You have arrived here because you want to do something about your pain and seem unsure of how to go about helping yourself. Here are the four key A’s on how to start addressing issues in your tissues.

• Acknowledge you have it – Congratulations you have got here! Often we go though life in a state of denial and ignore an issue that really ought to be looked at. Acknowledging the issue is the first step in doing something about it. Which leads nicely to:
• Assessment – Get it seen to by a qualified expert who can tell you what it is that is causing you to have this pain. This can usually be an orthopaedic massage expert, an Advanced Clinical Massage therapist, Physiotherapist, Osteopath or Chiropractors. A GP could also get you referrals to one of these practitioners but may be less experienced in diagnosing the exact issue.
• Application – Either treatment or intervention of some kind helps to assure you that something can be done to help. It’s likely that intervention deemed suitable by the therapist you have been to will reduce the pain you were experiencing.
• Active – Keep the area moving is the key to keeping the area ‘oiled’ and ‘lubricated’ from within. Moving the area in pain (and importantly) without causing it more pain should start to give you more confidence and will encourage your body to start healing itself.