Case Study

How massage and stretching therapy can change your life.

Real name of client changed to protect privacy.

Craig, a 46 year old engineer and father of 2 has a very busy life. During the Pandemic he found some downtime out on the water in his kayak. During some windy weather he was blown off course and capsized. He crashed into some rocks and broke his sternum and two ribs.

He was in the middle of renovating his family home so had to take time off from work as well as the renovations. Once his bones had healed he tried to catch up with the renovations and fell in the loft space and broke his ribs again and hurt his shoulder badly.

It had been 6 months since the water incident, so now his confidence was completely gone. Fast forward another 6 months and Craig’s mood was low, no kayaking and house renovations behind schedule and a very sore body all contributed to his mood.

Craig arrived for the last remaining appointment of the day at 20:30 on a Sunday night feeling so down that retelling his story made him visibly upset.

I listened, heard and gave Craig space and time. We did some gentle but deep tissue massage around the muscles that were feeling sore. A 60min appointment turned into 90min with mutual agreement, and Craig received some meaningful time for him and his body.

I suggested a follow up appointment, which we booked there and then so that he had this as a focus and some time away from the daily life which was a bit of a struggle at the time.

At the follow up appointment we chatted about consistency and getting some movement in. Craig was so anxious about breaking any more bones and hurting himself, so we took it very slowly and gentle.

We started having a regular appointment and with some encouragement, we worked together on movement, stretching, and massage aiming to bring some awareness to his body and its abilities. Some more work on the encouragement was required than with someone who hadn’t had the injuries Craig had suffered.

There was a mental block with some underlying anxiety, which made negotiating and encouraging more challenging as a therapist, but all part of my job. There were times that he was feeling pains in the ribs so, deep tissue massage wasn’t appropriate that session, so I backed off around there, and worked other areas more so that he was feeling the benefits of improved blood circulation, stimulating endorphins and the healing process of the body.

Craig now has a monthly session, tailored to his needs each time. We do 30min of deep targeted stretching followed by 60min of massage targeting the areas that are affecting him at the time, but also anything I feel as a therapist requires attention.

Craig is back on the water in his kayak, the house renovations are back on track, he does still make what he terms “daft mistakes” when he is working on the house, so can sometimes arrive with scrapes and bruises or feeling exhausted from holding down a full time job, helping raise his kids and work on the house!

He always leaves feeling better than when he arrived. Craig’s confidence has grown, and he likes to show me his progress with the flexibility and movement that he has gained.

Are you suffering from chronic pain or injuries? Are you looking for some me-time from busy day to day life? Book your curated massage and stretching session here.