Easing those pains away

He had remedial massage on his back which was so effective he decided to learn it himself.

Matthew, 46, of Shakespeare Street, Gainsborough, was living in Bolton when he met a remedial masseur.

“I was sitting in a sauna in a gym and I was complaining about my back and this chap said he could sort it out for me,” said Matthew.

“I went to see him and it worked, it’s very effective.”

He decided to find out more and went to Sheffield to train at a clinic for six months.

Now he has set up his own Pain Clinic, on Trinity Street, Gainsborough.

“I’d been thinking about setting up my own business for quite a time and so decided to go for it,” he said.

“It’s been up and down so far because we’re in a recession. Some weeks I am really busy and other weeks are quieter.”

Matthew charges £20 for half an hour and £30 for an hour, promising a “full treatment”, likening it to the difference between chip shops.

“Some chippies don’t give you many chips but I’m like the chippie that gives you a portion of chips big enough for three people,” he said.

“I had a chap who came in with a stick and his knee in a truss and after I’d treated him he threw his stick away.”

Matthew, whose previous jobs have included bar work here and abroad, and working in a care home, said remedial massage offered more than physiotherapy.

“Remedial massage gets considerably deeper. When muscles are damaged or you tear them, they get tight and I use pressure to break that up and relax them.”

“I use a wooden instrument called a knobble and I can apply very deep pressure that loosens the muscle and gets rid of the pain.”

Matthew said he is treating people with all sorts of different complaints, from sport injuries and whiplash, to sciatica.

“People have also been to me suffering from headaches and migraine. They think there is nothing that can be done for them, but there is,” he said.

“As well as treating people I also give them advice.”

Matthew said he has been treating every age group from children to pensions.

He is working seven days a week from 10am to 8pm and hopes to be able to expand in the future.

He would like to move back to Bolton eventually and open another pain clinic there.

He describes himself as a musculoskeletal therapist and the list of treatments he offers includes mobilisation, head massage, and dealing with sport injuries, and whiplash and neck injuries.

Matthew suffered a broken arm, wrist, leg and finger in a car accident so he knows the ongoing pain which people can suffer.

He said: “I had a man come to me who was under a lot of stress and it had made his neck muscles short through the tension.”

“The treatment I give is deep and gets right to the problem, rather than just masking it.”

“I had a lady with knee trouble, because the muscles above and below it were tight, and now she can walk normally.”