Structural Bodywork and Sports Massage

Prehab

Prior to an event it is crucial to prepare your body as best you can to improve performance and prevent injury, pain and discomfort during or after performance. Special attention is paid to postural alignment, muscle weakness and the client’s awareness of their own habitual patterns and changes in such, with suggestions made to improve form if necessary.

Maintenance

As we train to improve performance our activity moulds and shapes us – for some the very goal of exercise. However you use your body small imbalances can have major impacts, combined with postural challenges or stress there can be a risk of creating bio-mechanical strain within the body, reducing performance and risking injury. Just as you regularly take the car for an MOT we can identify and address any small niggles or issues that you feel could be affecting your performance, preventing injury and the resulting loss of fitness this can have in the future. It is always far easier to prevent injury than to recover from it.

Recovery

Post-event treatment is a way of being able to relax and restore physical wellbeing after an event or any physical exertion. It’s also a reward, a mark of gratitude to your body for what you have achieved, an excellent treat to look forward to after the applause has stopped ringing in your ears. This tends to be a rehabilitative treatment focused on being able to release tension from deep muscles and reduce physical stress, though the precise nature of the treatment will of course be a reflection of what you want and need.

Stress Relief

As our understanding of the brain/body dynamic evolves it is becoming more and more clear that our mental state manifests in the physical body – an easy example, think of a stressful situation and your shoulders lift, or something that makes you nervous and feel the butterflies in your stomach. If you are going through mental or emotional stress the body responds – Structural Bodywork can be an effective tool for being able to release tension, especially symptoms of stress such as tight neck and shoulders, tension headaches and so on.

Injury

One of the most important aspect of Structural Bodywork is dealing with injury repair: when your body has been put under too much strain it is important to return to good health as quickly as possible, mindful of reducing long lasting impacts. This includes breaking down scar tissue, working with the injured area in a way that promotes healing and suggesting exercises to help strengthen and protect the injury. Structural Bodywork is hugely effective in reducing recovery time and the level of discomfort client’s experience during recovery.

Techniques

Structural Bodywork is more complex than standard massage techniques: rather than simply relaxing the muscle we are using a variety of specific techniques to identify and treat specific muscle groups, both those in areas identified as being problematic by the client, but also those muscles that are shown to be functioning less effectively than they could be. The size, depth and function of the muscles that need attention determines the techniques I use to help get the best result possible, making each treatment a reflection of your needs as a client.

My years of experience both as a Sports Massage Therapist, Acupuncturist and Yoga teacher have helped me hone my skills to provide you with the best treatment you can have, using a variety of tools to give you what you need. Before we begin I’ll start by conducting an interview and full postural analysis (with tests) to identify imbalances that could be creating pain/tightness in your body, then exploring the issues through massage and bodywork.

Why choose Conrad?

Three words: Knowledge, Skill and Experience.

I have a detailed knowledge of anatomy and physiology – and the practical application of both. His work as a Yoga teacher has helped me study hundreds of individuals with specialised needs, including those going through the process of injury recovery. This means I know how your body works – and how it works when something is wrong. I also know how to fix it.

Structural Bodywork requires a degree of intuition, grown through years of service as a Massage Therapist, Acupuncturist and Yoga Teacher. The body is a beautiful thing when it works correctly and a complex mechanical mess when it doesn’t: I know that the site of an issue may not be the cause of the problem, but I also know how to check where the problem originates from, and understand how we can resolve that problem.

I have seen a huge range of sports clients, from professional rugby players and dedicated rock climbers through to Marathon runners and bodybuilding enthusiasts. Every group of exercise enthusiasts have their own ways of utilising their bodies, and every client is an individual within that group. To that end I offer a tailored service – tailored to your body, your activity, your needs. You’ll never have an identical massage based on some standardised blueprint, and you won’t get such a quality of service from any other Massage therapist.

If you have questions about any of the above please contact me directly, or feel free to book a consultation through Gosforth Physio and Wellness on 0191 284 9111.