I am known as Frank. I am a Full time General Practitioner at Snaefell Surgery on the Isle of Man. I started General Practice in 1990 whilst still in the Royal Air Force. It was about that time that I developed an interest in Sports and Complimentary medicine. I trained with the British Medial Acupuncture Society in 1991 and started treating patients with Acupuncture that year. I also trained in Orthopaedic Medicine in 1992; this branch of medicine involves manipulation, injection techniques and physiotherapy techniques for the treatment of soft tissue injuries and non-arthritic causes of joint pain. This complements well with acupuncture and hence for many years I treated sportsmen in the RAF. I set up sports clinics in the Air Force at several Stations. I now run a private Sports and Acupuncture clinic on the island.
In the late 1990’s I also completed training as a Homeopathic GP and have completed 4 years training in this. I also have an interest in and passing knowledge of Aromatherapy and Phytotherapy (herbal medicine). Though I do not offer a private service for this.
I am also a fully qualified clinical Hypnotherapist having passed the MDCH (Medical Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy). Even though I do not have the time to use this skill it has given me a greater depth of understanding of psychological treatments which is useful in General Practice and in dealing with sportsmen. In sports you can improve your performance with visualisation etc, of course golf was the first sport to recognise the importance of this.
In my Sports Medicine role I have also become Qualified in Musculoskeletal Ultrasound. This enables me to provide a more in depth assessment of Athletes which in turn leads to a clearer Diagnosis
As well as general sports I am qualified in treating Divers in Hyperbaric Chambers as well as advising on the treatment of patients in a Hyperbaric chamber for medical (non-diving) conditions.
I am currently the Medical Officer for the IOM Institute of Sport, Isle of Man Commonwealth Games Team, and the Isle of Man Island Games team for whom I provide screening, medical advice and treatment to Sports men/women involved. I was the Chief Medical Officer for the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games which was held on the island in the Autumn of 2011. Since 2015 I have been the Honorary Medical Advisor to the International Island Games Association.
In 2019 I restarted performing CAA medicals after a bit of a break. Obviously during my whole RAF Career I was perfoming Pilot Medicals in a full aviation environment. During my career I worked at RAF Lyneham which was the air force transport hub, I also worked at RAF Coningsby which was where the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight was based along with two Tornado Squadrons. Clearly I performed "quite" a lot of pilot medials during my career so I am very happy to be back where I started performing medicals for pilots only this time on behalf of the CAA.