David Lesondak, BCSI, ATSI, FST, VMT is an Allied Health Member in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).

He serves as the Senior Structural Integrator and Fascia Specialist at UPMC’s Center for Integrative Medicine.

He is a Board Certified Structural Integrator, Anatomy Trains Structural Integrator, Frederick Stretch Therapist, Fascial Fitness Trainer, and Visceral Manipulation.

David is the author of the international best seller Fascia: What it is and Why it Matters, now in its 2nd edition. His follow up book, Fascia, Function, and Medical Applications was nominated for a 2021 British Medical Association award. He has also contributed to the 2nd Edition of Fascia: The Tensional Network of the Human Body, the 2nd edition of Metabolic Therapies In Orthopedics, and the 4th edition of Joe Muscolino’s Kinesiology.

David sits on the Executive Committee of The International Consortium on Manual Therapies.

He host the podcast BodyTalk with David Lesondak which has listeners in 95 countries.

David sees patients in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Shadyside at the UPMC Center for Integrative Medicine. His protocols capitalize on a vast, eclectic training in myriad myofascial methods and scientific study. These include Anatomy Trains Structural Integration, Frederick Stretch Therapy, visceral manipulation, scoliosis care, pediatrics, joint replacement rehab, yoga, and breathing. He specializes in treating people with chronic pain, injury resolution, pre- and post-surgical issues, improving physical performance, postpartum issues, and helping those who are managing cancer.

While weekly treatments are usually sufficient he does travel to treat patients who need a more concentrated series of treatments.

David’s natural ability to forge successful connections led to educational ventures with renowned researchers and practitioners in the field of fascia. In 2009 David’s previous career in video led him to collaborate with Anatomy Trains author Thomas W. Myers on the production of Anatomy Trains Revealed – a three-DVD legacy media set companion to Myers’ book on holistic anatomical concepts. Watch the introductory clip here.

From 2010 - 2017 David teamed up with Robert Schleip, PhD, who headed the Fascia Research Project at Ulm University, Germany. Together they produced over 80 fascia research videos that also included the ground-breaking Connect 13, the first fascia-oriented sports medicine conference. During those years he also produced the proceedings of the Third International Fascia Research Congress, BodyWisdom Spain and others.

Sensing he was not content with just being behind the scenes, in 2014 Robert invited David to lecture on his scientific musings on fascia and the mind/body connection at that year’s Fascia Summer School at Ulm University.

A gifted and inspired speaker of all things fascia, David has been an invited speaker and workshop facilitator to such diverse groups as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Workshop on Myofascial Pain, the Academic Consortium of Integrative Medicine, the Performance, Health, and Wellness Staff for the LA Clippers, both the British and Australian Fascia Symposiums, the World Fascia Congress, the International Fascia Research Congress, the Anatomy Trains Master Class Series, the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and many others.

Previous to entering the healthcare field in 1991, David’s various career incarnations were in television, advertising, and the funeral arts. Including over a decade-long stint as a DJ on WYEP-FM in Pittsburgh. He maintains an avid interest in music and can be often be heard at Pittsburghs’s singer/songwriter Open Mic scene.