Darren McClellan Sports and Remedial Massage

12/12/2025

If Santa can make time for a remedial massage, so can you 🎅😉
Don’t let aches and pains slow you down this Christmas.
Book in and give your body a break.

10/12/2025

Even Santa’s watching the clock 🎅⏰ Grab your massage voucher before time runs out!

09/12/2025

We Runners Take It for Granted: Until It’s Taken Away

Runners are a funny breed. We put our shoes on most days without thinking about it. We watch the watch, we measure the splits, we judge the run almost purely by the numbers that show up on the watch. And if those numbers don’t match what we think they should be, if the pace is a little off, the heart rate a little high, the legs a little flat, we get disappointed. Sometimes even annoyed.

It’s almost comical when you step back and look at it:
We can run, but we complain we’re not running fast enough.

The Quiet Gift We Forget We Have

Running is one of the greatest privileges we have. It’s freedom. It’s expression. It’s the nervous system settling, the mind unwinding, the body doing exactly what it was built to do.

But we take it for granted.

Until injury hits.

The moment something breaks down, a tendon flares, a calf grabs, a back locks, a hamstring pulls, everything changes. Suddenly it’s no longer about PBs or Strava crowns. We’d give anything just to jog slowly around the block. No pace goals anymore, no expectations. Just movement.

It’s funny how quickly perspective shifts when something you love is taken away, even temporarily.

We go from “Why wasn’t that pace faster?”
to
“I’d kill just to run at any pace.”

Injury: The Great Humbling

Injury humbles you like nothing else. You start noticing runners out on the path and feel a mix of anger, frustration, envy, longing, and appreciation.

You watch someone shuffle along at what you once called an “easy pace” and think,
“I wish that was me.”

You realise how lucky you were, and not because you were fast or anything but because you were able to.

It’s only when you’re forced to stop that you truly understand what running gave you:

A clear head

A sense of identity

A routine

A feeling of capability

A way to process life

And once you’ve lost it, even briefly, you swear you’ll never take it for granted again.

But Then… We Return to Old Patterns

And here’s the ironic part.

Once we finally get back running, after all the rehab, the patience, the setbacks, the mental battles, what happens?

We slip straight back into the same habits:

Checking pace too often

Judging runs too harshly

Expecting too much too soon

Comparing ourselves to our old selves

Losing gratitude

Our brains forget quickly. Our egos get loud again. The simple joy of “just running” fades, buried under the pressure of performance.

We return to chasing the perfect run instead of enjoying the fact we can run at all.

What If We Didn’t Forget?

What if we held onto the perspective injury gives us… without needing the injury?

What if every run, whether fast, slow, messy, or magical, was treated as a privilege instead of a performance?

What if we remembered that:

A slow run is still a run

A bad run is still a gift

A tired run is still movement

And the body that disappoints us today is the same body that carries us through life?

Imagine how different our relationship with running would be if gratitude led and ego followed.

Running Isn’t Just About Speed. It’s About Being Able to just run.

Next time you’re annoyed because your watch didn’t give you the pace you wanted, try this:

Touch your feet to the ground.
Take a breath.
Feel your heart beating.
Remember the time you couldn’t run.

And remind yourself:

Being able to run at any pace, is something many people would trade their world for.

Slow isn’t failure.
It’s presence.
It’s healing.
It’s longevity.
It’s the reason you’re still out there.

We don’t need another injury to teach us this lesson.
We just need to remember the one we already learned.

09/12/2025

08/12/2025

04/12/2025

People often say to me, “But if I sit like this and it hurts… doesn’t that mean my posture is causing my pain?”

Here’s the thing:
Posture can trigger pain, but it’s rarely the cause of pain.

If your nervous system is already a bit wound up, tired, stressed, tight, overloaded, then certain positions will feel uncomfortable faster. It’s not the posture itself that’s the problem… it’s the sensitivity of the system underneath it.

Just like any movement done long enough can feel uncomfortable, any posture held long enough can feel uncomfortable too. That doesn’t make it harmful, it just means your body wants a change of position.

A simple way to think about it:

Posture doesn’t create pain.
But when the system is sensitive, posture can highlight it.

This takes the fear out of “bad posture” and brings the focus back to what actually helps:
movement, variety, calm, recovery, and lowering the overall load on the system.

Your body isn’t fragile; it just talks to you.
Sometimes it whispers through posture.

30/11/2025

When you come into my clinic, you get more than just a massage.
You get someone who actually listens.

I take the time to understand why you feel the way you do, what’s behind your pain, and what steps can genuinely help you ease it. My hands-on work is guided by counselling skills, active listening, a client-centred approach, and a space that’s completely non-judgemental.

Your story matters.
Your pain makes sense.
And you’ll always be heard here.

27/11/2025

Friday's here, the weekend's calling, and summer is just around the corner, even though the last few days of spring have felt like summer. This is a reminder from Tara Brach and a good chance to let go a little, slow down and just settle into the flow!

27/11/2025

Friday's here, the weekend's calling, and summer is just around the corner, even though the last few days of spring have felt like summer. This is a reminder from Tara Brach and a good chance to let go a little, slow down and just settle into the flow!

By letting go of control and relaxing with the changing flow of experience, you will begin to inhabit the fullness of natural presence. Notice how rather than a particular location of “here,” experience is arising and passing in the wakeful openness of awareness itself. Rest in this awareness, allowing all of life to live through you.

24/11/2025

Do you really need a diagnosis for every ache and ni**le?
Honestly… most of the time, no.

For the majority of everyday shoulder, knee, or hip ni**les, the name of the injury doesn’t change the plan. Your body doesn’t heal because of labels. It heals because of movement, rest, and gradually loading it again.

If an exercise feels good then keep doing it.
If it feels worse then back off.
If it feels fine then it’s probably completely safe.

Most injuries settle with the basics:
• gentle movement
• strength work
• avoiding the stuff that spikes the pain
• good sleep
• letting the nervous system calm down
• consistent rehab, not perfect rehab

A diagnosis is useful when pain is severe, rapidly getting worse, involves trauma, or stops you functioning normally. But for everyday ni**les, the body usually figures it out with the right mix of movement and recovery.

Trust your body. Move it, rest it, and give it time.
It’s smarter than most people think.

19/11/2025

After 20+ years of working with athletes, runners, gym-goers and weekend warriors, I can tell you this…
Every injury follows the same healing pattern.
When you understand that process, recovery becomes so much easier.

I’ve written a simple blog explaining it all.
Have a read here 👇

If there’s one thing I wish everyone understood about injuries, it’s this:Every injury in the body heals through the same basic process. Muscle strains, tendon issues, ligament sprains, irritated joints, the body doesn’t use different repair systems for each one. It follows a predictable patte...