A ninety-minute, one-on-one session with our in-house physiotherapist Aleksi Bautista, PT — structured movement work, hands-on joint mobilisation, and a take-home plan that fits an ordinary Filipino life.
Not every joint complaint is best served by tradition alone. Sometimes what an arthritic knee needs is not warmed oil but a careful, clinically trained hand that knows how to glide the patella, how to restore the small posterior slide of the femur that arthritic bodies often lose. At Lunas Hilom, our Mobility & Joint Rehab service exists for exactly that gap — the space between a hospital PT gym that feels cold and rushed, and a wellness massage that feels pleasant but does nothing for the range of motion you are slowly losing.
The service is led by Aleksi Bautista, a University of Santo Tomas-trained physiotherapist with eleven years of clinical practice, five of them in orthopaedic rehab at a private hospital in Mandaluyong before she joined our sanctuary. Aleksi is not a manghihilot — she will not read your pulse, and she will not use banana leaves. What she will do is assess your joints with orthopaedic precision, explain what she finds in plain language, and give you ninety minutes of genuinely skilled hands-on work followed by two or three specific exercises you can actually do at home without equipment.
"A joint does not recover from stiffness because someone pressed very hard on it. It recovers because you moved it — correctly, and a little, and often."
This service is our most technical, and also our quietest. There is no ceremonial tea. There is a mat, a treatment table, a few foam blocks, and Aleksi. If you are new to the sanctuary and your primary concern is structural — a knee that grinds, a shoulder that will not lift past eighty degrees, a hip that clicks when you stand from a jeepney seat — this is often where we will suggest you begin. For ongoing maintenance we pair it well with monthly classic hilot, which keeps the surrounding muscle tissue from bracing against the work done here. If you are managing ongoing arthritic pain, Aleksi often recommends our notes on morning mobility for stiff joints and recovering range of motion in a frozen shoulder as reading for in-between weeks. For guests curious about how modern rehab coexists with traditional Filipino healing, our reflection on hilot and the science of touch gives honest context.
This is not a substitute for hospital physiotherapy after surgery, a stroke, or a major orthopaedic event. If you are within three months of a knee replacement, a rotator-cuff repair, or a spinal procedure, please continue your prescribed clinical programme and return to us afterward for ongoing maintenance. Aleksi will gladly coordinate with your surgeon or hospital PT on request.
Mobility and joint rehab at Lunas Hilom is most useful for the kind of stiffness that has settled in slowly — the joint that works, but not as it used to, and not without protest.
The ninety minutes are deliberate. No part of them is filler, and no part is hurried. Expect a mix of assessment, hands-on work, and movement that you do yourself under Aleksi's eye.
Aleksi reviews any imaging, prior surgery, maintenance medications, and the specific everyday movements that have grown difficult — climbing the MRT stairs, reaching a high shelf, standing from the floor.
Active and passive range-of-motion tests, joint-play checks, and two or three specific clinical tests relevant to your complaint. You will hear plain-language findings, not jargon.
Grade I–III mobilisations of the affected joint, soft-tissue release of the surrounding muscles, and careful assisted stretching within your comfortable range. This is the quietest, most focused stretch of the session.
You practise specific movements under Aleksi's guidance — often two strengthening exercises and one balance or proprioception drill. Each is chosen for what your kitchen, bedroom, or a sturdy chair at home can support.
You leave with a simple one-page plan: two or three exercises, clear dosage, realistic expectations. Aleksi is explicit about what you should feel and what you should not.
A short seated rest, water, and an opportunity to ask any remaining questions before you leave. Follow-up bookings are offered without pressure.
Rehab work is priced per practitioner hour. All sessions include assessment, hands-on work, and a written home plan.
"The aim is not to make a sixty-five-year-old knee feel like a thirty-year-old knee. It is to give the sixty-five-year-old knee back the stairs it stopped using last year."— Aleksi Bautista, PT, mobility lead
No — this is a wellness service, not clinical physiotherapy under a hospital. That said, if you have recent imaging, a surgeon's notes, or a prescribed home programme, please bring them. Aleksi reads them carefully and will work within whatever framework your doctor has set.
Yes. A large portion of our mobility guests are in their sixties and seventies, often managing osteoarthritis or post-replacement maintenance. The mobilisations are graded, and Aleksi will never push past a comfortable range. We are explicit about this: you are in charge of the depth.
For a mild stiffness issue, two to three sessions with home work between them is often enough. For a true frozen shoulder or moderate knee arthritis, the four-session Joint Renewal Series over six to eight weeks is more realistic. Aleksi will tell you honestly after the first session.
Yes, and most long-term guests do. A common rhythm is a rehab session every two weeks with a classic hilot on alternating weeks to keep surrounding tissue soft. For shoulder and upper-back work, occasional ventosa cupping is a useful addition. For tired feet and mild swelling, dagdagay foot therapy pairs well.
Comfortable clothes you can actually move in — loose cotton trousers or leggings, and a short-sleeve top. Avoid jeans. We have a private changing area if you come from work.
Aleksi holds a limited number of appointments each week. Weekday mornings are easiest to book.
Book a rehab session