04/03/2026
How Old Injuries Can Still Affect the Body Years Later
Many people believe that once an injury heals, it’s gone forever. But the body and brain don’t always work that way. Sometimes injuries from years—or even decades—ago can still influence how our body moves and functions today.
Recently, I worked with a 63-year-old client who regularly attends gym classes. She came to see me because she had pain in her left calf and the back of her knee. Eight months earlier she had injured her left hamstring, and despite staying active she had been struggling with certain exercises ever since.
But as we explored further, it became clear that the hamstring itself wasn’t the whole story.
The Body Remembers Old Injuries
When we looked at her medical history, several past injuries stood out:
Concussions as a teenager
A fracture to the L3 vertebra in her lower back at age 14
A severe left ankle sprain about 20 years ago
A broken nose three times with nasal surgery
A broken left wrist
During examination, something interesting appeared:
Left hamstring muscles were weak and not firing properly
Right hamstring was locked in a protective pattern
Using Applied Movement Neurology (AMN) and P-DTR therapy, we started testing the neurological connections behind these patterns.
The first major contributor we found was the L3 vertebra fracture from 50 years ago.
Injuries Affect More Than Just the Body
When my client broke her back at 14 years old, she was in hospital during a very vulnerable time in her life.
Think about that for a moment.
A teenager in hospital with a spinal fracture.
Along with the physical injury, there were emotional responses such as:
Loss of self-worth
Anxiety about the future
The brain stores these emotional experiences in survival centres. Even decades later, the nervous system can still react to them.
In this case, the injury had also affected the femoral nerve in the left leg, causing it to become slightly hypoxic (reduced oxygen supply due to tension in the tissues). When nerves are under tension, they can affect muscle strength and movement patterns.
After the first treatment, my client reported something encouraging:
➡️ She was able to perform a wall sit for the first time in over 8 months.
The Ankle Sprain Connection
During the second treatment, we discovered another piece of the puzzle.
This time, the issue linked back to her severe left ankle sprain from 20 years ago.
Even thinking about the ankle injury created weakness throughout her body. This happens because the brain’s amygdala (emotional memory centre) and areas involved in visual awareness and threat detection can still associate that injury with danger.
An even stronger reaction occurred when she turned her foot inward—the body instantly weakened.
This old ankle injury was connected neurologically to:
The left diaphragm
Groin muscles
The obturator nerve
After this session, she returned to the gym and reported she completed a full, intense class, with her hamstrings feeling strong—only the normal muscle soreness (DOMS) afterwards.
The Surprising Link to the Nose
During the third treatment, another unexpected link appeared.
My client had broken her nose three times, and had undergone nasal surgery.
The key issue wasn’t just the structural injury—it was the emotional memory stored in the amygdala, particularly from the third time she broke her nose.
How did it happen?
Her cat jumped on her and accidentally head-butted her, breaking her nose!
It sounds amusing now, but neurologically the body still remembered the trauma.
Even more interesting, this injury affected cranial nerve III (the oculomotor nerve), which controls eye movement.
Because the eyes provide critical sensory information to the brain, any tension in this system can force the body to compensate through muscles and posture.
Every time her left eye moved, the body had to adjust.
The memory of the nasal surgery itself also needed to be desensitised by the nervous system.
So if someone has had nose injuries or nasal surgery and struggles with unexplained pain or movement problems, it can sometimes be part of the picture.
The Bigger Picture
My client came to see me with a hamstring problem.
But the real issue wasn’t just the hamstring.
It was 50 years of injuries—each one leaving small neurological imprints on the body.
Over time, these layers can build up and eventually show themselves as pain, weakness, or movement problems.
The important message is this:
The body and mind are deeply connected.
Physical injuries, emotional experiences, and the nervous system all interact—no matter how long ago the original event happened.
When we help the brain process and reset these old patterns, the body often starts working the way it was designed to again.
If you’ve had injuries in the past and still struggle with pain, weakness, or movement issues, the source may not always be where the pain is today.
Sometimes the body is simply protecting an old memory.
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Paul Roose Therapy - to request an appointment:
https://www.paulroosetherapy.co.uk/contact/
Helping the body and brain reconnect so you can move better again. 💚
