More than just exercise...
Physiotherapy is about much more than just doing a few exercises to get stronger, or move more. We all lead busy lives and have to be multiple different people during the course of the day: parent, grandparent, partner, employee, boss, athlete, friend...all of which requiring different things. Physiotherapy is not about doing exercise, it's about getting you back to being you, doing the things you need to do and living your life to the full...
Experience
Alex studied physiotherapy at Cardiff University and graduated with a first class honours. After a year working as a rotational physiotherapist in the NHS, he worked as a private musculoskeletal physiotherapist in Swansea, alongside doing weekend orthopaedic shifts.
Alex moved to New Zealand in 2016, working in different clinics and gyms on vocational, pain and rehabilitation contracts, as well as clinic physiotherapy, before becoming a clinic manager and clinical mentor. Alex specialised in pain management, becoming the pain management clinical lead for Auckland within his company, working alongside pain specialists, psychologists, occupational therapists, social workers, dieticians and a wider MDT, coordinating care for individuals with complex pain needs. Whilst in New Zealand, Alex completed his postgraduate certificate in rehabilitation at Auckland University of Technology.
Alex returned to the UK in 2022, and worked as a triage physiotherapist before becoming a lecturer in Birmingham.
Alex continues to lecture alongside his private work, and is also employed as a specialist physiotherapist and FCP within the NHS. Alex is in the process of completing both his postgraduate certificate in higher education and his level 2 FCP portfolio.
Values
As people grow, their values change. As a teenager I played county cricket and boxed competitively, and valued my health and ability to perform to a high standard physically. What I found most rewarding though was working for Special Olympics as a basketball coach, taking athletes around the country to compete, and this is really what led me into physiotherapy - a job where I could combine my love of sport and exercise with helping people to achieve their goals.
As someone who has lived in many different parts of the world and now has a family, my focus has shifted. I still value health, but now the emphasis is on being physically able to do what is most important - spending quality time with my family. Whether that is running around a play park with my boys or helping my dad in the garden, the important thing is that we are physically able to do what we want to do.
And health doesn't just include the physical. Your sleep, diet, stress levels, relationships, lifestyle, work and many other factors all feed into your ability to do what you value.
My approach is one that looks at you as a person, not just you as a injury, and helps you to find a way back to that, whether you're a semi-professional athlete chasing a PB or a grandparent who just wants to keep up with their grandchildren...
