So over the last 14 years of my career, I have had some fairly strong opinions and views, and they have evolved and changed.

But I now sit in a situation where I want to question other people, not in a disparaging, disrespectful way, but I want to understand why we do what we do and why we believe what we believe.

When somebody comes to me, having been told by another practitioner that their hip is out, or their pelvis is not in line, or they have bad posture, I want to understand why that's the perception. Why we believe if we do movements in a certain way, it will prevent us from getting injuries. If that's the case wouldn't everybody who does the movements you do, have pain?

If it's a posture problem, why doesn't everyone who has rounded shoulders have shoulder pain and chest pain and neck pain?

At what point do we become dysfunctional?

Is dysfunction perception…is dysfunction inability to do what we need to do, or what we want to do in our life? And does a pelvic tilt, (which according to research, we're really bad at determining) really change how you live your life? If you've just had a baby, and you feel ready and equipped to return to exercise, should you not simply because you have been told not to? Or should we be allowed to make those decisions and put our own restrictions on our life?

Now there are always circumstances where restrictions are important. But there are some circumstances where we over restrict patients. I've done it myself. I've told people not to do certain things because that could make them worse. The reality is most people will do those things anyway and don't very often get worse.

Yes, there are people out there who do better in certain positions and postures. But rather than me telling you all the things you're doing wrong, perhaps we should sit from a place of what are you doing right.

So as I watch other people pass their opinion and judgment on how we do things, I'm trying to find a way to respectfully question them.

NIcola Robertson

Registered Physiotherapist