Fifteen years in stirling

Our Story

Knead to Relax opened for business in 2009, started by experienced massage therapist Sandy Winterbottom, who recognised a gap in the market for treating desk-based workers. As computer use and workplace stress became an inherent part of many people’s jobs, the result was a steep rise in slow-onset upper-body injuries such as neck and shoulder pain, lower back pain, headaches and migraines. Knead to Relax began as a way to provide safe and effective treatment for office workers and grew over the years into a busy and well respected practice for all kinds of musculo-skeletal injuries.

In 2025, Kelly, the resident Osteopath took over the reins from Sandy. Kelly has enjoyed working in the clinic since 2020. The aim of the clinic will remain the same… providing the best care we can as a team.

meet the team

Kelly

Kelly Biffen our Osteoapth, graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a Masters of Osteopathy. She has worked in clinics across Edinburgh, Falkirk and Glasgow and enjoys treating a range of issues from headaches and neck pain to foot pain and everything in between, with a particular interest in more complex cases. Kelly takes a holistic approach to treating patients aimed at the prevention of pain as well as pain relief, using a range of osteopathic techniques alongside acupuncture and exercise.

Simon

Simon Duffin trained as a massage therapist in 1999 in London, and has spent the last 8 years practising in Australia, where he qualified in Remedial Massage. He favours a remedial approach to massage because it adds goals around reducing pain or increasing mobility. He specialises in working with people who experience regular migraines or tension headaches. Simon also offers reflexology, which aims to promote relaxation, reduce stress, and improve overall well-being by encouraging the body's natural healing processes.

Nadja

Nadja Barkova trained at the Scottish Massage School. She has a background in social care and mental health and was drawn to massage through a deep interest in how stress affects the body. Nadja works to offer a person-centered, holistic approach to her treatments. With a focus on regulating the nervous system to support muscle release, recovery and overall well-being. Book in with Nadja for a Swedish, Deep tissue or Relaxation massage to feel rejuvenated.

Erin

Erin Daly started her massage journey with the Western school of Massage and has been working as a complementary therapist since 2018. She offers deep tissue, relaxing and remedial massage, pregnancy massage and manual lymphatic drainage for wellness and post-plastic surgery. Erin enjoys working with desk based workers and post-plastic surgery clients. She finds massage very rewarding when clients can get movement back and lower pain levels. As well as using her MLD skills to assist wound healing, reduce swelling and prevent possible infection.

Honey

HoneyBunny is our in-house Therapup. She is a non-shedding, miniature, Australian Labradoodle and is quite the hit with Kelly's patients. Many of whom are very disappointed when she has a day off! It has been found that interacting with therapy dogs releases endorphins, which have a calming effect and can lower stress and anxiety levels. The effects of this are visible when Honey is in. She can be found in the clinic on Tuesday's. N.B- the clinic is thoroughly cleaned after every shift, including those when Honey has been in.