About me

I chose to treat one thing only, and to treat it well.

I am Mário Pereira, a physiotherapist registered with the Ordem dos Fisioterapeutas (the Portuguese professional body) under licence number 6744. I work almost exclusively with the spine and persistent pain.

It is a choice of dedication: I chose to go deep into one area rather than know a little of everything.

Portrait of Mário Pereira, physiotherapist, smiling.

How I think about pain

For a long time pain was taught as the direct reflection of damage: if it hurts, something is broken. We know today that it does not work like that. There are people with obvious wear and tear on their scans and no pain at all, and people with flawless scans and pain that robs them of their quality of life.

That changes everything about how one works. Chasing an image stops making sense, and understanding behaviour starts making sense: what makes it worse, what eases it, which directions of movement change your symptoms, what frightens you, what you have avoided doing over the past months and why.

That is why I spend so much time asking and testing before doing anything at all. And it is why I explain out loud what I am doing — because understanding what is going on with you is part of the treatment, not a nice extra at the end of the appointment.

Manual therapy comes in when it helps to unlock something. It is a temporary facilitator, never the centre. The centre is working out whether movement influences what you feel, finding which movement eases it, and teaching you to use it yourself. If the centre were manual therapy, you would end up dependent on me — and that is exactly the opposite of what I am after.

What I do not compromise on

Four principles that govern what I do in the treatment room.

I tell you the truth

Even when it is less comfortable, and even when it means telling you that I am not the right person for your case.

Evidence before opinion

My practice is based on scientific evidence. And when what I tell you is my clinical reading rather than an established fact, I tell you which of the two you are hearing.

Independence before dependence

The aim is for you to become independent: to know how to apply what you learned with me at the moment you need it, without having to come here for that.

The cause before the quick relief

Easing something for a few hours is easy, and sometimes it is even necessary. But the aim is to find and resolve the source of the problem — even if that means not doing the trick that gives immediate relief and changes nothing.

Background and training

Where I went to learn this

The spine training I have done comes mostly from schools of clinical reasoning and movement-based assessment, not from isolated techniques. And it starts before physiotherapy, in exercise.

FROM THE AGE OF 18 — BEFORE PHYSIOTHERAPY

Exercise professional

I started at 18 and spent several years doing personal training, long before I went into physiotherapy. That is where I learned to read movement, to progress load with judgement, and to understand what keeps someone active over the years. I use that every day in the treatment room.

2016 — INITIAL DEGREE

Degree in Physiotherapy

Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa (Lisboa School of Health Technology), part of Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa. Registered with the Ordem dos Fisioterapeutas under licence number 6744.

2022 — THE TURNING POINT

CBR — Método Guiotti, with Gustavo Guiotti

The first course dedicated exclusively to the spine that I took, and the one that changed the direction of my practice. This is where I came to see assessment as a process of reasoning, rather than a set of loose tests.

2024 AND 2025 — GOING DEEPER

FCR with Eduardo Magalhães, and later MDC with Iuri Godoy

Repeated-movement assessment, clinical reasoning and pain mechanisms. The way I assess today comes from where these schools meet — and from what I already brought with me from exercise.

ONGOING

Continuing training in pain and in the spine

The Tudo Sobre Dor study programme, with Leonardo Ávila, and Clube de Estudos sobre Coluna, with João Vítor Beraldi. These are not courses you finish and put away: they are continuous mentoring.

TODAY

Constant study and case discussion

I keep reading and reviewing the literature on the spine and on persistent pain. And I discuss cases regularly with other colleagues who also work only with the spine — which forces me to justify what I think in front of people who know the subject. A great deal of what I publish on social media comes from here.

Success, for me, has a very concrete sign.

It is the day you send me a message saying you felt it again, but that you already knew what to do — and that you sorted it out on your own.

I do not build dependence. I build independence. That is why you leave the first appointment with work to do at home, and it is why I explain the reasoning to you instead of just giving you instructions.

Professional identification

Mário Pereira
Physiotherapist
Professional licence OF 6744
Ordem dos Fisioterapeutas
ERS registration of the practice: E162927

Message FT Mário