Today on the podcast:
Nicknamed “the Sherlock Holmes of body pain diagnosis” and “The A-Lister’s Osteopath” – James Davies is a world-renowned osteopath, performance coach and recovery specialist.
He has worked throughout the UK, USA, Europe and Jamaica with professional athletes ranging from Olympic champions, premiership footballers, NFL and rugby union players, as well as A-List clients from Music, Film and TV.
Clients include David Beckham, Joe Wicks, Kylie Minogue, Sir Lenny Henry, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge amongst others.
James developed the ethos of relieve, restore, and perform based on his own personal experience as a young athlete.
He aims to help everyone understand how their bodies work, causes of their pain, how to spot the warning signs the body gives us when our systems have been compromised, and learn strategies to reduce pain, improve flexibility, overcome weakness and to recover from injury.
His new book Body – simple techniques and strategies to heal, reset and restore is available now.
Episode Outline
- 07:22 James’s background as an athlete and why he decided to become an osteopath
- 09:52 What is an osteopath?
- 13:17 The origins of pain
- 15:48 Why pain doesn’t necessarily come with age automatically
- 17:38 The link between stress and anxiety, and injury and rehabilitation
- 19:00 Prevention or cure for injuries
- 20:27 Cold and heat for recovery
- 23:34 The power of meditation for recovery
- 25:42 The importance of listening to our body
- 26:45 How to avoid gym-based injuries
- 30:19 Avoiding successive injuries
- 33:12 When to work with a therapist
- 35:42 The difference between “pain” and “discomfort”
- 37:51 Static vs dynamic stretching
- 38:35 Defining “body freedom”
- 39:56 What to know about taking care of your body as you age
- 43:17 His favorite stories from working with some of the world’s top athletes
- 45:03 Exciting developments in sports injury prevention and rehabilitation
- 47:47 Above the Monthly Overhaul Treatment (MOT)
Key Points
- Pain isn’t always a negative thing. In fact, its function is to preserve us. Pain gives us clues to stay away from danger and, without pain, we will very quickly place ourselves in harm’s way constantly. Pain is a complex thing and involves not just physical pain but emotional pain as well.
- With age does not necessarily come aches and pains as long as you are being proactive with your fitness and recovery. It’s very important to listen to your body and nip stress in the bud when that stress begins to affect your body negatively. Adhere to smart training methods to ensure your body does not break down.
- Strive to achieve “body freedom”, which is basically a feeling of lightness in your body. You feel like you’re performing at your best, that everything is running optimally. The amount of body freedom you have is directly tied to how much you know your body at an intimate level, including its limits and when the best time is to push beyond them and when you should slow down and recover.
Powerful Quotes by James
- Therapy is an art, and I’m an artist.
- When we have an injury, we need a big reset to reassess our recovery that we do every single day. Stress is good, but it can be bad if there is too much.
- If we are doing too much for our bodies, our bodies are going to shut down slowly. We always need to be checking for these clues.
- Most people don’t know the pain between “pain” and “discomfort”.
Guest Info
James Davies