What actually happens when you come for an appointment

First we have a conversation

I want to know what you're trying to get back to. Not "where does it hurt" on its own, though we'll get to that, but what the pain is stopping you doing. Getting through a shift without your shoulder nipping. Finishing a half marathon in October. Picking up a grandchild without thinking about it first.

That answer changes the treatment. A calf that starts complaining at mile ten needs something different from a calf that complains after a day standing at a workbench, even when what I find under my hands is much the same.

I'll ask about your history too. Old injuries, surgery, how you sleep, what you've already tried and whether it helped. Some of the questions will be about your work and the rest of your life: what your day involves, how much of it you spend sitting or on your feet, what you're doing at the weekend. I'm not being nosey. It builds a picture of what's driving the problem, and that's often where the answer is.

You might not have a problem at all, of course. Plenty of people come for a sports or maintenance massage, to stay on top of training or just because it keeps them feeling right. That's very much something I do, and we'll still have the conversation first so I know what would help you most.

Then I watch you move

The sore spot is often not the problem. It's the bit that finally complained.

So before I put a hand on you, I'll watch you do a few simple things. Squat, reach overhead, walk, balance on one leg. I'm looking at where the movement is coming from and where it isn't. A shoulder that won't lift cleanly might be a stiff mid-back. A knee that hurts on the stairs might be a hip that isn't doing its share.

This is the part that gets skipped in a straight massage appointment, and it's the reason two people with the same symptom leave with different plans.

The hands-on work

Once I know what I'm looking at, we treat it. Remedial and sports massage, mobilisation, spinal manipulation where it suits what you've got going on, and dry needling where the clinic location allows.

It can be firm. It should feel like good discomfort and never like something you're bracing through. I check in as we go, and I'd rather you told me it was too much than lay there knowing the appointment has a finish time!

You'll also know why I'm working where I'm working. If what you've described in your leg looks nerve related rather than a problem in the calf itself, most of the session is going to go on your lower back and glutes, and I'll tell you that before I start rather than leave you wondering why nobody has touched the sore bit.

The useful thing to leave with is the reasoning, not a list of faults.

What I won't give you is a diagnosis

Diagnosing sits outside a massage therapist's scope of practice, mine included. I can assess you, treat you from what I find and what you've told me, and explain my thinking as I go, and I've been doing this since 2011, so I've a fair idea what I'm looking at. What I won't do is hand you a label that isn't mine to give.

Some things are obvious enough to name. A muscle strain is usually a muscle strain. Beyond that, I'll tell you what I think is going on, be clear that it's my working impression rather than a diagnosis, and treat what's in front of me.

When it's something I can't help with, or something that needs a medical opinion before anyone puts hands on it, I'll say so. I work independently, but not in isolation. There are physiotherapists and other practitioners I work with and trust, and if you'd be better served by one of them, or by your GP, I'll tell you and point you towards the right person. I'd rather do that than have you keep coming back and seeing little or no progress.

You'll leave with something to do

Usually two or three exercises. Not a printed sheet of twelve you'll never open.

Hands-on work buys you a window where things move better. What you do in that window decides whether the change sticks. Whatever you've got to work with is what we'll use. If you train in a gym, I'll load it properly. If you're at home, or living out of a hotel room for the week, you'll get something you can do there with little or no kit. Often that's nothing but your own body weight, sometimes it's a resistance band you can throw in a suitcase.

How many sessions you'll need

Depends what we're dealing with, and I'll give you an honest answer at the end of the first one rather than a package to sign up to.

Something acute and recent often settles in two or three. Something you've carried for years takes longer, and the useful goal is usually getting you strong enough that you need me less. If I don't think what I do is what you need, I'll say so and point you at who is.

The practical bits

Sessions are 50 minutes in Peebles and 45 minutes in Edinburgh. Wear something you can move in, because of the assessment. Bring any scan results or GP letters if they're relevant, and a list of medications if they're connected to why you're in.

You don't need a referral, and you don't need to work out in advance which type of massage you need. That's my job.

Addresses, opening hours and prices are on Find me & book.