Treatments
Your Feet and Your Body Structure…or Biomechanics
The human foot is a complex structure made up of 26 bones and two sesamoids, held together by soft tissue material – muscles, ligaments and tendons.
The human foot was designed to walk on soft surfaces like earth and sand rather than today’s hard and flat man-made surfaces. So it’s of little surprise that with the average person taking 14,000 steps per day, damage often occurs to the soft tissue supportive structures of the feet.
Over time, soft tissue slowly becomes stretched and this loss of support causes abnormal foot function during walking or running. In turn, this leads to changes in the biomechanics of the ankles and further up the leg to the knees, hip, pelvis and spinal column.
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1ASSESS
At Dr. Abbie Clinics our practitioners are trained in the unique Najjarine Biomechanical Assessment (NBA) technique, an advanced podiatric biomechanical technique designed to identify the cause of a patient’s condition and help prescribe their treatment regime.
The system – developed by Dr Abbie Najjarine – has its origins in engineering, allowing the practitioner to analytically and holistically assess the patient’s biomechanical alignment, from the feet up, whilst educating the patient on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of their condition.
Ultimately, Dr. Abbie has combined many accepted techniques with his own unique approaches and methods into an easy to follow set of principles and formulas.
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2DIAGNOSE
Following assessment using NBA we can diagnose the cause of a patient’s biomechanical problems and pain. Once the cause of pain is identified we can then treat the source, not just the symptoms.
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3TREAT
To treat the source of the problem we use custom prescribed orthotic therapy integrated with other treatment methods to provide a holistic approach to eliminating pain and improving well-being.
Therapeutic Massage
We utilise therapeutic massage as a manual therapy designed to help with pain relief, identify trigger points and assist blood flow. Manual therapies are best used in conjunction with other conservative treatments e.g. mobilisations, dry needling and shockwave.
E.g. a subluxated (partially dislocated joint) may be difficult to mobilise into the ideal position if the surrounding muscle is tight preventing any movement OR we may identify a trigger point (taut band of tissue) that we can further direct an acupuncture needle into this area. The tight soft tissue will adversely affect range and quality of motion!
Stretching
Stretching helps restore mobility and range of motion through the muscles of the feet and lower limbs.
There isn’t a single “correct” stretch for everyone; different conditions genuinely call for different approaches, which is why we prescribe stretching techniques specific to your particular condition, rather than handing out a generic sheet.
Strengthening
Certain weight-bearing exercises can help build strength in muscles that have weakened, whether that’s from injury, compensation, or just time. Technique matters here more than people expect; done incorrectly, strengthening work can end up reinforcing the very pattern that caused the problem in the first place.
That’s why we take the time to make sure you actually understand what a strengthening program is designed to achieve, and that you’re using correct technique throughout, whether that’s bodyweight work or actual resistance training.
Strapping
Therapeutic massage is a manual therapy we use to help relieve pain, identify trigger points, and support blood flow to the affected area. Like most of what we do, it’s rarely a standalone treatment; it tends to work best alongside other conservative approaches, like mobilisation, dry needling or shockwave therapy.
Here’s a practical example of why: if a joint has become partially dislocated, it can be genuinely difficult to mobilise it back into a better position if the surrounding muscle is tight and restricting movement. Massage can help loosen that surrounding tissue first.
It’s also often how we identify a trigger point in the first place: a taut band of tissue that we might then treat more directly with a needle.
Tight, restricted soft tissue doesn’t just sit there quietly i;t actively affects the range and quality of movement around a joint, which is exactly why we don’t treat it in isolation.
Shockwave Therapy
Shockwave therapy uses acoustic waves and compressed air to deliver a burst of kinetic energy into the affected area, a bit like a hand-held jackhammer, though nowhere near as uncomfortable as that sounds. It’s designed to work on both soft and hard tissue, aiding repair and mobility while helping reduce chronic inflammation.
The underlying principle is fairly similar to dry needling: we’re aiming to trigger a controlled inflammatory response, which kickstarts the body’s own healing process in that specific area. It’s used across a wide range of both acute and chronic injuries, and tends to be particularly useful where an area has become genuinely stuck in a chronic, slow-healing pattern.
Prolotherapy and Neural Therapy
Prolotherapy, sometimes called proliferation therapy, involves injecting a solution, usually a hypertonic dextrose or glucose mix, into an area affected by joint degeneration or ligament damage. The idea behind it is to stimulate the body’s own repair response in that specific area.
Some research in this space has pointed to cartilage-specific growth as a direct result of the injection, along with evidence of increased fibroblast and vascular activity and collagen deposition changes that are thought to contribute to stronger, thicker ligament tissue and better shock absorption over time.
As with any injection-based therapy, results vary from person to person, and it’s generally used as one part of a broader treatment plan rather than a standalone fix.
Neural Therapy
Most people associate local anaesthetic injections purely with numbing pain, but they have another use too.
Neural therapy uses local anaesthetic injections in a different way: to help break down scar tissue and disperse adhesions that may be contributing to ongoing restriction or discomfort.
Orthotic Therapy
Why we compare them to glasses
No two orthotics are the same
Orthotics don’t work alone
Foot Mobilisations
There are 26 bones in the human foot (28 if you count the two small sesamoid bones under the big toe), and every one of them needs to move properly for your foot to function the way it should. When one of these bones becomes restricted, or partially dislocated, it can throw off far more than just that one spot.
One of the more common versions of this is what’s known as cuboid syndrome, a small bone on the outer edge of the foot that becomes subluxed, often linked to ankle sprains or ongoing excess pronation. It’s easy to miss if you’re only looking at the site of pain rather than the mechanics behind it.
How we approach it
We use a structured, hands-on approach to mobilising the bones of the foot, as well as the ankle, knee and hip where relevant. It’s rarely used in isolation; foot mobilisation tends to work best alongside orthotic therapy and the right exercise prescription, since mobilising a joint and then not supporting it afterwards can mean the same restriction creeps back.
Dry Needling
