Talking Tissue

I had the extreme pleasure of talking with Dr Joren Whitley DC about his journey into the Chiropractor world from his beginnings as a Molecular Biologist and then to diversify from treating humans to animals but not just any animals, he has found himself in the Exotic animal world, such lions, bears, lizards, buffalo etc .He went viral when he posted a video of him adjusting a Giraffe`s jaw , he has travelled to Africa to treat animals in the wild. Joren`s passion continues to push the legitism of Animal Chiropractic care . Every allied health care industry has its hurdles and this is true for Joren in promoting and educating everyone of the benefits for Animal Chiropractic care but also enduring the challenge of those who misrepresent this special environment and push back. To see him in action just have a look at his instagram/Tik Tok and you can see Joren weave his magic on cats, dogs, horses, humans and yes exotic animals like the Majestic Giraffe.I had selfish reasons for interviewing Joren because of my love for Giraffe`s but i soon worked out that he is beautiful human being that shares the same passion and love i do for our chosen professions.Dr. Whitley grew up in Oklahoma and many of its surrounding states. In 2012 he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Oklahoma State University. During college Dr. Whitley worked as a laboratory technician for the National Institute for Microbial Forensics & Food and Agricultural Biosecurity and the United States Department of Agriculture.After college he worked in concrete construction where he was injured on the job. This led him to find Chiropractic and ultimately his love for how the body functions.Dr. Whitley Graduated from Parker University in Dallas, Texas in April 2016 with a Doctorate in Chiropractic. He then opened our Edmond Office in January 2017. Since then he has been the Chiropractor for various organizations and professional athletes. He has also been the animal Chiropractor for the OKC Zoo and many other Animal Sanctuaries and Safari’s. He has also gained international attention on TikTok and instagram with his work on domestic and exotic animals. Being featured on The Tamron Hall Show, The Washington Post, CNN, Buzzfeed, Unilad, and many more.Dr. Whitley resides in the Oklahoma Metro area with his Wife and his dogs Grimm and Baloo. He has a passion for working on people and animals alike, helping to unlock their bodies ability to function at its very best.

In this episode, I had the supreme pleasure of talking to Dr Peter Brukner. Dr Brukner - or, more accurately, Peter Brukner OAM, MBBS, D Sc(honoris causa), FACSEP, FASMF, FACSM, FFSEM - is a world-renowned medical doctor and specialist sports and exercise medicine physician. Peter has had two passions during this medical career. The first was sports medicine. He is a world-renowned sports medicine clinician and researcher who was the founding partner at the Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre in Melbourne, was a founding executive member of and has served two terms as president of the Australasian College of Sports Physicians, is the co-author of the ‘bible’ of sports medicine Brukner & Khan’s Clinical Sports Medicine, and has been team doctor to amateur and professional sporting teams such as Melbourne and Collingwood (AFL), national swimming, hockey, athletics, soccer, and cricket teams as well as Liverpool Football Club in the English Premier league. Whew! Peter’s second passion, which has developed over the last few years, is nutrition. He believes that most of what we have been told about what to eat over the last 40 years has been wrong and this misunderstanding has contributed to epidemics of obesity and chronic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes. To address this misunderstanding he has founded and chaired the SugarByHalf campaign and has authored the popular book A Fat Lot of Good. You can find out all about the nutrition side of Peter’s career at the Fat Lot of Good website. He is currently Professor of Sports Medicine at La Trobe University in Melbourne.There is a lot I discovered about Peter that usually goes under the radar. We talk about the origins of setting up a sports physician specialist classification within the medical framework, the Olympic Park Sports Medicine clinic - a one-of-a-kind back in the day - and the origins of the Bible Clinical Sports Medicine - a three-volume text that's in its sixth edition. His journey in touring with sports teams, being invited to work at English Premier League club Liverpool FC, Sydney 2000 with Cathy Freeman, Australian Cricket Team and his journey and passion in nutrition and so much more are all fascinating to hear. And, as a lover of trigger points, he has been an incredible supporter of soft tissue therapy. Peter is one of our most eminent Australian sports physicians and has walked the long road and seen it all. More importantly, he's an incredibly generous man! His passion takes hold with very little prompting. I loved listening to him and I'm sure you will too.

At 43, Brendan's unique experiences have spanned a multitude of disciplines: at times he has been a successful elite track and field 800-meter hurdler; an exercise science graduate; a strength, power, and speed coach; and a soft tissue therapist. To my knowledge, he's also the only person so far to have had an athletic scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport and be working at the Institute as a soft tissue therapist at the same time! A consummate athlete, Brendan made it to the finals in the 400m hurdles at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. In the 2010 Dehli Commonwealth Games, he also made it to the finals in the 400m hurdles and won gold in the 4×400m team relay. In the 2012 London Olympics he again competed in the 400m hurdles and the 4×400m relay, placing second in his heat with a personal best in the former and fifth in his heat for the latter. Brendan then retired from track and field competition and was invited to work at the prestigious ALTIS training facility in the USA as a performance therapist. From there, he found himself in the unique situation of working with the USA bobsled team. In this podcast, Brendan opens up about performance therapy and what it takes to perform and work at elite levels.  Brendan's passion for performance therapy shines through and it's infectious. For those therapists working in athletic environments, this is a must-listen. It's a unique opportunity to hear the perspective of someone who's been both an athlete and a therapist. No doubt about it, Brendan is definitely someone who is AWESOME AT WHAT HE DOES!

In this episode, we are honoured to be joined by the impeccable Dr Robert Schleip, a pioneering researcher and leader in the field of fascial physiology. His research is some of the most influential in the industry, but if that wasn't enough, Dr Schleip has an extensive list of additional qualifications including a Ph.D. in human biology, a Master's degree in psychology, and certification in Rolfing and Feldenkrais teaching and practice. Few practitioners can boast the breadth of experience that Robert has. His journey has been a fascinating one, from psychologist to Rolfing practitioner to research academic in fascial anatomy and physiology. It was a delight to pick Robert's brain about the fascial world. He beautifully transitions from his deep theoretical understanding to the practical application of our hands-on magic. Robert also shared his many insights into delayed onset muscle soreness and MRI imaging of fascial dysfunction around tendon overuse injuries. Robert's passion shines through at every level of this interview. For those who love his work, he will be sharing it in Sydney during October 2023 before he travels to the World Conference in Lower Back Pain in Melbourne. This is an absolute must-listen for those who thirst for a greater understanding of the magic that happens underneath our hands.  Dr. Robert Schleip is the Director of the Fascia Research Group at Ulm University, Germany. In addition, he serves as Research Director for the European Rolfing Association and maintains a part-time private practice as a certified Rolfing practitioner and as Feldenkrais teacher. He holds an M.A. degree in psychology from Heidelberg University and a PhD in Human Biology from Ulm University. Dr Schleip and his colleagues were instrumental in getting the first international Fascia Research Congress in 2007 started, as well as the subsequent congresses. His own research work on active fascial contractility was honoured with the Vladimir Janda Award for Musculoskeletal Medicine. Mark Driscoll, Eng., PhD. is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada. His published research focuses on the biomechanics of the spine from the perspective of devising an improved understanding of stability, diagnostics, and/or treatments - having a particular focus on the involvement of soft tissue such as fascia. He Chaired the scientific committees of the 2018 and 2022 Fascia Research Congresses and was elected as the first President of the Fascia Research Society in 2020.Find out more about Robert's work here: https://www.somatics.de/en 

In this episode, I chat with Physiotherapist Jörgen Forsberg about his professional journey. From his beginnings in Sweden, to the UK to study Physiotherapy and a Masters in Pain Management, and finally, clinical practice in Australia, Jörgen's journey has been incredible. For the last 17 years, Jörgen has run the chronic pain management program at the Frankston hospital, where he has honed his skills as both a therapist and an educator. We dive deep into his love for manual therapies and dry needling education. To say I love his mantra for clinical work and his moral compass in dry needling education is an understatement. Jörgen is an old-school manual therapy practitioner, which I love. Join us and listen to the love and passion we share for our beautiful profession. 

This episode is a reason why I love my job so much: when I get to share personal passion with industry passion. I had the extreme pleasure of having Heather Linden Director of Physical Therapy at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas on as our first guest for 2023. To say Heather is a delight is a massive understatement. It is rare to chew the fat with someone who is just as passionate about performance therapy and is so willing to share their journey, passion, and incredible knowledge. Heather has been with the UFC Performance Institute from its inception, after being poached from the USA Olympic ranks and in that time the Performance Institute has captured an incredible amount of knowledge and data all the pursuit of helping the UFC athletes not only perform better but more so to better aid the health and wellbeing of the athletes. The interdisciplinary approach the PI have put together is music to my ears. They've married medical, physiotherapy, chiropractic, massage, nutrition, sports psychology, sports science, strength and conditioning.  All these experts come together to exchange knowledge and ideas with no ego and purely to the benefit of the athletes' health, wellbeing, and performance. I have been very lucky to work in high-performance environments but in my opinion, this is THE state-of-the-art performance environment THAT is a game changer on so many levels. If only there were other sports that could take up this model!I'm dedicated to getting Heather Linden out to Australia to share her incredible knowledge and passion, more to come. She is the essence of being AWESOME AT WHAT YOU DO!!!

This podcast i speak to John Sharkey a world leading educator in Clinical Anatomy, John travels the world educating therapists and the like in clinical anatomy via his work in human dissection. I had the pleasure of meeting John many years ago at the MMA National Conference whilst i was receiving my Life time achievement award. We hit it off straight away and as you can imagine as both an educator and a clinician i  wanted to pick his brain on all things Anatomy, as we did and especially on topics like the anatomy of a dissection of those who had developed Frozen Shoulder, which we discuss in our podcast among other things such as the art of Myofascial Dry Needling, his qualifications in Exercise and believe it or not Nutrition. I ask about his early years working with his long time friend and Mentor in Leon Chaitow ( who has passed since).He shares his passion for the concepts of anatomy and how they relate to the bodyworker, which is a must for all who make a living from working with living tissue for a living, come join and listen to the lovely banter John and i share in this insightful podcast. We will definitely be touching base again for part 2 and maybe 3,4.   

In this episode I am joined by Jeff Shearer. We explore his journey from the beginning as a  massage therapist to an acupuncturist and natural therapist.Jeff has over 20 years of experience as a clinician, which has been full of wonderful ups, downs, and crossroads. His transition from a hands-on massage therapist to embracing eastern healing philosophies is worth a listen alone. I adore Jeff's clinical moral compass as it resonates with my own journey.He also shares the challenges he's experienced in his clinical journey. Like many of us, Jeff has contended with impostor syndrome and his insights on how he dealt with it should resonate with everyone. Like me, Jeff also gives back by educating the clinical community; we discuss his experience as an educator and his time helping others apply ethical practice in their clinics.    This is one of the most satisfying, open honest chats I have had with a practitioner about their craft and what it means to be ethically sensitive as a clinician. Jeff has so many insights into what it takes to build a successful ethical practice. This episode is a must for any practitioner to listen to regardless of where you are on your journey. 

I had the extreme pleasure in chatting to Mark about his journey. Mark currently plays for the Geelong Football Club and has notched up two Best & Fairest in his 10-year journey at the elite level of the Australian Football League; not bad for a boy who up until trialling as a rookie had not played football since U12. Marks career up until then was as basketball or athletics. Mark soon got to a point where he had to choose a direction in his sporting journey. So Mark takes us on his journey into athletics, specialising in the gruelling 1500 meter, he shares his injury journey, which is next level.He also studied soft tissue therapy with me back in the day at VU before debarking on an AFL career which has been the quintessential Cinderella story.Join us in his passionate journey.

Chris Morrissy  Virologist joins us to discuss his journey from working at his local Colac Dairy industry as a bacteriologist to becoming one of the leading virologists working at the prestigious CSRIO Animal Health Laboratories. He is semi-retired but continues to consult with South-East Asian governments in creating first-class laboratory services in detecting, testing and studying viruses.Chris lends his insight into working with some of the most virulent viruses such as Hand Foot and Mouth Disease, the deadly Hendra virus, and some unknown viruses which are still active such as the bat Nippa virus and many more. He gives us insight into how vaccines are developed and the role a virologist plays working in space suits in high biosecurity environments.We also pick apart some of his insights into the COVID19 virus, vaccination, quarantine measures, and debunk some tragic myths.One of the most important issues we got to discuss was in regards to vaccines and what it means in both protection from the virus but also your ability to pass it on when you're fully vaccinated. It's so refreshing to chat with someone who has been at the coalface of working with viruses. There are so many gems in this podcast it was a pleasure to discuss them with such a generous, passionate and highly intelligent person, a must-listen for all.   

In this episode of Talking Tissue I am joined by Dr Steve Landers, a radiology specialist who focuses on treating musculoskeletal conditions using a minimally invasive procedure called Transarterial Micromebolisation.Dr Landers operates both publically and more recently privately at St.John of God Hospital in Geelong, where his clinic, Clinical Precision (clinicalprecision.com) is located.  Transarterial microembolisation (TAME) can  be an effective treatment for recalcitrant plantar heel pain or plantar fasciitis, bursitis, and early-stage knee osteoarthritis. I have been lucky enough to immerse myself in theatre to watch Steve perform the procedure and collaborating on treatment protocols from diverse modalities.Dr Steve Landers shares us his journey in using TAME, with his original network connection with the original Japanese researchers and how the finer details of how TAME works, hypervascularity, bone oedema in musculoskeletal dysfunction and how soft tissue therapy can be a great adjunct. Please take the time to listen to Dr Steve Landers incredible passion with this amazing wonderful and effective treatment process.

So had the supreme pleasure of both Mick Hughes: Physiotherapist & Exercise Physiologist and Randall Cooper as podcast guests on Talking Tissue this episode. We explored their passion of all things ACL which these boys are at the very cutting edge of.  Mick shares his journey as a budding physio student and spreading his wings into the clinical space and where he cut his clinical bones. We also chat about how Randall and Mick join forces to start the passion that becomes the Melbourne ACL guide that was a cutting edge protocol that has over 17,000 downloads globally and has since been developed into a second edition and was the impetus to develop the Learn.Physio platform. We discuss the journey of the Learn.Physio platform, and the thought and need behind it. Not unlike myself, I saw a need for an education and mentoring platform for soft tissue therapists, both Mick and Randall saw the need for a  cutting edge education platform for physiotherapists and all allied health and exercise professionals.The platform at this stage consists of  Ankle, Hip, ACL prehab/ rehab, adolescent knee , hamstring masterclasses, etc, all presented by experts in their field. Learn.Physio is, as far as I’m concerned,  a must-watch for any treatment-based results-driven therapist. Stay tuned for those interested as we have bonus to take advantage for all. 

So in this episode of Talking Tissue I speak with sports physiotherapist Leon Vogels. I had the supreme pleasure to work with Leon at the London Olympic games. I immediately resonated with Leon with his drive/knowledge and passion for his occupation. He is also a massive fan of the soft tissue therapy which obviously meant we shared so much of our passion.I explore Leon's journey as an elite cyclist and his transition to physiotherapy and how he translated that into the practioner world. Leon has been surrounded by elite cyclists all his life; he comes from a pedigree of elite cyclists given both his dad and brother raced at the elite end of that sport.I discuss injuries with Leon and he has had his fair share of them, the most comprehensive being his piriformis surgery and rehab an absolute must-hear for any bodyworker.We also discuss Leon`s experience working with Cycling, triathlon, rowing, and his time travelling with them and his time at the European Training Center (AIS) in Italy. The knowledge Leon has is next level and is one of the most generous practioners i have come across in sharing that knowledge.   I'm proud to say that Leon is a good friend and his moral compass as a practioner is second to none. I have no doubt I will revisit Leon again on the podcast series to talk more in-depth about all things tissue and treatment* * * Leon VogelsAPA Sports & Exercise Physiotherapist / DirectorWAIS Provider & Senior Australian Rowing PhysiotherapistLeon has a post graduate qualification with a Masters Degree in Sports Physiotherapy from La Trobe University in Melbourne (2007).Completing his undergraduate training in Perth with a Bachelor of Science (Physiotherapy 1998), Leon then spent 11 years in Brisbane working with various sporting teams including the Brisbane Lions AFL Team, The Australian Triathlon Team and Queensland Triathlon and Rowing as well as a physiotherapist at Australian Team Headquarters, London and Rio Olympics. Leon is currently one of the Physiotherapists for the Senior Australian Rowing Team, WAIS Cycling & Rowing.In addition to standard Physiotherapy, Leon also provides Bike Fits – Biomechanical Assessments of Cycling, having worked with Pro-Tour cycling teams and Australian Team members.

I met Andrew almost 20 years ago when he was working at the Australian Institute Of Sport in a part-time capacity. I  knew then he had a bright future, but wow, I couldn't have dreamed of what he'd achieve! Andrew joins us to share his soft tissue therapy journey. He created and runs one of the most unique clinics I have had the pleasure of witness. Not only has he married the world of Pilates and soft tissue therapy, he has also designed and implemented a functional Pilates studio which is definitely a sight to behold. Andrew gives us an insight into how this incredible clinic works, how he blends soft tissue therapy, visceral and Neural manipulation from the Barral Institute, pilates, and functional pilates in such a dynamic setting. The clinic is set in a small, regional town in NSW and is one of the most profitable clinics anywhere in Australia. I have had the privilege to discuss the magic journey this genius has undertaken, Andrew has pushed the boundary of exceptions at every corner of his journey.

I had the absolute pleasure to chat with a dear colleague and educator, Jan Dommerholt. We explored his amazing origins as a physical therapist and how Dr Janet Travell changed his view of therapy. I love the history of bodywork and the relationships and influences we experience as therapists. Jan has non stop stories, including his friendships with the late Dr Janet Travell, Leon Chaitow, David Simmons, Dave Butler and more.We talk about trigger points vs pain science combat and his life as a clinician. What I love most about this amazing man is he still clinician and educator and he believes, as I do, the two are critical in being an educator. We both agree that there is a real deficit with those educators that have little or no clinical experience. Jan has so many points of view that resonate with me, none more than his generosity to share his wisdom. I love and embrace his philosophy of remaining an open book over our lives as therapists.His contribution to the trigger point world is pure gold and he hasn't stopped yet! This is a must-listen for any hands-on therapist.

Dr Lyndel Abbott joins me to chat about emotional boundaries therapists encounter and how to deal with moments of despair and anxiety.Lyndal discusses the art of validation that every therapist should be aware of and practice. As hands-on therapists, we encounter plenty of projection and are sometimes asked to give advice to our clients. The thing is, none of us are equipped or trained for these circumstances. Lyndal gives us some great advice on how to best deal with the situations and also discusses tips to keep yourself in check-in: how we as health professionals can deal with our mental challenges and fatigue.I worked with Lyndal at the London Olympics, where she was one of two sports psychologists appointed by the Australian Olympic Team. She works closely with NRL teams and is also the team psychologist for the Australian Olympic Team at the Rio Olympics. Lyndal also works as a clinical psychologist in private practice.

This first episode of Talking Tissue is an in-depth interview with my long time colleague, Tor Davies, the creator of Sportex publications and Co-Kinetic online platform.Tor originally studied Physiotherapy in the UK and then slowly started writing articles for medical publications and soon realised there was a market for a high-quality sports medicine/physiotherapy/soft tissue publication.We discuss her journey from print publication to a high-quality online platform with contributors from all modalities. I love to hear people's passion for what they do and why; Tor talks about her latest passion in the online marketing platform she developed for therapists. It truly is an amazing platform as most therapists are hopeless at social media and this one size fits all template takes the nightmare out of social media. I have been lucky enough to hear first-hand the feedback from therapists using it.Among other things, we discuss the current situation in UK Covid circumstances and a heap more!I love listening to people who are awesome at what they do - I hope you do too!