Meet the Hartlepool physiotherapist who treats both Olympians and people across town

As a head physiotherapist at Hartlepool’s Active Physio Care, in Victoria Road, Martin Davies has been helping people in town recover from various injuries.

But Martin, 42, has also treated world-class athletes at the London Olympics in 2012 and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014.

Now he is set to work at the upcoming Commonwealth Games once again and will head to Birmingham in July.

Martin, who has been physiotherapist for 17 years, will be working with athletes competing in a range of sports including rugby, judo and wrestling.

He will be looking after them during training sessions and treating them before and after their games.

"It’s just making sire that they are fully fit for the competition,” said Martin, who is from the Bishop Cuthbert area of the town.

He continued: "Obviously with Covid, the amount of elite sport and travelling with the teams has been decreased, so it’ll be good to beg back to a big world event.

"I’m looking forward to going back to it.“

The 22nd Commonwealth Games will kick off on July 28 and will run until August 8.

The event will see over 4,500 athletes take part.

Looking back on big sporting events he’s previously worked at, Martin has described the atmosphere as “friendly”, with everything going into standstill at the final competitions.

Martin, who has also worked with the British Sailing team, said: "It’s a closed environment just for the athletes and the coaches and the medical staff.

"The athletes are quite relaxed. They’re all young, they all enjoy talking and it’s the first time that they’ve come to another country or it might be their first Olympics and they’re all excited.

"As it gets closer to the events it becomes more serious, but it’s still very friendly atmosphere and everybody will stop and watch the 100 metre finals. The whole village completely stops.

"But they’re very friendly and entertaining places to be.

"Sometimes you get to go and see them actually compete as well depending on you shift, so you get a good bond with the athletes.”

The most recent Commonwealth Games were hosted by Australia in 2018.

Support your Mail and become a subscriber today.

Enjoy unlimited access to all of our news and sport, see fewer ads, experience faster load times, test your brain with daily puzzles and get access to exclusive newsletters.

Your support for our journalism means we can continue telling Hartlepool’s stories for generations to come. Click here to subscribe - and click here to get a snapshot of the Mail’s news and sport to your inbox through our email newsletters.