Aurora Sports Therapy

Could your neck be causing your headaches?We’ve all had those days.

You sit at a desk for hours.

You spend too long looking down at your phone. You barely move.By the end of the day, your shoulders feel heavy. Your neck feels stiff. Then, the headache starts.

Your posture plays a massive role in this.Slouching forces your upper back and shoulder muscles to work overtime. Over a long workday, these muscles get exhausted and tight.

This strain places huge pressure on the base of your skull and your upper neck joints. When these structures get irritated, they send pain signals straight up into your head.

That is why your desk posture is often the hidden trigger behind your headache.

Small changes throughout the day can help:
👉 Reset your posture to take the pressure off your neck.
👉 Get up and move to stop your muscles from locking up.
👉 Take regular screen breaks to give your upper back a rest.

If the tension is already locked in, gentle therapy can break the cycle.A combination of soft tissue work, cupping, and gentle mobilisation helps ease muscular tension, calm irritated nerves, and get you moving freely again.

Massage • Cupping • Gentle Mobilisation • Neck Stretches

Appointments available at Aurora Sports Therapy. Send us a DM or click the link in our bio to book your session!

My lovely clients making me smile this week 🤩

So grateful for these lovely messages and for everyone who recommends me and helps spread the word about my little business.

It means more than you know! 🤗

Thank you 💕

“It doesn’t hurt anymore, so I must be fine.”

As a therapist, this is the most frequent phrase I hear.
Clients always ask me why certain injuries seem to drag on, even after the initial pain has completely vanished.

The reality is that different tissues heal at entirely different biological rates. Here is why:

✔️ Muscle (Fastest): Highly vascular with an excellent blood supply. It receives a constant stream of oxygen and nutrients, allowing for rapid cellular regeneration.

✔️ Tendons (Slow): Connecting muscle to bone, tendons are dense, tightly packed collagen structures with a lesser blood supply. They do not respond well to prolonged rest; they require highly structured, progressive mechanical loading to remodel and regain strength.

✔️ Ligaments (Complex): Connecting bone to bone, ligaments provide passive joint stability. They have a very poor blood supply. A severe sprain changes the mechanical properties of the tissue, often leaving behind joint laxity. Rehab must focus heavily on balance, coordination, and dynamic strength to compensate for these structural changes.

✔️ Bone (Thorough): Bone has a phenomenal capacity to regenerate rather than scar. However, bridging a fracture and fully mineralizing the new bone to withstand daily weight-bearing loads is a multi-month biological process.

The Golden Rule of Rehab:
Pain disappears during the early phases of tissue repair, long before the tissue has regained its structural strength. If you return to full-intensity sport the moment the pain stops, you are exposing vulnerable, unaligned tissue to maximum force.

Rehabilitation is a step-by-step progression based on measurable function, capacity, and load tolerance not the calendar and certainly not just your pain levels

If you want to book an assessment with us you can book online via our website.

Let’s make sure your body is truly ready to perform.

🧊 The Truth About Ice After a Soft Tissue Injury

One of the most common questions I get asked is…

“Should I ice it?”

For years, icing an injury was the go-to advice.

But research has helped us better understand how soft tissue injuries heal, and the advice around using ice has changed too.

When you suffer a muscle strain, ligament sprain or contusion, your body immediately triggers an inflammatory response. This isn’t a bad thing it’s an essential part of your body’s natural healing process.

During the first 48–72 hours, your body begins repairing the injured tissue by:

✔️ Increasing blood flow to the injured area.
✔️ Sending white blood cells and other specialised healing cells to remove damaged tissue and coordinate repair.
✔️ Activating the cells responsible for rebuilding and regenerating healthy tissue.

This is why inflammation is such an important stage of recovery.

So where does ice fit in?

Ice can be used for up to 10 minutes to help relieve pain during the early stages of a soft tissue injury.

However, ice isn’t used to speed up healing. Cooling reduces blood flow and may slow the activity of the cells involved in the body’s natural repair process. Excessive or prolonged icing may therefore interfere with normal tissue healing, which is why ice is now viewed as a pain management tool, rather than a healing tool.

What should you do instead?

✔️ Stop the activity immediately.
✔️ Protect the injured area from further trauma.
✔️ Use ice only if you need short-term pain relief.
✔️ Don’t return to sport or continue your rehabilitation exercises just because the pain has settled.
✔️ Get your injury assessed early and begin the right rehabilitation programme.

Remember: Pain settling does not mean the tissue has healed.

Recovery isn’t about masking symptoms it’s about giving your body the best environment to heal.

Think you’ve picked up a soft tissue injury? Book an assessment today and start your recovery the right way.

❌ Stop stretching that muscle “pull” (Do this instead)

Felt a sudden ping or pull during training today?Your first instinct might be to stretch it out, run it off, or keep pushing. Please don’t. A sudden pull usually means a minor muscle strain, and forcing it to move right now can turn a small tweak into a major setback.Here is what you actually need to do right now:

Stop the workout immediately. Pushing through the pain isn’t tough; it’s just going to sideline you for longer.🚫 Step away from the stretch. Stretching an acutely strained muscle can physically pull the healing fibers further apart. Leave it alone for now.

Apply the 10-Minute Ice Rule. If it really hurts, use ice in brief, 10-minute windows just to numb the sharpest pain. Don’t leave it on all day. Modern sports therapy shows that over-icing actually delays your body’s natural healing process, which relies on inflammation to fix the tissue during the first 3 days.

Get a professional eyes on it early. Getting an accurate diagnosis right away means you can start the right rehab sooner, keeping you moving safely without making things worse. Ignoring a little strain today is the quickest way to spend the next month or even longer being unable to participate in your sport.

Think you tweaked something? Drop us a message or click the link in our bio to book an assessment with Aurora Sports Therapy. Let’s get you back to doing what you love safely.

PREPARE. RECOVER. PERFORM.

Most people focus on training harder but the real progress happens when your body has the chance to recover.

Recovery isn’t just about resting. It’s about giving your body what it needs to adapt, repair and perform.

✔️ Build strength to support your body under load
✔️ Prioritise sleep, nutrition and hydration
✔️ Use sports massage and soft tissue therapy to help manage muscle soreness and aid recovery
✔️ Don’t ignore aches and niggles—address them before they become injuries

Whether you’re training for an event, playing sport, or simply keeping active, looking after your body is just as important as the training itself.

Invest in your recovery today, so your body can perform tomorrow.

Book your Sports Massage or Injury Assessment with Aurora Sports Therapy and keep moving at your best.

Simply book online via our website
https://aurorasportstherapy.co.uk

🏉 PRE-SEASON RUGBY

The season starts before the first whistle.

The demands of rugby are high. Sprinting, tackling, scrummaging, rucking and repeated collisions all place significant stress on your body.

As pre-season ramps up, focus on what will keep you performing week after week:

🏋️Strength & Conditioning
Build the strength and resilience needed to tolerate contact, produce force and reduce your risk of injury.

💆 Recovery
Sports massage and soft tissue therapy can help manage muscle soreness, improve recovery between sessions and keep you training consistently.

🦵 Address the niggles early
Don’t wait until a minor issue becomes weeks on the sidelines. Early assessment and treatment can keep you progressing through pre-season.

🥗 Sleep. Nutrition. Hydration.
Recovery starts away from the pitch. Fuel your body properly to perform at your best.

Your best ability is availability.
The players who prepare well now are the ones still on the pitch when the season matters most.

Get your pre-season sports massage or injury assessment today. Drop us a message and we’ll get you ready!

Im back in clinic this week 🙌

Was a pleasure to be apart of the team looking after Jersey Touch Rugby Team at the European tournament in France 🇫🇷