Complete Balance - Clinical Massage Therapist

💪 Why Heavy & Slow Beats Light & Fast for Tendon Health

If you caught today’s video — standing banded hip flexor, hip abduction, and hip extension (band at mid-foot for flexion/abduction, moved to ankle for extension) — you’ll have noticed something different: a strong band, low reps, high resistance.

This isn’t just “harder for the sake of it.” It’s how we build resilient tendons.
🔬 The science bit:
Tendons don’t respond well to lots of light reps — they respond to LOAD. Heavy, slow resistance training stimulates collagen turnover and remodelling within the tendon itself, increasing its capacity to tolerate strain before it becomes irritated or painful. Think of it as teaching the tissue to handle more, gradually, rather than just fatiguing the muscle around it.
For anyone managing hip flexor, glute medius, or hip extensor tendon issues, this approach — heavy load, low reps, full control — is one of the most evidence-supported ways to reduce irritability over time and build a tendon that copes better with daily life and activity.

⏳ How long until you feel it?
Tendons are slow tissue — patience is part of the programme:
🔹 2–6 weeks: pain and irritability often start to settle
🔹 6–12 weeks: noticeable improvements in strength and load tolerance
🔹 3–6 months: real structural adaptation within the tendon itself

Consistency is everything here. Sporadic heavy sessions won’t cut it — it’s the regular, progressive loading over months that rebuilds a resilient tendon.
If you’re dealing with a nagging hip, groin, or glute issue that just won’t settle, this kind of targeted loading (guided and progressed properly) could be exactly what’s missing from your recovery.
📍 Complete Balance, Worthing

New client today, two problems 👇

Shoulder pain + Achilles pain — plus hypermobility to work around.

🔍 Shoulder: ROM assessment revealed ACJ impingement, caused by a tight pec minor and rotator cuff/deltoid compensation.

🔍 Ankle: poor dorsiflexion + early bunion, both tendinopathy-related.

We treated it, then built her a home plan:
🎾 Tennis ball trigger point work — calf, soleus & shoulders
🦶 Toe spreaders
📿 Physio band + rotator cuff exercises
🏃 Ankle strengthening for her running

Shoulder ROM improved. Ankle felt better. Same day.

This is what clinical massage looks like — assess, treat, and homework so the results don’t stop when you leave 💪

📍 Worthing | Book via link in bio





-ledtreatment

Chronic pain isn’t “in your head” — but it does live in your nervous system. As a Clinical Massage Therapist, the majority of what I treat day-to-day is chronic pain.

When we’re in fight, flight or fright, our sympathetic nervous system ramps up pain signalling to protect us. That’s useful after an acute injury. But if this stays switched on past around 6 months, pain can persist long after tissues have healed — this is chronic pain.

It’s also common alongside autoimmune conditions, hEDS, neurodivergence, and menopause, where the nervous system is often already working harder.

The key isn’t pushing through or resting completely — it’s identifying your triggers and learning to pace. Small, sustainable steps that keep you active without tipping your system into flare-up.

I recommended the use of the Visible app - you don’t need to sign up for the 12mths, there is a monthly option and 3mths will provide a trend. The Visible app lets you track energy, symptoms and activity patterns day-to-day, so you can actually see your triggers and pacing thresholds rather than guessing — turning “pacing” from a vague idea into a data-backed plan.

If chronic pain is running your life, let’s talk about it. 📍 Worthing, West Sussex
MenopauseSupport

Bridge vs. Hip Thrust — are you actually working your glutes? 🍑

A common one I see in clinic: people doing a “bridge” that’s really just a hip thrust in disguise — and wondering why their glutes aren’t waking up.

The difference is where the load comes from:

🔹 Hip thrust — shoulders elevated off a bench or floor, driving through the feet flat on the floor, hips extending against gravity from a raised position. Great exercise, different pattern.

🔹 Bridge (like this) — lying flat, driving evenly through the heels, lifting the pelvis off the bed. Done right, you should feel it working in your hamstrings and glute max — not your lower back.

If you’re arching and gripping through your spine instead, that’s your body compensating rather than your glutes doing the work.

Why it matters: for anyone dealing with Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome (GTPS) or gluteal tendinopathy, this distinction is important. Poor glute max recruitment often means the smaller hip muscles (like TFL/glute med) and the ITB overcompensate — adding load right over the trochanter and aggravating that lateral hip pain. Retraining true glute max activation, without pinching or compressing through the front of the hip, helps redistribute that load properly and can ease symptoms over time.

Small adjustment, big difference in what you’re actually training.

Ask me at your next session if you’re not sure which pattern you’re using, or if lateral hip pain is something you’re dealing with. 👇

Or try this exercise and let me know if you feel it in your bum!

📍 Complete Balance, Worthing

Last time we talked about that nagging ache on the outside of the hip (GTPS). But here’s something a lot of women don’t realise: the pain doesn’t always start where it hurts.

A few other areas often play a part:

🔹 The muscle band down the side of your thigh (IT band) — when it’s tight, it presses right on the sore spot on your hip
🔹 The hip flexor at the front (TFL) — often overworks to compensate when the main hip muscles aren’t pulling their weight, which pulls that IT band even tighter
🔹 Your lower back and outer buttock muscles — tightness or weakness here can refer pain down the side of the hip, so the ache you feel isn’t always the whole story
🔹 How you’re standing and walking — if the hip muscles are underactive, your body compensates in ways that quietly overload the painful side

This is exactly why a proper hands-on assessment matters — treating just the sore spot often isn’t enough. Getting to what’s actually driving it makes all the difference.

If that outer hip ache is still nagging at you, let’s get to the root of it.

A small pillow between the knees is common advice for side sleepers — but it doesn’t stop you rolling forward in the night. Once that happens, your top leg drifts across your body, pulling the hip into adduction and compressing the structures at the side of the hip.

Instead, hug a full-length pillow along your front — from knee to chest. It keeps your pelvis stacked and stops that forward roll altogether.

Especially helpful if you have:
🔹 GTPS (greater trochanteric pain syndrome)
🔹 Glute medius tendinopathy

Small change, better night’s sleep 💤

WorthingTherapist CompleteBalance

✅ It’s not bursitis — it’s the tendons of your Glute Medius overloading at the top of the femur
✅ It affects women 4x more than men
✅ Around 15% of women over 50 are affected
✅ Falling oestrogen levels around menopause make tendons more vulnerable
✅ A wider female pelvis creates more load on the outer hip with every step

And three things to do right now 👇

❌ Stop crossing your legs — it compresses the tendon
✅ Sleep with a pillow under the top leg, position it under the knee and the foot.
❌ Avoid deep hip stretches — they make it worse

GTPS is closely connected to Glute Medius dysfunction — which I’ve been covering all month. Treating the cause, not just the symptom, is what gets lasting results.

If this sounds like your hip pain, I’d love to help.

📍 Worthing, West Sussex
🔗 Link in bio to book or send me a message

Can you stand on one leg for 30 seconds without wobbling? This quick balance test is used by physical therapists and massage therapists to check ankle stability, hip strength, and fall risk — especially important for older adults and anyone recovering from an injury.

As a clinical massage therapist in [Your City], I use single leg stance assessments to spot muscle imbalances before they turn into pain or injury.

Try it: stand on one leg for 30 seconds, then switch. A noticeable wobble or inability to hold the position may point to weak stabilizer muscles or poor balance — both of which we can improve with targeted massage and mobility work.

Looking for balance training or injury prevention support in Worthing. Book a session at Complete Balance Worthing - DM me here.

This week's movement tip: strengthening the glute medius (the muscle that keeps your hips level when you walk, climb stairs, or stand on one leg).

The setup: stand side-on to a wall. Bend the near-side knee to about 45° and press the thigh/knee/shin into the wall — that's your working side. On the standing leg, place your foot a little wider than your hip, knee straight, and press evenly through the foot (heel, big toe, little toe — the "foot tripod").

Keep your pelvis square and level the whole time. Because of how the legs are positioned, both sides end up working — the top leg through direct muscle activation, the standing leg through stabilization.

What to watch for: if you notice your body leaning to the side or your hip hiking up, that usually means the glute medius is being bypassed and other muscles (often the low back) are compensating. Slow, controlled, and level is the goal.

A weak or under-active glute medius is a common contributor to hip, knee, and low back discomfort — this is one of the simple exercises I use with clients to help build that stability back up.

Any questions let me know in the comments!