Michael Dunne

I am 45 years old and a retired member (Sergeant) of the Irish Army having completed 21 years’ full service. During this time I had the honour of serving as a representative of the Irish Army with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force both at home and overseas on 5 occasions including to Chad, Kosovo and Lebanon. During my latter years in the Defence Forces, they afforded me the opportunity to undertake studies in Sports Massage and Injury treatment.

I have been working in the Physical Therapy profession having completed a Level 3 Sports Massage ITEC Course through the Institute of Massage and Sports Therapy in Limerick in 2016/2017. From there I continued my studies to do Level 4 and 5 ITEC in Sports Massage Therapy.

I am also fully qualified and insured to treat clients using the Dry Needling Technique having completed an additional extensive course, more recently in February 2023.

By way background to the course/levels above, Level 3 qualifies students in Sports Massage and Assessment. Level 4 qualifies you to diagnose/treat & rehab injuries and finally Level 5 qualifies you in diagnose/treat & rehab more advanced injuries including nerve and spinal injuries. These ITEC qualifications are recognised internationally.

Since 2017, I have successfully built a client repertoire of approx 350 clients and operate under my own clinic; MD Sports Injury Therapy, which is based in Kilkenny City.

I am a full member of the Irish Massage Therapist Association and the Association for Neuromuscular and Massage Therapists. I am also LAYA Healthcare and Irish Life approved.

For the past 4 years I have been employed as the Head of Sports Injury for the O'Loughlins Senior Hurling Club in Kilkenny. This involves injury prevention, management and rehabilitation for all types of injuries. I have also had the privilege of being part of the Clubs Senior teams success in the 2023 season in which they competed and won the Leinster Club Senior Hurling Finals in Croke Park in December 2023 and narrowly lost out in the All Ireland Final. I have also worked with numerous other teams including with James Stephens in their season which brought them from County success through to an All-Ireland Club Intermediate Camogie Final in December 2022 and with various Intercounty Kilkenny Camogie Teams from Intermediate to Minor and U16.