Reception team
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Paola has recently been promoted from Receptionist to the position of Head Receptionist!
Paola recently moved here from Italy as her husband is now working in England. When living in Italy, Paola put her Chemistry degree to good use and taught at secondary school level.
Paola has one daughter who she is settling into school here in Barnes. She is keen to improve her English language and has been taking lessons at Rose House. Please be patient with her!
Silvie Ita-Grof
Receptionist
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Silvie works two afternoons and evenings a week.
Silvie is a busy mum of two – a boy and girl. In her spare time she practises yoga and is a keen photographer.
Hilary Gibson
Receptionist
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Until May 2016 Hilary worked for 15 years as a PA and Office Administrator for a Labour Peer based in Richmond. A busy role requiring attention to detail to ensure the smooth running of the office and the ability to work with a wide variety of people!
Prior to that she spent 23 years working for the BBC, working in several different departments on the administration teams.
Hilary joins our team of Receptionists and will be covering the Reception on Monday and Tuesday daytimes and Saturday mornings.
Outside of work Heather’s interests lie in playing tennis, swimming and enjoying time with family.
Angela Ranger
Class Coordinator
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It is lovely to welcome Angela back after many years away. Angela trained and worked as a Physiotherapist and worked at the clinic when we were situated in Elm Bank Gardens in the early 1990’s. She has practised yoga and Pilates herself over the years and is now organising our programme of classes. If you are in any doubt as to which class to attend – Angela can guide you through our timetable and find the best class to suit your needs.
Physiotherapists
Diana Wilson
MCSP MMACP
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Diana trained as a chartered physiotherapist at the Middlesex Hospital in central London and qualified in 1980. She went on to practise physiotherapy at some of the major London teaching hospitals – managing the out-patient departments at St Bartholomew’s and Charing Cross Hospital.
In 1997 she went on to take some additional training and examinations in manual therapy which enabled her to become a member of the Manipulation Association of Chartered Physiotherapists – an organisation that strives to maintain high standards of patient care through education and continuous professional development.
In 1993 Diana set up the Barnes Physiotherapy and Sports Clinic in Elm Bank Gardens but by 2005 she had outgrown the premises and moved to The Old Ticket office at Barnes Bridge Station and rebranded as Physio on the River. These new lighter, brighter and more spacious premises allowed her to expand the services on offer and provide a one stop clinic for the treatment of everyday aches and pains and injury management.
Diana particularly enjoys working in Barnes village because it gives her the opportunity to provide a much more personal service and to get to know individuals and their families really well. Some of her current clients have been loyal customers for 20 years!
Richard Game
BSc MSc
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Richard is a graduate in both sports science and physiotherapy and has also gained a masters degree in management of pain from Kings College, London.
Richard joined the practice with experience working in private and public sectors in both the UK and New Zealand and has special interests in back pain, sports rehabilitation and biomechanics. As well as having excellent manual therapy skills, Richard is also trained in the use of acupuncture for pain relief. The combination of sports science and physiotherapy degrees has given him real expertise in the area of sports rehabilitation.
Richard is married with three young sons who he describes as ‘my portable workout’! This, and his passion for rugby, keeps him busy in his spare time. With three children of his own Richard has a special talent for getting the best out of youngsters!
Dave Burnett
BSc Physiotherapy & MSc Advanced Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy
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Dave studied Sports Science prior to training in Physiotherapy and specialised in Sports Biomechanics. He completed his Masters degree in Advanced Physiotherapy (MSc MACP) in 2013 and has over 12 years experience.
He previously worked in the NHS as an Orthopaedic Practitioner alongside Consultants in the diagnosis and management of musculoskeletal and orthopaedic conditions, and continues working as a Physiotherapy Practitioner in the NHS. Dave has excellent manual therapy skills and is acupuncture and Pilates trained.
He is passionate about rehabilitation of sports injuries and has a special interest in treating golfers and runners. He is a Titleist accredited Golf physiotherapist and offers High Speed Video running gait analysis as part of Physio on the River’s newly developing Running Clinic. He is keen on sports specific strength & conditioning and firmly believes in treating to prevent injuries rather than stopping at the short-term fix!
In his spare time he enjoys circuit training and when he’s not running around after his two little girls at home he tries to reduce his golf handicap!
Fiona Buchanan
BSc, MCSP, Physiotherapist and Pilates Instructor
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Fiona qualified with a Physiotherapy degree from the University of Brighton in 1996 and has undertaken postgraduate training in women’s health Physiotherapy with the POGP. Having previously worked as a Physiotherapist for the NHS and the Army she has gained extensive experience in treating musculoskeletal problems and teaching Pilates in a clinical setting and is an APPI Certified Pilates Instructor.
In her spare time Fiona enjoys running, swimming, cycling and has personally experienced the benefits of Pilates on her sporting performance in triathlon and with recovery from various injuries. She also has a special interest in treating animals and works part time as a Veterinary Physiotherapist.
Massage and Podiatry
Alice Fattorini
Sports and Remedial Massage Therapist, Pregnancy Massage
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Alice has a BTEC level 5 Diploma in Clinical Sports and Remedial Massage therapy and a Diploma in Pregnancy Massage. She is a member of the Institute of Sports and Remedial Massage (ISRM).
Her treatments include Deep Tissue Massage, Soft Tissue Release, Muscle Energy Techniques and Pregnancy and Post-Natal Massage.
She also worked as a volunteer massaging the Canadian Rugby team during the Rugby World Cup in September 2015.
She aims to find and treat the deep root cause of any problem areas, breaking down fascial adhesions and scar tissue, thereby allowing the muscle fibres to move more freely preventing further injuries.
She also advocates regular ‘maintenance’ massage in order to keep the body in good working order, much as one gives a car an MOT!
Alice enjoys swimming and practices and teaches Yoga. She finds Yoga complements the Sports Massage as it works to realign the body, strengthen the core and calm the mind. She often recommends Yoga stretches and strengthening exercises following treatment in order to aid injury recovery and improve posture.
Alice joined the Physio on the River team in early 2016 and is available on Wednesday afternoons from 3 pm to 8 pm.
Ruth Voon
Sports and Remedial Massage Therapist
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Ruth started her career as a contemporary dancer for 15 years in the UK and abroad. She has always been fascinated with the human body and having had an injury which was helped by massage she started to explore this as a career.
Ruth is a qualified Sports and Hollistic Massage Therapist gaining her ITEC level 3 & 4 qualification from St Mary’s University College.
She is also a Yoga teacher and fitness instructor. Ruth has also volunteered as a Massage Therapist for the London Marathon.
In her spare time she enjoys practising Yoga and enjoying the Arts.
Ruth is available on Fridays from 8 am – 12 noon and Saturday mornings from 8.30 am – 12.30 pm.
Rachel Jarvis
Sports and Remedial Massage Therapist
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Rachel has a BTEC Level 5 Diploma is Sports and Remedial Massage and is a member of the Association of Soft Tissue Therapists (SMA).
During her treatments Rachel uses advanced massage and remedial techniques to create a bespoke treatment plan designed for you and your body; she believes that sports massage can benefit everyone, not just the athletes amongst us.
Her aim for each session is to use massage for ongoing performance benefits through addressing the cause of any neuromuscular pain, correcting imbalances and removing any restrictions or adhesions.
She has volunteered to do charity post event massage at several large events, such as London and Brighton Marathons, London Triathlon and Prudential RideLondon.
Rachel’s passion for sports massage stems from her personal experience of receiving regular treatments as part of her own recovery plan when she was training for endurance events. Her first-hand experience gives her valuable insight into the stresses and strains associated with training for sporting events.
She now advocates routine maintenance treatments forming an integral part of any training plan, or even to have a routine “MOT”.
Rachel enjoys challenging herself through endurance events and has cycled across America and completed LEJOG Lands End to John O’Groats!). However more recently she has become more of a runner and is a bit of a self-confessed “have-a-go” triathlete.
Sas Ahmadi
Podiatrist
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Sas graduated with honours as a Podiatrist from UCL Medical School. He is a Musculoskeletal Podiatrist with a special interest in Biomechanics – the science of human movement. In addition, he is the lead Podiatrist in Biomechanics at a large teaching hospital.
Sas’ main area of interest is the treatment of repetitive sports injuries through analysis of movement and compensation patterns. He has treated a number of athletes including elite sportsmen and sportswomen, as well as those who enjoy sport for leisure.
Pilates
Victoria Twelves
Pilates Teacher
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Victoria has a background in ballet and Latin dance styles and has been practising Pilates herself for over 20 years. After her initial scepticism, the penny dropped and she became hooked on the method! Pilates has been her passion ever since and in 2004 she qualified as a Pilates instructor with the Body Control Pilates Association. She continues to develop her teaching skills and her own body awareness by regularly attending classes, training courses and workshops that progress her knowledge of movement theory and practice and keep her up to date with the latest industry developments. Victoria applies her teaching skills to reformer and matwork pilates classes both privately and in boutique studios around London. Pilates workouts with fresh variations are what you should expect from her classes.
Victoria finds the communication with the physiotherapists at Physio on the River is an added advantage to her Pilates teaching. She finds Pilates to be the very best way to find balance and strength in her own body and hopes to pass on to others her experience of the many benefits that Pilates can offer.
Jill Taylor
Pilates Teacher
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Jill really enjoys helping people master Pilates exercises by offering individual attention within her classes. Pilates has helped her from operation and injury and continues to keep her toned, fit and healthy.
Originally Jill qualified in Body-Centred Psychotherapy in 1992 and also worked as a nurse for more than 15 years. Then in 2002 Jill trained as a Pilates teacher, observing that this form of exercise benefits not only the body, but the mind and spirit also. She studied with Alan Herdman, who teaches both classic and rehabilitative Pilates that particularly accords with Jill’s nursing background. Jill also enjoys teaching the more active forms of classical Pilates, as practised in the USA, where she has also done some training.
Jill’s enthusiasm for teaching Pilates is constantly renewed by seeing the results in her clients’ posture and sense of wellbeing.
Lisa Pearce-Higgins
Pilates Teacher
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After a career break from being a Chartered Accountant to bring up her three children, Lisa decided to retrain as a Pilates Teacher. In 2012 she embarked on the renowned BASI Comprehensive Teacher Training programme held by Amit Younger at his London studio. She qualified as a mat and equipment teacher in 2013 and has been teaching both privately and in studios ever since.
Lisa enjoys working with clients of all ages and abilities, encouraging everyone to explore their own potential for movement and improve their general fitness and well-being.
Lisa has always been enthusiastic about exercise participating in many forms including running, tennis, aerobics and Pilates.
Kamila Blackborn
Pilates Teacher
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Kamila came from the Czech Republic to the UK in 2001. She was always very sporty but suffered a knee injury on a skiing holiday which meant she couldn’t play sport as she had previously enjoyed. So she joined a Pilates Class and was amazed at how much it helped her with her recovery.
She fell in love with the Pilates method of exercise and so explored the possibility of becoming an instructor herself. In 2010 I finally decided to join the BASI teacher training program with Amit Younger.
Kamila is passionate about teaching Pilates and believes it will change your body and mind. Her classes are mat based and designed to suit each individual and to accomodate any physical condition using appropriate modifications.
Kamila has also trained in pre and postnatal Pilates.
Fiona Buchanan
Pilates Teacher
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Fiona joins the practice as an APPI (The Australian Physiotherapy and Pilates Institute) Certified Pilates Instructor. Fiona is both a Physiotherapist and Pilates teacher. Her experience and knowledge as a Physiotherapist helps her to apply Pilates and teach it to those with a whole range of everyday aches and pains. The APPI approach is slightly different to the more pure ‘schools’ of Pilates – having a greater repertoire of exercises to suit all levels and abilities.
In her spare time Fiona enjoys running, swimming and cycling and has personally experienced the benefits of Pilates on her sporting performance in triathlon and with recovery from various injuries. She also has a special interest in treating animals and works part time as a Veterinary Physiotherapist.
Sophie Burnham
Dance and exercise teacher
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Sophie has been teaching for over 20 years – a variety of ballet, dance fitness, Modern, Jazz and Tap dancing classes as well as being involved in Musical theatre and personal dance training for children and adults.
Sophie is qualified with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance. She is also qualified as an ETM Level 2 teacher for group fitness. Furthermore she undergoing her Level 3 personal training course and in Booty Barre.
So with this wide background she is perfectly suited to teach our new Dance, Tone and Stretch class. This is a fusion of classical ballet exercises with modern fitness concepts and Pilates exercise to improve posture, balance and core strength whilst lengthening and stretching the entire body! And what’s more it’s all set to music!
Yoga
Jo Walder
Yoga Teacher
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Jo has been practising yoga for 20 years, throughout her previous career in law and she is so grateful to be able to share her experience of yoga with others.
She aims to facilitate in students a sense of wellness through mindful movement linked with breath. Her classes address postural issues and injuries caused by modern lifestyles, encouraging positive habitual movement patterns, improved body awareness, greater strength and the freeing up of tight areas of the body. Challenging and creative sequencing brings a sense of exploration and fun to her teaching!
Pagan Hopkinson
Yoga Teacher
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Pagan has been practising yoga for about 13 years. Her training was under Simon Low with the Yoga Academy and Triyoga. She teaches classical Hatha yoga and has also trained to teach pregnancy and kids yoga.
Yoga has been a big part of her life and she feels she has personally benefited from both the physical practice of postures, which have enhanced her balance, strength and flexibility and also through the practice of “pranayama”. Prana refers to the breath and ayama means stretch or extend. Pranayama is the control, harmonisation and integration of prana through the regulation of the breath. This then leads the mind and body to be ready for meditation. Stilling the mind enables mental clarity and poise. Pagan particularly appreciates this combination of mind and body therapy.
Diane King
Yoga Teacher
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Diane initially came to yoga thirteen years ago as a way of relieving the stress of working in the corporate world in London. In 2005 she embarked on a Yoga Teacher Training Programme with the Simon Low Yoga Academy which she graduated from in October 2006. She is a British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) accredited teacher and Yoga Alliance registered teacher (200 Level). In addition to her foundation Hatha training, she has studied in depth with Francoise Barbira Freedman PhD of the Birthlight Foundation, obtaining diplomas in Pre/Post Natal, Baby and Fertility Yoga. One of her key areas of interest is therapeutic yoga and women’s health. She studied Well-Woman Yoga Therapy with Uma Dinsmore Tuli and Restorative Yoga with Judith Lasater, both of whom looked at the different ways yoga can support the body to facilitate relaxation, health, vitality and a deep sense of rest and inner calm.
She has taught in both London and Hong Kong and observes that Yoga is the best tool you can have to keep your sense of grounding, centre and inner stillness in fast moving, externally focused cities. In the teaching of yoga, she looks to create a balanced practice between dynamic and restorative poses, focusing on breath, alignment and releasing tension from the mind and body.
Diane believes that we teach what we need to learn. She looks at ways that yoga can help manage our stress and transfer what we learn about ourselves on our yoga mats to our daily existence. Her style is honest and open and encourages us to find the humility and humour in ourselves that can help us along the difficult path of life.
Sabina Ricci
Yoga Teacher
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Sabina’s passion for movement started early in her life, having studied ballet for many years from a very young age. She only found yoga in her late thirties and it was thanks to Ellie Redcliffe’s classes that she fell in love with the practice.
She realised there was so much more to yoga that just the physical exercise and, encouraged by Ellie, she decided to embark on a teacher training course in order to deepen her understanding of this discipline and improve her practice.
She spent time in New York training with the incredibly inspirational teacher Dana Flynn amongst others at the Laughing Lotus Yoga Centre. A year later she left her job as a Physics teacher to share her passion for yoga with others by teaching full time.
Sabina believes that yoga puts us in touch with our true self and helps us put things into perspective. Sabina’s classes are Dynamic Vinyasa classes in which the transitions between poses are as important as the poses themselves. Her classes are infused with positivity and a sense of humour and are suitable for all levels.