Education
I graduated from Birmingham in 2007 with a first class honours degree in Sports Therapy. Since graduating, I have completed numerous workshops, seminars and courses including myofascial release therapy, kinesio taping, specific soft tissue mobilisation, to name but a few. I have also lectured final year Sports Therapy students at BCU.
Experience
In 2007, I set up my clinic, based at Gym and Tonic, Bredons Hardwick, where I continue to practise. I then expanded my business in 2010, when I started a clinic at Body4You in Greet. In the clinic based environment, I treat a wide variety of people:
-All ages: To date, the youngest person I have treated was an eight year old and the eldest was a 90 year old.
-Athletes: From amateur to professional. It’s worth noting that a large proportion of my clients are not at all interested in sport and simply seek out guidance on how to recover from an injury sustained from a non-sporting incident.
-Abilities: The beauty of Sports Therapy is the individual tailoring that it allows. I have been able to adapt treatments to suit pregnant women, wheelchair-bound clients, amputee patients, diabetics, vertigo sufferers and so on. It is important to be able to ‘think outside the box’ when it comes to designing effective treatment plans.
Before having my children, as well as running my two clinics, I was Head Sports Therapist for Camp Hill Rugby Club for nine seasons. In this environment, my roles were slightly different to that in the clinic. It was my responsibility to assess players’ prior to matches to establish whether an injured player could be ‘protected’ from further injury via techniques such as strapping, or whether they needed to be rested and not played.
During matches, I administered first aid where required and I had to make speedy decisions determining the risk involved with each injury, taking into consideration the health of the player and the effects my decisions may have had on the team dynamics.
It was, therefore, my responsibility to re-assess any injured players after matches and to get them fit as soon as possible.
Continuing with my Rugby Union experience, I worked alongside two Physiotherapists and a fellow Sports Therapist at Gloucester Rugby Club during the 2006-2007 season. It was in this role where my rehabilitation skills were really tested. At premiership level, there is little room for error.
I have also provided Sports Therapy treatments at The London Marathon, Great North Run, National Kickboxing Championships, Disability Athletics, Gloucester Football Club, Tewkesbury Triathlon, Tewkesbury Half Marathon and so on.