AJ Sports Therapy & Soft Tissue Treatment

Rehab gets interesting when you stop managing symptoms and start building things back up.

This was James’s second session, and after a strong response to the first, we were able to progress his movement instead of just settling it down.

We built on the mobility and control work from session one, then added standing spine extension and controlled knee rotation to push him through a slightly more functional range.

The big step today: bringing the gym back into the picture.

After several months away from training, we started with controlled machine-based exercises. Support built in, load reintroduced gradually, no jumping straight into heavy weight.

The goal isn’t to rush him back the moment he feels better. It’s to rebuild his movement, strength and tolerance step by step, so when he returns to proper training, his body is actually ready for it.

Liam is a professional cage fighter and coach with titles to prove it.

We first worked together on neck symptoms and nerve irritation that were disrupting his training. That’s cleared, and he’s back to full training and sparring.

Now the focus is his elbow and outer forearm. And here’s the twist most people get wrong.

The nerve supplying the arm starts at the neck, not the arm. It runs through the shoulder and scapula before heading down. So pain at the bottom of the chain often has a cause at the top.

Today we treated the whole line. Under the scapula, the traps, the rear delts, plus how he moves through it all.

TECAR therapy, targeted manual therapy, EMS and dry needling.

We don’t chase pain. We trace it.

For a fighter, being pain-free isn’t the goal. Performing at your peak is.

Sometimes it’s not the injury that stops you. It’s the stiffness that refuses to leave.

This client is extremely active, so we stay on top of the small ni**les before they touch his training.

Today’s target: a stiff lower back.

TECAR therapy across the lumbar muscles, QL, erector spinae and multifidus, to warm the tissue.

Shockwave around the QL for deeper stimulation.

Manual therapy and adjustments through the hip.
Stretches to take home, knee to chest and figure four.

We don’t force it and we don’t chase pain. We reduce tension, restore movement, and send him out with tools to keep it moving.

Pain in your hand does not always start in your hand.

Nerves travel. Irritate one at the neck or shoulder and you feel it in your fingers. Rub the hand all day and nothing changes, because that was never the source.

Today, a client with symptoms running from her neck down to her hand. We tested what eased it and what did not, found the source, then rebuilt how the neck, shoulder blade and arm move together.

Feeling better on the table is easy. Moving well so it stays better is the job.

Pain that travels is a clue. Follow it back.

If the same muscle keeps getting tight week after week, stretching it harder is not the fix.

Tight traps. A lower back that never fully lets go. Most people chase these with more foam rolling and more massage, then wonder why they are back next week with the exact same thing.

The tension is not the problem. It is the symptom. The real issue is how the body is loading and moving underneath it.

We saw this clearly today with a competitive bikini athlete. She naturally carries more curve through the lower back, which is common in the sport. When she loaded a movement, the work kept dropping into her lower back instead of her glutes. So the back stayed tight no matter how much we released it.

The answer was not to force her spine flat or fight her natural shape. It was to teach the pelvis to control the position, so she could actually load the glutes the movement was built for.

Add in some hip mobility and a simple way to feel where her body is in space, even sitting at her desk, and now the tightness has a reason to stay gone.

Releasing the same muscle every week treats the fire. Changing the pattern behind it removes the fuel.

If something keeps tightening no matter what you do, stop stretching it and start asking why.

If you spend your day on your feet, your lower back is keeping score.

Every hour standing, every mile walked, every session trained. It all lands somewhere, and for a lot of active people, it lands in the lower back.

It rarely shows up as one big injury. It creeps. A bit of morning stiffness. A back that takes longer to warm up. A ni**le you have quietly learned to work around.

Here is what most people miss. That tension is often not a lower back problem at all. It is the hips not moving well, the glutes not doing their share, and the muscles around the spine picking up slack they were never built to carry.

That is why we do not just rub the sore spot and send you on your way. We find where the load is actually coming from, release it, and give you the mobility work to keep it away.

The client in this video wants to stay active for a long time. So we deal with the small stuff now, on our terms, before it forces the issue.

If your back is always tight and you have started calling that normal, it is not. It is a signal.

Catch it early. That is always the cheaper option.

Simple, until the pain starts traveling.

A competitive bikini athlete came in with restricted neck movement and a sharp, electric sensation spreading through her upper traps. Worst on forward bending and side bending.

So we did not chase the sore spot. We looked at the whole neck and shoulder complex.

We worked the upper trapezius, levator scapulae, the cervical and upper thoracic region, and the muscles that control the shoulder blade, all of which feed into how the neck and shoulder move.

Treatment: manual therapy, IASTM, cupping, targeted dry needling, and gentle mobilisation to release the tension and free up her range.

Then we reassessed the exact same movements. The difference was immediate. Her neck moved far more freely, with a clear drop in pain.

That reassessment is the part most people skip. Do not just treat the symptom.

Test. Treat. Test again.

When back pain keeps you out of the gym for months, you do not start by loading the bar again.

You rebuild the foundation first.

New client this week with ongoing lower back pain that had kept him out of training for months.

His MRI showed mild disc bulging and degenerative changes across several levels, with some areas sitting close to the nerve root.

So we started where it matters. Getting the hip and pelvis moving properly.

Stage one looked like this:

Controlled knee to chest and figure four work to open the hip and switch the glutes on.

TECAR therapy to prepare the area before rehab.

Controlled prone work, cat camel mobility, supported plank holds, and standing anti rotation with a band.

Spinal and pelvic control, finishing with breathing work to build awareness and activation through the core.

And this is only stage one.

The goal is simple. Calm the irritation, move better, build strength, and grow his tolerance to training until he is back in the gym with confidence.

This is what proper rehab looks like. Not rushed. Built to last.

Some people you are just glad to have in the room.

Hollie came in for a full body MOT this week. Bikini competitor, still training hard out of season, and a brilliant sports therapist in her own right.

Technically that makes her competition. We could not care less.

Sports Therapy is better with more good people in this space, not fewer.

If you want someone who understands training, recovery and the work it takes, go and follow her.

.

Worth your time.

You service your car every year.

When did you last service your body?

The Full Body Athlete MOT.

Two hours, head to toe, nothing missed.

This week a bodybuilder came in with shoulder Impingement.

We mapped his rotator cuff and shoulder movement, then freed up the pec and scapula with IASTM.

Then the lower body. Hamstrings locked from heavy squats, so we went in with dry needling, cupping, manual therapy and scraping. Quads, thighs and glutes all worked through.

He left moving like his body was built for the weight he puts through it.

That is the point. Two hours to find what is holding you back and fix it, so you train harder and stay in the game.