Claire, Bruce and Steve joined forces in 2003 to combine their different areas of expertise to make ‘Optimal Dry Needling Solutions’ a significant educator in the field of Dry Needling. Since 2013 they have been joined by Gahl Sela and Jackie Doidge as the international work blossomed.
Bruce holds a Bachelor of Arts degree as well as a B.Sc. Physio degree and an M.Sc focusing on dry needling therapy of the shoulder, from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
Bruce previously worked in the U.K. for the N.H.S, and now works in the private sector, running two practices within Gauteng’s West Rand area. He sees mainly patients with musculoskeletal problems, many of whom are in the Gold Mining Industry. Bruce has been teaching Dry Needling courses for ODNS since 2002. He was the Chairman of the Dry Needling Physiotherapy Special Interest Group in South Africa, and is passionate about using evidence informed, clinically relevant, bio-psycho-social therapies to help people in pain.
For the past 15 years Claire has been involved in teaching Dry Needling and promoting awareness of the myofascia as a potential source of pain.
She has run courses extensively within Southern Africa, the Middle East and more recently the United Kingdom.
Claire’s clinical experience began in large rural hospitals in Africa covering all fields within Physiotherapy. Claire later moved into private practice, working mainly within the musculoskeletal field.
Currently Claire runs an integrative practice on the Cape West coast combining her interests of Dry Needling, Acupuncture and Craniosacral therapy.
Steven operates a multi-disciplinary Integrated Health Centre in Sandton, Johannesburg, with the focus on “healing through natural treatments and rehabilitation”. (Visit his website www.regenerativehealth.co.za.)
As a Doctor of Chinese Medicine and physiotherapist, the centre offers a unique integration of both Western Medical treatments and natural health intervention.
Steven has been lecturing Dry Needling since 2001 and has also developed a comprehensive two day course on the Temporomandibular Joint. Both Biopuncture and Prolotherapy are two pecialised treatments that he offers to his patients.
Steven has lectured to over 6000 post-graduate medical professionals worldwide.
Trained in Canada, Jackie has worked as a physical therapist for 36 years specializing in orthopaedics, chronic pain, and manual therapies.
She lived in South Africa from 1983 to 1993, and began studying dry needling and acupuncture with Claire Waumsley in 1985. She furthered her dry needling studies under Dr Peter Baldry when he came to Cape Town, and used her needling skills in clinics there. Jackie spent 5 years as a lecturer with the University of Cape Town teaching manual techniques, including trigger point therapy, to physiotherapy undergraduates.
For the past 20 years, she has lived in Tucson, Arizona, and has helped to bring dry needling to a large hospital system there. She studied IMS technique with Dr Chan Gunn, and began bringing our lecturers to teach the ODNS courses in the US in 2013. She has been assistant lecturer on courses in Arizona, Ohio, and Alaska, and is now presenting courses as a lecturer with ODNS throughout the US and recently with Claire in Oman.
ODNS now partners with IAOM-US to present their courses in North America, and Jackie has taken the lead in bringing this excellent education in dry needling to practitioners in the US and Canada.
Gahl Sela holds a Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy as well as an MPhys (Manipulative). The subject of his research was palpation skills. Gahl has worked in the USA in private practice, and has worked in Israel since 1998 in both Private Practice and the Public sector. He sat on the Board of Directors of the Israel Physiotherapy Society (IPTS) for 4 years. He has taught in the Physiotherapy department of University of Haifa since 2003. He has been involved with facilitating & assisting with the ODNS courses sponsored by the IPTS in Israel since 2009. He has been teaching with ODNS since 2011.
Mays holds a B.Sc. Physio degree and runs her Fizik Clinik in Palestine. She has experience in both academia and the clinical sector having worked at Alquds University, as a teaching and research assistant, and other local colleges for four years. She also worked in the clinical practice sector in the orthopaedic manual therapy, before starting her own private practice in 2017. Her practice, Fizik Clinik, specialises in treating Musculoskeletal cases, and serves as a training centre. Her training helps to develop Palestinian physiotherapists in manual therapy through post graduate courses and conferences in cooperation with national and international partner organisations. The scope of Mays clinical practice extends to treating Craniomandibular and Pelvic Floor pain and Dysfunctions by combining her interests of Dry Needling. Fuelled by her interests in dry needling, she has helped to bring the art to the Middle East (Palestine and Jordan) by facilitating & assisting with the ODNS courses since 2011.
Ahmed hold sa bachelor’s degree in Physical Therapy, and has over 11 years of clinical experience in the field of Musculoskeletal and Sports rehabilitation.
He is a senior Physical Therapist at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center in Saudia Arabia and also consults at MskCare Clinic as well as being an international lecturer in trigger points dry needling therapy for ODNS.
Ahmed is also involved in developing guidelines and protocols and counselling for startups in these fields.