How I
practise.

Assessment first. Always.

Your first appointment is 45 minutes, and most of it is spent finding out what's actually going on. That means a thorough case history — your problem, but also your work, your training, your sleep, your history of injuries, the things you've stopped doing — followed by a full examination: chiropractic, orthopaedic, neurological and functional, with general health screening.

Then I explain what I've found, in plain language, for as long as it takes to make sense. You'll know what I think is going on, and whether chiropractic is the right way to treat it. If it is, your first treatment usually happens the same day. If it isn't, I'll tell you that too — and you pay for the assessment alone (£40), not the full consultation (£90).

Why I look for the weak muscle first.

Most people arrive pointing at something tight, asking me to loosen it. I'll usually go looking for the weak one instead.

The reasoning is that muscles work in pairs: as one contracts, its opposite has to let go. Sherrington described that more than a century ago and it's fundamental to how movement happens at all. So when I find a muscle that isn't firing properly, I expect to find its opposite number tight and guarded, doing the work of two. Facilitate the weak one, and the tight one is often free to let go on its own. Work on the tight one alone and you're usually downstream of whatever is actually driving it.

I sometimes describe it as a fuse board. A couple of fuses have tripped, and the job is to find which ones and flick them back on — rather than rewiring the whole house.

That approach gives us something to measure. I test the muscle, treat what I think is holding it back — usually a joint that isn't moving as it should — then retest, with you watching. It makes the reasoning visible: you see the change happen, in the room, rather than taking my word for it.

That immediate change is often short-lived, and I'll tell you so. The point isn't the change itself — it's what we do with it. Repeat the facilitation until the pattern holds, then build on it: strength work, mobility, targeted stretching, nerve mobilisation where it's indicated, and progressive loading — so it becomes something your body keeps rather than something I keep giving back to you.

Exercise and loading matter enormously; they carry the strongest evidence of anything in this field, and none of what I've described replaces them. My argument is only about the order — fine-tune first, then build. It's also why I'll usually suggest twice a week at the start: you're establishing a pattern, and patterns need repetition, rather like learning an instrument.

Tools, not ideology.

I'm a chiropractor by training and conviction, but I'm not wedded to any single modality — I'll use whatever I judge most likely to help. That includes precise chiropractic adjustment and joint mobilisation, soft-tissue work, active and passive release, muscle energy technique, dry needling, neural mobilisation (nerve flossing), and kinesiology taping — alongside the rehabilitation side: strength work, mobility, stretching and progressive loading. Particular focus on the extremities — shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, ankles — as a Certified Chiropractic Extremity Practitioner.

The technique matters less than the reasoning behind it — and you'll have heard that reasoning before anything happens.

Who I'm probably not right for.

It's worth being clear about who this practice doesn't suit.

• If you want a quick crack and no questions

  I don't treat what I haven't examined. If you'd rather skip the assessment and the explanation, we're not going to be a good match.

• If it's an emergency

  Sudden severe symptoms, loss of bladder or bowel control, numbness in the saddle area, or symptoms after significant trauma need emergency care today — not a chiropractic appointment.

• If your problem needs someone else

  Some problems belong with a different specialist, and if yours does, the most useful thing I can do is tell you quickly and point you in the right direction.