Hi, I’m Anthony. I am a Coru Registered Physiotherapist, Personal Trainer, Anatomy in Motion Instructor, Cranial Sacral Therapy student and Curious Human.
I got into the field of bodywork to find answers for my own physical challenges.
I loved being active and playing sports (LOTS of it), however, I had issues with my knees. It reached the point where by the age of 12, I was unable to kneel down! Eventually my knees were so bad that I had to stop playing sports and despite the reduction in my activity, I still ended up having 3 surgeries to my knee (by the age of 25) of which one was an ACL reconstruction. As the frustration built up, I decided that I needed to do something differently! That came in the form of upskilling myself! Things began to improve! I even found a new activity that didn’t involve my knees!! HANDSTANDS!!
After many years of study and research I came across Gary Ward and Anatomy in Motion (AiM). I attended my first AiM course in 2015.
2015, day one of my first AiM course, I knew I’d found the answers I was searching for; the answer was me, my body… I remember the moment so clearly; Chris Sritharan was taking us through one of his “check in’s”, (a self assessment of our own anatomy). I realised right then that I had been trying to force my body to change for over a decade and had never really paid attention to what was actually happening!
This self assessment process helped me to feel and experience anatomical movement on a completely different level. It was gentle, no forcing it, no trying to control it, just paying attention to see what is ‘actually happening’. It ignited a level of self awareness I didn’t now I had. It helped me reconnect with my body.
Along with the Flow Motion Model, I had a map and a way to interact with my body to begin solving my problems. And that’s exactly what I did!
The process of having to go through these challenges with my own body helped me realised that there is no such thing as a quick fix, it is most definitely a process.
If we really want change, I believe we need to consciously choose to pay attention to ourselves, to develop a level of awareness, have an interest in our problems and learn to control and work with our bodies.
This way of working ‘with my body’ inspired me to engage in a process of Mastery; really getting to know me, which has carried over into every aspect of my life.
“FOOTBALL, BLOODY HELL”
I didn’t always move and feel the way I do now.
Until I was about 30 I had a body that felt like it was bound in chains.
I grew up playing football (soccer) on the streets of Dublin. My love of football started at a very young age, I was obsessed with Ryan Giggs. I was a sprinter and a left winger just like Giggs and had dreams of playing for Manchester United.
At the age of 12, I had ‘osgood schlatters’ on my left knee. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a bony bump on the shinbone just below the knee. Mine was the size of a golf ball and brought with it the start of my knee problems. (I still have the lump, but it’s a lot smaller now, doesn’t cause me pain and is more of a party piece nowadays.)
Back then however, my knee would swell up for no reason and I would be out of action for weeks at a time. I spent many evenings in the physio office of our local football team Bohemians FC (Bohs) with a mix of knee problems, and repeated hamstring tears; always on my left side.
I remember thinking “why me?”
It was so sore that I couldn’t kneel down, in fact, I avoided kneeling all together and used to kneel only on my right knee and hold my left knee hovering off the ground.
As the years progressed I was stuck in a repeated cycle: Left knee swells > out of action > crutches > back to football (even though I was in pain) > sprain my ankle > out of action > crutches…
Frustrated, and desperate I’d go back to football training and tear a hamstring. Find myself back on the crutches.
On and on, an endless and painful cycle.
Always on my left side.
I was known for my left foot, my speed, a dribbler, and at the age of 14 could somehow kick a football 70 mph (we actually had it tested).
SURGERY AND DISAPPOINTMENT
But my dreams of professional football were not to be. I had my first knee operation at 17 and from there things started to get even worse. Instead of “Well done great game”, it was “ah it’s your knee, again.”
I spent more time on the bench than on the field.
It was frustrating. I couldn’t bear to sit on the sidelines watching my friends play. I felt alone. I didn’t want to watch people doing the thing I loved, but couldn’t do.
Eventually, I gave up football in my early 20’s due to injuries.
At the time, spending my life in and out of hospital and physio offices just didn’t feel worth it.
Looking back now, I can see that choice cost me a piece of my identity.
A DIFFERENT WORLD VIEW
My teenage identity was all about football and without it I was kind of lost.
Straight from school I qualified as an electrician. Then headed off to Australia to experience the university of life.
On Christmas Day 2007, I met my (now wife) Noeleen.
The other side of the world, on Coogee beach in Sydney. I met a beautiful Irish gal.
Noleen is deaf and a native Irish sign language user. She became one of my biggest inspirations, not because she was deaf but because she had this incredible drive; determined to do what she wanted, when she wanted. I love that about her.
I began to learn Irish sign language; a visual language. I learnt to listen all over again, this time with my eyes.
I loved it.
Back home in Ireland, I completed my first degree in Trinity College as an interpreter. The training was intense. It heavily focused on simultaneous interpretation which meant our brains were primed to hear what a person is really saying, find the meaning and then translate this into sign language. These listening skills made it so easy for me to understand a persons story.
It made me realise, I’d never really listened to what my body was saying.
BACK TO THE BODY
I was inspired to return to my passion. I wanted to feel free in my body.
But it wasn’t plain sailing. I ended up having an ACL operation on my left knee and then later an arthroscopy on my right knee.
That operation was the last straw for me. I couldn’t take it anymore. I wanted answers and was I sick of going round in circles.
In search of the truth I became a personal trainer.
I have this stand-out memory where as part of my training I was in a room with a concrete floor and part of the movement involved kneeling down.
I didn’t do it. I found a work around.
But I felt like such a fraud: A personal trainer is supposed to be teaching exercise and movement yet I was afraid to kneel down and tried to hide it from everyone else in the room.
It dawned on me that it had been 14 years since my left knee had properly touched the ground. (Weird how we can so easily forget these things.)
I’d tried many therapies but I never really got the change I wanted.
Now though I was determined to find the truth so I became a human guinea pig. I was desperate. You name it I tried it: I slept on the floor for a month to see if it would help with my back pain.
I tied bands around my hips and squashed my muscles with barbells in the hope they would soften so I could move easier.
At one stage I even tried shouting at my knees.
When you’re desperate you’ll try anything.
ANOTHER WAY
Eventually, I realised I was going round in circles.
I felt like I had tried everything.
One day, I asked myself: “What have I overlooked?”
When you’ve tried everything, the only thing you haven’t done, is nothing.
So, I stopped everything. I even stopped going to the gym.
I started to listen to my body. It might sound simple but I learnt to stand and just do nothing, no control, no tensing of muscles, just stand, letting gravity take the weight of my body.
I began to feel heaviness in my bones and a softening in my musculature.
This felt different. Intrigued, I dug deeper.
I learnt to breathe with my diaphragm, the way we are designed to breath.
The muscles of my back relaxed and gave me some space.
I changed how I perceived my body. I stopped blaming ‘it’. My body is me, I am my body. I stopped blaming it and treating my body like it was a separate entity. I took ownership.
I started to study the nervous system and the neuroscience of pain, the more I understood and the more I asked my body for help the more I got back in return.
For the first time in about a year of trying I could hold myself in a handstand against the wall and not feel like someone was sticking a knife in my back.
The handstand to me was a representation of freedom in my body, full ownership, me taking back control. It felt empowering doing something I used to think was impossible for the average person. I wanted to master it.
I wanted more, I knew I needed to help myself first, before I could help others so I signed up to do my second degree in Physical Therapy.
FROM SITTING IN THE STANDS TO HANDSTANDS
From May 2015 to May 2016 I completed 365 handstands all over the country (and some abroad).
One handstand a day in a different location for 365 days.
This photo is of day 27/365 and became one of the most known handstands.
As a result of this photo I was interviewed by ‘Lovin Dublin’ multiple times.
Such a great marker and a wonderful memory for me of just how far I have come.
IGNORED – THE HUMAN FOOT – THE FORGOTTEN BODY PART
In 2015, Gary Ward was the first person who ever explained to me how the human foot moves.
In particular, he explained how the 26 bones of the foot have a requirement to move and how these bones interact with the shin bones and how much of an influence this has on the knee, then the hip, pelvis, spine, skull etc. The whole body is connected.
It might seem obvious, but I distinctly remember smiling from ear to ear.
Cranial Sacral Therapy
I attended my first cranial course in 2016 with Jordan Shane Terry and I loved it. I have since continued my studies with the Upledger Institute in the UK.
For someone who fractured his jaw age 14 and had a few concussions, heavy knocks and car crash paying attention to the skull made total sense. Plus it fit the idea of looking at the whole body from head to toe, after all, it is all connected.
It also hit home the importance of someones history. When I was complaining about my knees, all I heard was glutes and hamstrings, no one asked about my other history. Little did I know how impactful my jaw would have on my overall posture.
A UNIQUE JOURNEY
My whole journey; from the Osgood Schlatters, through being an electrician, learning sign language, personal training, Anatomy in Motion, Cranial Sacral Therapy, my degree in physical therapy, this journey has given me a huge advantage when working with other people.
My ability to read body language is so enhanced that it literally takes me seconds to see someone is carrying more weight in one leg than the other and I can’t help wonder why.
But my advanced understanding of anatomy and my unique style of treatment means that people often leave my practice feeling freer, lighter, taller and more empowered knowing their body is also capable of amazing change.
MY PRACTICE
These days you’ll find me working with people who want to try a different approach, whether online with people around the world or in person in Dublin.
OR
You’ll find me outdoors, travelling, climbing, reading, doing d.i.y, handstanding and having a laugh with friends and family.