Restricted movement is your brain’s way of protecting you. When it does not trust a range, it does not allow it. We identify why your brain does not trust the movement and restore it.
Specialist treatment for movement restriction using Functional Neurology and P-DTR. Based in Shiremoor, Newcastle.
| 17 years clinical experience | 5-star rated (30+ reviews) | Free taster session | Free parking on site | Sessions available this week |
When you cannot move as far as you used to, or when movement feels blocked or limited, the obvious assumption is that something is mechanically wrong. A muscle is tight. A joint is stiff. Something is stuck.
But in many cases, there is no mechanical restriction. Your joint can physically move through the range. Your muscles can physically lengthen. The limitation is neurological. Your brain does not trust the movement, so it does not allow it.
Your brain makes decisions about movement based on the information it receives from receptors in your muscles, joints and surrounding tissues. When that information is clear and accurate, your brain allows movement confidently. When the information is unclear or suggests threat, your brain restricts movement as a protective response.
This is why stretching often fails to improve range. You are trying to mechanically create range that your brain is actively preventing. You may push into the restriction briefly, but as soon as you stop, your brain reinstates the limitation because the underlying signal has not changed.
Joint Range Limitations:
Inability to fully flex, extend, rotate or move a joint. This may be present in shoulders, hips, knees, ankles, spine or any other joint.
Post-Injury Stiffness:
Movement restriction that develops after injury and persists after tissue healing. The injury resolves but the movement never fully returns.
Post-Surgical Restriction:
Reduced range following surgery. Even with successful tissue repair, movement may remain limited due to neurological factors.
Gradual Loss of Range:
Movement that has slowly decreased over months or years without obvious cause. This often reflects accumulating neurological dysfunction.
Unilateral Restriction:
Movement limited on one side but normal on the other. This often indicates specific neurological dysfunction affecting one side.
Global Stiffness:
A sense of overall body stiffness affecting multiple areas. This may involve widespread receptor dysfunction or central neurological factors.
If your movement restriction is neurological, stretching addresses effect rather than cause.
When you stretch, you mechanically take a joint or muscle through range. If the tissue is genuinely shortened or the joint is genuinely stiff, stretching can help restore mobility.
But when your brain is actively limiting range as a protective response, stretching fights against your nervous system. Your brain does not trust the range. As you stretch, it resists. The moment you stop, it reinstates the restriction.
Similarly, joint mobilisation techniques may temporarily improve range by providing input that briefly overrides the protective response. But without addressing the underlying receptor dysfunction, the range typically returns to its limited state within hours or days.
This is not to say stretching and mobilisation are useless. They can be valuable once the neurological restriction is addressed. But applying them to neurologically restricted movement often produces frustration rather than lasting improvement.
We identify whether your movement restriction is mechanical, neurological or both. We test receptor function in and around the restricted area, looking for signals that are causing your brain to limit range.
When we find receptor dysfunction, we reset it using P-DTR techniques. Your brain receives accurate information that the range is safe. The protective limitation resolves.
We retest immediately. Range that was blocked becomes available. Movement that felt unsafe becomes confident. This happens in the room, not over weeks of gradual progress.
If mechanical factors are also present, we address them once the neurological restriction is resolved. Often, the mechanical component is much smaller than expected once the neurological protection is removed.
If any of this applies, your movement restriction likely has a neurological component that can be addressed.
A precise approach that identifies and resolves the neurological drivers of movement restriction.
We test receptor function in and around the restricted area to identify what is causing your brain to limit range.
Using P-DTR techniques, we reset the faulty receptors. Your brain receives accurate information that the range is safe.
We immediately retest after every correction. Range that was blocked becomes available. You feel the difference before you leave.
Result:
Many people experience significant improvement in range immediately because the neurological barrier is removed.
What Clients Say
“My shoulder had been frozen for months. Sam found the neurological restriction and my range returned in sessions, not months of painful stretching.”
— Client, Newcastle
“I had lost hip range over years and assumed it was just ageing. Sam corrected receptor dysfunction and my range improved immediately.”
— Client, North Tyneside
Many come to us after physiotherapy or chiropractic provided only temporary relief for restricted movement. We find why—often neurological dysfunction elsewhere.
Any range that stops short, pinches, or feels locked compared with the other side or with how you used to move. Common examples include shoulder elevation, hip rotation, ankle dorsiflexion, neck rotation, and deep squat depth.
No. We target the drivers your nervous system is using to protect that position using neurology-led testing (including P‑DTR), then we re-test the motion. We restore the range that stretching didn’t. Yes you can stretch to maintain the new position we created. You continue to make progress now that your nervous system feels safe in whatever was restricted prior to treatment. You do not have to do stretches. Often your normal every day movements will maintain the progress we made in clinic.
Many people feel improvement in the session as we re-test the exact motion. Complex or long-standing cases take longer with steady progress.
Yes. Those methods help tissues. We add the brain’s decision-making about that position, which is often the missing link when range keeps bouncing back.
Yes. We work within your comfortable range and refer out if any red flags are present. The goal is to help your brain feel safe in that position again.
Not to attend. If we suspect anything that requires medical attention, we will advise and refer appropriately.
If stretching and mobilisation have not restored your range, the restriction is likely neurological. We identify why your brain does not trust the movement and correct it. Range returns because the protective limitation is resolved. Book a free taster session and experience change in the room. Based in Shiremoor, Newcastle. Serving North Tyneside and surrounding areas. Sessions available this week. Free parking on site.
