Soft Tissue PTSD: Why Function Isn’t Considered Enough in Rehabilitation

How the Body Remembers Trauma—and Why That Matters for Pain, Aging, and Recovery

According to the Mayo Clinic

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it.

Many who seek relief from pain in our body may have past trauma or injury. This may not have felt terrifying or triggering however over time pain in the body becomes a traumatic event.

Soft Tissue PTSD is real. And it’s one of the biggest reasons people stay in pain long after the “injury is healed.”

Soft tissue isn’t supposed to hurt with age. Pain isn’t normal. And “healed in 3 months” is a myth when the body’s movement memory never got retrained.

After injury, the body creates protective patterns—decreased blood flow, inhibited stabilizers, bracing, compensation. If these aren’t corrected, they become the blueprint for:

• chronic tightness

• weakness

• deconditioning

• nerve irritation

• early joint wear

• “mystery” pain that doctors can’t find

This is preventable.

With Hendrickson Method® we restore healthy fiber alignment, repattern muscle firing, increase blood flow, and bring the nervous system out of fight/flight so the whole body can heal.

Your body isn’t broken. It’s adaptive.

And you can teach it a new pattern at ANY age.

Trauma-informed care

From traumainformedcare.com "Trauma Informed Care is an organizational framework that has to do with the understanding, recognition, and response to the effects of all kinds of trauma."

In my clinic, I’ve seen how the physical effects of PTSD can keep clients in a prolonged state of fight-or-flight. While I am not a mental health professional, many people with PTSD seek massage therapy as part of their pain-relief and wellness support.If you believe you may have PTSD, please seek evaluation and care from a licensed mental health provider or physician.

Over the years, I’ve learned practices that help regulate my own nervous system, and I gently integrate similar approaches when working with clients. Here are a few I use while supporting the body through soft tissue work:

• Guided breath regulationI invite clients to settle into slow, deep belly breathing—lengthening each inhale and exhale. I look for the belly button and lower ribs expanding together, signaling a shift toward parasympathetic activation.

• Tongue relaxationI encourage the tongue to rest softly against the back of the upper front teeth and along the roof of the mouth. This helps ease jaw tension and down-regulate the nervous system.

• Rhythmic lower-leg mobilizationUsing gentle, rhythmic massage to the calf and lower leg muscles often helps shift the body out of the “running from a tiger” response and into a calmer, more grounded state.

These simple cues begin to signal safety, allowing the body to transition from survival mode to rest-and-digest.

I hope this supports you—and other massage therapists—in fostering wellness for the mind, body, and energy system.