The Movement Underground

The Movement Underground Discover whats holding you back…and build a body that wont. BE UNBREAKABLE.

Whether you are an athlete, or active adult tired of nagging pain and injuries, TMU offers the same care pro athletes get - For Every Body. WHAT WE DO

Eliminate Pain, Restore Movement & Optimize Performance
Professional Athletes and Performance Artists have a whole team of Performance, Recovery, and Rehab specialists in their corner to keep them healthy, and functioning at their optimal level… Who do you have in your corner? We have helped thousands of local athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and weekend warriors overcome pain, poor mobility, and get the most out of their body and life…

We can’t wait to stand behind you too.

11/23/2025

Why you feel stiff has nothing to do with your vibrating recliner...or lack thereof.

Massage chairs are cool…
But if that’s your whole game plan, it’s like putting duct tape over your check engine light...

All fixed bro!

Relief? Sure.
But results? Not a chance.

You’re not stiff because you’re broken.

You’re stiff because your body is slowly solidifying because you don't move enough—especially in the ways your body needs.

That aching neck, those tight hamstrings, that “locked-up” lower back?

That’s your nervous system begging for better control, not deeper cushions.

This is what we do at The Movement Underground.

We help reconnect you to your body, one rep, one pattern, one moment at a time.
So your body stops yelling… and starts performing.

👇
Comment “Stiff” and I’ll send you a free PDF to unf**k your muscles.
Let’s make moves. For real.

11/22/2025

📍“Push harder” is the worst advice for soft tissue work.

One of the biggest shifts in my career as a manual therapist?

I stopped trying to force change into the tissue…
and started learning how to influence it.
How to nudge the system into giving me some leash...

Here's the rub a lot of manual therapists still don't want to hear.

Tools don’t break up scar tissue.
They don’t realign fascia.
They don’t lengthen muscle.
And no—you’re not “releasing” anything.

But I'm less interested in what it can't do, and more what it CAN DO:

What they can do is give us a mechanical advantage.
To spare our hands.
To restore glide.
To stimulate mechanoreceptors.
To signal fibroblastic collagen production.
To increase perfusion.
To create a window for load.

So yeah...less pressure. More precision.
And way more respect for the complexity of the body.

Manual therapy still matters.
We just have to stop lying about what it is.

11/21/2025

Back in 2008, I was a young Athletic Trainer working at the University of Florida.

And one of the guys I worked with was a skinny, quiet freshman named Christian Taylor aka

If you know track & field, you know that name.
3x Olympic Gold Medalist. Triple Jump royalty.

But before the medals and the world stages…
He was just another hard-working athlete dealing with nagging shin pain.

And like most of us at the time, I thought I knew the fix:
Dig in. Break up the tissue. Get him through the workout.

Back then, I believed I was fixing his shins.
Now I know… I was influencing his nervous system.
Not breaking adhesions. Not realigning fibers.

But the belief it created? That mattered.
The touch. The trust. The timing. That’s the real manual therapy.

This story sticks with me because it reminds me how far I’ve come.
Not just in skill… but in the stories I tell.

Because the words we use as clinicians?
They matter just as much as the work we do.

I’m not the solution.
I show people the solutions already inside them.

Let that sink in.

11/21/2025

🎨 Call me the Bob Ross of rehab...
but instead of painting trees, I’m restoring load tolerance in a post-tib that’s screaming for help.

Today’s canvas: a badass marathoner with a history that reads like a war report,,,
lumbar fusion (L5-S1), lateral ankle debridement for peroneal tendon repair, and 4th/5th ray stress reactions.

What’s the goal here? Desensitize. Decompress. Down-regulate.

Not to “fix” her with hand...but to give her body a head start before we hit the gym.
This deep into a marathon prep, the goal is to manage her symptoms, while we manager her mileage and keep her making gains...

Today? Here shin’s irritable. So we meet it where it is.

Why? Because when you’ve got someone chunking their entire femur and spine just to find their big toe… you’ve got to rewire the signal before you rewrite the program.

Manual therapy isn’t the solution.
It’s a cheat code...

To move smarter.
To load better.
To believe that progress is possible again.
—
🧠 Treat the person. Train the pattern.
🎯 And always aim beyond the table.

11/20/2025

Pain is like trying to sail with your anchor still down.
Everything feels harder than it should.
Progress is slow, frustrating, maybe even feels impossible.

But here’s the secret I've learned in 20+ years in the rehab game, and as the survivor of chronic pain I thought would break me.

👉 The strain, the struggle, the resistance...
It’s not a sign to stop.
It’s a signal you’re about to break through.

In rehab, the biggest transformation isn’t physical.
It's often Mental...
It’s belief.
It’s helping someone stop identifying as the victim of their pain…
And start believing they can be the hero that conquers it.

That’s where the magic happens.
Not in the fancy manual treatments or perfect exercise protocols

But in that critical mindset shift that says:
“I can do this.”

If you're in pain, stop waiting for the perfect moment.
Pick up the anchor.
Face the headwinds.
And start moving forward.

Because the way out…
Is through.

Clip from x
Comment "POD" and I'll DM you the link!

11/20/2025

Which knee do YOU think was reconstructed 20 years ago? Vote in the comments! (Hint: Answer below...)

After blowing out my ACL, PCL, MCL, meniscus, and cartilage playing lacrosse, I was terrified to push my knee in the decades that followed.

My surgeon, well intentioned, had said...
“You’ll need a knee replacement by 40 if you’re not careful.”

And despite all the things I know now from rehabbing countless athletes over the years... the thought of NEEDING another knee surgery terrified me.

So I played it safe.
For years.
No running. No jumping. Just trying to preserve what I had left.

Avoidance isn’t rehab.
It’s just a slow way to lose everything you love doing.
and I'm guilty of it also...fear is a hellova thing...

That tremor you see?
That’s the nervous system holding back, throttling down my force output, still guarding an injury from two decades ago.

It's almost like the bodies internal Rev Limiter, but more importantly, its an indicator that the nervous system doesn't know what to do to manage this load, in this position...

So now, I’m doing what I wish I did sooner:

Heavy, long-duration isometrics...
To rebuild tendon strength.
To lay down better connective tissue architecture.
To rewire the brain’s safety threshold.
To finally get my power back, hopefully with less knee pain flare ups.
(I've been at this a few months, and honestly, im stoked...This is the BEST MY KNEE has felt in YEARS!)

I’m not just the founder of The Movement Underground.
I’m a client too. (Thanks )
And I’m DONE sacrificing the life I want out of fear.

🗳 Comment below: Left or right knee?
Then smash follow for cutting edge sports medicine, rehab and mobility content!

11/19/2025

ACLR Rehab + chronic back pain = tricky.

This client tore his ACL skiing last winter.

But his rehab wasn’t just about the knee…

A long-standing history of disc herniation and sciatica meant his spine had a vote in everything we do...

especially as we ramp up plyometrics and late-stage return-to-sport loading.

This clip is a real-time convo with my strength coach, , as we tweak the plan to keep his progress moving while we deal with a back flare up.

👉 THIS is what makes special.

Communication.
Nuance.
Adaptation.

Because cookie-cutter ACL rehab doesn’t cut it especially for adult athletes with real life stress,
real life responsibilities,
and real life orthopedic history.

Rehab is a NON-LINEAR PROCESS.
This is the part you can't learn from a surgeons protocol?
You can't just train or rehab 1 joint. You have to rehab and train the PERSON.

I’m beyond grateful to have a team that gets it.

This is the future of rehab... and we’re building it together, right here on Long Island! 🔥

11/18/2025

When it comes to manual therapy, I try to be as careful with my words as I am my hands.

I don't want people to think the piece they're missing is me.
I want them to see themself as the hero of their own story.
Frodo, if you will.
..and me?
I get to be Gandalf.
The experienced, wise, gentle guide with a trick or two up my sleeve...🧙🏻♂️

My role...is to set them up for.

Their moment.
Their chance.
Their window.

A well-placed touch might not “fix” the problem ...
but it can turn the volume down on pain enough to move forward.

That’s the real art.
Not chasing the pain.
But creating an opportunity to shift focus away from pain and toward progress.

The science?
It shows touch can create changes in pressure pain thresholds.
that touch can make someone feel less sensitive, even temporarily.
That’s not nothing.

It means we can use our hands to nudge the nervous system, disrupt protective patterns, and create just enough trust in the body to....
take that next rep,
that next step,
or that next breath.

This is how you blend science with experience.
I hate arguing about models on the internet.
We don't have all the answers...despite what the physios shouting about research will tell you.
They're just using research as a proxy to the experience they don't have.
My interest in the research isn't to be right...
It's to use the information to create real-world outcomes.

If you want to lead people out of pain.
Sometimes you gotta meet them where they are…
And sometimes there's nothing wrong with lending a hand.😉

Then lead them somewhere better…
With a plan.

📚 Voogt L, de Vries J, Meeus M, Struyf F, Meuffels D, Nijs J. Analgesic effects of manual therapy in patients with musculoskeletal pain: a systematic review. Man Ther. 2015 Apr;20(2):250-6. doi: 10.1016/j.math.2014.09.001. Epub 2014 Sep 19. PMID: 25282440.

11/18/2025

Most people don’t get stuck in pain…
they get stuck in what I call, "Rehab Purgatory."

That place where you’re not injured enough to be “hurt,”
but not confident or capable enough to actually live.

You calm the symptoms…
you rest when it flares…
you do the same band exercises you’ve done a thousand times…

…but you never build the strength, capacity, or confidence to move forward.

Rehab Purgatory feels safe...
but it steals your athleticism, your progress, and your belief in your own body.

This is what happens when you set "pain-free" as the outcome measure for success. When in reality...

🔥 Resilient is the goal.
🔥 Capable is the goal.
🔥 Stronger is the goal.

When all you chase is “no pain,” you stop chasing the things that actually heal you... load, movement, strength, progression, and self-trust.

But you don’t have to stay in that cycle.

At , we build the bridge OUT of rehab purgatory and INTO real life.

We teach you how to reduce sensitivity before training,
how to load the tissues that scare you,
how to challenge your body safely,
how to rebuild confidence with every rep,
and how to stop letting sensation dictate your potential.

You don’t need a pain-free body…
Thats a dead body...

you need a body that can handle the demands of your life, your sport, your family, your future.

and to know what to do if you have a flare up...

And you’re capable of that — more than you think.

Let’s get you out of rehab purgatory.
Let’s get you back in the game.
Time to Be Unbreakable.

Comment the word "Strategy" for a free call with my team, and let's get you free from rehab purgatory!

11/17/2025

When I first got into manual therapy, I was obsessed with techniques.

The courses. The tools. The certifications.
I thought if I just learned more of them, mastered enough of them, "collect em all" 😅

I could “fix” anyone...and maybe even myself.

Then one research review I stumbled across in my email flipped everything.

Robert Schleip’s research in the late 2000's showed that the force needed to actually “break up” tissue would basically rip a person apart.

I was 6 years in.
Still believing that skills = financial freedom
Tens of thousands of dollars deep in continuing ed.
And I had to sit with a hard question:

If I’m not breaking tissue… then why are people getting better?
Has all this been a lie?
How was it that the hundreds of people I had helped get better then?

That question sent me into a neuroscience rabbit hole that would reshape my entire approach.

Maybe I wasn't changing tissue...But I WAS CHANGING PAIN, that much I knew for certain.

So I stopped chasing the illusion of hyper-specificity and started treating manual therapy for the tool it always was.

Not the fix.
The vehicle.
A way to help "the 'real' medicine go down."

A tool to restore hope, reduce pain, create movement opportunity…

and deliver better education and outcomes for people who’ve been underserved by a system built for scale and $$$.

And funny enough?
That tiny shift made my results even better.

So if you’re a clinician questioning your methods...f**king good.
You’re doing it right.

Manual therapy isn’t magic.
But it can create magical moments when you use it with skill, honesty, and intent.

Let’s raise the bar.
Let’s bring this craft forward.
With honesty, science, community and real connections that heal.
God knows, we need it now more than ever.

11/17/2025

Access to health insurance doesn’t automatically create health.

Because outcomes don’t come from more services…
they come from more responsibility.

From how you live, not what insurance plan you have.

And this isn’t political.
This is outcomes-based, backed by real research.

The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment is one of the best examples we have.
It was a randomized controlled trial looking at healthcare access and outcomes.

When people received Medicaid through a lottery system, they did get more "care"

✔ more medications
✔ more doctor visits
✔ more testing

…but they didn’t see major improvements in long-term physical health markers compared to people who didn’t get coverage.
(Baicker et al., NEJM, 2013)

Same system.
Same access.
Different outcomes.

Why?

Because the truth is...the more passive the access, the worse the outcomes.

When something requires no ownership, no effort, no intentionality…
we disengage.
We become reactive instead of proactive.
And reactive health will always lose in the long run.

But here’s the empowering part:

You’re not stuck.
You’re not broken.
And you’re not dependent on an imperfect system to save you.

REAL healthcare that improves outcomes...is:
🏋️♂️ training
🍳 nutrition
🧠 stress management
😴 sleep
🧭 daily choices

That’s why I built — my vision of what primary care should look like:

• Personalized
• Detailed
• Outcome-driven
• PROACTIVE, not reactive

Health isn’t something you’re owed.
But it is something you’re capable of creating.

And that’s the best news of all.

When you shift from
“Someone should fix me…”
to
“I get to participate in my own health.”

Everything changes.

Strength. Confidence.
A healthier future.

You don’t need perfect conditions.
Or the government to step in and give it to you...they can't...
doesn't matter what party...

You just need to take the first honest step.

Your body is worth intentionally caring for...
Don't make the mistake of giving someone else agency over that.

If you disagree, I'd like to hear why...respectfully of course.
I know this is a complex topic, and tried to keep it non-political.

Disclaimer: I don't have all the answers...

11/15/2025

The Hands That Built Me

I still remember being a student in my AT program in the early 2000s...
Manual therapy? Massage? That was frowned upon.

"You're not a massage therapist—go stretch it out."
That was the vibe.

Fast forward a year...I'm working SEC Track & Field at Florida.
And I watched my boss, Andy Klock, work on one of the best sprinters in the nation.
And completely change how he felt, how he moved, how he performed.

And in that moment, I was hooked.

What I saw in that training room was undeniable.
It wasn’t magic.
It was work.
It was skill.
It was intention.
but it got results.

So I made a decision.
If I was going to be great at this...
If I was going to actually save people and athletes from my fate...
I wasn’t going to cherry-pick my tools based on dogma.

I was going to use every damn thing that helped my athletes win.
Results...By ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

Even if it meant rolling up my sleeves, getting my hands dirty,
and doing the kind of work that doesn’t scale well… but works.

So I dove into every manual therapy course I could find:
ART. Graston. FR. IASTM. Kinesiotaping. DNS. PRI. All of it.

For years, I built my head, my heart and my hands into tools I could trust.

And while the way I practice has evolved a lot since then,
I still believe manual therapy, when done right, for the right reasons...

Can be one of the most underrated tools in our toolbox.
Not a cure. Not a fix. Not a magic trick.
But a BRIDGE.

For pain. For recovery. For performance. For progress.

To the manual therapists out there getting trolled by “evidence-based” bros:
Keep going.
The pendulum always swings.
Just don’t get caught playing pretend and making up bu****it.
You want to be taken seriously? KNOW YOUR S**T.

Drop the mysticism.
Lose the ego.
Understand what your hands can do—
…and what they can’t.

Then do that work with love, skill, and fire.

That’s how we earn the respect.
That’s how we make impact.
That’s how we change the game.
One human at a time.

LFG

— Mike Stella, ATC

Address

3553B Merrick Road
Seaford, NY
11783

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 8pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 8pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 8am - 12pm

Telephone

+16315267692

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The Movement Underground is a concierge performance therapy service designed to identify and eliminate the underlying causes of injury through the systematic evaluation of posture, movement, and stress. Personalized care, private sessions, and attention to detail allow for unparalleled results in minimal downtime. This is Recovery Lab.