Physiotherapy Through Movement
Human evolution shows us you are designed to move to thrive. It’s movement that connects you with you, mind, body and soul AND with the world around you. Movement without pain gives you life.
Movement
Your ancestors pre industrialisation, moved their whole body in multiple ways throughout their daily lives. They were reaching, climbing, crouching, squatting for food and materials to survive. They weren’t finding time or looking for ways to exercise, to be strong, lithe and at one with themselves. It happened through the movement of life. They lived with their body. They didn’t have to force exercise on their body, and you can do the same.
In a world where we’ve never been so busy not moving, tension, pain and stiffness has become a part of who we are. A daily walk, yoga practice or exercise plan while of value, is not enough to counter the ill effects of essentially ignoring the needs of your body for the rest of the day.
Simply Move!™
My Simply Move!™ concept is Physiotherapy through movement, as you’re naturally designed. Learning to live in tune with your body, restores the strength, suppleness and intuitive resilience needed for life.
With Simply Move!™ you’ll breathe, hold and move with your body as you’re naturally designed, as an integral part of your life. Small simple significant changes are made with what you’re already doing, only differently.
Move with effortless ease and confidence while walking to the shops, climbing stairs, chopping your veggies. This continual reconnection with yourself, diminishes the all consuming tension, pain and stiffness from life.
Live in tune with your body
Learning to Simply Move!™ brings a sense of clarity of mind, freedom to move and inner serenity. It’s now a natural part of who I am to tune in, recognise and respond to the needs of my body. This restores and builds my strength, flexibility and balance, intuitively and progressively.
And I’ll do the same with you. You’ll regain confidence to believe in your body again through restorative and replenishing postures, movements and exercises. You will be strong again, fit again, to walk the hills, dig the garden or simply move freely, unhindered by pain and stiffness.
Regardless of your age or state of health due to injury, surgery, illness or disease, you too can live in tune with your body. With Simply Move!™ I help you make the most of the body you’re in.
My personal experience
Realising our fast paced western lifestyle was disconnecting us from ourselves, was pivotal to transforming my physiotherapy practice and my health. It is so far removed from the evolutionary journey of our ancestors.
For years my body had been plagued with aches and pains, niggles and annoyances. I was also challenged with disproportionately low energy levels at various points in my life. I took to the gym and exercise classes, pushing myself to be stronger, fitter more flexible, more “everything” as I believed I should, to fix my body. However, it didn’t help the problems I faced. In fact, I often felt wearier and sorer than I did invigorated and strong.
Then I discovered, as I watched myself (and my clients) how often I held myself stiff and taut, holding my breath and tension in my body as I attempted to gain strength, fitness and flexibility. Ironically, my attempts for a healthier body, resulted in minimal gains at best, with injury and despondency at worst.
Rewiring beliefs about exercise
I wanted to understand why what I was doing wasn’t working. The foundations underlying my physiotherapy training was the knowledge that to build strength and fitness, it was necessary to push the body beyond its baseline levels of fitness and strength. This research based physiological principle, is in essence correct.
However, when you look more closely at this research, much of the exercise principles employed today are extrapolated from the results of young fit male military personnel, who were recruited for these initial studies.
Needless to say, most of us do not fit into this category of recruits and yet the concepts of how we should exercise, based on these results, are STILL hard wired into our brains. The old “no pain no gain” adage; push hard, push long, just keep going regardless of what your body is telling you.
We rarely stop to question why or is this right for me? In reality, what I was doing at the gym and in exercise classes was exceeding my reserves, my capacity and my confidence levels. Hence the weary, sore, depleted feeling I experienced afterwards.
But not any more! Now I Simply Move!™ through life. I listen to my body and give it what it needs to power and protect it, from pain and stiffness. And you can do the same by contacting me via the link below. Let’s start your journey to live in tune with your body, today.
Overview Of My Professional Career
Underpinning my physiotherapy expertise today is a wide and varied career path both within the UK’s NHS and Australia. Having qualified at Teesside University in 1989, I went on to work in a large number of teaching hospitals including Nottingham City Hospital, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Northern General Hospital Sheffield and the John Radcliffe Hospital Oxford and The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Australia.
This culminated in my position as Superintendent Physiotherapist for the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital Physiotherapy outpatient department, leading a team of 17 staff including clinical and administrative personnel. As Upper Limb Clinical Specialist I established and expanded physiotherapy services within Consultant Orthopaedic and fracture clinics as well as GP medical practices. At the formerly named Welti Health and Fitness Club, now The Shrewsbury Club, I also established and ran physiotherapy clinics.
However it was while studying for my Masters degree in Sports Science at Loughborough University, my passion and expertise with how the body functions efficiently and effortlessly, began. My MSc gave me extensive experience with sports injuries and movement dysfunction and the associated psychological impact of living with pain and ill health. It was then I realised, without connecting how you treat your body with how your body responds and feels, limits any long term health benefits and the ability to thrive.
With this wealth of experience I wanted the freedom:
- to share this knowledge and give people time to be heard and time to be treated as a whole person, gently but effectively.
- To explore and rethink their hectic, device driven, movement limited life to overcome pain, recover from injury and restore freedom with the way they moved and lived.
So to do this, I left the NHS in 2003 to set up my rural physiotherapy practice, near Shrewsbury Shropshire.
It would be my pleasure to start this safe, intuitive and effective journey with you too.
What People Say
About Me
Back to full capacity
My lifestyle was also addressed and changes made to allow me to continue my life.
A deep understanding of the mechanisms causing pain
