The MVMNT Therapist

The MVMNT Therapist I'll help you move better, get stronger, rehabilitate your injuries, as well as help you navigate/manage pain along the way, especially chronic pain.
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🏋️‍♂️MSK Therapist + Strength Coach
📖Special interest in Pain, Strength, Movement
💯Committed to helping people
🗣️ Views my own
NB: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, this helps me help more people without charging too much.

20/04/2026

Frodo said what so many people feel in the hardest seasons of life:

“I wish none of this had happened.”

After injury.
After grief.
After heartbreak.
After diagnosis.
After pain that changes everything.

And Gandalf answered:

“So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

That doesn’t mean pretending it’s okay.
It doesn’t mean forced positivity.
It means accepting what is true now, and deciding what comes next.

You may not control what happened.
But you still have influence over how you respond.

Rebuild.
Rehab.
Rest.
Ask for help.
Set boundaries.
Begin again.

Sometimes healing starts when we stop asking, “Why did this happen?” and start asking, “What now?”

17/04/2026

For people living with chronic conditions, there may come a moment where the hope of getting better starts to fade.

Not always at the worst pain, but when belief in change starts to slip.

Chronic conditions don’t just affect the body. They often come with loss. Loss of capacity, identity, and the life that was expected.

That’s grief.

And grief still carries something important… hope.

Despair is different. It’s when that hope disappears. When trying feels pointless. When nothing seems worth the effort anymore.

This is where therapy has to be better.

It’s not about giving people hope. We can’t promise outcomes or timelines.

But we can help evoke it.

By listening properly. By helping someone’s experience make sense. By meeting them where they are. By helping them see small, meaningful progress again.

That’s what builds trust. That’s what supports change.

Movement, exercise, hands-on work… they all matter. But without connection first, they’re just tools.

People don’t need fixing. They need guidance, understanding, and a reason to believe things can move forward again.

📚 Reference
Miller WR, Rollnick S. Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change. 4th ed. Guilford Press; 2023.

15/04/2026

Burnout in healthcare and rehab isn’t just about workload.

It’s about exposure without recovery.

We spend hours each day in conversations around pain, stress, uncertainty, and frustration.
That has an effect.

Humans are wired for emotional contagion. We pick up on the states of others.
But burnout isn’t caused by that alone.

It’s what happens when:
• emotional load is high
• responsibility stays constant
• recovery is inconsistent

Same principle as physical training.

If demand keeps rising and recovery doesn’t match it, capacity drops.

This isn’t about “caring too much.”

It’s about recognising that your nervous system is part of the equation too.

Better care for others starts with managing the load on yourself.

📚 References
West CP et al. (2018). Interventions to prevent and reduce physician burnout: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet.

13/04/2026

If you’re living with a chronic condition, or life’s forced you to carry more than most… this is for you.

You are not behind.
You’re on a different timeline.

And that timeline came with heavier responsibilities.

Maybe that’s chronic illness.
Fatigue.
Flare-ups you can’t predict.

Maybe it’s injury.
Grief.
Or looking after family members.

While everyone else was building careers, dating, travelling, moving forward…
you were surviving.

Managing symptoms.
Pacing your energy.
Holding things together.
Doing what you had to do.

That doesn’t make you behind.
That changes the trajectory.

Because you’ve been building something different.
Resilience.
Perspective.
Capacity most people never have to develop.

And yeah… it might mean your path looks slower from the outside.

But slower doesn’t mean worse.
Different doesn’t mean less.

It just means your timeline includes things most people couldn’t handle.

So stop comparing your timeline to people who started under different conditions.

Focus on what’s in front of you.
Build from where you are.

Because you’re not behind.
You’re just carrying more.

References
Friedman EM & Ryff CD (2012). Living well with medical comorbidities: A biopsychosocial perspective. Journal of Gerontology.

Recently completed training in DermoNeuroModulation (DNM).A different way of approaching pain and movement that I’m look...
27/03/2026

Recently completed training in DermoNeuroModulation (DNM).

A different way of approaching pain and movement that I’m looking forward to using more in practice.

I’ve put together a quick overview below if you’d like to learn a bit more 👇

Really enjoyed the course — clear, practical, and very well delivered.

Thanks to my tutor The MVMNT Therapist for the excellent teaching 👊

27/03/2026

You’re not paying for better rehab…
you’re paying for a £20,000 marketing tool disguised as a pain relief machine.

Shockwave. Laser. Fancy machines.
They look advanced.

But rehab isn’t driven by how expensive the equipment is.

It’s driven by:
• Clear clinical reasoning
• The right dose of load
• Communication and trust
• Adapting over time

Machines can have a place.
But they’re not the driver of long-term change.

And they’re definitely not what you’re paying for.

You’re paying for:
Someone who understands your situation
Someone who can guide the process
Someone who knows when to push… and when to pull back

That’s where outcomes come from.

A therapist without machines isn’t lower value…
you’ve just been taught to think they are.

So if you choose a clinic because it has high-tech equipment, that’s fine.

Just don’t assume:
No machine = lower quality
Machine = better care

Judge the thinking.
Judge the progression.
Judge the outcome.

That’s what actually matters.

📚 Reference
Babatunde OO et al. (2017). Comparative effectiveness of treatment options for musculoskeletal pain: systematic review and network meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine.

06/03/2026

When pain or injury hangs around for a while, something subtle happens.

People don’t just lose strength, mobility, or fitness.

They lose trust in their body.

Every flare-up teaches the system something.
“Maybe that movement isn’t safe.”
“Maybe that effort will backfire.”

So the instinct becomes either pushing harder to prove the body wrong…
or avoiding things altogether.

Neither usually rebuilds trust.

What tends to help more is something much less dramatic.

Predictability.

When movements are repeatable, recoverable, and chosen rather than forced, the nervous system starts to update its expectations.

Small wins accumulate.
Recovery happens.
Confidence slowly returns.

Not because the body was “fixed” overnight, but because it experienced enough evidence that movement could happen without punishment.

This is why patience in rehab isn’t passive.

It’s an active skill.

The skill of choosing loads you can recover from.
Repeating them consistently.
Letting the system adapt instead of trying to overpower it.

Over time, trust doesn’t come back through intensity.

It comes back through reliability.

📚 Reference

Leeuw M, Goossens MEJB, Linton SJ, et al. The Fear-Avoidance Model of Musculoskeletal Pain: Current State of Scientific Evidence. Journal of Behavioral Medicine. 2007. PMID: 17180640.





I’m excited to announce I’ll be speaking at Therapy Expo 2025 — the UK’s biggest event for therapists and health profess...
11/11/2025

I’m excited to announce I’ll be speaking at Therapy Expo 2025 — the UK’s biggest event for therapists and health professionals.

I’ll be delivering two sessions this year:

🗣️ Day 1 – Business Advice Theatre (9.55–10.25am)
Motivational Interviewing & Behaviour Change: Better Communication for Better Patient Outcomes
→ How communication shapes outcomes, improves adherence, and strengthens therapeutic alliance.

✋ Day 2 – Practical Skills Space (14.35–15.05)
Dermoneuromodulation (DNM): Modern Manual Therapy in Action
→ A practical look at DNM, the nervous system, and how gentle, person-centred touch can create meaningful change.

It’s always great to connect with clinicians who care about what really matters: communication, outcomes, and bridging the gap between science and real-world practice.

If you’re serious about becoming more effective, evidence-based, and person-centred in your work, this is one to be at.

Would love to see some familiar faces there.

🎟️ Use code SPEAKER15 for 15% off tickets:
👉 https://invt.io/1ixbrjvhjq8

Big news for past DNM studentsFor a limited time, I’m offering a huge 70% discount on future DNM courses in the UK — but...
04/09/2025

Big news for past DNM students

For a limited time, I’m offering a huge 70% discount on future DNM courses in the UK — but only for those who’ve already attended before.

Why?
Because DNM is one of those approaches that sinks in deeper each time you revisit it. The principles are simple, but the application gets richer with practice.

Johno Tweedie put it best after using DNM stage-side with performers — he said the calm, gentle approach helped a cast member finish a show they thought they couldn’t.
And Nathalie Fell, coming from a sports massage background, said repeating the material gave her the confidence to finally let go of “beating people up” and start trusting the nervous system framework.

Coming back a second (or third) time lets you:

Earn 16 STA-recognised CPD hours

Revisit the reasoning and techniques in a safe, practice-heavy environment

Deepen your confidence in applying DNM with real clients

How it works:
Message me directly and I’ll send you an individual invoice for your chosen venue.

Upcoming courses:

London (West End focus on performing arts) – with NeuroTour Physiotherapy – 20/21 Sept 2025

Nottingham – at Pressure Point Sports Massage – 1/2 Oct 2025

Birmingham – 7/8 March 2026

Come back, refine your touch, and see DNM through a fresh lens.

www.themvmnttherapist.co.uk/dermoneuromodulation-dnm

03/09/2025

There is no single tissue or system in the body that acts as the “missing link” for recovering from pain, rehabbing an injury, or optimising performance.

It’s tempting to believe that fascia, or the lymphatic system, or any one structure holds the magical solution to the problems people face.

Fascia, for example, is fascinating. The research is evolving and offers us new ways of thinking about how the body moves, transfers force, and organizes itself. But focusing on fascia - or any one tissue doesn’t replace the reality that we’re always working with a whole person.

That person has beliefs, thoughts, emotions, a lifestyle, patterns within that lifestyle, expectations, goals, and a medical history. All of this is much greater than a single tissue focus.

As movement practitioners, it’s important we don’t slip into reductionist thinking about how one exercise or one treatment will benefit someone.

Muscles, fascia, bones, joints, nerves - yes, they all matter. But they don’t stand alone.

The true focus is always on the person.

Movement is medicine

Tom

Thank you .method for the signed copy of your new book. I have only just got around to opening the parcel and doing a li...
19/08/2025

Thank you .method for the signed copy of your new book.

I have only just got around to opening the parcel and doing a little unpacking video.

Maybe one day I'll be fortunate enough to be able to publish my own book, for now I'll stick to the manual therapy courses but maybe one day 👊🏼🤞🏼

Hope you are well John. See you at

Dan

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24 Earls Court Road
Harborne
B179AH

Telephone

+447515018946

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