Physio Gems

Physio Gems Experienced physiotherapist with a passion for paediatric disability care and scoliosis management.

29/05/2026

The first book of the series 💥 Max’s Mighty Spine: The Home Quest.

Join Max and Ergo Ellie as they go on a quest to explore body movement and positioning to develop strong posture and healthy habits at home. ✨

This school-aged children’s book accompanies Ally’s in-school postural education program for parents, teachers, and students. 🏫 🍃 👧🏼

Ally at is an experienced occupational physiotherapist with a special interest in paediatric ergonomics and the long term implications of screen time, online safety, and prolonged postures on kids and teens health.

The link to purchase this e-book or hard copy is in the instagram bio.

8 ways to help people with vision loss in your community! Written in collaboration with my legally blind mum and an orth...
28/05/2026

8 ways to help people with vision loss in your community!

Written in collaboration with my legally blind mum and an orthoptist.

21/05/2026

Watch along as I unbox my first Butcher Crowd box 📦 💫

Butcher crowd supports Aussie farmers to sell and distribute high quality meat and seafood.

I’m trying butcher crowd as I am not happy with the quality and sourcing of the meat in the supermarket and found my local butchers/seafood co-op to be very expensive whilst also lacking quality.

Butcher crowd is a fairly priced service that delivers high quality local grass fed meat and wild caught seafood that you select, to your door.

Now I just have to figure out what to cook!

Next up I plan to pair this with

As a full time PhD student the cost of groceries is important to me, as is supporting my long term health, the environment, animals and Australian farmers. If in doubt, the best thing to do is to give it a try!

Bonus that I won’t have to carry my groceries up the hill to my house anymore!

Dm me with any questions! 🩷💎

Ps: not sponsored, not an ad (but also if you want to help a girl out let me know)

Tips about supporting people with vision loss, as an active and engaged member of the community. 🛍️ Please share with yo...
28/04/2026

Tips about supporting people with vision loss, as an active and engaged member of the community. 🛍️

Please share with your friends as we can all do better in supporting the blind and low vision community.

Written by Physio Gemma, a daughter of a legally blind mum who is a cane user, 🦯 and physiotherapist for people with vision loss. 👓

Reviewed by an orthoptist experienced in functional vision assessments and visual aids. 👁️

20/04/2026

Rib pain is very common with scoliosis as the curve in the spine cases rib mal alignment. This causes some ribs to be closer together on the compressed side, and some ribs to have too much space on the open curved side.

Activity and muscle fatigue can cause pain after exercise. This pain may be because the body is finding it hard to hold your spine upright whilst it is fatigued, tight, or sore.

Spikey balls 🎾 (or tennis balls or handballs) are my favourite targeted release. If I could afford physio or a massage every time my back hurt that would be amazing but I can’t. So this is my next best thing and it is awesome that I can help my back pain!

I place the two spikey balls between my shoulders either side of my spine and I begin mini sit up motion focusing on the backwards motion, supporting my head in my hands. Knees bent, feet flat on the floor.

This release helps my ribs to move again after being stuck or stiff, it helps my spinal muscles relax, and relieves pain. I repeat this until the movement gets easier or for a few minutes whichever comes first.

Do not do this exercise if you have not tried it with your physio first, if it makes your headache worse, you’ve had a recent back injury, you have pins needles or numbness symptoms, or you’re unable to do the sit-up motion due to pain.

17/04/2026

Do you have scoliosis?

🩻 Scoliosis is a 3D curve of the spine, beyond normal parameters. Scoliosis will change how you care for and look after your body!

Scoliosis is not something to be scared of, but by identifying it early you can learn to look after your back and keep it healthy as you age.

I have scoliosis! The question is, do you?

12/03/2026

Come with me to Oceania Academy Conference in Hobart Tasmania 2026! 🎥 🦔 🍃 🦘 🎤

This reel outlines:
- what I got up to each day as a year 1 PhD student and physiotherapist
- my outfit diaries (because I always wish I made note of what worked well last conference)
- key takeaways and reflections
- memories with colleagues, clinicians and lived experience experts

🩷 I hope this video shows you what attending a research conference is like to encourage clinicians, families with lived experience, and new researchers to attend future events.

If you have any questions or would like to know more, please send me a message! 💭

11/03/2026

Hello Everyone!

🏃 As some of you are aware, in July I will be completing my first half marathon with Run Melbourne as a charity superstar for UsherKids Australia, an organisation supporting children with Ushers Syndrome. Ushers is a genetic syndrome that causes progressive hearing and vision loss across the lifespan most commonly causing individuals to lose both senses and rely on tactile sign language or braille to communicate. 👋🏼

This run is important to me for two reasons:
1. I am passionate about the work of UsherKids Australia as I have friends and connections living with Ushers Syndrome who have benefited from the work and connection UsherKids has provided them.
2. ⁠As someone with severe scoliosis this will be a large personal achievement and milestone signifying strength and resilience to myself and my scoliosis-strong peers.

💰 If you would like to donate please follow this link to my donation page: https://runmelbourne26.grassrootz.com/usherkids-australia/gemma-duff

Alternatively I will also take donations in the form of positive affirmations, running advice, or you are more than welcome to join me in July. 🏃

Thank you!
Gem

26/01/2026

📍 Robe Street Playground, South Australia

One of my favourite things as a kids physio is to checkout the local playgrounds as I travel. 🧩 This playground I came across whilst travelling the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne to Adelaide.

☕️ Cute cafe next to the park.
👀 Good visibility within the park
🪴 Small community garden at the back of the park
🛝 Lots of different play equipment for diverse play opportunities

Accessibility considerations:
- gravel footpaths
- bark surrounding equipment
- ramp access to some play equipment
- diverse equipment allowing for different abilities
- rope net swing
- limited accessibility specific play equipment or features
- paved basketball area
- fair contrast between equipment although some wooden based obstacles on bark are hard to see.

Ally is kickstarting 2026 with a plan! ✨Our second year of virtual and face to face mentoring is looking jam-packed full...
16/01/2026

Ally is kickstarting 2026 with a plan! ✨

Our second year of virtual and face to face mentoring is looking jam-packed full of webinars, workshops, book launches (yes!), school workshops, and conference content. 📆

Ally is in an exciting and dynamic phase of her physiotherapy career where she has unlocked the flexibility to pursue her niche interests and passions whilst continuing clinical work.

As Ally’s mentor, I am very excited to celebrate what 2026 brings! 🎉

Follow along at: and


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