Our Physiotherapists

Physiotherapist, Owner/Partner

JR’s beliefs:

What is this BioPsychoSocial model of healthcare that has been around for 3 decades but is more recently spoken of these days as the NEW way?

The bio portion refers to our biology; this includes our hormonal health, gut health (microbiome diversity), nutritional status and so on. Our internal health status can have a profound impact on injury recovery, concussion recovery and chronic pain. This biological domain also includes our human nervous system, muscular and skeletal systems, tissues, cells and organelles down to the biochemistry of every molecule in the body.

The psycho portion refers to our psychology. This includes changes within our nervous systems called neuroplasticity, and these changes can be for the better or, the worse. This includes mindset and the concept of emotional resilience to pain, hardship and other life challenges.

The social portion refers to a person’s social supports and work environment. In a concussion injury, for example, many people have headaches. Still, it is how YOUR headaches affect your life, your work, your family, and it is YOUR biology that makes your headaches unique and specific to you.

So this term, biopsychosocial, is both a fancy word to describe three critical portions of our make up and also strings together the three portions because each of them is intimately linked to and inseparable from one another.

Physiotherapy as a profession is in a unique position to influence patient behaviour perhaps more so than any other health professional. We spend the time getting to know and understand our clients, and we have the clinical knowledge and expertise to understand the root cause of many conditions. In this way, physiotherapy is a profession best suited to the biopsychosocial model of care.

I’ve had a wonderful career that has taken me from the clinic to the fields of professional soccer, to caring for the son of a dictator, to biomechanics research, to writing ebooks on nutrition and frozen shoulder, to the creation of a concussion treatment program.

My clinical passion is to help people with complex injuries and conditions and to take on each case as a unique situation with unique solutions.

This has led me to become a concussion coach where I’ve also created a new system called the Concussion Compass Program. This involves combining each aspect of the biopsychosocial model with a simple series of tests and rehabilitation exercises to help people achieve results as rapidly as possible.

The net result of the Concussion Compass Program is that my clients take charge of their concussion recovery and approach their concussion from 4 directions at the same time.

I’ve had the privilege of giving my best to my clients for the past 25 years. The BioPsychoSocial model provides both a philosophy and a framework of clinical care to the way I approach working with each and every client.

Outside of clinical life, I sit on the board of directors of the Physiotherapy Association of British Columbia where I advocate for the physiotherapy profession across the province and am also working to improve nutrition education in the physiotherapy curriculum. I also sit on the University of Victoria’s Health Sciences Advisory Committee, where we oversee the health science courses delivered through the university.

Outside all the professional stuff, I’m a husband of 33 years and a father of 3 outstanding sons who have grown to become fine young men. I’d share the last few books I’ve read, but you can already see that I geek out a fair bit already so no need to reinforce that further 😊