Train Hard. Work Hard. Move Better.

How Manual Therapy Helps You Recover, Move Better, and Keep Training For athletes who also juggle a job that loads the body

If you train like an athlete but work like a tradie—or sit like an office worker—you’re living in two different worlds of load.

One hour you’re deadlifting, sprinting, running, or playing sport. The next you’re bending, carrying, climbing, gripping, driving, or locked into a desk for eight hours. And then you wonder why the same calf, back, or shoulder keeps flaring up.

Most of the time, it’s not mysterious. It’s not that your body is “broken.”It’s usually a simple mismatch:

The forces you’re exposed to vs what your body can currently tolerate.

You don’t need a physics degree to understand forces

When people hear “biomechanics,” they think equations and complicated jargon. That’s not what I mean.

For what I do in clinic, force thinking boils down to a few practical questions:

• How big is the load? (heavy, light, high impact, low impact)

• How long does it act for? (a single effort vs hours of repetition)

• Which direction is it going? (twist, bend, compress, pull, overhead, landing)

• Where is most of it being absorbed? (calves/hamstrings, hips/back, shoulder/neck, etc.)

A sprint start, a heavy deadlift, a day of repetitive lifting, or a desk-bound week with no movement all create different loading patterns through the body. When pain shows up, it’s often because the body has fallen behind the demands being placed on it—especially after a spike in workload.

Different tasks leave different fingerprints

Your body leaves clues. Certain tasks tend to bias load into predictable areas—not because bodies are fragile, but because exposure is specific.

A few common examples:

• Sprinting and change of direction: high, fast forces through calves, hamstrings, adductors

• Lifting and carrying (gym or work): slower, sustained forces through hips and spine

• Endurance work: cumulative fatigue and reduced recovery capacity rather than one “big event”

• Office weeks: reduced movement options and stiffness that changes how you load training

This doesn’t “diagnose” you. But it does explain why the same pattern keeps showing up when you do the same tasks.

The better questions aren’t “Where does it hurt?”

That’s useful—but it’s not enough.

If you want the story to become clear quickly, these questions matter:

• Which tasks reliably provoke symptoms?

• Which tasks used to be fine but aren’t anymore?

• Has there been a recent spike in speed, volume, load, or training density?

• Do you fail under peak force, repeated force, or sustained force?

Often the answer is simple: the tissue hasn’t suddenly “gone bad.” Capacity has just fallen behind demand.

Where massage fits inside the force story

This is the part most people miss.

Manual therapy is valuable—but it works best when it’s plugged into real life and real loading.

My hands can help:

• reduce protective tone and sensitivity so movement is possible

• restore short-term range and control when your system is guarding

• calm things down enough to train or rehab properly

• improve movement quality so you’re not fighting your body every session

• help you build a better baseline so you tolerate the week better

But here’s the key: manual therapy doesn’t replace adaptation to force—it supports it.

If your Achilles hates hills and sprints, we don’t just “chase the tendon.” We improve readiness, then build back calf capacity and gradually reintroduce steeper, faster work.

If your low back flares with repetitive lifting, hands-on work may help settle it initially—but long-term change usually comes from smarter load management, better task options, and capacity building.

The goal: survive, then thrive, under the loads that matter

If you’re training while juggling work, you don’t need guesswork. You need a clear understanding of what your body is being exposed to—and treatment that helps you adapt to it.

That’s what I’m aiming for at Rebound: manual therapy with a purpose.

Not just relief today—better tolerance, better movement, and fewer setbacks over time.

Ready to get started? Book your appointment. https://www.reboundrmt.com