Muscle spasm is a common problem in rehabilitation and sports medicine. It refers to an involuntary contraction of muscle fibres, which may be short-lived or sustained. Clinically, muscle spasm is often associated with pain, stiffness, fatigue, reduced movement, and impaired function. Massage therapy is commonly used to reduce muscle tension, improve comfort, and support recovery.
Massage therapy is widely used in sports medicine, rehabilitation, and pain management. Clinically, therapists often observe that massage can reduce pain, ease muscle tension, improve comfort, and help people move more freely. This study provides a possible biological explanation for how massage may reduce inflammatory muscle pain. The key message is simple: Massage does not
Muscle Memory: What Every Therapist Should Know The term muscle memory is commonly used to describe our ability to perform familiar movements, such as riding a bicycle, typing on a keyboard, or playing a musical instrument. Strictly speaking, this type of memory resides primarily in the brain and nervous system, where motor learning and movement
For more than a decade, The Body Keeps the Score has profoundly influenced how clinicians and the public understand trauma. Its central message—that trauma affects both mind and body—has helped shift treatment beyond purely cognitive approaches. However, emerging findings from neuroscience suggest that the metaphor of trauma being “stored in the body” is biologically imprecise.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is commonly understood as compression of the median nerve at the wrist, leading to pain, tingling, numbness, and weakness in the hand. However, emerging evidence suggests that its effects may extend beyond local nerve symptoms. A recent cross-sectional study of 100 women compared patients with mild, moderate, and severe carpal tunnel syndrome
Achilles tendinopathy is one of the most common overuse injuries seen in runners. It can be persistent, frustrating and difficult to manage because it is rarely caused by a single factor. Training load, tendon capacity, age, previous injury, muscle function and running biomechanics may all contribute to the development of symptoms. For therapists, one of
Musculoskeletal pain is one of the most common reasons people seek help from health professionals. Back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, osteoarthritis, tendinopathy, and other MSK conditions contribute substantially to disability, health-care use, and economic burden. After decades of clinical trials, one conclusion is difficult to ignore: there is no clear universal winner. Exercise, manual
Myofascial pain syndrome is familiar to many therapists, yet it remains difficult to define with certainty. Patients may present with local pain, tenderness, referred discomfort, pressure sensitivity, movement restriction, or palpable myofascial trigger points. In some cases, the clinical picture is quite specific, with a recognisable tender nodule and a familiar referral pattern. In others,
When therapists think about sprinting, the hamstrings and calves often receive most of the attention. This makes sense: hamstring strains are common in running sports, and the calf–Achilles complex is essential for force transfer during ground contact. But a recent MRI-based study of collegiate American football players suggests that maximal sprint speed may depend strongly
Musculoskeletal pain is now the leading cause of disability worldwide, and its prevalence continues to rise. For therapists, this trend cannot be explained by tissue pathology alone. Increasingly, evidence points toward a broader interaction between lifestyle, psychological health, and biological processes—particularly systemic low-grade inflammation—in shaping pain experiences. A recent systematic review findings provide some insights.