Peter O' Grady Orthopaedic and Soft Tissue Therapist

05/01/2026

🚨 **One space just opened up!** 🚨

**Dry Needling Course**
📅 **24–25 January 2026**
👥 **Qualified therapists welcome**
💶 **€550 course fee**
📍 Ballina Rehab Clinic, Ballina, Co. Mayo

Hands-on, practical, and clinically focused training.
⚡️ **Only ONE place remaining — first come, first served.**

📩 DM to secure your spot.

05/01/2026

As teenagers balance school, sport, homework, and social life, sleep is often the first thing to be compromised.

During adolescence, the body and brain undergo significant physical and neurological development. At the same time, biological changes shift the natural sleep–wake rhythm later, making it harder for teens to fall asleep early — even though early school mornings still require them to wake up early.

This mismatch means many teenagers are chronically under-slept, which can affect learning, mood, coordination, and injury risk.

Current research suggests that most teenagers require 8–10 hours of sleep per night to support healthy development and physical recovery. Regularly getting less than this can reduce the body’s ability to adapt to training and increase fatigue-related injuries.

Helpful sleep strategies for teenagers include:

• Keeping a consistent sleep and wake time, even on weekends
• Creating a wind-down routine 30–60 minutes before bed
• Limiting screens and bright light in the evening
• Avoiding caffeine later in the day
• Ensuring the bedroom is dark, cool, and quiet

For athletes, sleep is particularly important. Growth, muscle repair, coordination, and nervous system recovery all occur during deep sleep. Without adequate rest, performance may plateau and minor aches can persist.

Parents can support healthy sleep by encouraging realistic schedules, protecting bedtime routines, and recognising that sleep is a performance tool — not a luxury.

Teenagers don’t need perfection. They need consistency.

If a teenager is struggling with ongoing fatigue, difficulty falling asleep, or declining performance despite adequate training, professional advice can help identify contributing factors and guide appropriate changes.

Prioritising sleep now supports learning, health, and long-term athletic development.

05/01/2026

We’re back to normal hours after the New Year 🎉

The festive break is over, and it’s time to get back to feeling your best. Our Orthopaedic & Soft Tissue Therapy clinic is now fully open, with regular appointments available.

Whether you’re:

Returning to training 💪

Managing a long-standing ache or injury

Recovering from surgery

Or simply feeling tight and sore after the holidays

We’re here to help you move better, recover faster, and get back to what you enjoy—pain free.

📅 Appointments now available
📍 New and existing clients welcome

Start the year strong. Book in and let’s get you back to normal.

Orthopaedic and soft tissue therapies are vital components of physical rehabilitation. By combining the strengths of both, healthcare providers can offer more effective and comprehensive care to patients suffering from a wide range of musculoskeletal conditions.

04/01/2026

As children return to school routines alongside sport and activities, their bodies and brains are adjusting to multiple demands at once.

School schedules, homework, early mornings, and training sessions all place stress on a child’s nervous system. While this stress isn’t harmful, problems can arise when recovery doesn’t keep pace with demand.

Children adapt best when daily routines are predictable and balanced. Sleep, in particular, plays a critical role in learning, growth, coordination, and injury prevention. Irregular sleep patterns can reduce concentration, slow recovery from training, and increase the risk of aches or fatigue.

Helpful strategies to support adaptation include:

• Establishing a consistent bedtime and wake-up time, even on weekends
• Allowing adequate sleep based on age and activity level
• Scheduling sport sessions with rest days in mind
• Ensuring meals and snacks support energy needs
• Encouraging downtime without screens before bed

It’s also important to watch for early signs that a child may be struggling to adapt, such as:
• Persistent tiredness
• Irritability or difficulty concentrating
• Ongoing muscle soreness
• Reduced enjoyment of sport

These signs are not a failure to cope — they are signals that the body needs support.

Parents can help by encouraging open communication, allowing flexibility when needed, and remembering that growth and development are ongoing processes. For children, learning how to balance school, sport, and rest is just as important as learning skills on the field or in the studio.

Adaptation doesn’t happen through doing more.
It happens when the body is given time to recover, sleep well, and reset.

Supporting these foundations now helps children stay healthy, confident, and ready to enjoy both school and sport.

If concerns about fatigue, pain, or sleep persist, seeking professional guidance can help identify simple adjustments that make a meaningful difference.

03/01/2026

The New Year often brings a surge in motivation—and a sudden spike in injuries.

Many people set ambitious goals in January, increasing training intensity, frequency, or volume all at once. While motivation is valuable, the body adapts on a much slower timeline than enthusiasm.

When training loads rise too quickly, tissues such as tendons, joints, and supporting muscles may struggle to tolerate the change. Tendons, in particular, respond poorly to sudden overload. Instead of becoming stronger, they can become irritated and painful.

This is why new year goals are often followed by:
• Achilles or patellar tendon pain
• Hip or groin discomfort
• Shoulder or elbow irritation
• Lingering stiffness that doesn’t improve with rest

Pain in these cases isn’t a sign of weakness—it’s a signal that the load exceeded tissue capacity.

Effective injury prevention is not about doing less. It’s about progressing intelligently.

Useful strategies include:
• Gradually increasing training load over weeks, not days
• Allowing recovery time between hard sessions
• Supporting training with strength work
• Avoiding “all-or-nothing” approaches
• Listening to early warning signs rather than pushing through

One of the most common mistakes is assuming pain will resolve if ignored. In reality, continuing to train through early symptoms often leads to compensation, altered movement patterns, and longer recovery times.

Sustainable progress comes from respecting the body’s need to adapt.

New goals don’t require rushing.
They require consistency, patience, and appropriate loading.

If discomfort persists or performance declines, early professional assessment can prevent minor issues from becoming long-term setbacks.

Strong starts matter—but healthy finishes matter more.

02/01/2026

As young athletes set new goals at the start of the year, training often increases — but recovery doesn’t always follow.

Performance isn’t determined by training alone. It’s shaped by how well the body and nervous system recover between sessions. For young athletes juggling school, exams, travel, and sport, recovery capacity is often already stretched.

When recovery is insufficient, the nervous system remains in a heightened state. Muscles stay tense, coordination becomes less efficient, and movement quality declines. Over time, this can increase the risk of pain and injury, even when training volume hasn’t dramatically changed.

This is why young athletes may notice:
• Increased stiffness despite regular warm-ups
• Reduced coordination or “heavy” legs
• Slower recovery between sessions
• Recurring aches without a clear injury

These signs are often misinterpreted as a need to train harder. In reality, they are signals that the system needs more support.

Key considerations for young athletes include:
• Prioritising sleep, particularly during growth phases
• Spacing intense sessions appropriately
• Fueling adequately for training demands
• Incorporating lighter or recovery-focused sessions
• Recognising early signs of fatigue or overload

Recovery is not time lost — it is where adaptation occurs.

For young athletes, sustainable progress depends on balancing ambition with physiological capacity. Supporting the nervous system and recovery processes now helps reduce injury risk and improves long-term performance.

Strong athletes aren’t just the ones who train the most — they’re the ones who recover well.

If fatigue, pain, or performance decline persist, early guidance can help adjust training before problems escalate.

01/01/2026

Every January, a familiar pattern appears. 🤸🏃🤾⛹️🚴🏋️

People return to road running with great motivation—but their tissues are often not prepared for the sudden increase in load. When volume, pace, or frequency increases too quickly, the nervous system is often the first structure to react.

Road running places repetitive compressive and tensile forces through the spine, pelvis, hips, knees, and lower legs. If tissues are not conditioned to tolerate this load, local inflammation and muscle guarding can occur. This can reduce space around peripheral nerves, leading to **irritation or compression**.

When neural structures are sensitised, symptoms don’t always stay local.

This is why runners may experience:
• Lower back discomfort or stiffness
• Hip or glute pain
• Knee pain without obvious injury
• Calf tightness, shin pain, or foot symptoms

Importantly, this doesn’t mean running is “bad.”
It means the **rate of progression exceeded the body’s current capacity**.

Nerves adapt more slowly than motivation.

Useful principles for returning to running safely:
• Build volume gradually, not all at once
• Allow rest days between early sessions
• Avoid sudden changes in pace or terrain
• Maintain strength and mobility through the hips and trunk
• Address stiffness early rather than running through it

Rushing the process often leads to forced compensation—where muscles tighten to protect irritated structures. Over time, this can cascade into persistent pain patterns that feel unrelated to the original increase in training.

A slow, structured build allows tissues to adapt and reduces unnecessary neural stress.

Progress isn’t about how hard you start—it’s about how consistently you can continue.

If pain persists, spreads, or worsens, professional assessment is always advised.

Your body will adapt—if you give it the time and support it needs.

01/01/2026

Cheers to a new year! 🥂 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣6️⃣

Thank you for being a valued part of my journey. Wishing you happiness, success, and prosperity in the year ahead. 😁

Peter.

23/12/2025

🎄✨ Merry Christmas

I just want to say a huge thank you to all of my amazing clients for your support this year. I’ve been lucky to meet so many wonderful people along the way, and I’m truly grateful for each and every one of you.

Sadly, this year I’ve also lost some very special clients. They are remembered with great fondness, and I’d like to take a moment to honour their memory and send love to their families and loved ones at this time.

I wish you all a peaceful Christmas filled with love, and all the very best for the year ahead. Take care and enjoy the festive season. 🎁✨😁

Peter.

16/12/2025

🧠 Migraine Relief — When Someone Needs Help Now!

Today I had a client come into the clinic in absolute distress.
She developed a migraine out of the blue earlier in the day, and by the afternoon she had been vomiting, sensitive to light, and clearly exhausted.

Her first words to me were:
“How quickly can you help me?”

She was desperate for relief.

After a thorough assessment, I began palpating the tissues on the right side of her neck, head, and upper shoulder. Very quickly, I was able to identify significant tension and irritation in the structures commonly linked to migraines — especially pain felt behind the eye.

🔍 What Was Causing the Pain?

Migraines that refer pain behind the eye are often driven by a combination of muscle tension and nerve irritation, including:

Suboccipital muscles (deep muscles at the base of the skull)
→ These sit directly over the greater and lesser occipital nerves, which can refer pain forward to the eye and temple.

Upper cervical joints (C1–C3)
→ Dysfunction here can irritate sensory nerves that converge with the trigeminal nerve — a major migraine pathway.

Sternocleidomastoid (SCM)
→ Trigger points in this muscle commonly refer pain behind the eye, into the forehead, and around the face.

Upper trapezius & levator scapulae
→ Chronic tension here increases load through the neck and nervous system, amplifying headache symptoms.

On palpation, these tissues on her right side were highly reactive and reproducing her symptoms.

👐 How Treatment Helped

By using precise, hands-on techniques, I worked to:

Release restricted muscle fibres

Reduce compression and irritation around the nerves

Restore normal movement and tone in the upper cervical region

Calm the nervous system

As the tissues reset and pressure on the nerves reduced…

Boom! 💥
Her symptoms eased dramatically.

The nausea settled, the intensity behind her eye dropped, and the light sensitivity reduced — all within the session.

✨ The Takeaway

Migraines don’t always start in the head.
Very often, they’re driven by mechanical and neurological overload in the neck and surrounding tissues.

When you identify and treat the right structures, the body can respond quickly.

If you suffer from migraines, headaches, or pain behind the eye — especially on one side — a proper assessment can make all the difference.

📍 Relief is possible.

12/12/2025

🎉 Huge Congratulations to Clive & Oran! 🎉

I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that both Clive and Oran have officially qualified as Level 3 Sports Massage Therapists!
Their dedication, curiosity, and hands-on skill throughout the course have been outstanding, and it’s been a pleasure to guide them on their journey into the sports therapy world. 👏💪

Clive and Oran have shown real professionalism and passion from day one — qualities that will make them fantastic therapists as they begin working with clients. I have no doubt they’ll make a positive difference to anyone they treat. 🌟

And the best part is that their journey doesn’t stop here!
Both students will be continuing their development with me as they progress into Level 4 Sports Massage Therapy in the new year. I’m excited to see their confidence, technique, and clinical understanding grow even further.

✨ If you’re considering becoming a sports massage therapist yourself…
Now is the perfect time to plan ahead!
Our next Level 3 Sports Massage Therapy course begins February 2026, and spaces will fill quickly. Whether you’re looking for a new career, want to expand your skillset, or aim to work with athletes, this is a fantastic opportunity to start your journey.

📩 Message me to register your interest or secure an early place.
Join a learning environment where students thrive, confidence grows, and careers are built — just like Clive and Oran.

👏 A massive well done once again to both of you. Here's to the next chapter and your continued success at Level 4!

10/12/2025

✨ A Powerful Reminder From a Client I Saw This Week ✨

I recently worked with an older client who came to the clinic with ongoing shoulder pain. She told me she just “felt stiff” and assumed it was part of getting older… but the real frustration?
💔 Picking up her grandchildren had become painful and difficult.
She thought it was simply her shoulder acting up — but what we discovered together was far more empowering.

After chatting through her symptoms, we moved into some simple movement and strength assessments, including:

🔹 Shoulder movement testing — checking how her shoulder moved in different directions and where discomfort appeared.
🔹 Posture & control checks — looking at how her shoulder blades supported her during everyday actions.
🔹 Light strength tests for the arms and shoulders — seeing how she managed gentle resistance in pressing, lifting, and holding positions.
🔹 Functional tasks — mimicking real-life movements like lifting an object from the floor or reaching overhead.

👉 The big discovery?
Her pain wasn’t coming from a specific shoulder injury… it was coming from weakness in the shoulders and arms, meaning her muscles were simply being asked to do more than they were ready for.

When she realised this, she said:
“I had no idea I was this weak — no wonder lifting the kids hurts.”

But here’s the best part:
Weakness is trainable. It can improve. And for her, this meant finally having a clear path forward — not fear, not guesswork, but a plan.

We started working on targeted strengthening to rebuild support around the shoulder, improve control, and reduce the strain she felt during everyday tasks. She left feeling relieved, hopeful, and excited to get back to pain-free time with her grandchildren.

✨ The takeaway?
Sometimes what feels like a “shoulder problem” is really a strength problem — and strengthening is one of the most powerful tools we have to restore confidence, comfort, and independence.

If this sounds like you, or someone you know, you’re not stuck — you might just need the right approach. 💪💛