13/04/2026
Trauma is one of the most misunderstood words in therapy.
Too often, it is spoken about as if it is a thing stuck in muscle, fascia, or other tissues, waiting to be released by the right technique. That may sound simple and reassuring, but it does not match current science.
A better starting point is to separate the traumatic event from the person’s response to it. The event may be frightening, overwhelming, violating, or life threatening. Trauma refers to the lasting effects of that experience on the person, including their sense of safety, emotional regulation, memory, relationships, body awareness, and daily life.
The body is absolutely involved, but not because trauma is stored in tissue like a knot or blockage. Trauma related distress can affect breathing, sleep, heart rate, muscle tension, digestion, startle responses, pain, and the way bodily sensations are noticed and interpreted. In that sense, trauma is embodied. But embodied does not mean physically trapped in fascia or muscle.
A more evidence informed explanation is that the nervous system, and wider body systems, can remain organised around danger. The brain predicts threat, the body responds, and those patterns can persist long after the original event has passed. That is very different from saying bodywork has found and released ‘stored trauma’.
Clients can absolutely have meaningful emotional experiences during treatment. They may cry, shake, remember something, feel relief, or feel overwhelmed. Those experiences are real. But we should be careful about what we claim they mean. Supportive, safe, well paced care may help some people feel calmer, more grounded, and better regulated. That is a valid and valuable outcome. It is also a very different claim from saying trauma was physically released from the tissues.
For therapists, language matters. Saying trauma is ‘stuck in the body’ may sound compassionate, but it can mislead clients about mechanism, overstate what hands on therapy can do, and blur scope of practice. We do not need magical explanations. Good care, clear boundaries, and honest science are more than enough.
🧠 Trauma can have bodily consequences
🫁 The body is involved
👐 But that does not mean trauma is stored in tissue
📚 Better language helps protect clients and the profession
This is one of the many topics we will be discussing in our upcoming workshops, and it will also be a major theme in my upcoming book, A Massage Therapist’s Guide to Pain, Touch and Emotion, due to be published in November.
Bookings are now available, and if you want to join the evolution of hands on touch therapies, Integrated Hands On Therapy is your next step.
Join us in Glasgow, 13 to 16 August, for a special event offer. The full programme then launches in London in October and Bristol in November.
Full details, venues, dates, and booking information:
https://www.in-toucheducation.co.uk/IHT
