My interest in the human body began when I was a small child. My mother suffered a serious accident when I was a baby which she fortunately survived but not without serious consequences.  She suffered pain for the rest of her life due to her injuries and multiple scars, one thing I always noticed was how much better she was when kept moving and doing things, both mentally and physically. 

I had a love of exercise and sport of any type but particularly gymnastics and trampolining when I was very young.  I excelled at both and competed at a young age. At 6 years old I had a fall which caused a fracture of my pelvis.  Although very painful at the time it was not discovered until much later in life.  This injury had given me a lumbar scoliosis and abnormal hip positioning (dysplasia)  The thing I found most difficult when I was young was nobody seemed to listen to me when I complained about the pain.  I had x-rays as a teenager and was always told there was nothing wrong.  No one took the time to assess me. This became a very strong driver for my passion later on in life.  People need to be heard and as practitioners we have the power to help in many ways, listening with intent can be priceless.

I continued with sport and fitness and in my 20’s qualified as a personal trainer and sports therapist.  This satisfied my needs for a few years but I quickly became hungry for more knowledge.  I discovered Chiropractic at age 21, due to my childhood accident I suffered chronic low back pain which, with my fitness training I managed to work through most of the time.  However, after several severe acute low back flare ups I saw my first Chiropractor.  I was pain free for the first time in many years after 6 weeks, this got me hooked on Chiropractic. 

I eventually went to the Anglo European College of Chiropractic at aged 29 and condensed the 5 year master’s degree programme into 4 years due to my previous experience and my new journey began.  During my degree training I worked as a sports therapist to keep my hand in and help pay the college fees.  I also taught sports massage at the college as a tutor. After graduation, this meant I already had a patient base so I began my combined treatment protocol which involves sports therapy techniques, targeted exercise rehabilitation alongside Chiropractic. 

This combination was a new concept at the time as Chiropractic is largely manipulation based.  Joint manipulation is a fantastic technique but it does not suit everyone and I believe the soft tissue element to be immensely important.  Also I wanted to offer a different service in an area with many Chiropractors.

Exercise rehabilitation programmes tend to be a one size fits all approach which never made sense to me as we are all different.  Therefore I spent time to make programmes subjective and people loved this combination, fortunately this made my clinic the success it became.

 Soft tissue techniques have evolved a lot over the last 25 years and a new buzz word “fascia” was becoming a trend.  As is my nature I decided to investigate this more and spent 10 years learning how to dissect a body and studying fascia.  I was fortunate enough to work under some great anatomists who taught me such a lot.  I quickly realised this was the key to many pain disorders.  Unfortunately our medical profession is very behind the times with musculoskeletal issues so they are not seeing these connections, nor will they give any credit to what manual therapy is capable of. 

In 2022 I had total hip replacements in both hips.  My childhood accident had caused some serious issues with my hips, I had managed to keep things at bay for much longer than expected using my own techniques on myself however, after 10 years of intermittent pain it was time to get them sorted. 

I had also injured both shoulders between the ages of 35-45 due to sport however, with the knowledge I have now I feel they were compromised due to the hip problems. I ruptured the supraspinatus muscle and subsequently the fasica in the area in both shoulders. When fascial rupture is involved it can be very painful and take a long time to heal.  I did look at the outcome measures of surgery for this issue however, I discovered that it has a poor long term outcome when compared to strength and mobility training which, lead the way to the best long term recovery.  

Due to the low back, hip and shoulders issues I had made a concentrated effort to study the connections in our bodies, how we move, the synergy between our joints and tissues and how one part of the body affects another.  Discovering the key to long term recovery is the very foundation of the academy.  I offer courses to all levels of practitioner who work with people. Whether you are a massage therapist, strength and conditioning coach, Chiropractor, Osteopath or Physio. These courses can be for you. The main requisites are an interest in growing as a practitioner,  the passion to help people recover quicker and for longer periods, knowledge of anatomy and fascia (this is provided in my courses) and the willingness to learn and be open minded.