Southampton
Sports therapy for Southampton, round the water in Hythe
I’m Alice, and Mend & Move works out of Ferryboat House in Hythe, close to Hythe Marina and the village centre. Coming from Southampton, the trip is round by road rather than straight over the water. Whether you’re a runner, a club player, a regular at the gym or someone with desk-stiff shoulders, an injury assessment gets to the bottom of what’s hurting. If you’d rather build strength before the next niggle arrives, my strength and conditioning programmes start with a free consultation online, before you commit to anything.
About Southampton
From Clausentum to the city between two rivers
Southampton’s story starts at Bitterne Manor, where the Romans set up the settlement of Clausentum after the invasion of AD 43; it was not abandoned until around AD 410. The Anglo-Saxons then built the trading town of Hamwic around today’s St Mary’s. Its name shifted to Hamtun and then Hampton, and Hampshire takes its name from it. By the Domesday Book of 1086 the town was recorded with around 185 households.
The medieval town was ringed by about 1.25 miles of wall, with 29 towers and eight gates, much of it built in the decades after a raid in 1338 showed how weak the defences were. Roughly half still stands, the Bargate included. The Pilgrim Fathers sailed from here on the Mayflower in 1620, and the Titanic left on her maiden voyage on 10 April 1912.
Wartime air raids killed some 630 people, and city status followed in 1964. At the 2021 census 248,922 people lived where the Test and Itchen meet at the head of Southampton Water, with the Itchen dividing the city into east and west. Hythe lies on the western side of that water, looking back towards the city.
Places you’ll know
- The Bargate
- The Norman gatehouse, built around 1180, that was the main way into the walled town; the room above it served as the guildhall until the 1770s.
- Tudor House and Garden
- A Grade I listed museum on Bugle Street in the Old Town, dating from about 1491 and reopened in 2011 after a long renovation.
- SeaCity Museum
- Opened in the Civic Centre on 10 April 2012, a hundred years to the day after Titanic sailed, with a permanent exhibition on the city’s Titanic story.
- Pilgrim Fathers’ (Mayflower) Memorial
- The 1913 memorial on the Western Esplanade marking the Mayflower’s 1620 sailing, now Grade II listed.
- Town Quay
- Red Funnel’s hub in the city: its car ferries cross from here to East Cowes, and the passenger-only catamarans that replaced its old hydrofoils run to Cowes.
Staying active
Running the Common, training at Bassett
Southampton Common is the city’s big green space: 148 hectares of woodland, lakes and open grass north of the centre. Its Saturday-morning parkrun, a free 5 km starting near the Hawthorns Centre, is consistently one of the best-attended in the UK. At Bassett, the Sports Centre has space for athletics, football, hockey, tennis, netball and cricket, and the city’s dry ski slopes are up there too. For club players, sports taping can see a doubtful ankle through a match.
As parkrun or race mileage builds, calves and shins start to complain. The Common’s uneven ground can turn an ankle, sprints pull hamstrings, and a week at a desk stiffens shoulders. I start with an assessment, then plan rehabilitation around your race, sport or job. Sports massage eases tight calves between runs, and myofascial cupping suits shoulders that won’t let go.
How I can help
- Injury Assessment From £55
A turned ankle in the Common’s woodland or a knee that grumbles after athletics sessions at Bassett is worth a proper look so you know what you’re dealing with.
- Sports Massage From £30
Building up your weekly running or sitting long hours at a city-centre desk can stiffen calves, hips and shoulders, and regular sports massage can help ease them.
- Strength & Conditioning From £50
Strength and conditioning can begin with a free online consultation, so you can talk through your goals from your side of the Itchen or Test before making the trip round the water.
Also available: Rehabilitation, Myofascial Cupping, Sports Taping, Pitch-side & Event First Aid.
Getting here
Getting to the clinic from Southampton
There has been a ferry between Southampton and Hythe since the Middle Ages, in recent years running from Town Quay, about 1.8 miles away as the crow flies, to Hythe Pier, a short walk from my clinic. That crossing isn’t running at the moment, so the way over is by road or bus, unless you’ve booked pitch-side and event first aid, which happens at your venue, not mine.
By car the clinic is about 10.5 miles from the city centre, roughly 20 minutes out through Totton and down the A326. Sports taping can be added to another appointment, saving a second drive. Bluestar routes 8 and 9 pick up at Albion Place and Central Station and stop at Hythe Pier, a short walk from Ferryboat House. Check the current timetable with the operator before you set off.
I see people by appointment only. Book online (opens in a new tab), send an enquiry or email mendandmovest@outlook.com.
Also close by: Hythe, Dibden Purlieu, Marchwood, Totton, Fawley, Eastleigh, West End, Bitterne, Woolston, Shirley, Portswood, Bassett, Netley, Hedge End, Chandler’s Ford.
Postcodes covered
- SO14
- City centre, St Mary’s and the Bargate
- SO15
- Shirley and Freemantle
- SO16
- Bassett, Lordshill and Redbridge
- SO17
- Highfield and Portswood
- SO18
- Bitterne and Bitterne Park
- SO19
- Sholing, Woolston and Thornhill
Services & pricing
Prices
The same prices apply wherever you travel from.
Treatment & assessment
Rehabilitation & extras
Programme costs may vary depending on individual requirements. Please enquire for current availability and appointment location.
Price list with full detailsGood to know
Questions from Southampton
- Which bus should I take from the city centre?
- Either of Bluestar’s two routes from the city centre to Hythe will do. The 9 heads out through Millbrook, Applemore and Dibden Purlieu, stops at Hythe Pier, then carries on towards Holbury, Blackfield and Langley, Fawley or Calshot. The 8 goes the Totton way, through Millbrook, Totton, Hounsdown, Pooksgreen and Applemore, and finishes at Hythe Pier. Check the current timetable with the operator before you travel.
- Can I still get the Hythe Ferry over from Town Quay?
- No, it isn’t running at the moment. The company that ran it went into liquidation, and the Hythe Pier Company has since acquired the ferry assets, but nobody has yet said when sailings will start again. For now it’s the road through Totton or a Bluestar bus.
- Do you cover races on the Common or club matches at Bassett?
- Yes, I can quote for either. Pitch-side and event first aid is the only service that takes me away from the clinic, and for that work I hold PHICIS Level 2 (Pre-Hospital Immediate Care in Sport), an England Rugby course. Send the race or fixture details, the venue and rough numbers to mendandmovest@outlook.com and I’ll price it up.
Ready to make a start?
Book online in a couple of minutes, or send me a message if you’d like to talk it through first.