Instagram story viewer> @hillcrest_chiropractor> Posts

Dr Neil Cuninghame | Chronic Pain & Sports Injury

@hillcrest_chiropractor

1.9K

followers

839

following

Chiropractor & pain expert. Author of Unstuck, a workbook for persistent pain. Free email series below.
📍Hillcrest - Book online
Powered by @bare_ayr

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Hi, I’m Neil!

I’m a chiropractor, pain management practitioner, and lover of many things —
my family (two awesome boys, my incredible wife, and our mischievous pups),
helping people in pain, educating both patients and fellow practitioners,
and training for whatever sporting adventure comes next.

After completing my chiropractic studies and practicing for a few years, something felt missing. There was a deeper layer I knew I had to explore. That curiosity led me to pursue a degree in Pain Management at UCT — and that’s where I discovered the fascinating world of neuroscience and pain.

Understanding pain on a deeper level has transformed the way I work. It’s given me the tools to help my patients more effectively, filled my professional life with purpose, and sparked a constant drive to stay up to date with the best evidence-based research.

My background in elite sport means I’ve always craved that “runner’s high.”
But there was a time I was overweight, unfit, and in need of a goal.

That’s when the dream of finishing an IronMan was born.

After years of training — and plenty of sweat, sacrifice, and grit — I finally heard the words I’d been chasing: “Neil, you are an IronMan.”

But the journey didn’t stop there.

Along the way, I took on multiple IronMan 70.3s, raced the Trans Baviaans and Sani2C non-stop, and pushed myself beyond what I thought possible.

It’s been one incredible ride — and it’s only just getting started.

#hillcrestchiropractor #painmanagement #swimbikerun #mtblife #runnersofinstagram #hillcrest #chiropractor taken in Dr Neil Cuninghame by @hillcrest_chiropractor

48

15

a year ago

For seventeen years I’ve had a version of the same conversation in my consulting room with people whose pain has hung around long after the injury healed, and who’ve slowly stopped doing things they used to enjoy because they’re worried about making it worse.

Unstuck is the book I wish I could have handed every one of them. It explains why pain can linger, and then takes you step by step through graded exposure, an approach with good research behind it that helps the nervous system relearn, a little at a time, that the movements it’s been guarding are safe.

It’s out now on Kindle! The link is in my bio. You don’t need a Kindle device to read it, since the free Kindle app works on any phone, tablet or computer. If you’d like to start with something free, there are six short emails on why pain lingers, also at the link in my bio.

#painmanagement #hillcrestchiropractor #unstuck taken in Dr Neil Cuninghame by @hillcrest_chiropractor

11

4

16 days ago

A new series where I take one word that turns up on imaging reports and explain what it usually means. If there’s a word you’d like translated next, send it to me in a message. Please leave out anything personal, since I can only explain the word and not your own scan. If your pain is new, worsening or worrying you, please get it checked by a clinician. Chapter Two of Unstuck looks at scans in more detail, link in bio.
#UnstuckWorkbook #BackPain #PainScience #ScanResults Coral slide with the title "What does 'degeneration' on your scan usually mean?" taken in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal by @hillcrest_chiropractor

2

2

11 hours ago

Most of us have a version of this story, whether it’s a bruise we can’t explain or a cut we only noticed hours later. Pain is produced by the nervous system to protect you, and it tends to weigh up everything going on, from how safe you feel to what else needs your attention, before it decides how loud to be. Chapter Two of Unstuck tells this story properly, along with why a nervous system that has become sensitive can also settle. Unstuck is on Kindle now, link in bio. #UnstuckWorkbook #PainScience #ChronicPain #PersistentPain Coral slide with the title "Why you might not feel a thumbtack in your foot." taken in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal by @hillcrest_chiropractor

4

2

3 days ago

It usually starts with an imaging report, and words like degeneration can make it hard to move without picturing something fragile underneath. Many of the changes that turn up on scans are common in people with no pain at all, so on their own they don’t tend to explain why something hurts, and a back with changes on its scan can still be a strong back. Save this for the next time someone you know gets their results back. Chapter Two of Unstuck goes into this in more detail. The book is on Kindle now and reads on the free Kindle app on any phone, tablet or computer. Link in bio.
#UnstuckWorkbook #BackPain #PainScience #ChronicPain Coral slide with the title "What your scan may not be telling you." taken in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal by @hillcrest_chiropractor

4

2

4 days ago

From Chapter Seven of Unstuck. None of these take more than a minute. Their value lies in the repetition, so pick one to start with this week and see how it goes. Unstuck is on Kindle now and reads on the free Kindle app on any phone, tablet or computer. Link in bio.
#UnstuckWorkbook #ChronicPain #BackPain #HealthyHabits Coral slide with the title "Four small habits for a steadier week." taken in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal by @hillcrest_chiropractor

14

0

6 days ago

A line from Chapter Two of Unstuck. When pain has hung around for a long time it can start to feel permanent, but the nervous system keeps learning throughout life, so the sensitivity that built up after an injury can settle with time and the right kind of practice. Unstuck is on Kindle now, link in bio.

#UnstuckWorkbook #ChronicPain #PersistentPain #PainScience Cream quote card with a coral quotation mark, reading "A nervous system that has become sensitised can also become desensitised over time." From Unstuck, Chapter Two, by Dr Neil Cuninghame. taken in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal by @hillcrest_chiropractor

5

0

9 days ago

From Chapter Eight of Unstuck. On a sore day it’s easy to feel you’re back at square one, these four changes can show how far you’ve come even when the pain is still around some of the time. Which one have you noticed in yourself lately? Unstuck is on Kindle now, link in bio.

#UnstuckWorkbook #ChronicPain #PersistentPain #PainRecovery Coral slide with the title "How do you know you're getting better?" taken in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal by @hillcrest_chiropractor

5

0

7 days ago

A line from Chapter Two of Unstuck…
 If someone you know has been told their pain “shouldn’t still be there”, this one may help, so feel free to send it on.

Pain tends to weigh up far more than what’s happening in the tissues, from how safe you feel to how much is going on in your life, and that’s part of why it can linger after an injury has healed.

Unstuck is on Kindle now, link is in my bio.

#unstuck #painmanagment #hillcrest taken in Dr Neil Cuninghame by @hillcrest_chiropractor

4

0

14 days ago

One of the most common things I hear in my consulting room is “but it should have healed by now”, and in many cases it has. Pain can do a very good job of protecting you after an injury, and sometimes the nervous system carries on sounding the alarm after the tissues have settled. That pain is real, and it can also settle. Unstuck explains the difference between pain that’s helping and pain that’s overstayed, and what can help it ease off. It’s on Kindle now, and reads on the free Kindle app on any phone, tablet or computer. If you’d like to start with something free, there are six short emails on why pain lingers at the link in my bio.

#unstuck #pain #chiropractor by @hillcrest_chiropractor

8

0

11 days ago

You’re mine tonight 🤤 taken in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal by @hillcrest_chiropractor

9

2

16 days ago

Sherrington named these nerve endings in the early 1900s and what he called them was harm detectors.

The name was carefully considered. A detector’s job is to fire when something looks worth flagging, and detectors everywhere else in life go off at things that turn out to be nothing, which is not a fault in the detector so much as how detection works.

So a nociceptor firing tells us the system has flagged something. It does not tell us if the tissue is damaged, and pain does not follow every time one fires either, which is a small distinction that can tell us a lot when someone has been sore for a year with imaging that looks fine.

#painmanagement #hillcrestchiropractor #chiropractor taken in Dr Neil Cuninghame by @hillcrest_chiropractor

7

0

a month ago