Carole Andrews Health and Wellness

Carole Andrews Health and Wellness Therapeutic Massage Therapy
Remedial Massage Therapy
Sports Massage Therapy
Bone Health and Osteoporosis Training
Strength and Conditioning

Feeling tired or stressed? Training or working out hard? Have some aches and pains? Book yourself in for a massage and feel the benefits. Therapeutic massage is tailored to the individual needs of the client. As a massage therapist and someone who is interested in health and fitness I know how important massage is to your general well being and for those of you who exercise regularly, massage will

help your muscles recover quicker from hard training sessions. Book in and experience the benefits for yourself

Prices are:
45 minute appointment £50

20/04/2026

Ten sit-to-stands from a chair. No equipment, no gym, no diagnosis required.
This is where bone health training starts for most people — and it’s more effective than it looks. You’re loading your hips, spine, and legs with every rep.
This week’s post covers what your T-score actually means and why “keep active” isn’t good enough advice on its own.

Strong Bones, Real Life · Post 02 of 12Getting a DEXA result and not really understanding what it means is more common t...
20/04/2026

Strong Bones, Real Life · Post 02 of 12

Getting a DEXA result and not really understanding what it means is more common than you'd think. The number itself, your T-score, compares your bone density to the average peak bone mass of a healthy young adult. Zero is average peak. Below -1 is osteopenia. Below -2.5 is osteoporosis. Those are thresholds, not cliff edges.

Your T-score also doesn't tell the whole fracture risk story. The FRAX tool factors in age, previous fractures, family history, smoking, alcohol and steroid use to estimate your 10-year fracture probability. Two people with identical T-scores can have very different risk profiles depending on those factors. A number without context can be genuinely misleading, which is why your GP or specialist should run the FRAX calculation with you.

If your result concerned you and you were told to 'keep active' with nothing more specific than that, it's a frustratingly vague response. Strength training, impact work, balance and adequate nutrition are evidence-based and specific. That's where I can help.

If you're unsure what your result means, the Royal Osteoporosis Society helpline (0808 800 0035) is staffed by specialist nurses who can talk you through it and help you know what to ask your GP.

Drop a comment if this helped, or share it with someone who's just had a scan and doesn't know what to do next.

Tight hamstrings aren't always short hamstrings. If you're a runner who stretches religiously and nothing changes, this ...
17/04/2026

Tight hamstrings aren't always short hamstrings. If you're a runner who stretches religiously and nothing changes, this one's for you.
If it's something you want to get to the bottom of, come and see me. We can work out what's actually going on.

**Runners Series · Returning to run after injury**I thought this was appropriate to share after my post yesterday.Gettin...
17/04/2026

**Runners Series · Returning to run after injury**

I thought this was appropriate to share after my post yesterday.

Getting injured is one thing. Trusting your body again afterwards is a different problem entirely.

I see two patterns when runners come back from injury. The first is rushing — feeling better at week two and going straight back to pre-injury training. The second is the opposite: moving so carefully, so protectively, that the altered gait pattern becomes its own risk. Fear of reinjury changes how you run. Shortened stride, reduced loading on the affected side, and that asymmetry starts doing damage over time.

The physical side of return-to-run is straightforward in principle: walk-to-run intervals, build duration before pace, match the progression to the injury not to how you feel. For most soft tissue injuries, 6–8 weeks done properly is enough. Bone stress takes longer.

The readiness criteria before going back to full training are no pain during or after running, full range of movement, and single-leg strength within 10% of the other side. But confidence in the movement is on that list too. If you're running scared, you're not ready, even if the tissue is.

Come back because the tissue is ready. Not because the diary says so.

Save this for when you need it. And drop a comment if this is where you are right now. Happy to answer questions.

* *

16/04/2026

Brighton marathon was last weekend. I'd entered it last year after missing out on a London ballot place, and it felt like a decent plan B at the time.

Then I picked up an injury running on holiday in January and the decision kind of made itself. I wasn't going to get the training in, I was already carrying a lot of marathon miles from The Dramathon (don't know if you know that this is my favourite ever event!) and Valencia at the back end of last year, and piling pressure on a recovering injury to make a start line felt silly. So I let it go.

Honestly, taking the stress off myself was the right call. I talk to clients all the time about the difference between pushing through discomfort and ignoring what your body is actually telling you. Good excuse to focus on strength work and yoga instead, so I'm actually in decent shape when the miles start building again. If that's where you are too, you know where I am.

Starting fresh now with time on my side. Finishing off this year the same as last with The Dramathon in October and the Valencia marathon in December. The goal didn't go anywhere, it just moved.
If you're in a similar spot with an injury and a race entry, it's worth a conversation.

One of the most unhelpful things people are told after injury is to rest until they're completely pain-free.For most mus...
14/04/2026

One of the most unhelpful things people are told after injury is to rest until they're completely pain-free.

For most musculoskeletal injuries, that's not how healing works. Tissues respond to load. Tendons, muscles, even bone — they rebuild because of stress applied gradually and progressively, not in spite of it.

Waiting for zero pain before moving again often means waiting too long. You end up deconditioned, more fearful of movement, and harder to rehab when you do start.

There are exceptions. Some things do need rest. But if you've been told to stop everything and wait, it's worth asking: wait for what, exactly?

Getting the balance right between load and recovery is what good rehab is built on. If you're unsure where you sit, that's what I'm here for.

13/04/2026

Your bones hit peak density around age 28. After that, it's about what you do to hold on to what you built. Bone is living tissue — it breaks down and rebuilds in response to load. That means your choices now genuinely matter. This series covers exactly that. Save Post 1 of the carousel for the full picture.

Strong Bones, Real Life · Post 01 of 12Your bones peaked before you turned 30.Most people have no idea that's even a thi...
13/04/2026

Strong Bones, Real Life · Post 01 of 12

Your bones peaked before you turned 30.

Most people have no idea that's even a thing. Bone density builds through childhood and your 20s, hits its highest point somewhere around 28, and then the direction changes. How fast it goes depends on a lot of things: genetics, hormones, how active you are, what you eat. But the direction? That's the same for everyone.

This isn't meant to be alarming. It's just useful to know.

Bone is living tissue. It responds to demand. Load it regularly and it has a reason to stay dense. Stop loading it and it doesn't. That's the entire logic behind everything this series covers over the next 12 weeks.

I work with a lot of people who find out they have osteopenia or osteoporosis and feel blindsided, like something failed without warning. Often they were active, ate well, did everything right. But bone health rarely comes up in conversation until a DEXA scan or a fracture makes it impossible to ignore.

That's what this series is trying to change.

Over the next 12 weeks we're covering what your T-score actually means, which exercises build bone and which don't, how to train at home alongside working with a specialist, balance, nutrition, the role massage plays, and what staying strong looks like in real life past 50, 60, 70.

Save this post and come back to it.

Send it to someone in your life who needs to hear it.

It’s not just relaxation!
06/04/2026

It’s not just relaxation!

03/04/2026

New website to make booking at all locations easy. It may also contain other useful information. www.therapybycarole.co.uk

Excited to announce that I am now offering appointments in Peebles from The Health Rooms.   Book at www.therapybycarole....
03/04/2026

Excited to announce that I am now offering appointments in Peebles from The Health Rooms.
Book at www.therapybycarole.co.uk

24/03/2026

Most people train for looks. Train for longevity instead. Your skeleton is living tissue. It gets stronger when you challenge it.

Address

69 Edderston Road
Peebles
EH459DT

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