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But we are proud to say that Shaun Brewster contributed 71 entries already.
A patient walks into your clinic with anterior knee pain. Their quads are weak. Squatting hurts. Stairs are a problem. Easy. Strengthen the quads. Except… why are the quads weak? That question matters more than we sometimes realise. Because weakness isn’t always simply a lack of strength. Sometimes the nervous system is actively limiting how […]
The word placebo has a branding problem. In healthcare, calling something a placebo is often interpreted as saying the treatment is fake, the practitioner is somehow tricking the patient or—perhaps worst of all—that the patient’s improvement is “all in their head.” But that’s not what modern placebo research tells us. In fact, placebo research provides […]
Understanding the mechanisms behind the manual therapies you use, will forever change the way you design and deliver your treatments. I know that when I went through my undergraduate training, much of the explanations I was given for how the various manual therapies work, was based on the mechanics of force, load and tissue response. […]
As we each progress through our individual careers in manual therapy, we tend to accumulate various skills, tools and approaches. Our professional development is often built on the idea that we need to learn new things and “stack” modalities into our toolkit. What I’ve often seen happen is practitioners ultimately feeling the need to utilise […]
My favourite day of the week is deadlift day…After a brisk 15-minute walk to the gym, I cut a bee line and went straight to the deadlift platform. I started with two warm-up sets at 60 kg, ten reps each. Then added two more plates for the next set. On my second repetition, I felt […]
This is the time of year that many of us will be setting our intentions, making plans and committing to new things.New Year’s resolutions and goal setting almost feels like expectations, but why do those goals often NOT get met? In my experience, there are a few things we can do that will help increase […]
Is pain a manifestation of a heightened perceived level of threat? Remember that we learn what is threatening from our previous experience so we can make better decisions it in the future. But sometimes that learned behaviour sticks even after the tissue has healed of the stimulus is removed. Simply believing that something is dangerous […]
If you’ve sat in a class room with me, you’ve most likely heard me talk about four levels of effect when it comes to manual therapies. I like to break it down this way, because it shows just how vast the mechanisms of effect that we are interacting with actually are. Old school manual therapy education told us that […]
Palpation is a valuable tool that can aid building our therapeutic alliance and support our assessment and treatment approach. It allows us to search for areas of pain and confirm these areas of discomfort with our patient. In manual therapy, we are trained to feel for tight muscles, taut bands, tender spots, with the belief […]
Shifting your mindset and understanding of pain as a process provides insight into the complexity of the pain experience. Importantly, this experience is unique to the individual person, life experience, and environmental factors, all of which can all play a role in this process. I am often faced with interactions with other clinicians that raise […]
As health practitioners, people come to us for advice and guidance.Our opinion is often considered as “fact” by those seeking our input. Because of this, the responsibility we bear in each interaction is considerable, and must be taken seriously. The old saying “Dr knows best” is obviously incorrect, because no medical / health practitioner will […]
This year we held our Greek Islands Manual Therapy Retreat 2025 on the Instagram worthy island of Santorini from Saturday 3rd to Saturday 10th May, and what an incredible week it was. To give you a better understanding of what ACE Retreats entail, we thought it is best to give you a run through of each […]
When someone says, “I have a bad back,” it often reflects much more than a description of musculoskeletal pain or pathology. This labelling implies that there is a strong internal model that is formed through prior experience, where the back is perceived as being vulnerable or damaged. Consider how you navigate the world, and your […]
As I travel around the country, teaching the various modalities that we cover in our courses, I often find myself having the same conversation with clinicians, about a very real challenge that they face.That challenge is tied to the realisation that when they learn something new, and decide to change they way they work, that […]
For many people living with pain a structural narrative becomes tightly bound to their identity. “I have two herniated discs,” “I have osteoarthritis,” “I have a torn rotator cuff.” “I have chronic pain” Over time, these labels can become part of a person’s sense of self. The language used by clinicians, can inadvertently reinforce this identity of fragility, damage […]
A topic that often comes up in conversation at our courses, but also more broadly within the health professions is scope of practice.We’ve probably all be told at some point that a particular treatment approach, the use of certain tools, or a specific modality is outside of your scope of practice. But what, or who […]
During a recent consultation, my patient told me she couldn’t run because she had a “weak tendon.” She said her Achilles had degenerated, so she avoided running. I asked her what she meant by that, and she replied, “Well, structure equals function, right?” (Interestingly, she didn’t have any Achilles pain.) Structure equals function…until it doesn’t. This principle applies […]
It doesn’t matter where I travel to, every clinic owner I speak to has the same or similar challenges. Paramount amongst those challenges, is finding and keeping great staff. It is so common that clinic owners struggle to find enough staff, or perhaps enough good quality staff, but then when they get them, their next […]
Who is responsible for achieving your goals? The answer lies in self-efficacy. This is defined as the belief in your ability to accomplish what you set out to do. Improving self-efficacy requires positive internal beliefs rather than relying on external assistance. In clinical practice very early in the consultation process, I will discuss with my […]
Business has always been a fascination and passion of mine. I love that we can take an idea, something we have created or something we know, and turn it into something that can help others. It is so rewarding when that thing is valued by others, and if we get really good at this, it […]
How certain are we about the causes we identify? Before labelling something as the cause, have we genuinely explored all possibilities? We often take the path of least resistance, seeking confirmation for our assumptions rather than challenging them. For example, if a patient presents with back pain and we examine them through a structural lens, […]
I’ve been thinking lately about this idea of uncertainty in clinical practice, and the impact it has on us all. As clinicians, we are regularly faced with situations where what we believe will happen, doesn’t. We also regularly see patient problems that don’t fit a particular mould, and therefor are difficult to wrap a solution […]
Some time ago, I was in a Vietnamese restaurant in Cabramatta NSW. Those who know the area will confirm that ‘Cabra’ is about as authentic as it gets outside of Vietnam, hence it’s nickname ‘Little Saigon’. I was there with some work colleagues after a dry needling course. One of my colleagues ordered a combination […]
Bo and I are very fortunate to be able to travel and teach in many locations every year, and in doing so, we get to meet and speak to hundreds and hundreds of fantastic health practitioners. Each person has their own unique experiences and perspectives.In these interactions we get the opportunity to answer many questions, […]
Do you feel more anxious when someone else is in control? Are you more worried or less confident? Are you more tense as a passenger? Does your emotion or behaviour influence the driver and make them more tense? Or perhaps you feel more nervous in the driver’s seat and prefer someone else to take control? […]
Advanced Clinical Education (ACE) originally set out to become the most trusted and respected source of quality post graduate education for health practitioners in the manual therapy professions. What followed has continued to blow us away every single day.
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