About Pain Shift Academy | Who We Are, Our Mission & Team

About Pain Shift Academy

Our Mission, Vision & Team

At Pain Shift Academy, we transform pain into power. We believe that sustainable employability begins with awareness: of the body, lifestyle, and the daily choices that contribute to health.
Our mission is clear: to give office staff the tools to recognize, treat, and prevent complaints themselves. Not through long programs, but with directly applicable knowledge and skills.

Our Mission – From Pain to Power

Our core mission is simple yet powerful. We want to help employees free themselves from physical complaints and stress, so that they:

  • Understand how complaints arise and are maintained (through movement, nutrition, sleep, stress)
  • Can take charge of their own recovery process

  • Take regular action before small complaints grow larger

We see that many people only act once complaints have become chronic. At Pain Shift Academy, we work differently: preventively, practically, and with tangible results within just a few hours.

How Pain Shift Academy Began

Pratice i Sense – the foundation

Pain Shift Academy originated from Practice i Sense, founded by Ilona Koopman in 2020.
As a myofascial therapist and massage therapist, she saw daily in her practice how clients got stuck in patterns of pain, tension, stress, and fatigue. Not only physical factors played a role, but often a combination of:

  • Increased stress load
  • Insufficient recovery (sleep and rest)
  • Lack of sensitivity to body signals
  • Poor nutritional choices or lack of knowledge about them

Ilona noticed that when clients understood what was happening in their body, and were given simple tools, their complaints often decreased significantly. This sparked the idea to share this approach on a larger scale – with companies, groups, and teams.

 

The Development of Pain Shift Academy

The journey went as follows:

  1. Expansion of Praktijk i sense with a focus on prevention and self-reliance
  2. Development of the first training: From Pain to Power, combining self-treatment of muscles and fascia with interventions in nutrition, sleep, mindset, stress, and movement
  3. Trial trainings at companies to strongly optimize the training
  4. Gaining recognition through businesses, workshops, and satisfied clients who recommended the training
  5. Rolling out to groups of up to 12 people in company settings, continuously improving content based on feedback.

Who is Ilona Koopman & Our Team

Ilona Koopman – Founder, Myofascial & Massage Therapist

Background: Ilona specializes in myofascial therapy, connective tissue systems, trigger points, and has years of experience treating muscle and connective tissue issues in office staff.

Vision of Pain Shift Academy: Reducing pain through understanding, self-treatment, and lifestyle change.

Ilona’s Passion: She built Praktijk i sense and is dedicated to helping employees so that complaints no longer form a daily obstacle.

The Team

Behind Pain Shift Academy stands a small, dedicated team with diverse expertise:

  • Fellow therapists who treat clients and support trainings
  • Specialists in sleep, nutrition, or stress management (with whom we collaborate)
  • Administrative, logistical, and technical support to ensure smooth training organization

Together, we ensure that our content is professional, up-to-date, and directly applicable.

Our Vision – Why We Do What We Do

  • Sustainable employability: Not just being fit today, but also 5 or 10 years from now. We strive for employees who are agile, energetic, and resilient.
  • Prevention over intervention: Prevention is better than cure. Tackling small complaints early prevents major absenteeism.
  • Increasing self-management: Employees should not be dependent on external therapies; we provide knowledge, tools, and habits they can apply themselves.

  • Holistic approach: Pain is rarely just about muscles. It’s about sleep, nutrition, stress, mindset, movement, and recovery; we address all aspects.

What We Believe In – Our Core Values

We act based on these core values:

  • Empowerment: We give employees power over their own health.
  • Practical & accessible: No complicated theories, but simple, applicable exercises and lifestyle tips.
  • Results-oriented: Participants see and feel a difference in only 4 hours.
  • Respect for body & process: Recovery takes time; individual differences are acknowledged.
  • Integrity & scientific basis: We use insights from myofascial therapy, knowledge of nutrition, sleep & stress management, and we keep learning and improving.

Why Choose Pain Shift Academy?

If you’re considering working with us, here are some reasons why other companies and employees choose us – and why you should too:

  • 4-hour training – a powerful investment with immediate results, without long absence workshops or excessive time away from work.
  • Not just general ergonomics – we focus on self-treatment, lifestyle, stress, and sleep: practical and applicable without costly adjustments.
  • Holistic approach – we address multiple factors at once: muscles & fascia, nutrition, sleep, stress, and mindset.
  • Awareness & self-management – employees not only learn what to do, but also why and how to integrate it into daily life.
  • Own experience & expertise – with a therapeutic background and proven results for office staff.
  • Real involvement – we work personally, listen, adapt based on feedback, and ensure the training fits your culture and needs.

Together, these benefits make the choice not only logical, but also future-proof: you invest in health, employability, and satisfied employees — and we make sure that investment pays off.

Future Perspective – Where We’re Heading

We’re not stopping with what we currently offer. Our plans for the future include:

  • New trainings: Specialized programs for employees with heavy physical demands or specific complaints.
  • Collaborations: With companies, occupational health services, and health professionals to integrate vitality more broadly.
  • Online support: While our core trainings are always on-site, we’re exploring supportive online modules, videos, and tools for home or on-the-go use.

Our Promise to You

We promise:

  • That every employee will leave the training with practical tools to reduce complaints themselves;
  • That the training is interactive, with exercises, awareness, and immediately noticeable effects;
  • That we listen to your organization and team, so the training matches your reality;
  • Openness about what is and isn’t possible — no empty promises, but workable changes;
  • The possibility of aftercare and follow-up tips so that the insights learned are applied long-term.

At Pain Shift Academy, everything revolves around you, your team, and your healthy future.
We are passionate about giving employees the knowledge they deserve, so they not only reduce complaints but also become more resilient, energetic, and vital. Together, we make the shift from pain to power — because healthy people create vital companies.