AC Sports Therapy and Massage

02/02/2026

3-4pm available tomorrow - dm to grab it!

28/01/2026

Chronic stress, desk posture, and repetitive loading keep the upper traps, levator scapulae, and cervical extensors in a constant low-grade contraction.

Over time this leads to:
🟣increased muscle tone
🟣myofascial trigger points
🟣reduced blood flow and oxygenation
🟣altered scapular mechanics

Deep tissue massage works by applying slow, sustained pressure to deeper muscle layers and fascia, which helps to:

🟣mechanically disrupt adhesions in the myofascial tissue
🟣improve local circulation and tissue hydration
🟣reduce nociceptive input (pain signaling)
🟣down-regulate the sympathetic nervous system

As tone decreases, the nervous system allows the scapulae to rest in a more neutral, depressed position — meaning the shoulders can finally drop away from the ears, not because you’re forcing them to, but because the tissues no longer need to guard.

This isn’t about “relaxing” muscles — it’s about restoring normal length, glide, and neural control.

Your shoulders aren’t tight for no reason. They’re responding to load.

We just help them reset.

Using waxes always.

27/01/2026

21/01/2026

Massage calms the system.
Cupping changes the tissue environment.

DEEPER CIRCULATION BOOST
Sports massage increases surface blood flow.
Cupping uses negative pressure to draw blood into deeper tissue layers — improving oxygen delivery where hands can’t always reach.

FASCIAL LAYER SEPARATION
Restricted fascia = limited movement + guarding.
Cupping gently lifts and separates fascial layers, restoring glide after massage has reduced tone.

NERVOUS SYSTEM RESET
Cupping floods the brain with novel sensory input via mechanoreceptors in the skin and fascia.

LYMPHATIC DRAINAGE EFFECT
Cups act like a pump, assisting fluid movement after massage has already mobilised tissues.

LOCKS IN THE MASSAGE RESULTS
Massage softens.
Cupping maintains space in the tissues.

That means the changes last longer — not just on the table.

21/01/2026

Massage during or after exercise- what’s the point?

It’s the process of increasing blood & lymph flow through targeted massage, literally rinsing the muscles with fresh nutrients and moving waste products out.

🟣Increased Blood Flow
Massage stimulates vasodilation (widening of blood vessels), bringing more oxygen and glucose to working tissues — fuel for performance and repair.

🟣Clears Metabolic Waste
During exercise, metabolites (like lactate) and inflammation build up. Massage encourages lymphatic drainage, moving these byproducts away from muscles so they can recover faster.

🟣Reduces Neural Guarding
Improved circulation + massage input decreases nociceptive signaling (pain signals), allowing muscles to relax rather than stay tense — meaning less stiffness and better movement quality.

🟣Enhanced Tissue Repair
Greater delivery of nutrients + improved waste removal supports quicker muscle repair and less DOMS (that achy feeling 24–48 hrs later).

17/01/2026

Fascia is the continuous, three-dimensional connective tissue that surrounds every muscle, nerve, and organ in your body.

When it loses its ability to glide, the whole system locks up.

🟣When fascia sticks → muscles guard.
Muscle guarding is the body’s protective response to pain, stress or limit in movement. If fascia isn’t sliding smoothly, the nervous system senses restriction → triggers involuntary muscle tension to protect tissues.

So how does fascial gliding help?

🟣Restores tissue mobility
Manual fascial gliding releases adhesions, allowing layers to slide freely. This reduces input from nociceptors (pain sensors) in fascia and muscle.

🟣Decreases protective muscle guarding
When the brain senses smoother, more effortless movement, it down-regulates the protective tone — muscles stop being “on guard.”

🟣Improves neuromuscular output
With less guarding:
• muscles fire more efficiently
• force production improves
• coordination is enhanced
• recovery speeds up

Fascia is highly innervated and rich in mechanoreceptors. When these receptors sense improved glide, they relay positive proprioceptive feedback to the central nervous system → lowered guarding + optimized motor output.

16/01/2026

Pain and stress talk to the same nervous system.

Manual therapy uses safe, skilled touch to change how that system responds.

What’s happening in your body?

🟣Down-regulates the stress response
Touch activates the parasympathetic nervous system → ↓ cortisol → ↑ relaxation.

🟣Turns down pain signals
Manual input competes with pain at the spinal cord and brain → pain feels less intense.

🟣Calms overprotective tissues
Reduced muscle guarding and tone = easier movement.

🟣Improves body awareness
Better sensory input helps the brain feel safer → less threat, less pain.

🟣Human connection matters
Therapeutic touch + trust increases oxytocin → improved mood and stress resilience.

Why this matters…

Chronic pain is rarely just a tissue problem.
It’s often a sensitized nervous system under stress.

Manual therapists help by:
🟣Creating safety
🟣Restoring movement confidence
🟣Supporting nervous system regulation

Not by “fixing” you

But by helping your body self-regulate again

09/01/2026

DURING ➡️ AFTER

Sports massage doesn’t “break knots” but it does create measurable structural and physiological changes.

🟣Alters muscle stiffness (viscoelastic change)
Deep pressure temporarily changes the viscoelastic properties of muscle and fascia.

This can reduce passive stiffness and improve short-term range of motion.

🟣Improves intramuscular fluid dynamics
Mechanical compression helps shift interstitial fluid and local metabolites, influencing tissue hydration and pressure sensitivity.

🟣Influences fascial shear
Muscle fibres are surrounded by layers of fascia that need to glide.

Massage increases shear strain between fascial layers, improving movement efficiency — especially after heavy training or injury.

🟣Modulates trigger point behaviour
Pressure can reduce excessive motor end-plate activity within myofascial trigger points, decreasing spontaneous muscle fibre firing.

🟣Structural effects are short-term — neural effects last longer
Any direct structural change is temporary.
Longer-lasting benefits come from:
• Reduced neural tone
• Altered pain perception
• Improved movement confidence

08/01/2026

The goal isn’t just healing the muscle — it’s restoring load tolerance and control (hamstrings love to re-tear if rushed).

To give you an IDEA of the approach we would take…(case specific)

Early phase (days 1–7)
🟣Load management (not total rest)
🟣Pain-free movement to maintain neuromuscular control
🟣Advice on swelling & symptom behaviour

Rehab phase
🟣Progressive strengthening (especially eccentric loading)
🟣Restore hamstring–glute coordination
🟣Address contributing factors:
– Lumbopelvic control
– Sprint mechanics
– Previous injury risk

Return-to-sport phase
🟣High-speed and sport-specific loading
🟣Reduce re-injury risk

Bring your injury’s to us and we can get you back to what you love!