Muscle tightness is not in your muscles. It is in your brain. Your brain commands muscles to tighten based on the information it receives. We find the faulty information and correct it.Specialist treatment for persistent muscle tightness using Functional Neurology and P-DTR. Based in Shiremoor, Newcastle.
We offer back pain treatment Newcastle residents trust, using a neurology-led assessment that fixes the cause, not just the symptoms. Based in Shiremoor, we help people across Newcastle and North Tyneside move, lift, and live with confidence again.
Persistent muscle tightness that does not respond to stretching, massage or foam rolling is one of the most frustrating problems people experience. You know the muscles are tight. You can feel them. But nothing you do seems to produce lasting change.
The reason is that tightness is not a property of the muscle itself. Your muscles do not decide to be tight. Your brain commands them to be tight based on the information it receives from receptors throughout your body.
When your brain receives unclear or threatening signals, it creates protective tension. It tells muscles to tighten to guard an area, to limit movement, to stabilise a region that feels uncertain. This is appropriate when there is actual threat. The problem is that the brain can maintain this tension indefinitely if the faulty signals continue.
This is why stretching often does not help. You are mechanically lengthening a muscle that your brain is simultaneously commanding to shorten. The stretch may feel good briefly, but as soon as you stop, the brain reinstates the tension because the underlying signal has not changed.
This is why massage provides only temporary relief. The manipulation overrides the tension pattern temporarily, but the faulty receptor signals remain. Within hours or days, the tension returns.
Multiple receptor types can contribute to persistent tightness.
Muscle Spindle Dysfunction:
Muscle spindles detect the length of your muscles. When they malfunction, they may tell your brain that the muscle is longer than it actually is. Your brain responds by commanding the muscle to shorten, creating tension.
Golgi Tendon Organ Dysfunction:
Golgi tendon organs detect tension in your tendons. When they malfunction, your brain may not receive accurate information about how much tension is already present. This can lead to excessive muscle activation.
Joint Receptor Dysfunction:
When joint receptors are not providing clear information, your brain may increase muscle tension around that joint as a protective stabilising response.
Visual and Vestibular Dysfunction:
If your brain is not confident about your position in space due to visual or vestibular problems, it may increase muscle tension globally as a protective strategy.
Referred Tension:
Dysfunction in one area can create tension in another. A problem in your foot can create tension in your calf, hamstring or hip. A problem in your neck can create tension in your shoulders and upper back.
Upper Trapezius and Shoulders:
Tightness across the tops of your shoulders and into your neck. Often driven by neck dysfunction, visual problems or stress-related patterns.
Hamstrings:
Tight hamstrings that do not respond to stretching. Often driven by pelvis, lower back or foot dysfunction.
Hip Flexors:
Tightness at the front of your hips. Often related to lower back, pelvis or core dysfunction.
Calf Muscles:
Persistent calf tightness. Often driven by ankle or foot receptor dysfunction.
Lower Back Muscles:
Paraspinal tension that never releases. Often related to core dysfunction, hip problems or referred patterns from elsewhere.
Neck Muscles:
Tension in the neck that returns despite treatment. Often involves visual, vestibular or upper cervical dysfunction.
We identify which receptor signals are causing your brain to create tension. We test throughout your body, not just in the tight area, because the driver is often elsewhere.
When we find receptor dysfunction, we reset it using P-DTR techniques. The correction takes seconds. We retest immediately and you feel the muscle relax.
This is not the temporary relaxation you get from massage. It is resolution of the signal that was causing the tension. The muscle relaxes because your brain no longer receives the input that was driving the tightness.
Multiple areas of dysfunction may be contributing. We work through them systematically, relaxing muscles that have been tight for years because we are addressing the neurological cause rather than the mechanical effect.
If any of this applies, your tightness is driven by neurological factors that can be identified and corrected.
A precise approach that identifies and resolves the neurological drivers of muscle tightness.
We test receptor function throughout your body to identify which signals are causing your brain to create tension. The driver is often distant from the tight muscle.
Using P-DTR techniques, we reset the faulty receptors. The correction takes seconds. Your brain stops receiving the signal that was commanding tension.
We immediately retest after every correction. You feel the muscle relax. This is not temporary. It is resolution of the neurological cause.
Result:
Many people feel muscles relax that have been tight for years because the neurological driver is finally addressed.
“My shoulders had been tight for years despite weekly massage. Sam found the neurological cause and my shoulders finally relaxed.”
— Client, Newcastle
“I could never touch my toes because of tight hamstrings. Sam corrected foot dysfunction and my hamstrings released immediately.”
— Client, North Tyneside
“I thought tight muscles were just part of my body. Sam showed me they were signals from my brain that could be changed.”
— Client, Whitley Bay
If you need regular sports massage to manage muscle tension, the cause has not been addressed. Many come to us after massage or physiotherapy provided only temporary relief. We find why—often neurological dysfunction elsewhere.
Persistent tightness has a neurological cause. We find the receptor signals driving your brain to create tension and correct them. The muscles finally relax because the cause is resolved.
Book a free taster session and experience lasting change.Based in Shiremoor, Newcastle. Serving North Tyneside and surrounding areas. Sessions available this week. Free parking on site.
