About

Derek is a Certified Physio-Kinesiologist expert under Joe Hippensteel, founder and CEO of UHP (Ultimate Human Performance:- https://www.ultimatehumanperformance.com/instructors).

Joe Hippensteel, Derek and Mimi Ney

Background

In 2002 at the age of 34 I started martial arts, and have continued to this present day. My day job involved mostly sitting at a desk for up to 40 hours per week. As with many active pastimes injuries tend to accumulate. In my case, I had picked up persistent issues starting with my lower back, then knee, then neck, then shoulder, then elbow, then neck, then hip, then fingers...

Over the years enthusiasm and adrenalin would usually mask the aches and pain whilst training, but off the mats it was getting harder and harder to ignore. My body was persistently communicating with progressively more pain, to the point where I realized that basic day to day activities such as walking, sleeping and self hygiene had been compromised. I would experience hip and knee pain walking stairs or squatting down. I would wake up multiple times during the night due to backache. Brushing teeth and face washing would trigger pain in my elbow. Getting out of bed after a supposedly restful night of sleep was like extracting myself from a car crash.

Throughout this period I twas continually looking for treatments, therapies or devices to relieve, or fix the mounting issues. Some modalities helped while other did not, moreover none of them provided permanent relief or any conclusive results. I regularily visited physiotherapists, chiropractors,. yoga, dry needling, remedial massages as some relief was better than none at all.

My own prognosis then was to stop training or consider surgical interventions if I was to continue.

In 2023 at the age of 56, I came across an interview with a highly respected figure in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community (link to eddie) that talked about how his back pain was fixed after one of his students persistently recommended the Joe Hippensteel method. On the face of it the Joe Hippensteel method didn't sound too far removed from activities I was already doing such as yoga. However after listening to the interview I decided to try it out, as I really had nothing to lose. For 2 days I followed the UHP (Ultimate Human Performance) method, after which, I was quite honestly taken aback by the results - my back ache had subsided which immediately improved my sleep. I continued with the method and got effective relief from most of the musculoskeletal aches and pains that had plagued me for many years.

These results inspired me to o seek out Joe Hippensteel and become certified in the UHP (Ultimate Human Performance) method, so that I can help others experience the complete relief from pain and injury that I had felt.