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In the year 2000, following a series of high profile success stories and a local campaign in Glasgow to make Dynamic Release ™ freely available through the NHS, the then MSP Dorothy-Grace Elder invited me to become a founding member of the pioneering Cross-Party Group on Chronic Pain at the Scottish Parliament. Since then I have campaigned both within and outside the Group, talking to colleagues, politicians and the press, arguing the case for the NHS' adoption of evidence-based alternatives to mainstream pain management. |
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All over the world people are needlessly suffering from many kinds of pain. It is estimated that at least 1 in 5 people suffer from chronic pain - that means around 1 million people in Scotland, 12 million in Britain and 15 million people in Europe. Yet, despite a number of reports and recommendations published throughout a period of many years, very little has been done that has directly and positively affected people in pain. |
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The NHS and other mainstream organisations use, in the main, only a handful of tools to manage pain. While discussions regarding the effectiveness of alternative treatments (or the lack of) are on-going, people in pain, their families and society in general are suffering right now . |
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Some people are able to pay for more effective alternative interventions of their choice but others are not. This is unjust because pain management is a human right and should be available to all. So is the freedom to choose non-pharmacological (drug-free) treatments. |
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Many people feel disempowered regarding their sense of control over their conditions. Many feel hopeless. |
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I am working towards the creation of a charity to enable free access to effective, drug-free pain management and treatment for all and welcome any form of support. |
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Founder of Intlife
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Developer of Dynamic Release™
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2012 winner of the OCC Award for Community Relations
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2012 winner of the SMTO Carter Memorial Salver for Services to Massage Therapy
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2016 Provost's Award for Community Service
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Cross-party Group on Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Conditions (Scottish Parliament)
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Friend of Kings Fund
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I had hurt one of my shoulders while on holidays a long time ago and despite various visits to my GP through a period of three years, my condition didn’t improve and was getting worse with time. Someone told me about an alternative medicine clinic in Glasgow and I decided to try them. On the first session I was told that my shoulder was ‘out’ after a simple visual inspection and weeks later after a few treatments, my shoulder was finally completely free of pain.
This was the beginning of a long-term relationship with my therapists who eventually became my teachers at the clinic’s college.
Although I had already used Reichian techniques during the early 70s at a multi-media artistic company I had co-founded in Brazil and had contact with shamanic practices while living in Africa, my formal health training started in 1990 when I started studying Therapeutic Massage at the College for Holistic Medicine in Glasgow. As soon as I finished my training, I was invited to work as a therapist at the college’s clinic. At the clinic, apart from having my own case loads, I also expanded my knowledge of a number of other disciplines by shadowing Dr Jane Rieck in an apprenticeship style for four years.
Jane was undoubtedly my most influential teacher not only on the theory and practice of different subjects but especially on the truly holistic way of approaching health management.
A marriage of this holistic training and the academic background that I had gained studying previously at Glasgow University led me to want to understand the mechanisms behind alternative therapies, especially bodywork. I started to investigate a wide variety of fields ranging from holistic anatomy, neurobiology, proprioception, quantum physics, body language, phytotherapy, physiology, integrative medicine, functional medicine, behavioural medicine, various forms of counselling, emotional health, nutrition and much more in a process which has not stopped. You will find a list of recommended books at the end of this page. Body/mind relationships
In relation to health management, I am primarily qualified in bodywork, practicing therapeutic massage and bodypsychotherapy. In refining and developing different aspects of those disciplines, I have extended my knowledge and experience beyond their traditional boundaries to achieve outstanding effectiveness in the fields of pain management and aspects of mental health. Dynamic Release ™ was the result of that.
I am dedicated to finding long-term solutions for people who suffer from chronic pain and have campaigned for equal access to drug-free treatments for all pain sufferers under the banner ‘Pain Management is a Human Right’ since 2006.
Every pain management and treatment tool has its place. It is often necessary to employ more than one tool in order to maximize effectiveness of pain relief and repair the original causes of pain. There is a vast array of interventions that can be used to tackle the multiplicity of levels associated with pain. Tools can vary and often need to be applied at the same time. They include bodywork, manipulation, talking therapies, water ioniser/alkalizers, plant-derived anti-inflammatory supplements and many more.
This is because pain can have many causes of ranging from physical injury and skeletal misalignment, to environment, lifestyle and dietary factors, to drug side-effects, posture, chronic inflammation and so on.
It is a mistake and unethical to narrow pain management or treatment choices as a result of vested interest or for monetary reasons.
Interventions need to start with treatments with the least possibility of causing harm.
Arguably, drugs have their place where nothing else helps – such as in cancer pain – or for temporary symptomatic relief but, for most types of pain, there are safer, natural alternatives.
People always come first - mechanisms, protocols, paperwork are secondary
When I first started studying health, there wasn’t such a thing as an integrative course – a course that included all the different aspects of health management using the evidence-based model that I was looking for. In order to learn what I needed to learn and answer my own questions, I had to complement my initial training by attending individual courses and workshops delivered by renowned experts in their fields, studying their books and talking to open-minded medical professionals some of which have become good friends.
I also regularly study and assess the latest scientific, medical and nutritional reviews, research and articles about all health-related subjects and specially pain. This is important as there often are breakthroughs in fields other than medical (such as physics) that can explain the effects of alternative health therapies which have not yet filtered through the mainstream.
Use of hypericum as antidepressant - Understandable conflict: British Medical Journal 27 April 2000
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Synaesthesia - The Correspondences Between Sound and Light - Colour-music (Skb Prometei): University of Glasgow 1984 and eBook Scribd
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12 million in Britain and
15 million people in Europe suffer from chronic pain.
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