Services

Manual Therapy

Working within private practice clinics in Melbourne for over 8 years as well as with many sports teams I have developed a variety of manual therapy techniques to help relieve pain and improve mobility. These include but are not limited to deep tissue massage, joint mobilisations and taping techniques. I have also completed extra training to be qualified to complete dry needling which is another technique to help reduce tension in the muscles.

The aim of these treatments is to help relieve tension and pain especially in the acute phase of an injury. I find my job very rewarding when I’m able to directly affect someone’s pain which often allows them to return to the activities they love doing.

I am a fully qualified physiotherapist with an extra Masters degree in Sports Physiotherapy. This means I am well equipped to assess, diagnose and treat many different types of sports injuries. I have worked a lot in various elite sports with the most recent being netball (Collingwood Magpies) and the Australian Beach & Indoor Volleyball team the Volley-Roos but have experience in many other sports such as AFL football, basketball and soccer.

I love playing sport and keeping active myself so I understand the frustrations and desires to want to get back as quickly as possible. With a thorough assessment we can aim to work out the real cause of your injury (if not known) and work on getting you back to your sport as soon as possible but also aim to prevent it returning. This process can involve a mixture of treatments to help in the acute pain phase such as management advice, massage, taping techniques, dry needling etc and then build into strengthening areas of the body to help the injury directly or help strengthen other areas to help offload the injured area.

Most injuries require strength training to help fully recover. This can include a sporting injury such as an ankle sprain where the client wants to return to netball or a post operative shoulder reconstruction where the client would like to return to gardening. This is often the area not done well that leads to many people dealing with chronic ongoing issues or not fully returning to the things they love. This is something I am passionate about including in my treatment plans as early as possible as it helps to keep my patients pain free, healthy and doing the activities they love.

There is a lot of good quality evidence in physiotherapy that strength programs are much more effective in treating many injuries even compared to surgery; including osteoarthritis of the knee and hip, tendon injuries such as Achilles, lower back pain and plenty more.

I pride myself on providing an individualised program to every client whether that be a home rehab program, Pilates or a gym program, I’m happy to build whatever style of exercise works for you to achieve your goals.

Pregnancy and post-partum can be a daunting time for many especially in regards to discomfort around the pelvis and knowing when and how to exercise. I love helping woman keep strong and active during pregnancy and helping them return safely post partum. The hormone changes in the body that start right from the first trimester as well as the extra weight woman carry can really impact how your body moves. These changes can often lead to get many aches and pains and I am able to help with most including pelvic instability, sciatic pain, lower back pain, upper back and neck discomfort as well as headaches. Post partum I am able to help work on abdominal separation, build up your strength safely and help with return to running/sport plans.

Please note I am not trained in continence but will happily refer when suitable to a local women’s health specialist.

My elite sports physio experience in netball and volleyball has seen me work with many recreational and elite athletes who have injured their knee. I have also worked a lot in soccer with Melbourne City FC and local AFL footballers where unfortunately knee injuries such as ACL and meniscus is quite common.

I like to working with my clients from the beginning and am passionate about helping them feel prepared to fully return to sport. Its important to work on pure strength, balance and proprioception initially but then crucial to build up sports specific skills such as agility, plyometrics and speed. From here I ensure my programs become even more sports specific and ensure the client starts to do safe sports drills whilst working on their knee control before they return to full training/competition with their team.

If you are not local to Torquay I am also happy to help you in this area via Tele-Health as I’m passionate about helping everyone in returning to their sport safely and feel designing good sports specific programs is crucial to this. During Covid I have become quite accustomed to doing Zoom consults and ACL rehab is one where it works perfectly.

Workplace Wellbeing

I have experience working in Melbourne’s CBD offices with a variety of desk based workers such as lawyers and accountants where I have worked to help improve ergonomics, manage posture related injuries such as headaches and lower back discomfort, prevent injuries/niggles and conduct workplace education talks on variety of topics.

There are a lot of factors involved in reducing desk-based worker injuries such as education, improving posture, desk set up/equipment, strength exercises, stress management etc.

I have also worked on site in more manual labour jobs to help educate staff and improve lifting technique. I am very passionate about improving workplace wellbeing and if your interested in chatting to see how I can help your workplace direclty in this area feel free to reach out.

NDIS Physio for Kids

Whilst my Masters was in Sports Physiotherapy I also have experience working with kids with musculoskeletal disabilities. During my physio training at LaTrobe University I worked as a respite carer for kids with disabilities supporting families in various ways. I have also worked at a paediatric disability physio centre in Geelong where I would work with high functioning kids with activity goals such as improving strength, gait, running and jumping and involvement in sport based skills such as catching a ball. I am passionate about helping everyone achieve an active healthy lifestyle including kids with disabilities and always find my work in this area very rewarding.

Please know that due to not completing a Masters in paediatrics physio I am very aware when my training is not suitable for your child’s needs and therefore only work with specific ages and disabilities to ensure a high level of care. Please feel free to reach out if you want to chat before organising an appointment and see if I could be a good fit for your little one and if not I will happily refer to some wonderful practitioners in the local area.