I became a chiropractor because I wanted to be the person who actually makes the change and not prescribe something that does it, not refer it out. I wanted a doing skill. Something I could use with my hands to make a real, immediate difference to someone. It took a few detours to get here, but that's still what drives me every day.

How I got here

I was a pretty average student in high school, not because I couldn't do the work, but because I was never excited by it. I was swimming a lot as a teenager and, honestly, I think I was just tired most of the time. I left school not knowing what I wanted to do. I thought about massage therapy. My mum pushed me toward physio, told me I had more capacity than I was giving myself credit for. Then a friend who was studying chiropractic said, come on, do this instead.

I actually did know what chiropractic was. When I was younger I had a bit of a pigeon-toed gait one of my feet turned inward when I walked. My parents took me to a chiropractor and within a couple of visits it had resolved. Turned out it was a straightforward pelvis and sacroiliac joint issue. My parents were quietly amazed. I filed that away somewhere.

So when my friend made the pitch for chiropractic, it landed. I enrolled at Murdoch University in 2009 second semester to get a head start. I graduated at the end of 2014 and started practicing in 2015.

The treatment that changed everything

A few years into practice, I met someone in Perth who had trained in a technique called Integrative Diagnosis - a precise, soft tissue methodology focused on identifying and releasing adhesions in specific structures. They did it on me.

I had carried chronic lower back tension and tight hamstrings for years. I'd assumed I was just a tight person and that this was simply how my body was. Even after just one treatment the change in sensation was unlike anything any treatment had produced for me before.

I thought: I have to learn how to do this. This is what I was looking for.

That sent me to the United States (three or four trips over several years) to train in Integrative Diagnosis formally. It is similar to Active Release Technique, another soft tissue method I have also trained in, and it demands a level of anatomical precision that took me a long time to develop. I found it genuinely hard to learn. I had to be completely locked in when treating, and I spent a lot of time watching cadaver dissections and surgical footage in my early years just to build the anatomical picture in my head that I needed to do it with real specificity.

It was worth every bit of that effort. It is now the foundation of how I assess and treat almost everything.

Teaching it

I believe this approach shouldn't be a secret. More practitioners should know even just a handful of my everyday treatments. I believe patients deserve to have access to it wherever they go.

I have students observe in clinic, and I currently have one working with me directly. When students come, I ask questions, I explain the reasoning, I share everything I can. If you're a practitioner or student interested in learning this kind of soft tissue work, get in touch. I'm always happy to talk about it.

Outside the clinic

I have two sons, Ollie, born in 2021, and Jimmy, born in 2024. When I'm not in the clinic, I'm with them and my wife Fiona.

For the past couple of years I've also gotten into music production. I have no formal background in music whatsoever (I want to be very clear about that) but I love learning things, and music production turns out to be an endlessly deep puzzle. My current obsession is taking songs I'm nostalgic for and reimagining them in a completely different genre, for my own amusement. Whether the results are any good is a matter of ongoing debate between me and my sister, who is my very accomodating but loyal audience.

Be careful bringing it up with me during clinic because I am likely to talk your ears off about it.

Credentials

Chiropractor, Murdoch University (2015)

Integrative Diagnosis - trained across multiple courses in the United States

Active Release Technique - trained (not currently certified)

AHPRA Registration: CHI0001927257 Practicing since 2015

Experienced using Shockwave Therapy since 2023.