The Active Healthcare Practice

This one is just a thank you. ❤️

Because I don’t think we say this enough as small business owners.

There are so many places you could spend your money.

So when you choose to spend some of it with me, I genuinely never take that for granted.

Every appointment you book.
Every time you come back.
Every person you recommend me to.
Every review, share, comment or “you need to go and see Julia” conversation I’ll probably never even know happened. 😂

It all matters.

This little practice is something I’ve built from scratch, and every single person who walks through my door has helped me build it into what it is today.

And the fact that so many of you trust me with your aches, pains, injuries, worries, wobbles and occasionally your entire life story while I’m working on your glutes 😂 is an absolute privilege.

So if you’ve made space in your budget for my business this year…

Thank you. Truly. ❤️

I’m very, very grateful that you’re here.

Back pain - Injury treatment - TECAR radiofrequency - Acupuncture - NMES - Sports Massage - Osteopathic Treatment

I know. These are dreadful. 😂

But if they’ve raised even just a hint of a smile, then that makes me happy.

Seriously though, I’m absolutely fascinated by human anatomy.

I actually had to take Anatomy & Physiology twice — once when I trained in massage, and then all over again when I did my PT qualification.

And I’m not exaggerating when I say I cried through much of the first lot of exams. 😂 There was SO MUCH to learn.

But by the time I had to do it again for PT, something had clicked. I’d stopped just trying to memorise names and started to understand how everything fitted together — and why it mattered.

And that was it. I was hooked.

Fun fact: the scapula has around 17 muscle attachments — so its “serious attachment issues” are actually quite impressive. 😂 And it gives you some idea why shoulder pain can be so bloody complicated.

So yes, I can tell you where your piriformis is, what attaches to your scapula and what your SCM does.

Unfortunately, I can also make terrible jokes about all of them.

You’re welcome. 😂💀

HOW NOT TO MAKE THE CLASSIC ROOKIE MISTAKE AT THE GYM… 👀

September has arrived.

Kids are back at school. Holidays are over. The summer BBQs and beers have done their worst and suddenly everyone’s thinking…

RIGHT. THAT’S IT. I’M GETTING FIT. 😂

And I LOVE the enthusiasm.

But this is also the time of year when I start seeing the consequences of going from not very much… to ALL OF IT.

Five gym sessions.
Three runs.
Heavier weights.
Longer distances.

Because here’s the sneaky bit:

You can feel fitter and stronger surprisingly quickly.

Your nervous system gets better at the job. Your technique improves. Your coordination improves. The weights start going up.

And you think:

Ooooh. I’m GOOD at this. MORE. 💪😂

Meanwhile, your tendons are still adapting to this exciting new life you’ve signed them up for.

And then, a few weeks later…

👋 Hello Achilles.
👋 Hello knee.
👋 Hello elbow.

There’s a reason Couch to 5K takes 9 weeks.

Good training isn’t about seeing how much you can do as quickly as possible.

It’s about giving your body a challenge, letting it adapt, then asking it for a little more.

So absolutely get back in the gym.
Get back to running.
Get stronger. Get fitter.

Just maybe don’t go from couch to Rocky montage in a fortnight. 😂

Your body is brilliant at adapting.

You just have to give it the chance. 💚

And if you haven’t gone back to the gym because every time you try to start exercising, something hurts and you end up stopping again…

come and see me.

We can work out what’s getting in the way and build you a realistic, progressive plan so that this time, instead of another cycle of:

start → hurt → stop → repeat 🔄

…we make this time different. 💚

FIVE MSK HILLS I’M QUITE PREPARED TO DIE ON. ⛰️😂

The longer I do this job, the more things I become increasingly unwilling to nod politely about.

Pain does not automatically mean damage.

A scary MRI report does not tell me how much pain you should be in.

Muscles do not need beating into submission.

Resting something indefinitely is rarely going to make it better.

And if your therapist has convinced you that your body requires them to regularly fix it in order to function…

I have questions. 👀

I absolutely love hands-on treatment. I use massage, needling, TECAR, taping and plenty more.

But they’re tools.

The bigger goal is getting you back to trusting, moving and using your body — without being terrified that something has slipped, gone out, worn away or needs putting back.

These are my five.

Although, as the final slide suggests…

Instagram has limits.
Apparently I don’t. 😂

Now I want yours.

What MSK/health/fitness hill are YOU prepared to die on? 👇

THIS APPOINTMENT WAS ABOUT SO MUCH MORE THAN TREATING A SORE BACK AND KNEES. 💚

Brian came in wanting to feel better — but, more importantly, he’s decided he wants to do something about his health and fitness.

So yes, we treated the areas that were hurting.

But we also sat down and talked about where he is now, where he wants to get to, and how we can build a realistic plan to get him there.

Brian had already found himself a 30-day Instagram fitness challenge:

100 press-ups or 100 sit-ups. Every day. For 30 days.

I may have gently suggested we DIDN’T start there. 😂

Because challenges like that can be brilliant motivation when you already have a reasonable fitness base.

But when you’re starting from scratch?

Day one: I’m changing my life! 💪
Day two: DOMS has entered the chat.
Day three: getting off the toilet has become an extreme sport.

And suddenly that exciting new fitness regime isn’t quite so appealing.

Worse still, doing far too much, far too soon is a pretty good way of aggravating the very aches and pains that made you want to get fitter in the first place.

So instead, we’re building from the ground up.

Simple exercises.
A manageable amount.
Gradual progression.
Goals that actually fit into Brian’s life.

Nothing particularly Instagram-worthy.

But that’s the point.

We’re not trying to survive 30 days. We’re trying to build something he can still be doing in 30 weeks.

Treatment can help someone feel better today.

But helping them become stronger, fitter and more confident in what their body can do?

That’s where things can really start to change.

And Brian is absolutely determined to put the work in. 💚

Thank you for the lovely review, Brian — now we’ve just got to keep you away from Instagram fitness challenges. 😂

DEEP TISSUE vs SPORTS MASSAGE… WHAT’S ACTUALLY THE DIFFERENCE? 👀

Spoiler: it isn’t that sports massage hurts more.

And it definitely isn’t just deep tissue massage with someone leaning on you harder. 😂

Sports massage is about the knowledge and clinical reasoning behind the treatment.

It means understanding anatomy, movement, injury and pathology. It means asking questions, assessing what’s going on and adapting the treatment to the person on the couch.

And sometimes that treatment might be deep and firm.

Sometimes it might be gentle.

Sometimes it might involve movement, stretching, rehab advice or exercises.

And sometimes you might just need an hour on the couch because your entire body feels knackered.

All completely valid.

The old “no pain, no gain” approach to sports massage really needs to stay in the past.

Digging elbows in until you scream, or stripping your calves and “releasing” your IT band while you bite the back of your hand, stopped being a thing about ten years ago.

So if that’s still happening in your sports massage… 🙄😂

And despite the name, you absolutely do NOT need to play sport.

You can run marathons.

You can play golf.

You can walk the dog.

You can sit at a desk all week.

Your body doesn’t check your Strava account before it’s allowed a sports massage. 😂

You don’t even need to have anything particularly wrong with you.

Feeling stiff, achey, tired, overloaded — or simply knowing that your body feels better when you have regular massage — is reason enough.

Because good sports massage isn’t about how hard your therapist can press.

It’s about knowing when to press, where to work, when NOT to, and why.

Want to know why some of my regulars have been coming back for a decade?

DM me.