JANMI Soft Tissue Therapy

28/08/2026

Lower back pain does not always mean the lower back is the whole problem.

At JANMI, I look at the lumbar area as one link within a larger postural and movement chain: cervical, scapula, lumbar, hip, knee and ankle.

When assessing a painful or overloaded lumbar link, I ask:

Where is movement restricted?
Which areas are guarding and working too hard?
Which areas are contributing too little?
How is the rest of the chain adapting?

A restricted ankle, altered hip movement or reduced control elsewhere does not automatically cause lower back pain. But these findings may help us understand how movement and load are being distributed through the body.

The JANMI approach is simple:

Assess the link. Check the chain. Identify stiff points, guards and sleepers. Introduce appropriate movement drills. Integrate the chain. Reassess.

The goal is not to diagnose medical conditions, but to understand the individual postural and movement pattern through the perspective of soft tissue therapy, anatomy and movement.

JANMI

See the link. Understand the chain. Move better.

24/08/2026

Why Your Neck Pain May Not Start in Your Neck

A client came to JANMI with persistent one-sided neck stiffness. Massage had helped before, but the tension kept returning.

During assessment, I found much more than a tight neck: forward head position, rounded shoulders, restricted thoracic movement, shallow chest breathing and reduced scapular support.

The SCM, scalenes, suboccipitals, upper trapezius and levator scapulae were certainly overguarded.

But the more interesting question was:

Why did these muscles need to work so hard?

From a biotensegrity perspective, the body works as an interconnected structure. Changes in thoracic movement, breathing and scapular support may alter how tension and load are distributed through the neck and head.

So rather than simply treating the painful area, the JANMI approach is to:

Observe the pattern. Find restriction. Identify guarding. Find lost support. Follow the chain. Treat. Retest.

This doesn't mean every neck problem starts somewhere else. But it does mean we shouldn't automatically stop investigating where the pain appears.

Sometimes the painful area is simply where a larger compensation pattern becomes visible.

Where pain appears and where the story begins are not always the same place.

JANMI Postural Pain Recovery System
Marylebone, London

Individual anonymised case and clinical interpretation. Educational content only, not a medical diagnosis.

14/08/2026

The tennis may have triggered the pain. But the story probably started earlier.

A recent JANMI case involved an active woman in her 50s who developed annoying lower-back and SI-area pain after a normal tennis session.

Six months earlier she had undergone hip replacement surgery.

As she gradually increased her walking over the following months, something interesting was happening on the opposite side — increasing calf and Achilles stiffness, together with restricted ankle movement.

From a biotensegrity perspective, this becomes interesting.

The body doesn't operate as a collection of separate muscles and joints. When movement or load changes in one area, the rest of the system has to adapt.

My clinical interpretation was:

restricted ankle → altered leg loading → pelvic adaptation → increasing lumbar/SI compensation → tennis becomes the trigger.

This doesn't mean the calf caused the back pain. It means we had good reason to look beyond the painful area and consider how load was being distributed through the whole chain.

That is central to the JANMI approach:

Where pain appears and where the story begins are not always the same place.

This is an individual case and clinical interpretation, not a diagnosis. If you have new or persistent pain, seek appropriate professional assessment.

JANMI | Marylebone, London
Postural Pain Recovery System

11/08/2026

CASE STUDY — When the pain appears on the opposite side

A busy executive in her 40s came to see me with new one-sided lower-back pain, travelling into the glute and hamstrings.

No recent injury.

But five years ago, she had injured the knee on opposite side.

During assessment, an interesting pattern appeared:

• anterior pelvic tilt
• rigid “military” posture through the mid-back
• overloaded lumbar extensors
• very sensitive, guarding glute muscles
• hips sitting excessively in external rotation
• reduced pelvic control

Rather than seeing the back, glute and old knee as separate issues, I looked at how the whole movement chain was organising itself.

An old injury does not automatically cause pain years later. But the movement strategy we develop around an injury can sometimes stay with us long after the tissue has healed.

The body compensates.

And occasionally it sends the bill to the other side. 🙂

With the **JANMI Postural Pain Recovery System**, the focus is to identify the pattern, use targeted soft tissue therapy to reduce overloaded areas, then gradually restore stability and movement control with personalised corrective exercises.

Pain tells us where the body is struggling.
The pattern can tell us where to look next.

JANMI | Postural Pain Practice
Marylebone, London

06/08/2026

“Something just feels off in my body.”

No injury. No clear reason.
Just stiffness, tiredness, and small aches showing up in different places.

After assessment, it wasn’t one issue —
it was the whole system slightly out of sync.

Diaphragmatic breathing off.
Stabilisers not doing their job.
Other muscles overworking to compensate.

Using the JANMI Postural Pain Recovery System:

• assessment
• soft tissue therapy
• simple corrective exercises

Within a few sessions, things started to reconnect.

Less tension.
Easier movement.
Body feeling more “together”.

Most modern pain is not damage.

It’s coordination.

📍 Marylebone
Soft Tissue Therapy | Deep Tissue Massage | Sports Massage

22/07/2026

17/07/2026

The JANMI Upper Trap Guardian Pattern

A female client in her early 30s, a busy entrepreneur who travels frequently, came to the JANMI clinic with discomfort in rhomboids and neck, and stiffness through the same-side lumbar region.

She is fit and active, but her assessment showed a wider protective pattern: very stiff upper trapezius, forward head posture, slightly rounded shoulders, mild scapular winging, tight pectoralis minor, rhomboid guarding and lumbar stiffness.

From a JANMI perspective, this fits Pattern 2 from The JANMI Field Guide to 50 Modern Pain Patterns: The Upper Trap Guardian Pattern. In the book, this pattern explores how persistent neck tension, shoulder tightness and discomfort between the neck and shoulder may reflect a wider chain involving forward head posture, rounded shoulders, reduced thoracic mobility, shallow breathing, screen work and stress-related guarding.

In this case, the rhomboids and neck discomfort was not viewed as an isolated local problem.

The upper trapezius appeared to be working as a guard. The pectoral tissues were tight at the front, the scapula showed mild winging, the head sat forward, and the same-side lumbar stiffness suggested that the body was using a broader asymmetrical compensation strategy.

Frequent travel may also have contributed through long sitting, laptop work, bags, flights and reduced movement variety.

Pattern 2 explains that the upper trapezius is rarely the villain. More often, it is a “loyal employee” doing the work of several missing colleagues. When the deep neck flexors, serratus anterior, lower trapezius and diaphragm contribute less effectively, the upper trapezius may take over.

The painful rhomboids and neck matters.

But it may only be one visible part of a wider upper-trap guardian pattern.

JANMI treatments are now available from three central London postural pain clinics:

JANMI Marylebone
JANMI Belgravia
JANMI City of London

Educational purposes only. JANMI patterns are clinical reasoning frameworks, not medical diagnoses. This content is not a substitute for individual medical assessment or professional advice.

Copyright 2026 Paulius Jurasius. All rights reserved.