Shelley Davies Academy Introduction from Shelley Davies on Vimeo.

 

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.

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.  After several severe acute low back issues 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 studied at the Anglo European College of Chiropractic at aged 29 and condensed the 5 year masters 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 for 2 years at the college around my own lectures.  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 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 so I wanted to offer a different service. Also, rehab 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 it.  This combination was a winner and made my clinic the success it is today.

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 the human 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. Therefore many people with pain are still being treated with rest, pills, ice and in some cases surgery.  None of which have good outcome measures nor research supporting them.  However there are rare occasions when surgery is necessary.

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 then chronic pain it was time to get them sorted.  

Due to my low back and hip 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.  This is key to any long term recovery and is the very foundation of this training academy. 

My desire is to offer courses to all levels of body practitioners. Whether you are a massage therapist, strength and conditioning coach, Chiropractor, Osteopath or Physio. These courses can be for you. The main requisites are passion to do better, help people to recover quicker and for longer periods, knowledge of anatomy and the willingness to learn and be open minded.