"I spent £3000 or so on therapists that were not great or just happy to take the fee when they should have referred me on. So I write my background in case you have similar one and therefore help you not make the same financial mistake and prolong pains you’re suffering.
The more I practised yoga asana, the more I realised how much damage I caused myself after years of crashing on tarmac and jumps -skateboarding, snowboarding and riding motorbikes ... all pretty badly.
Ignoring such injuries over 20-years, I managed to compound them with poor ergonomics at work causing RSI and then periods of intense weight training. Lost feeling in fingers, arching shoulder, limping, losing days in bed on pain killers... it felt like the injuries become one large knot of muscle.
Yoga asana, and to much greater extent, the Ashtanga Vinyasa practise, has helped me understand the order in which to unravel these injuries and brought me in to contact with a few therapists that know what a practitioner is talking about... and can then interpret the real issue and not just treat the symptom.
Not only is Rafa such a therapist, he is in a bracket of even fewer who will almost habitually find the other issues you forgot to highlight that has been nagging you since the last treatment.
Having been lucky enough to have four treatments in a row, Rafa has completed the recovery of a set of shoulder injuries that started in 1998, and a mild limp from a motorcycle accident in 2005 - injuries I thought I had to put up with for life... Rafa has given me a second chance to fully rehab and re align the muscle memory. The asana practise proves it works.
The relationship with Rafa extends beyond the session - he often goes well beyond his schedule if he feels my body needs it, and will always follow up to track progress and provide advice- a trait that shows just how much he cares.
It’s amazing to think I only met him in 2017, have had only five or six sessions in the year, yet he has made such a difference to my life."