Warts on your feet: they can be frustrating, come up when you least expect them, and cause you significant pain and discomfort when they arise on a weight-bearing part of your foot like your heel, the forefoot, or between the toes. What’s worse is that many of the standard wart treatments such as using over-the-counter wart pads purchased from pharmacies have limited or unpredictable success rates, while also posing a risk to your foot health if the solution on the wart pad gets in contact with the healthy skin surrounding the wart, causing it to painfully break down. So what’s the solution ..read more

Walking down the stairs without tripping, walking over gravel or uneven ground with ease, being able to balance on one leg as we slip on a shoe onto the other foot, even just feeling safe navigating the floors at home – these are all important aspects of our ability to balance that is often taken for granted, despite being important for our health and well-being.  Our balance is the harmonious coordination of our body’s muscles, joints, and sensory systems that allows us to maintain stability and perform a wide range of activities effortlessly and naturally. Beyond just preventing falls ..read more

Feeling short of breath: that’s just what happens when we overdo it while being active, or a natural part of getting older that we can’t really do anything about – right? Not quite. The reality is that there is a wide range of reasons for us to feel short of breath, and in many cases (depending on the underlying cause), there are several things that your physiotherapist can do to help you breathe with greater ease – which then means you move throughout your day with greater ease, sleep more comfortably, and feel less limited in the activities you can say ‘yes’ to. Here’s an inside look into s ..read more

As we grow older, maintaining our mobility and independence becomes increasingly important. There’s a lot that can start to work against us with age – including greater joint stiffness, poorer coordination, reduced bone density and muscle strength, to name a few. These factors impair a person’s mobility and balance, and put them at risk of falls, broken bones and other issues that can take away from their independence. The real impact of a reduction in mobility is often much greater – with the ability to meet our exercise guidelines being associated with reductions in the risk of cardiovascul ..read more

Pregnancy is a time filled with a rollercoaster of emotions – nervousness, excitement, anticipation – and unfortunately for almost one-third of expectant mothers, one where they’ll encounter a painful condition called symphysis pubis dysfunction[1]. Often referred to as “pelvic girdle pain”, symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD) describes the pain at the front of a joint called the symphysis pubis, where the right and left pubic bones meet. These bones are firmly connected by a small fibrocartilaginous disc with four primary supporting ligaments that allow very little movement of the joint in eve ..read more

A lot of information produced on a person’s pelvic floor health largely talks about pelvic floor exercises and maintenance during the pregnancy and postpartum stages in women. So many people are often surprised when they learn about the crucial importance of the pelvic floor for both women and men, given they form part of the deep core muscles and impact everything from our urinary and faecal incontinence to our sexual function and pelvic pain[1], regardless of gender. Here’s a closer look into why it’s important to look after your pelvic floor throughout your lifetime (not just in pregnancy ..read more

Chances are, most of us will have experienced painful, tender or swollen knots in our muscles at some point in the past, with up to 85% of the population shown to have suffered from knots at some point in their lives. Generally recognised as small, firm nodules of muscle that are painful to the touch, knots can affect almost any muscle in the body, including the back, shoulders, and even the feet and and calves. While knots and trigger points can be frustrating and achy, in some cases, without effective treatment the pain can become chronic, with symptoms lasting six months or longer. This ca ..read more

Tension headaches feel like tightness or pressure – like a tightening band – around your head. They’re the most common type of headache experienced in adults, affecting approximately 80% of people at some point in their life. As they cause pain in the head, neck and behind their eyes, that sometimes starts from the shoulder and neck, tension headaches can be debilitating and disruptive to everyday life including your sleep, work and exercise. They can also lead to you feeling tired, irritable, or sensitive to light or noise. While it’s tempting to immediately reach for painkillers like ibupro ..read more

While having a fall as you grow older is often viewed as needing to “be more careful next time”, the reality is that the natural ageing process brings with it a wide range of changes to the body that make older adults more likely to have a fall.  In Hong Kong, a 2018 survey showed that a fall was the most common type of unintentional injury, accounting for 39.4% of all injury episodes that occurred over a 12-month period. Other countries have similar statistics, with falls accounting for 40% of all of Australia’s injury-related deaths as well as 42% of their hospitalised injuries, with o ..read more

Whether you’re a runner, have just started exercising, or simply want to manage things like casual walks to work or household chores, heel pain is one problem that can stand in your way. Heel pain is a common problem that affects up to 10% of adults at any one time.  There are various causes of heel pain that our physiotherapists see and treat across our Hong Kong Central and Wong Chuk Hang clinics, which include: An Achilles injury: your cord-like Achilles tendon is the strongest and largest tendon in your body, attaching to the back of your heel bone. When the Achilles is overloaded ..read more