'I've travelled through Europe treating elite athletes - now I help people in Staffordshire achieve their health and wellbeing goals'

Her career has developed over the past 30 years from specialising in soft tissue techniques to treat sports and occupational injuries to becoming a registered osteopath and nutritional therapist.

During the start of her career, K was a member of the Medical Support Team for British Gymnastics, British Cycling and English Table Tennis and travelled throughout Europe treating elite athletes.

She founded Stafford Osteopathic Clinic, which rebranded as bodyy® Healthcare in 2019 and is based in Milford, near Stafford.

The clinic, which has a team of 10 qualified specialists including K, incorporates body Sports Massage Academy which delivers accredited sports massage courses.

It offers osteopathy, physiotherapy, nutritional therapy, nutritional medicine, foot healthcare, hypnotherapy, sports massage therapy and aesthetics.

“It’s everything under one roof,” explains K. “The hypnotherapy and aesthetics are for people’s mental health, but the hypnotherapy is also for people who want to improve their performance in sport or business,” she added.

A typical day usually starts at 8am for K, who will spend the morning treating patients and in the afternoon, if she’s not treating, she will be supporting staff, completing paperwork and looking at ways “to improve the patient and staff experience” into the evening.

People of all ages and from all backgrounds will visit the clinic for a range of different reasons.

“Some people come with injuries, some people come with pain, some people come with restriction, some people come with phase of life symptoms like menopausal symptoms, digestive symptoms, problems with their feet,” explains K.

“It’s really diverse. With our experience and also the variety of what we can offer, there’s something for everybody regardless of their background or how they’ve come about having the issue they’ve got,” she adds.

“We’re completely patient-centred, we’re a team of extremely experienced professionals. We’re the most experienced osteopaths in a big geographical area. And we’re committed to helping people to enjoy their lives.

“Our motto is to ‘help every body achieve its potential’ –  whether it’s to reduce pain, improve athletic ability, or optimise movement.

“If people are preparing for a marathon, we help them to achieve their personal best, or if they want to come to the Academy, we’re helping people to improve their skill set and improve themselves.”

When asked what she would say to someone who may be feeling nervous about seeking help for a particular issue, K said: “They wouldn’t be the first. I think that we’re very welcoming, they will be put at ease.

“We have a reception area where people can relax and learn a bit more about what’s going to happen.

“I think I can confidently say that people leave having had a very positive experience,” she adds.

Since starting her career, K has seen many changes in the industry.

“There have been more clinics set up in the area, I think people are seeking help outside of mainstream medicine because of perhaps the lack of resources in the NHS and what we can offer doesn’t often lie within the NHS.

“We can often offer appointments within 24 hours and we are registered health professionals so we are recognised by health insurance policies or health insurance companies. No referrals are needed.

“Because we are multi-disciplinary, if we feel somebody would benefit from seeing a different practitioner, we can refer internally but we also do refer outside of our clinic if needed.

“We can refer for scans, for example. Because we are regulated healthcare professionals, we can complement the treatment they are having in the NHS.”

For K, there is great job satisfaction in helping people get back to having an active lifestyle or achieving a personal goal such as running a marathon.

“The enjoyment is seeing people reduce their pain, improve their movement and improve their health overall,” she says.

For more information about the clinic, which is located at Home Farm, Main Road, Milford, visit www.bodyy.co.uk or https://www.facebook.com/bodyyHealthcare or call 01785 561 880.