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ATP, Advanced Therapy and Performance
Monica Lieving

Professional athlete · World Long Drive · therapy and training

Monica Lieving

Produce and repeat the most ball speed in the world, and stay healthy enough to compete a full season.

Outcome

Six years of daily back pain, gone. Club head speed 125.2 to 128.9 mph in four months and seven treatments. The limiter was neurological.

Club head speed
125.2to128.9mph
Daily back pain
6+ yearstoGone
Drives on the grid
35% more often

Where it started.

A world champion with six years of daily left lower back pain and a herniated disc on her report. Also daily hip flexor and glute discomfort, ocular migraines every other month, temporal headaches four times a week, weekly light sensitivity, episodes of dizziness on half her tee shots, daily eye twitching, and sleep broken five times a night.

What they wanted

To train, compete and live pain-free, and to have a body her swing could rely on.

What ATP saw.

ATP evaluated 5 of the seven domains for this case. The lit circles are where the history sent us. Tap any circle to see what ATP looks at there.

Working diagnosis

The disc injury on her report was not the driver of her pain. Eye-tracking testing showed a reactive nervous system: a large pupil response during vertical tracking and a brain that did not have a reliable sense of where the body was in space. The back pain, the hip and glute discomfort, the migraines, the light sensitivity, the dizziness on the tee, the eye twitching and the broken sleep were one problem seen from different angles, not eight separate ones.

Monica Lieving

Neuro · Recovery · Tissue · Medical · SkillTap a circle to see what ATP looks at there.

In order.

What came first, and what came after.

  1. Priority 1: Stabilize the nervous system, so she could train, compete and live pain-free

  2. Priority 2: Give her brain and eyes a reliable sense of where she is in space, so the swing repeats

  3. Priority 3: A stable base for the work with her swing coach, and sleep that holds

What we did.

The tools follow the diagnosis. Every item here was chosen after the priorities were set.

Interventions

  • Functional neurology, with eye-tracking work, seven treatments over four months
  • Acupuncture
  • Training: strength and rotational power on a back that no longer had to protect itself
  • A supplement protocol
  • Sleep habits, starting with the phone in another room

Testing

  • Eye tracking: pupil response during vertical tracking, before and after
  • Her symptom list, initial versus now
  • Club head speed and how often drives land on the grid

Format

  • Seven treatments in four months, alongside her swing coach

What changed.

Four months and seven treatments, from November 2023

  • 01Left lower back pain: daily for over six years, now gone. The disc injury on her report was not what was driving it
  • 02Hip flexor and lateral glute discomfort: daily, now gone
  • 03Ocular migraines: every other month, now gone
  • 04Temporal headaches: four times a week, now once a week
  • 05Bright-light disturbances and episodes of body disassociation: weekly, now gone
  • 06Episodes of a drop in heart rate with loss of vision: monthly, now every other month
  • 07Eye twitching: daily, now none
  • 08Significant PMS and period symptoms: now less intense
  • 09Vertigo on the tee: in her words, "I used to get dizzy half the time, now almost never"
  • 10Sleep: waking five times a night, now twice
  • 11Club head speed record: 125.2 to 128.9 mph, and drives on the grid 35% more often

On the record

  1. 2017–2020Arkansas State women's golfKAIT8, June 2024
  2. 2023-10-23World Long Drive champion, rookie season; three of six events won183.3 mph ball speedworldlongdrive.com; amateurgolf.com
  3. 2023-11Started therapy and training with ATPATP (Josh Heenan)
  4. 2024Josh Heenan's published case review, four months and seven treatments inClub head speed 125.2 to 128.9 mph; six years of daily back pain gone; drives on the grid 35% more often; migraines, light sensitivity and dizziness on the tee resolved or nearly soJosh Heenan on Instagram (@drheenan), tagged Monica Lieving
  5. 2024-06Endless Summer Women's Division champion; entered 2024 as world No. 1378 yd PRKAIT8, June 2024
  6. 2025Two tour wins; World Championship runner-up (380 vs 406); Women's Division Player of the YearWorld Long Drive 2025 awards and championship coverage

How the plan changed.

The eye tracking made the plan visible: the pupil response during vertical tracking dropped to minimal as the nervous system settled, and the symptoms followed it down the list. The neurological testing validated the strength and skill work rather than replacing it; done properly, they feed one another.

  1. Evaluate
  2. Working Diagnosis
  3. Prioritize
  4. Intervene
  5. Reassess
  6. Adapt

Now.

Competing at the top of the women's division. Therapy and training with ATP began in November 2023.

“I was dealing with severe lower back pain and was told I had a herniated disc. After working with ATP, my lower back pain is non-existent and I'm both physically and mentally stronger than ever. ATP provides significantly above average care and treatment to their patients and are unrivaled in their results.”
Monica Lieving, World Long Drive champion
Reviewing findings together at ATP

Find what’s limiting you.

Every case here started the same way: an evaluation, a working diagnosis, a decision about what comes first.

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