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Barney Purbrook's comeback story

Barnabas Purbrook — Barney to his teammates — is a husband, new dad, city finance professional, and one of the most respected riders in the Sigma Sports Masters race team. A former semi-pro rugby player turned white collar boxer turned competitive cyclist, Barney has never been the type to sit still. So when a persistent back pain led to scans, a biopsy, and a blood cancer diagnosis, the physical and psychological challenge ahead was unlike anything he'd faced on or off the bike.

In this episode, Barney sits down to talk candidly about the year that changed everything. He walks us through the moment of diagnosis, the brutal reality of six rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and how he managed — remarkably — to keep riding throughout treatment. We hear about the nutrition strategy he developed, the coaching support that kept him structured, the mental frameworks that helped him move through the darkest moments and huge support from his wife Annabel and his close friends. 

In this episode

- The diagnosis — and the hardest part of telling people

- Training and riding through chemotherapy

- Nutrition during cancer treatment

- Identity, fear, and the five stages of grief

- The remission letter — and what comes next

- How the team found out, and the message that moved everyone

"How long have I been operating with this limitation? Maybe I can come back stronger. That's what I need to focus on."

— Barney Purbrook

After finishing this episode recording I've been thinking about the section when the medical advice to the question 'what can we do to avoid getting cancer' the response was 'not much, its very much a game of chance'. 

On reflection I should have brought up some of the contents of the blog I wrote last year about improving your healthspan. Have a read. 

https://www.chiro.london/blog/longevity-and-health-span

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What happens when an experienced endurance athlete is forced to stop?

In this episode of the Chiro London podcast, we sit down with Simon McNamara from the Sigma Sports Masters Race Team to talk about injury, resilience, and rebuilding stronger than ever.

In 2025, Simon suffered a Lumbar disc herniation that brought his racing season to an abrupt halt. Like many athletes, he initially tried to push through the pain — even taking on long rides in the Alps — before realising the damage was worsening. The injury ultimately forced him to step away from the bike for three months and cancel major race plans, including Badlands Gravel.

With the support of Putney Chiropractic Centre, part of Chiro London, Simon began a structured rehabilitation journey. A key turning point? Discovering the importance of core strength — something he had never prioritised, even after a previous back surgery.

Now in 2026, Simon is back training, feeling stronger than ever, and preparing to return to racing — including a comeback at Badlands.

In this episode, we cover:

• The warning signs of a serious back injury
• Why “pushing through pain” can backfire
• The role of chiropractic care in recovery
• Simple core exercises every cyclist should be doing
• How to come back stronger after time off

Whether you’re a competitive athlete or a weekend rider, this conversation is packed with insights on injury prevention, recovery, and long-term performance.

🎧 Listen now and learn how to turn setbacks into strength.

Links to the low back rehab exercises 

Stretch 

https://vimeo.com/404597012

Strength 

https://vimeo.com/404593074

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Not our usual programming so unless you are interested in masters cycling change channels now. 

However if you are keen to be inspired by Chris McNamara’s epic year on the bike, the same year he turned 50 then tune in and cancel everything for the next 60 min. He’s super open about his year and we talk races, tactics, nutrition, training and all that you need to know from the recently crowned British 50+ gravel champ, straight into a  step on the world masters gravel podium followed by the yellow jersey in the Mallorca masters. 

The reason this chat is on the chiro London podcast is because chiro London is my gig and has been for the last 20+ years. There is a tenuous link in that he gets a tune up once a year with geography being a challenge and I’m not sure I can claim any impact at all on his achievements. But as my podcast platform was here  it was the easiest place to park this episode. Enjoy .

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Episode 93 of the Chiro London podcast is a flashback to some archive audio I found from an interview on the BBC 5 Live late news show on a day where the news was all about the Queen having low back pain. She was unable to open the new Arsenal Emirates Stadium because her back wouldn't let her leave Buckingham Palace.

The BBC 5 Live team called up our clinic randomly. We didn't have any direct connection. It was just a bit of a cold call and they asked if I, Craig McLean, would be willing to do an interview with the late news show at 10:00 p.m. that night hosted by Anita Anand. 

The first part of the interview went fairly smoothly and they just had a bit of banter and conversation around the Queen's back and back pain in general and how it has a big impact on the Uk works force with days off for back pain. 

But then the interview took a turn halfway through where one of the panel members had a dodgy shoulder, neck, upper back problem. He'd been seeing a physio for months, was due to have an injection in the shoulder and so they just laid down a challenge to see what I could do for him when they were breaking for news, sport and weather.

So I was up for the challenge, I took the guy out to a little reception area bench. We did a little bit of Chiro work on him and you get to hear what happened in the second part of the interview when he made the statement, "I feel better in five minutes with you than I have with months on the physio bench."

This was nearly 20 years ago. I was 35 and what a laugh it was.

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Meet Dr Mika, my good mate from Finland, an awesome skier and chiropractor. 

https://www.newgradbootcamp.co.uk/

The New Grad Boot camp is something he's been working hard on over the winter and we have a good chat about the program supporting new chiropractic graduates. It's a great sounding program and its very affordable. Go and check it out from the link above. 

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Anna was very new to chiropractic but in the lead up to a huge ultra marathon event the Spartathalon, the 246km race from Athens to Sparta, her body went into melt down. It was only a month out from the event and she sought help from us at Putney Chiro.

This episode is in 3 parts.
1. the race review, from the time she arrived in Athens to when she crossed the finish line, one of only 200 of the 400 people who completed the 2024 edition of the race in searing heat over 2 days (34 hours of non stop running)
2. the review of the month leading up to the event. From when she passed/blacked out with a huge headache and back pain and ended up in hospital. After they were unable to find a medical cause, she sought help, after a recommendation, from a chiropractor. We follow this journey over the month leading up to leaving for the event.
3. the examination of how Anna felt chiropractic treatment worked for her and helped get her to the start line.

Spartathalon website 

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Long overdue chat with Melissa who is more committed to the development of the profession in the UK than most chiropractors are. She is the executive advisor to the United Chiropractic Association and has been involved with the UCA for 21 of its near 25 years existence. She is the brains and energy behind UK's biggest gathering of chiropractors the UCA CE seminar. She runs a Chiropractic Assistant  training program called 'The Vital CA' and a Women in Chiropractic Seminar.

So good to hear her origin story of how she got involved with chiropractic and it aligns well with the UCA origin story.

She's also married 2 chiropractors and has 6 kids, 3 of whom are studying chiropractic or have recently graduated.

Links to the UCA or Melissa's other programs

The UCA
https://unitedchiropractic.org/

CE seminar
https://unitedchiropractic.glueup.com/event/chiropractic-essentials-2024-90499/

The vital CA
https://www.facebook.com/melissavitalca/

Women in Chiropractic
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/crystalclearsolutions/1227979?

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Dr Matt Doyle, Chiropractor with over 20 years experience, a Masters in Chiropractic Paediatrics and now a PhD candidate in the subject talks to us about babies, pregnancy and chiropractic.

Links

The paediatric intake and follow up forms and research
www.chiro.london/blog/ypk9ftalethxf9e7ydym8hgkdymbpy

The events

https://unitedchiropractic.glueup.com/event/assessing-and-adjusting-the-infant-with-matt-doyle-106545/

https://www.salutogeniceducation.com/events/uk-london-event

ASRF links

https://spinalresearch.com.au/

https://spinalresearch.com.au/membership/full-membership/


More from his bio...

Dr Matthew Doyle has been passionate about chiropractic since he was a teenager and saw the amazing impact that family chiropractic care had on his own family's health and emotional wellbeing.  He has been an associate, locum, and practice owner in full time practice for the past 19 years. This began with 8 years of study, completing a Bachelor of Science (Neurobiology) at the University of Queensland in 2000 and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Clinical)/Bachelor of Chiropractic Science at RMIT in 2005. Upon finishing his requirements, he moved the United Kingdom.  There he worked as a family chiropractor in England and Scotland. 

In his 7 years in the UK he completed a Masters in Advanced Practice Paediatric Chiropractic at the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic and Bournemouth University. He created and taught the first Paediatric, Pregnancy, and Geriatric Chiropractic care course at the Barcelona Chiropractic College.

Upon returning to Australia he created and taught courses for three years at Central Queensland University(CQU) in its chiropractic program, whilst completing a Grad Certificate in Tertiary Education.  He finished at CQU in 2016 to spend more time being Dad for his young family and running their practice. He completed the Academy of Chiropractic Philosophers program in 2017.  He has published 10 articles in the peer reviewed literature between 2011 and 2022. Two of these are around safety and evidence for paediatric chiropractic care, as a Best Evidence Topic in 2011 in Clinical Chiropractic, and a selective review of the literature in 2016 in the Chiropractic Journal of Australia(CJA).

He is currently completing a mixed methods project PhD through Southern Cross University on Chiropractic Philosophy in Chiropractic Education.

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Great to have another chat with Guy Riekeman, truly an elder statesman of the chiropractic profession. We first had a conversation in 2021 when we covered most of Guy's legacy for the chiropractic profession and I'd recommend you give this a listen as well as the current episode. 

However today is all about how the role of the chiropractor has changed over the years. We start by exploring the different ways chiropractors have educated their patients. It started with brochures, then patient lectures, then in clinic video tapes and now he has a new optimal health promotion app that has launched in the USA. 

From their website this is what its all about...

'My Lifestyle iQ is a content-rich Remote Patient Engagement App that allows you to manage critical areas of health and prevention.'

'It is self-directed and can also be used to enhance in-office care by integrating multiple health domains, including Exercise, Nutrition, Brain Health, Positive Psychology, and the six areas of Functional Preventative Health.'

Melissa and the UCA in the UK are looking into how UK docs can get involved in using the app. Have a listen to what it's all about and get in touch with Melissa if you are keen to give it a test in the UK. 

Thanks for listening 

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We follow Kat's journey from being one of the groups top 10% chiropractors to now being a coach helping others in the Chiro One set up perform at their best. Bailey our CA worked with her for 5 years in Chicago, thanks for the introduction. 

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