I offer what is known as "soft tissue therapy." - I treat muscles, tendons, ligaments, and the connective tissue that binds these all together. Treatment may be to address a specific pain or injury; an area of tightness or inflexibility; or a more structural issue of constriction or misalignment. It may also be in preparation for an event or performance, for example to ensure that muscles are all working smoothly; or after such an event, quickly to flush out waste products and relax stressed muscles, for rapid recovery.
Through an understanding of the daily reality of trying to train and perform with pain or injury, I can support you with a realistic rehabilitation programme to return you to performing at your best.
I believe in continuity of professional healthcare. So we will not just give you a massage and send you on your way "hoping it worked;" first we will look at the cause of any muscular or structural imbalance, and afterwards we will develop a potential rehabilitation programme that may involve exercises, stretching, or just subtly different ways of moving. I will support you with any rehabilitation work in between sessions. And where massage alone is not enough, we will discuss other treatments you might usefully explore.
I want to offer professional, clinical massage therapy to everyone seeking to maintain their bodies or to improve their performance, not just sportsmen and women.
When I was small, I used to give my mother a neck and shoulder massage. Later on, wherever I travelled - Scandinavia, Central Europe, North Africa, the Far East - I would go out of my way to find a massage for myself and I enjoyed the variety of approaches.
I developed a professional interest in body mechanics through a range of hobbies that I took seriously, both sports and music. Over the course of resolving one or two long-term injuries of my own – injuries that were probably compounded by then sitting daily at the office computer – I had been to a variety of respected medical professionals, but could not seem to make progress, even after myself training as a Massage Therapist.
I became increasingly aware of the reluctance by many clinicians to offer specific, systematic, slow, deep manual therapy to help resolve injuries and restrictions. Yet these conditions are often insidious – allowing a person to go about their daily lives, but preventing them from pushing themselves and performing to their full potential. It became apparent to me that exceptional people such as musicians and performers were suffering in silence, and missing out on the help others such as sports people take for granted.
I was blessed eventually to find a course of training for myself to develop in depth the skills needed to assist with these kinds of conditions, and this is the gap in healthcare that I aim to fill with my own work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Could Soft Tissue Therapy and bodywork help you perform at your best?
Get in touch today for a 10 min chat which, if appropriate, may lead to a no-obligation, complimentary 30-min online consultation.
We will run through the issues you are facing, offer as much advice as possible, and discuss potential next steps.