Beyond Physiotherapy

19/06/2023

Had a great Physiotherapy rider clinic today in Pyle. Huge thankyou to Liz Jones for allowing us to use her fantastic facilities at Willowbrook.
All the clients are off to represent Wales at BD youth interregionals in 2 weeks and wanted to ensure that they were in tip top shape.

The clinic setting worked really well and I would like to continue this format with monthly clinics at a variety of venues.
If you think you could hold a rider Physiotherapy clinic please contact me and we can arrange some dates.
I have a couple of venues already in place so looking to add some more.
I only need a stable to work from 🙏

17/06/2023

17/06/2023

⭐️Let’s talk about the gluteal muscles⭐️

There is a lot of talk about these muscles but what are they? What do they do?

They are a group of muscles
🦵Gluteus maximum
🦵Gluteus medius
🦵Gluteus Minimus

They work to move the leg
Collectively they work hard to move the hip and keep your pelvis straight when you walk and RIDE

They become 60% less efficient the longer we sit in a chair. However, we don’t notice it as other muscles take over.

When we ride horses this becomes really noticeable as the body is working in a position it doesn’t spend much time in.

What can we do?
The body MUST have the ability to be able to move. Then we can start to make those gluts stronger and ultimately RIDE BETTER 👏👏👏

If you want to see if your gluts are working, get in touch

16/06/2023

“It’s not all about the back”

Yesterday I was asked to assess a rider 👏
Her complaint was pain in the groin and the adductors (inside of the thigh)
On assessment we found she didn’t have full range of movement in her left ankle

I could have just treated the pain she complained of BUT that would not have resolved the problem.

Began to treat the ankle -and we will stop the groin and adductor pain.

From a riding perspective an ankle injury has a HUGE knock on effect. The ankle needs full movement for jumping as the stirrups become shorter.
Lack of ankle movement means you will compensate at the hip and pelvis resulting in lack of symmetry and lack of balance

As a Chartered Physiotherapist it is my job to find out WHY there is an issue and not to just treat the symptoms.

If you think you may need an assessment (for whatever part of the body) get in touch

15/06/2023

Have a listen to this podcast from fellow ACPAT and Chartered Physiotherapist specialising in riders.
Another physio advocating resolving issues OFF the horse 👏
If you are asymmetrical OFF the horse this will not magically disappear when you are riding. It is potentially magnified leading to a host of compensations for horse and rider

Listen to this episode from Equestrian Voices on Spotify. There’s so much more to your seat and symmetry in the saddle than meets the eye. It’s not just about good equitation or looking pretty in the saddle. Your horse’s health, musculature, and soundness are profoundly impacted by your balanc...

14/06/2023

Such a great survey being done if anybody would like to contribute

We are interested in understanding how horse riding and saddle seat design impacts on the presence of any pain in the rider while riding. There is a growing body of literature suggesting a high prevalence of chronic pain in this population. Horse riding is physically demanding and requires that the....

13/06/2023

Whilst preparing for next weeks online
‘managing the rider talk’ for ACPAT I came across this.
Highly appropriate I feel!

When a rider is trying as hard as they can to improve maybe there is a reason for lack of progress 🤷‍♀️

12/06/2023

Such a great post
I am just going to highlight the last sentence (in case you don’t read to the very end)

“All the bodywork and supplements in the world won’t change a bad movement pattern if you keep riding the horse crooked-the ONLY one who can fix that is you”

There is help out there to address rider issues. The human body MUST be able to move in order to move WITH the horse.
If your body doesn’t move or you have compensations that your instructor cannot resolve please get in touch. We can help 🙏

Rehab: it conjures up thoughts of bodywork, supplements, red light, magnetic blankets, all the fixings.
It’s fun to get into the toys, and most of us go overboard on the little details.

Those things can be extremely helpful. There is an enormous amount of benefit in supportive treatments, nutrition and other details for helping the horse be healthy

But the horse cannot make true, lasting changes until the human commits to learning to handle and ride to STRAIGHTNESS.

All the therapies in the world won’t fix the problem if the horse is perpetually handled and ridden crooked, without engagement, and in the wrong movement patterns.

Rehab, to be successful, HAS to involve the human taking strides to be straighter, more aware, more fluid and knowing how to guide a horse well.

Don’t let yourself just get caught in the feel good trappings: it’s fun to watch bodywork make the horse feel nice. It’s fun to buy supplements. It’s fun to consult animal communicators and healers and it’s important to keep a broad perspective, BUT

Don’t forget horses body has to learn to have the postural tone to change the problem at the source. All the bodywork and supplements in the world won’t change a bad movement pattern if you keep riding the horse crooked - the only one who can fix that is you-