Dominic came to me in January with chronic knee pain following several rugby related injuries. His goal was to be able to run again without pain. This is his experience of Muscle Activation Techniques for injury rehab.
“After 3 years of chronic knee pain I was desperate for answers as to why I had barely improved despite hours in the gym doing endless rehab programmes. It’s important you know the background because you’ll understand how desperate I was to find a solution for my knee pain and why I’m so annoyed I didn’t find Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT) sooner.
After just returning from a ruptured cruicate ligament in my left knee I injured my right knee. After a few months, I would still wake up in the middle of the night with a chronic ache, going up and down stairs or just sitting for prolonged periods would cause pain, and when I tried to push through it and run I’d break down and be in agony for over a week.
Fast forward 3 years and I had literally seen everyone from surgeons, chiropractors, physios, ART specialists, osteopaths, sports massage therapists, and read hundreds of websites/articles on knee pain. Everyone I had gone to see seemed absolutely sure of what was causing my knee pain (patella tendinopathy) most without even examining/assessing me, two practitioners even missed that I’d actually fractured my knee cap. After surgery, I’d had autologous blood injections and foam-rollered and stretched myself to within an inch of my life. Still though everyone was trying to treat my symptoms but not the root cause of the problem and invariably I’d go back to feeling exactly the same if I didn’t do my 2hour rehab everyday.
After extensive research I found MAT and more specifically found Paul Argent. Before even meeting Paul I’d watched every MAT-based video, read every blog and website I could find and how it might help me – unlike anything else I’d come across it made total sense. I’d spent thousands of pounds on trying to get back to running or just being pain-free, let alone back to semi-pro Rugby, so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned that MAT would be the same as the rest and I’d find myself in the same position in a year.
I started seeing Paul in late January 2015 and yesterday I went for my 4th 2-mile run without any pain during or after. Now I don’t have pain and instability 24/7 and I don’t break down after running for 10 seconds. I hardly notice it now and though I’m only 75% back to where I was, I know with more help from Paul and more rehab – I will be. Through Paul’s expertise and diligent approach I’ve seen first hand how and why MAT works. He judges the problems he sees and fixes them – there’s no “protocol”, no stock answer, your listened to and you progress every session. MAT isn’t a magic wand, you do need to make the effort on your rehab but every session I could see changes and improvements.
When I think back about all my previous rugby injuries – the torn ankle ligaments, plantar faciitis, ruptured ACL, torn MCL, torn calf, etc all before the fractured knee cap it’s obvious that they were massive issues that were contributing to my pain. Sounds obvious but it isn’t and that’s why you need Paul. I couldn’t recommend him enough, as far as I’m concerned MAT will be the future of injury treatment (and prevention). See him before you see anyone else, chances are it’ll save you a serious amount of time and money. I wish I had.”
Dominic McVeigh, Group Marketing Manager Soho Gyms.