The Stabilisation Academy

The swelling settles. The pain improves. They can walk again.

But after an ankle sprain…

what exercise do you actually give next?

A calf raise?

Band inversion and eversion?

Single-leg balance?

A wobble board?

Hopping?

And more importantly…

Why that exercise? Why now?

This is where ankle sprain rehab can become far more complex than simply progressing through a standard list of exercises.

Because your patient doesn’t just need a “stronger ankle”.

They need the ability to sense, organise, adapt and stabilise under changing demands.

They need to manage load.

Respond to the ground.

Control movement.

Create stiffness when required.

Allow movement when required.

And eventually transfer all of that into walking, running, landing, changing direction and returning to sport.

So when you choose an exercise after an ankle sprain, the question shouldn’t simply be:

“What ankle exercise should I give?”

It should be:

“What function am I trying to restore?”

Because stability is not the same as strength.

Balance is not the same as control.

And standing on one leg for 30 seconds doesn’t necessarily tell you whether someone is ready to run, cut, land or return to sport.

This is exactly why I created my Understanding & Applying Foot Stabilisation Principles Masterclass for health and movement professionals.

If you’re a physio, podiatrist, osteopath, EP, chiropractor, sports therapist or movement professional and you’ve ever looked at a patient after an ankle sprain and thought…

“What exercise should I actually give them next?”

This masterclass is for you.

👇 Comment “MASTERCLASS” below and I’ll send you the link.

👶 Are kids really becoming more uncoordinated… or are we just accepting it as “normal”?

“I’ll grow out of it.”

“They’re just clumsy.”

“It’s only growing pains.”

These are some of the most common things I hear. But what if they’re actually signs that a child’s movement system isn’t developing as efficiently as it could?

Frequent tripping.
Poor balance.
Reduced coordination.
Difficulty keeping up in sport.
“Osgood’s”, “Sever’s”, recurring ankle sprains or persistent “growing pains”.

These aren’t diagnoses- they’re clues.

As health professionals, we need to stop looking only at where the pain is and start assessing how the child moves.

A comprehensive biomechanical and movement assessment can reveal movement strategies, stability deficits, foot function, developmental movement patterns and compensation that may be contributing to their symptoms long before they become bigger problems.

Pain is often the last thing to appear, not the first.

Let’s help children move better, not simply wait and hope they “grow out of it.”

📍 Are you a parent of a child living in Perth?

If you’ve noticed your child frequently tripping, struggling with balance or coordination, complaining of “growing pains”, or simply not moving as confidently as you’d expect, it may be worth taking a closer look at how their whole body is functioning.

Book a comprehensive biomechanical and movement assessment at From The Feet Up Sports & Podiatry Clinic in Subiaco.

👣 We look beyond just the feet to assess how your child moves, stabilises and coordinates from the ground up.

🎥 Why Doesn’t Anything Show on the Scan, But the Patient Still Has Pain?

As health professionals, we’ve all seen it.

The MRI is clear.
The ultrasound is unremarkable.
The X-ray shows nothing significant.

Yet the patient sitting in front of you is still experiencing pain.

So what’s going on?

One of the biggest misconceptions in rehabilitation is assuming that pain and tissue pathology always correlate.

The reality is that scans show structure.

They don’t show:
✔ Movement quality
✔ Load tolerance
✔ Neuromuscular control
✔ Coordination
✔ Compensation strategies
✔ Nervous system sensitivity

This is why some people have significant findings on imaging and no symptoms, while others have persistent pain despite “normal” scans.

If we focus solely on what appears on imaging, we risk missing the bigger picture.

The question shouldn’t always be:

❌ “What does the scan show?”

Instead, we should be asking:

✅ “How is this person functioning?”
✅ “How are they moving?”
✅ “What is driving the load on the painful area?”
✅ “What adaptations has the body developed?”

Understanding foot and lower limb rehabilitation requires more than identifying structures.

It requires understanding movement.

Because sometimes the most important findings aren’t visible on a scan.

🎓 Want a clearer understanding of foot function, movement, and rehabilitation?

Comment MASTERCLASS below and I’ll send you access to my free training:

Understanding & Applying Foot Stabilisation Principles

🦶 Is Morton’s Toe changing the way your patient moves?

A longer second toe (often called Morton’s Toe or Morton’s Foot Structure) is more than just an anatomical variation - it can influence how the foot loads, stabilises, and transfers force during gait.

When the first ray is relatively shorter, the foot may adopt different strategies to achieve stability and propulsion. This can influence:
✔ Forefoot loading patterns
✔ Hallux function
✔ Balance and postural control
✔ Lower limb movement strategies
✔ Exercise selection and progression

The mistake?

Treating every foot as though it functions the same way.

Structure doesn’t dictate destiny, but it does provide important information about the movement solutions an individual may adopt.

Understanding these variations helps us move beyond generic protocols and develop more individualised rehabilitation strategies.

🎓 Want to learn more about foot stabilisation principles and how to apply them clinically?

👇 Comment MASTERCLASS below and I’ll send you the link to my free masterclass:
Understanding & Applying Foot Stabilisation Principles.

Can your client efficiently transfer from the ground to standing… or are they compensating the whole way up?

One of the most underrated movement assessments in rehab?
The transition from Tripod - high kneeling to standing.

From a Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization perspective, this movement tells us a huge amount about:
✔️ stability
✔️ foot function
✔️ weight transfer
✔️ trunk control
✔️ hip strategy
✔️ nervous system organisation

The body should be able to coordinate this movement efficiently using integrated stabilisation patterns developed through developmental physiology.

But what do we often see instead?

❌ collapsing feet
❌ poor pressure transfer
❌ hip shifting
❌ trunk instability
❌ momentum strategies
❌ compensation through the lumbar spine or knees

Adding a small amount of load during a Czech get-up progression is not just “strength work.”
It becomes a way to assess and facilitate efficient movement organisation through the entire kinetic chain.

This is why rehab should move beyond isolated exercises.

The foot, trunk, pelvis, and nervous system must work together.

Because sometimes the issue isn’t weakness…
It’s poor movement coordination.

Comment MASTERCLASS and I’ll send you the link to my free Foot & Ankle Stabilisation Masterclass.

Thongs aren’t just “unsupportive.”
They fundamentally change how the foot has to function - even the “arch support” ones !

To keep them on, your system relies on:
→ Toe gripping
→ Increased flexor dominance
→ Loss of natural foot recoil
→ Altered timing through midstance → propulsion

And this is where it matters 👇

When the toes are gripping to hold the shoe:
You lose the ability to create a stable, responsive foot tripod.

No tripod → no control
No control → compensation

And what you’ll often see clinically:
• Overactive long toe flexors
• Reduced big toe loading at terminal stance
• Poor propulsion mechanics
• Increased strain up the chain (Achilles, calf, knee)

This isn’t about “support vs no support.”

It’s about what strategy the nervous system is forced to use.

And thongs push people into a strategy that reinforces dysfunction.

👉 If you’re only prescribing exercises without addressing this, you’re missing a key driver.

🎯 Want to understand how to assess and retrain this properly?

Comment “masterclass” and I’ll send you the link to my Foot Stabilisation Masterclass

The big toe isn’t just another joint.
It’s the steering wheel of the entire lower limb.

If it doesn’t load, extend, and control properly…
everything else has to find a workaround.

And that’s where problems start 👇

Without effective 1st MPJ function:
→ You lose forward propulsion efficiency
→ The foot can’t transition cleanly through stance
→ The body shifts load elsewhere (often without you seeing it clearly)

So what do we get?

• Early heel lift or “bouncy” gait
• Lateral weight shift / avoidance patterns
• Increased demand on calf + Achilles
• Knee and hip compensation strategies

This isn’t a strength problem.
It’s a control + timing problem.

You can give all the calf raises you like…
but if the big toe isn’t doing its job, you’re building strength on dysfunction.

👉 The big toe dictates how the foot finishes movement.
And if you can’t finish well - you can’t move well.

🎯 Want to actually assess and retrain this in clinic?

Comment “masterclass” and I’ll send you the link to my FREE Foot Stabilisation Masterclass

Hamstring injuries aren’t just a hamstring problem.

In the Australian Football League, players are stronger, faster, and more conditioned than ever…

…and yet soft tissue injuries continue to happen.

So why?

Because this isn’t just about strength.

👉 It’s about timing
👉 Coordination
👉 Propulsion
👉 And how the whole system works together

From a DNS and foot function perspective, we need to ask:

✔️ Is the foot actually creating propulsion?
✔️ Is the first MTPJ doing its job?
✔️ Is sagittal trunk stabilisation supporting efficient movement?
✔️ Is footwear helping… or changing the way the system loads?

Because when:
❌ Timing is off
❌ Foot function is limited
❌ The system loses coordination

👉 The hamstrings often become the compensator.

You can strengthen something as much as you like…

👉 But if it doesn’t fire at the right time, within a well-coordinated system, it will continue to overload.

This month’s:
📖 Blog
🎧 Podcast
📰 Newsletter

…all dive into:
– AFL hamstring injuries
– First MTPJ function
– Footwear
– Sagittal trunk stabilisation
– DNS and movement timing

👉 Comment NEWSLETTER and I’ll send you the link.