Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy

Sports Therapist / Injury Rehab Coach for 9 Years

Specialising in helping people get rid of recurring injuries & chronic pain.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

Pain is rarely random.
And it’s rarely caused by the area that hurts.
Old injuries and joints that don’t move well lead to compensation.
That’s where most long-term pain comes from.

Free 7-day course to help you move better and remove your pain:

https://t.co/VxqPIvNpkJ

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

A client once asked me, frustrated: “Why are you looking at my toe? The pain is in my neck.”

She’d broken that toe years earlier. Restoring its movement reduced her neck pain without touching her neck.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

@dvassallo You’ve probably had some neck issues for a while, even before those bad nights’ sleep. Sleeping has different physical demands on your neck and back.

Do a quick self-assessment: side-bend and rotate your neck and back in both directions. Compare the movement range.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

After being choked out in a BJJ class, my neck pain settled in a few days.

Weeks later, arm pain appeared.

The issue wasn’t my arm - my neck mobility hadn’t returned.

My arm was having to compensate for it.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

I’ve worked with people who rehabbed the same injury multiple times before seeing me.

Each time, they focused on the painful area and it improved.

Each time, the underlying cause stayed the same - so the pain never truly went away.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

I often tell clients rehabbing an injury fully takes ~18 months.
That surprises people.

But explains why quick fixes fail and most people re-injury themselves after doing only weeks of rehab.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

January is the busiest time for therapists.

Not because exercise is bad — but because people train before their joints can move or handle load properly.

Move better before the gym. Fewer injuries. Better results.
https://t.co/g687zGYzbJ

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

I’ve worked with people who regained full shoulder range after injury but still had pain pressing overhead.
Their upper back and ribcage weren’t functioning properl
So their shoulder start to compensate.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

I’ve worked with people whose shoulder pain during overhead pressing improved after we changed how they loaded their feet when standing.

Upper-body pain is often downstream of lower-body compensation.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

A client once asked why I was working on his ankle when his shoulder hurt.

His overhead movement improved without touching the shoulder.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

When I ask clients about injuries from childhood, they looked at me confused.

They came for their current issue, not things that haven't caused them issues in years.

Until they see those old injuries are the most relevant ones for their current pains.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

A client couldn’t touch his toes.

He’d stretched his hamstrings for months.

Like most peole, the real restriction was his calves.

If you can't touch your toes, follow on improving the flexibility in your calves.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

If the pain keeps coming back after months of physio, massage, stretching, and strengthening - you’re probably rehabbing the symptom.

To find out more, check out my newsletter.
Details in my bio.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

That area compensates for months or years without pain, until one day it hits a breaking point.

What this means for you: Stop treating pain in isolation.
Start treating your body as a whole, even the parts that don’t hurt.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

The place that hurts is usually not the real problem.

The real problem is often hidden and completely pain-free.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

When a joint stops doing its job (often after an old injury, sometimes decades earlier), it usually doesn’t hurt at all.

Your body adapts.
Movement changes.
Load gets redistributed.

Another area quietly picks up the slack.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

@thesamparr Would you prefer "Why dumb people make smart decisions?"

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

A client once said:
“Why are you looking at my big toe? The pain is in my neck.”

The toe wasn’t causing pain - it had changed how she loaded her body.

Her neck was compensating for years of altered movement.

The problem is rarely the painful area.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

In your 30s, priorities change.

Moving well matters more than lifting more.

Old injuries start to matter.

Recovery isn’t automatic anymore.

I wrote about how to approach this properly in this week’s newsletter — check bio.

[Mak from Peak Fitness & Therapy @mak_r_]

Got a recurring injury or stubborn pain that won’t go away?

You’ve stretched. Massaged. Seen multiple therapists.

But the injury/pain is still there.

The painful area isn’t the problem - it’s the symptom.

Free 7-day course in my bio to help you fix the real issue, for good.