the affected area
• Improving fluid flow and drainage of the tissue.

That’s it, that’s all we do. However, the reason you need to keep a good osteopath or physiotherapist on speed dial is because the real trick is knowing which one needs to be done, what tools and techniques should be used when, how and where, as the true cause of the problem may not be at the place it hurts.

One classic example of this, that many have suffered from and lots fail to treat effectively,  is plantar fasciitis. The too familiar pain lancing into the sole of your foot when you first stand up, it is caused by inflammation and microtearing in the fibrous tissue running along the foot, generally near the heel. Traditional treatment is to brace, stretch and possibly inject cortisone, all of which take time and often fail to address the question why it failed in the first place.

A better complete approach, using the above concept,  is to not just treat the foot locally,  but look away for restrictions and signalling issues elsewhere as well. Only then,  once the underlying issue is addressed,  can real recovery and progress be made.

Gym free exercise of the day.

2 minutes breathing practice while swinging arms and legs to open the joints.

3 X 30 seconds skipping on the spot, imagining a rope if space / equipment restricts.

5 x 1 minute Burpee superman interupt. 30 secs recovery between sets.

Squat down, thrust legs back to pressup position,  lower your chest to the floor then take hands up above the head to full extension. Raise opposite hand and leg off the floor. Repeat for the other side, then hands to chest, push up, legs back in to squat position and jump up.

2 minute breathing practice, with stretching.

Notes-

The objective of the warmup is to check and prepare joints for range of motion,  followed by getting the cardiorespiratory system ready.

The core of the workout is to get every muscle in the body firing to stimulate a high level of intensity. By lifting the arms and legs off the ground,  you break the fascial tension that can be used as a spring rebound mechanism,  so it becomes harder.

Scaling if you are unable to do burpees or pressups would be 3 standing air squats with a pause at the bottom, followed by 3 kneeling pressups with hand / leg lift. If the pressups are still too challenging,  wall pressups (pushing off the wall) followed by arm / leg extensions. If in doubt, try the one you think you might fail at to push yourself.