Dave O’Sullivan is a chartered physiotherapist and the Founder of the ProSport Academy. He worked as a sports physio with the England Rugby Union in the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan and with the England Rugby League in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup in Australia. Dave also has a private practice in Huddersfield. This leading clinic has more than 10 staff and helps people who have not found success with traditional approaches.
Dave teaches the step-by-step pro sport approach that he uses with his own sporting and non-sporting patients in private practice to therapists all over the world. His mission is to empower people to restore control throughout their body and minds so they can truly live. His vision is to support and guide more than 1,500 therapists in over 50 countries to help millions of people in pain by having the confidence and clarity to help people who have been failed by traditional approaches. This all starts with understanding the “why” behind everything you’re doing and having a structured step-by-step system in place that gives repeatable outcomes and takes the emotion out of the decision-making for therapists in private practice and pro sport.
O’Sullivan gives his unique perspective on knee and lower limb injury reduction. He discusses the basic muscle firing patterns that set up the baseline for performance in any bridging activity. Dave gets into the importance of the soleus muscle as a lower-body linchpin and how to optimally coordinate this muscle, along with the hamstrings, in a spectrum of bridging exercises with specific cues for the feet. He shares how he utilizes jump training methods and drivers, along with foot cueing, to help athletes achieve a seamless and confident return to play.
In this podcast, David O’Sullivan and Joel also discuss:
- Systems that have influenced Dave the most in his career and how he has synthesized them into his current system.
- Dave’s thoughts on the spectrum between basic rehab and high-performance return to play methods in the actions of the foot.
- Mid-foot supine bridging drills as a regression for athletes who cannot tolerate proper load standing on the hamstring and soleus muscles.
- How to know when to move athletes past supine bridges and slouches, pushing through the midfoot and into more advanced work.
- Using “drivers” to help athletes with various jump landings in a return to play situation.
- When you actually want to have athletes push through the big toe versus when to leave it alone.
