Coaching – art vs. science

Coaching – art vs. science

Over the time that I’ve been involved in combat sports, I’ve seen a growing interest in applying science to improve performance. Once upon a time, techniques and training methods were passed down as received wisdom: you do it this way, because this is the way that my...
Book Review: Why We Sleep

Book Review: Why We Sleep

One of my New Year’s Resolutions this year is to spend less time on social media and read more books. I thought I’d start with an easy win, by finishing the last chapter of “why we sleep”. This is a good book for anyone interested in sleep and recovery, and how to...
Treat the Player, Not the Scan

Treat the Player, Not the Scan

I often see people in clinic who are worried about what’s come up on an MRI scan. That’s understandable enough – there’s often some pretty scary sounding language, and it’s easy to come away convinced that you’re broken and need...
Thoughts on Polaris 11

Thoughts on Polaris 11

I caught up with Polaris 11 at the weekend. As well as watching several old friends and training partners competing, I really enjoyed seeing the brilliant Ffion Davies defending her title. Ffion is one of the most successful grapplers – male or female –...

Top tips for staying injury free

One of the most common things I’m asked about is whether there’s a good way to prevent training injuries in combat sports. While we can never expect to prevent 100% of injuries – sometimes freak accidents just happen – there are a number of...

Back injuries and BJJ

Back pain is a common problem in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. As an osteopath treating combat sports injuries, this is one of the most common complaints that I see. It can range from more serious conditions that can be very painful – such as disc herniations, for...