15/08/2026
“Pain isn't always where the problem is.”
I know this one first-hand.
In fact, my own experience with persistent pain is one of the reasons I became so interested in biomechanics in the first place.
So, get comfy… because I’m going to tell you the story of the injury that completely changed the way I look at the human body.
About six years ago, during lockdown, I injured my pelvis doing yoga at home.
I'd twisted too far, pushed too hard and felt a definite **ping and pop** around my sacroiliac (SI) joint.
At the time, accessing hands-on treatment wasn't easy, so I rested, took pain relief and waited.
Eventually the pain settled.
I assumed I'd healed.
**Turns out, that wasn't quite the end of the story.**
A couple of years later, I started experiencing excruciating pain in my right knee.
Then my knee started giving way.
Walking downstairs became particularly difficult and, on several occasions, I actually fell.
Squats? Lunges? The training I loved?
Forget it.
I was convinced I'd damaged something in my knee.
But an X-ray showed beautiful joint spaces with no obvious signs of arthritis or structural damage.
I worked with a physio and diligently did the exercises I was given, but unfortunately my symptoms weren't improving. Some of the exercises actually seemed to aggravate things.
Eventually I had a steroid injection into the knee.
For around four weeks, it was wonderful.
Then the pain came back.
And there was something I couldn't get out of my head…
**What if my knee wasn't actually the whole problem?**
The old discomfort around my pelvis and SI joint had started creeping back too.
I couldn't comfortably stand still.
I couldn't comfortably sit still.
I'd constantly find myself shifting my weight from one foot to the other.
I kept wondering whether that old pelvic injury and my knee symptoms could somehow be connected.
Not everyone I saw agreed with me.
One physio was very dismissive of the idea. Another recognised that there appeared to be an issue around my SI joint and worked with me on that. I also saw an osteopath and this did help for a while but always the issue came back.
Different practitioners tried different approaches and I would sometimes get some relief — **but for me, nothing seemed to last.**
And that's important.
This isn't about saying that physiotherapy or osteopathy “didn't work”. Both are valuable professions and help huge numbers of people.
**My particular puzzle simply hadn't been solved yet.**
And I couldn't let it go.
I became fascinated by the possibility that the pain I was experiencing in one area might be influenced by what was happening somewhere else.
So I started researching biomechanics.
The more I learned, the more curious I became.
Eventually curiosity turned into:
**“Right. I need to understand this properly.”**
So I signed up to train as a Biomechanics Coach.
As I worked my way through the course material, there were moments when I could honestly have cried.
So much of what I was learning helped me make sense of what I had been experiencing.
I began carrying out the assessments I'd learned on myself.
They highlighted movement dysfunctions and compensations that fitted with the bigger picture I'd been trying to understand.
Instead of focusing solely on the painful knee, I started addressing what was happening elsewhere in my body too.
I followed the corrective programme indicated by my assessments.
And the change was remarkable.
My knee pain disappeared.
My SI joint settled.
I could train properly again.
And, more importantly, the experience completely changed the way I work with people today.
Because when someone comes to me with a painful knee, hip, shoulder or back, I'm interested in the painful area…
**but I'm also interested in the rest of them.**
How do you move?
Where are you compensating?
What happens above and below that joint?
Have you had previous injuries?
Surgeries?
Changes in the way you walk or move?
Even something that happened years ago can be relevant to the bigger picture.
That's why a biomechanics assessment looks at **the whole body — not just the bit that's shouting the loudest.**
It doesn't replace medical care or physiotherapy, and sometimes referral to another healthcare professional is absolutely the right thing to do.
It's another piece of the puzzle.
So, if you've got an ache, ni**le or movement problem that keeps disappearing…
…and then coming straight back again…
perhaps it's time to look beyond **where it hurts** and start asking:
**“Why does it keep happening?”**
If that sounds familiar, drop me a message and we can have a chat about whether a biomechanics assessment might be appropriate for you.
