Derek King: A body work therapist and Pilates fitness trainer based in Galway's Kingfisher Health and Leisure Club.
My day starts at 9 a.m. I work with clients up until 1 p.m. then break for lunch for two hours - one to train and the other to relax and eat.
After lunch I do treatments from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., but sometimes I can work as late as 9 p.m. at night.
A treatment lasts one hour and I try to see an average of six people a day at least.
A treatment can be anything from alleviating muscular spasms, breaking down fibrotic tissue (muscular knots), alleviating stress and tension in the body to increasing a person's flexibility and range of movement.
The treatment includes nutritional advice, and advice on exercise and rehabilitation techniques.
I also give classes on Stott Pilates to groups, or individuals if they prefer one to one, and to post-natal women and post-surgery people.
The best thing about the job is the variety, getting to work with athletes, old people and young children.
I get great satisfaction from helping people who've had pain for a long time. Seeing them improve and getting results is very gratifying.
Most of my clients come to me with problems caused by improper posture.
They have sedentary jobs and may sit incorrectly even while watching TV.
Bad posture can lead to a build-up of tissue causing stress in the body, and people don't spend long enough doing general exercises for back care and for general health to redress it.
The back is controlled by stomach muscles and few of my clients know any good core exercise for that region so they don't have good core stability.
This may be connected to problems with the lower back arching too much or the upper back curving too much.
Apart from my work seeing clients, I teach sports therapy part time in Mayoralty House in Galway City.
I'm also studying for my H Dip in Neuromuscular Therapy, so my days are quite full.
Anatomy and physiology are my hobbies, the way some people like painting.
I'm always buying books on muscles and things like finding out how the heart works. What frustrates me is that every time I learn something new, I realise how much I don't know.
The good thing is that is I'm doing what I love.