This is how we helped an athlete get rid of their back pain

As a masseur, you deal with all sorts of complaints. But the challenge with athletes is often slightly different. They have specific goals and want to perform again quickly. Recently, in our practice, we had a runner with persistent back pain. The pain hindered his training, and he felt he couldn't reach his full potential. This wasn't just a nagging pain; it was a performance issue.

When an athlete comes in with such a complaint, you know there's more going on than just pain. For someone who competes at a certain level, an injury is not just a physical burden but also a mental one. Every missed training feels like a step back. Every time you feel your body is holding you back, your confidence in your abilities drops. Therefore, it's important that a treatment is not only focused on alleviating the complaint but also on restoring confidence and providing clear guidance.

The runner in question said that the back pain had been lingering for months. Initially, it occurred only after long distances, but later it affected his daily life too. He had tried to push through training in the hope that the pain would go away on its own. That didn’t work. On the contrary, the complaints worsened and began to structurally affect his performance. He felt that he couldn't move freely anymore and that each stride reminded him of the pain in his back.

The first step with such complaints is listening. Not just to where the pain is located, but to the entire story. How does one train, how do they move, how do they recover? What do they do outside of sports? Often the causes do not lie solely in the location where the pain manifests. With back pain, you often see that tension comes from elsewhere. Think of the hips, hamstrings, or even the posture while working at a desk. Everything in the body is connected, and those connections must be taken seriously.

During the intake, it was noticeable that the runner held a lot of tension in his lower back and that his posture slumped slightly after running. It seemed as though he was constantly compensating, thus improperly distributing the load. We decided to start the programme with a combination of deep tissue massage and mobilisation techniques. The goal was not just to release the back itself but also the surrounding muscles that exerted extra pressure on the area.

The first treatment was intense. Deep tissue massage penetrates deep into the muscle tissue, and this can be sensitive, especially for someone who has long built up tension. Yet he immediately noticed a difference. The freedom of movement increased, and he experienced that the pain was no longer constantly present. This gave him hope and motivation to take the programme seriously. We immediately made a plan: multiple treatments spread over several weeks, supplemented with exercises he could do at home.

An important aspect was also improving his posture and awareness during training sessions. Athletes often focus on performance and less on how their body absorbs the load. We gave him simple instructions to improve his running technique and exercises for stability and core strength. The goal was for his body to better distribute the load so that the back was not repeatedly overburdened.

After the second and third sessions, the difference became clearly noticeable. The runner indicated that he could run longer distances again without his back immediately causing issues. The pain wasn’t entirely gone, but the intensity was much less. More importantly, he regained confidence in his own body. He realised that recovery was possible and that he could come back stronger with the right guidance.

What this case clearly shows is that massage for athletes is not only about symptom relief. It’s about the complete picture. You look at the complaint, but also at posture, training, recovery, and mental strain. By addressing this combination, you not only create temporary relief but lay the foundation for structural recovery.

After five treatments, we saw a completely different athlete. He was running relaxed, moving more freely, and told us he completed a training session for the first time in months without back pain. Of course, this didn’t mean the problem was gone forever. We discussed that maintenance and prevention are just as important as eliminating the complaint. Therefore, we advised him to come back regularly for maintenance massages and to consistently do his exercises.

For us as therapists, such programmes are always inspiring. It confirms that massage, when applied correctly, can have a significant impact on performance and wellbeing. Especially for athletes, where every improvement is directly felt in daily life and in sports results. It also shows that investing in good guidance pays off. Too often, people try to push through complaints themselves, risking worsening them. Whereas intervening in a timely manner ensures they return to their old level faster.

The runner later indicated that he had become not only physically stronger but also mentally. His confidence in his own body had returned, providing him with peace. He now knew what to do at the first signs of tension and understood how important posture and recovery are. For us, that was perhaps the most beautiful result of this programme: not only making someone pain-free but also providing the knowledge and tools to continue stronger on their own.

This story underscores why we at MHC always look beyond the complaint alone. We believe that every treatment is bespoke and that the real gains lie in combining techniques, guidance, and knowledge. It is precisely through this that athletes can recover faster, perform better, and continue to do what they love with more pleasure.