ABOUT DAVID
ABOUT DAVID
I suffered with ongoing lower back pain, hip pain and neck pain for about 10 years. I was really afraid of how my back would be in the future if I was this sore at 16 years of age.
I sought help, and was given diagnoses like Sciatica, Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction, Pelvic Torsion, Hip Misalignment, Slipped Discs and much more.
None of these diagnoses helped me to make any progress with my symptoms and it never made any sense to me how the treatments I received (manipulations, painful soft tissue massage, some stretches and some exercises) would help my symptoms to go away.
As I visited more and more people to try to get help, I became even more frustrated because nothing was really working one for me.
By this point I had begun studying my Sports Rehabilitation degree and was pretty disappointed that although I learned lots during my studies, not much of it seemed to translate into helping me with my symptoms.
I kind of fell through the cracks because I had bounced between different therapists and my GP and no one was really able to offer me a clear understanding of what was happening to me or a clear plan to make progress and overcome my symptoms.
When I began to work with people in pain, I was following the cookbook recipe approach that I was taught in university.
"I kind of fell through the cracks because I had bounced between different therapists and my GP and no one was really able to offer me a clear understanding of what was happening to me or a clear plan to make progress and overcome my symptoms."
"When working with someone in pain, if I am unable to affect how their nervous system is interpreting things, I’m really not being effective for them or helping them to create change."
Muscles, joints, symptoms, pain. All of these things are under control of the nervous system.
I began to focus my area of understanding on the nervous system.
I studied human movement with Gary Ward from Anatomy in Motion.
This work completely transformed my understanding of the human body.
Now I was able to see a person in pain in a totally different way, able to get a good sense of how their 360 joints moved in time and space.
I could start to see that person with knee pain that couldn’t shift their weight well into that leg.
I could see the person with a shoulder problem whose spine and ribs couldn’t afford them the necessary movement to get their arm overhead without impinging the joint space.
Movement offered me a real-time barometer and window into facilitate change in a person’s nervous system and I was hooked.
The cases I saw became more and more complex and I began seeing people from all over the country.
Knowing people in many countries due to the courses I had been on, I was invited to work in Belgium, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, Greece and the USA.
Person with knee pain = this is what you do.
Person with back pain = this is the approach for them.
I became more and more confused and disillusioned because I would often get feedback from my clients that the treatments had done any of the following:
- Really helped for 24 hours and then it all came back
- Helped a bit but didn’t last too long
- Sorted their problem out entirely and they haven’t looked back
- Didn’t help at all
I truly didn’t know what the difference was in each person and each treatment session. Nothing was predictable or gave me confidence that I was able to help others.
So I began to enrol in many different courses that viewed the body from differing perspectives and had a massive lightbulb moment….
When working with someone in pain, if I am unable to affect how their nervous system is interpreting things, I’m really not being effective for them or helping them to create change.
"Movement offered me a real-time barometer and window to facilitate change in a person's nervous system and I was hooked."
"When working with someone in pain, if I am unable to affect how their nervous system is interpreting things, I’m really not being effective for them or helping them to create change."
I began to focus my area of understanding on the nervous system.
I studied human movement with Gary Ward from Anatomy in Motion.
This work completely transformed my understanding of the human body.
Now I was able to see a person in pain in a totally different way, able to see how their 360 joints moved in time and space.
I could start to see that person with knee pain that couldn’t shift their weight well into that leg.
I could see the person with a shoulder problem whose spine and ribs couldn’t afford them the necessary movement to get their arm overhead without impinging the joint space.
Movement offered me a real-time barometer and window into affecting a person’s nervous system and I was hooked.
The cases I saw became more and more complex and I began seeing people from all over the country.
Knowing people in many countries due to the course I had been on, I was invited to work in Belgium, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, Greece, the USA.
Person with knee pain = this is what you do.
Person with back pain = this is the approach for them.
I became more and more confused and disillusioned because I would often get feedback from my clients that the treatments had done any of the following:
- Really helped for 24 hours and then it all came back
- Helped a bit but didn’t last too long
- Sorted their problem out entirely and they haven’t looked back
- Didn’t help at all
I truly didn’t know what the difference was in each person and each treatment session and nothing was predictable or gave me confidence that I was able to help others.
So I began to enrol in many different courses that viewed the body from differing perspectives and had a massive lightbulb moment!
When working with someone in pain, if I am unable to affect how their nervous system is interpreting things, I’m really not being effective for them or helping them to create change.
Muscles, joints, symptoms, pain. All of these things are under control of the nervous system.
"Movement offered me a real-time barometer and window into affecting a person's nervous system and I was hooked."
"I began to see how it was totally possible for a person to become trapped in a complex web of symptoms that were being driven by multiple different influences, most of which were not even considered at all!"
I became more and more interested in the human nervous system and brain and moved to London to study P-DTR®, a treatment technique developed by orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Jose Palomar.
P-DTR® demonstrated the incredible power of the nervous system to create change.
It showed me how sensitisation in the human body caused real time adaptations to movement patterns and it perfectly complemented the understanding that I had from my AiM movement studies.
By understanding the movements that were missing, by being able to figure out why the nervous system had chosen to adapt the muscular function needed in those movements, I was able to create powerful change for people with minimal intervention, exactly where they needed it.
I started to meet many people whose symptoms were heavily influenced by the psychological side of life.
I began to see how it was totally possible for a person to become trapped in a complex web of symptoms that were being driven by multiple different influences, most of which were not even considered at all!
This led me into a world of self study and learning about the human mind, and psychology.
I could see how this all became a melting pot of influences that ended up affecting the person in a massive way.
In essence, I was now starting to see the maze that is chronic or persistent pain and symptoms. The many wrong turns, roadblocks and booby traps that affected the people I was working with.
I saw themes running through my daily experiences in clinic with clients and developed a framework from which I could operate and began focusing on identifying and changing the most important influences for each person I worked with.
This is the challenge that I LOVE to embark on with each person I meet.
My own symptoms had become a thing of the past. I had assessed and changed my own beliefs and narratives.
I had learned that most of the symptoms I experienced were related to previous injuries and sensitivities that I was moving around.
I received the treatment I needed and became aware of the blindspots that I had in my own movement.
All of this left me in a place of confidence in my body. I was empowered because I knew that I wasn’t broken. I knew that my body was robust and I knew that pain ≠ damage.
I had taken the steps towards understanding the influences that affected me and I was confident that I had actionable strategies for change that are effective for my clients.
In early 2020, I expanded my business to help people who cannot travel to my clinic in Dublin, Ireland, by building an online membership site where clients who are unable to work with me in person can overcome their symptoms without travelling. This is continually evolving and is quietly developing into a complete, person centred process to take you from wherever you are at to living life free from the problems that pain creates.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story, I hope it has given you the HOPE that the symptoms you are experiencing are changeable. It is possible and even enjoyable to go through the necessary change to overcome your symptoms.
I would love to help you, please get in touch and lets get started.
"All of this left me in a place of confidence in my body. I was empowered that I had taken significant steps towards understanding the influences that affected me and my clients and that i had actionable strategies for change that were effective."
