A Muscle Therapist Explains Why Your Pain Keeps Returning

Your muscles might not be “tight” because you sit too much or because you missed a stretch. They might be tight because your brain is holding them there. We sit down with Butch Phelps of The Muscle Repair Shop to unpack a different way to think about chronic aches and pains, especially the kind that comes back right after a massage, a PT session, or a “quick fix” that never seems to last.

Butch shares how he went from the corporate world to neuromuscular and sports massage after severe low back pain left him crawling out of his car. Along the way he studied with mentors in stretching and with clinicians focused on brain health and nerve function, and that’s where his perspective clicked: muscles aren’t just mechanical tissue. Stress, attention, and emotion shape muscle tension all day long. That mind-body connection explains why you can lie on a table and still resist change if your mind is racing.

We dig into his Stretch And Release technique, a blend of gentle stretching and hands-on work designed to get the nervous system on board, plus the part most people never get: a clear plan to use at home so you can take control of your body for the rest of your life. We also challenge common stretching advice, including why pulling harder or doing long static stretches can backfire when your brain thinks you’re in danger. If you’re searching for natural pain relief, back pain help, flexibility after 40, or a smarter daily stretching routine, you’ll leave with a fresh framework and practical next steps. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s always sore, and leave a review with the biggest question you have about tight muscles.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:01

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Virginia McConnell.

SPEAKER_03 0:15

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast Live. Are you in need of a muscle therapist? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Butch Phelps with the Muscle Repair Shop. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:28

I'm doing well, Virginia. Thanks for having me on.

SPEAKER_03 0:30

Oh yeah, yeah. We're excited to hear about you and your business. So I'd love to hear more.

Stretch And Release Technique Explained

SPEAKER_01 0:36

So I own a business called the Muscle Repair Shop. And even though I'm a licensed massage therapist, as I've we talked about in the introduction, the muscle therapy really defines more of what I do than just a massage therapist. Because when I say massage therapist, most people assume they're going to go get a massage. What I did was I've created something called the stretch and release technique. And what I did with that was I combined a gentle type of stretching with a type of massage that we can incorporate the brain to the muscles and get involved into the emotional side of muscles. And then the key to that is that I actually teach you how to do that when you go home so that for the rest of your life you can take control of your body. So it's not just I'm going to come in and do something to you. We're going to do something together and give you a tool for the rest of your life that you can solve those chronic aches and pains that you have every day.

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Oh, I love that. A collaboration of sorts.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:37

All

From Corporate Life To Healing Work

SPEAKER_03 1:38

right. So how did you get into that business?

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Actually, it found me, which was kind of funny because I had spent 20 years in the corporate world. I worked in the newspaper business. And I lost I was up with about 315 pounds in 1997. And I had a doctor who taught me how to not only eat to lose weight, but also how to eat to maintain my weight. So I managed to lose 105 pounds between 1997 and 1998. However, losing that weight, knowing that I had to get back in shape, I started working out like crazy. And I developed a severe low back pain. And that low back pain was so bad that when I would get out of my car, I would crawl out on my hands and pull myself up by the door handle. And I would do the typical route that everybody did. I would go to a doctor and he would send me to a PT. They may offer me an injection or they may offer me some painkillers, but nobody really understood what was causing the back pain. And so I said to my wife, because I took an early retirement from the corporate world, and I said, you know, I need to find something in my life that is going to be a little bit easier physically since this back pain doesn't seem to be going away, but something I can sort of give back to. And as I started to explore, I landed on massage therapy. So I went to school for neuromuscular and sports massage. And as I started to get in and work with the muscles, I realized that I knew things that I didn't know how I knew things. It was almost like, where did that come from? kind of thing, you know. And as I started working in the school, even during my first semester, some of my teachers would pull me off on the side during my breaks to get me to work on their neck or get me to work on their shoulders. And I'm like, well, this is insane. I've only been here like three weeks, you know. So it was like this thing just started taking off on a life of its own. And I go, This is this is crazy. So as I went to this two-year degree for in in neuromuscular and sports massage, um, and towards the end of it, two of my professors and the dean of the school said, There's a guy named Aaron Mattis, I think you need to meet. And Aaron became my first mentor. He's actually founded active isolated stretching. And so we we got together, he allowed me to study with him for six months. And then I went up picking up two or three more mentors. I had a couple of neurosurgeons, one focused in the brain health with dementia, and the other was more for the nerves and coming out of the spine. And what I learned from them was uh the connection of the mind to the muscles. And so what happens with the muscles, we think of them purely as a mechanical thing, almost like you know, if you like we were talking about earlier, people sometimes can make a mistake. Well, I'm am I working on muscle cars? We tend to think of the muscles as the same thing as it's a mechanical thing, but the muscles are really an emotional part of the body, and when I started to learn that, along with the stretching and the massage that I had learned, uh, that's when my back pain released. And I was 41, 42 at the time, and I haven't had that back pain since, and I'm 66 years old today with no back pain.

SPEAKER_03 4:44

So that's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Yeah, I'm actually more flexible today than I was then.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Yeah, yeah.

Muscle Pain Myths And Brain Connection

SPEAKER_03 4:52

So, what are some myths or misconceptions in your industry?

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Well, there's there's quite a few. I mean, you know, like I was touching on earlier, we think of our muscles as going someplace and having something someone to do something to you, and then you leave and hope you can get an appointment within a week or so to come back. And the biggest complaint that I hear from people is that whether they go to PTs or they go to massage therapist or they go to a trainer, is that when it seems to last for about hours, a few hours to maybe a day or so, and then it goes goes back to the way it was. The biggest issue here is understanding that number one, the muscles are very emotional. So everything you think, feel, and do will cause tightness or tension in the muscle itself. And then number two, instead of having things done to you, you need to understand that you have to do something on a daily basis. Because if it's true that everything you think, feel, and do affects your tightness in your muscles, that means 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you're tightening your muscles with every thought you have, every state of mind that you have, and every activity you do, whether that's feeding yourself with a spoon or you're driving your car down the road. So it's not a it's not a I'm gonna wait till I feel tight and I'm gonna just go see somebody to help me out. It's let's do this on a daily basis so that I never have to go get to that point to go see somebody. That's a massive myth because when you go to like massage, for instance, in most cases, you're talking to someone who was taught how to do the massage protocols, but not necessarily taught how the brain connects to your muscles. So if you come in there and you're getting a massage and you're thinking about something at work or you're thinking about something you got to do as soon as you get off that table, your brain is tightening your muscles as this poor person is trying to soften them. And it's like until you let go with your brain, that person can't soften your muscles.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

That seems counterproductive, isn't it? It does, it does.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

And that and yet the funny thing is, is when you talk to a lot of healthcare professionals, that's like a whole new concept because that's not something talked about in school.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

Wow, that's surprising.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Yeah, yeah.

Who It Helps And Daily Stretching

SPEAKER_03 7:06

Um, okay, so we know marketing is the heart of every business. Yeah, who are your target customers and how do you attract them?

SPEAKER_01 7:13

So my target customers uh it's been for most of my career 50 plus active, uh, affluent because insurance doesn't pay for what I do. Um and they are willing to do things on their own to get better. In other words, they're more disciplined. They are the type that if something's wrong, I need to fix it. And that's usually the ideal customer. Now, what I found online is that that age has dropped down more to like 35 to 40 and above, and that everything else seems to apply. But it, you know, it's something that when I stretch every day, I'll stretch for about 20 minutes in the morning when I get up and 20 minutes evening when I go to bed. And people always say, Well, well, should I stretch before I do an activity or after I do an activity? And you know, with static stretching, which is what we've all been taught in school, when you do that before an event, there's been studies put out that says you actually exhaust the muscles before you ever get into your event, so it has a detrimental effect to you. Because yeah, because see the thing is, it's the static stretching, we're holding for long periods of time, and your brain is like concerned about you hurting yourself, but you want to lengthen the muscles like you're pulling taffy, and the reality is you're not lengthening them at all, they're attached on both ends, but what you're doing is taking the tension out. Well, the harder you pull and the more pain you cause, the more the brain contracts that muscle and fights against you. So, actually, what you're doing is strength training versus stretching.

unknown 8:43

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

I had the same reaction when I first learned that. I was like, Are you kidding me? I was like a three-sport athlete. I did that my whole life as a kid.

SPEAKER_03 8:55

Right. This is like what you're taught.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Everybody tell me that. And I was like, this is insane. I wish that had known me when I was 18.

SPEAKER_03 9:04

Oh man. So, right.

Building A Community And Where To Learn

SPEAKER_03 9:07

Well, we were talking earlier, you know. Um, do you have you thought about having your own podcast?

SPEAKER_01 9:14

I actually, I actually have. And like I said, I'm working on some things now because I I build a nice size online community of people that uh it's on YouTube called the Muscle Repair Shop. And what I want to add to that and build from that is a place where they can get weekly live uh QA so they can get in touch with me when they have questions and so forth to talk to them. You know, I can give them live demos that they can see. They'll have a library of videos that they can go to at any time they want to be able to help them do the stretches that I'm teaching them. Um and then at the same time, we build a community where they can communicate with each other to say, hey, how did you do that? You know, because sometimes, you know, depending on who you are, you may have to tweak things a little bit, which is okay as long as you're getting the results that you're looking for. And the community can help with that a lot. That's hope that's going to be coming to the plans is in June for people to be able to do that. And so I've been busy working on that. But once all that's set up and it gets running, then the podcast may come around because I just think it will be fun to talk to other practitioners and other other realms of healthcare to really talk about that.

SPEAKER_03 10:21

Yeah, that's exciting. Congratulations. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 10:25

Yeah, okay, Butch. So please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about the muscle repair shop.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Yes. One thing about the muscle repair shop, we're gonna not just pull your muscles, we're gonna teach you how to use your brain to allow the muscles to soften, to relax, to take pressure off your joints, take pressure off your nerves and your blood vessels. And the most important thing you'll get is you'll have a plan that when you go home, you'll know how to solve your own problems for the rest of your life.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

Perfect. And how can our listeners learn more about the muscle repair shop?

SPEAKER_01 10:59

So, the first thing I'd go to my YouTube channel, the muscle repair shop. I've got almost 200 videos there so you can get a full dose of what I'm all about. I talk about specific things so that you can see you know what's happening. I'll I'll talk about why traditional treatments don't always work so well, and then how the stretch and release technique can actually help you. And in most of the videos, you'll have demonstrations to show you how to do some of those things. I have a website, the muscle repair shop.com, and I have a book, as I was saying earlier, which won an award in 2025 called Stretch and Release, which is on Amazon, and it's like a manual to your muscle system of your body, so that you can take control of your chronic aches and pains that people have on a daily basis, so that you don't walk around like an old lady or an old man every day. Because that's not fun.

unknown 11:46

No, I'm not funny.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

I have a lot of friends in my age group, and it's like I watch them and I'm so grateful that I don't have those same feelings every day.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Yeah. Oh, well, thank you so much. Well, uh, you know, we really appreciate you being on the show. We wish you and your business the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Sarasota dot com. That's GMP Sarasota dot com or call nine four one nine four nine one eight six five.