Building Function

In this episode of 'Building Function,' we take a dive into the world of NextStep New Zealand - a rehabilitation facility in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. We'll explore who they are, the individuals they assist, and their unique approach to breaking down barriers for those with diverse exercise and rehab needs. Join us as we discuss the landscape of exercise physiology in New Zeal...

Meet Marissa and Taisia, general practitioners who've taken a fascinating detour into the world of lifestyle medicine. In this episode, we sit down for a chat with these two about what sparked their shift from typical medical practice to the more holistic approach of lifestyle medicine. Ever wondered what it really means to embrace a lifestyle-based health strategy? They've got you cover...

In this episode of the Building Function Podcast, we had the privilege of interviewing Fiona Charlton, a remarkable individual who, despite living with chronic illness, continues to make a positive impact. Fiona, is the President of ANZMES (The ME Society of New Zealand) and Complex Chronic Illness Support Inc.  We chat about Fiona’s personal journey with ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) and the imp...

Join us on Episode 20 of the Building Function Podcast, as we dive into the world of building effective remote teams. Our special guest today is Lisa George, the visionary founder of Momentum Rehab, a leading remote team of Occupational Therapists in Australia. Lisa's journey began in 2004 when she established Momentum Rehab as a purely remote business, long before remote work became mainstre...

In this episode of the Building Function podcast, host Tessa sits down with Cara Leyton, founder of the corrective movement business, Intension. With a personal history of chronic pain, Cara spent her Master's degree studying lower back pain and posture. She spent five years as a Sports Therapist before launching Intension earlier this year.  Tessa chats with Cara about her journey into the e...

Today, we are delving into the topic of chronic pain, why it is such a complex condition to work with, and some of the things we wish we knew when we first started practising as EP’s. We talk about the difference between trying to ‘fix’ someones chronic pain condition versus supporting and guiding them. Daniel’s openness and honesty about his learnings over the past few years is refreshing, and re...

“Connecting the dots between psychology and physiology in female elite sports” In this episode Yolanda speaks to Dr Katie Schofield, Sport Scientist and Performance Nutritionist from Cambridge, New Zealand. Katie represented New Zealand as an elite track cyclist and it was during this time that she was diagnosed with RED-S. Katie decided to pursue a PhD in RED-S to investigate the interplay betwee...

***Disclaimer: If you or anyone you know are experiencing any mental health symptoms, please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636. “If it’s important to us, we need to make the time” In today’s episode we talk to Alicia Gibbs, an incredibly experienced Sydney-based Rehabilitation Coordinator at a major insurance company, who is also a Mentor and Telephone Crisis Volunteer at...

Today we’re talking to Nicolette Ellis, an advanced practice pharmacist with specialised clinical experience in persistent pain, cancer pain, Substance Use Disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome and mental health conditions. Nicolette is a Program Manager at Brisbane South Primary Health, in addition to being a Senior Clinical Pharmacist at Beyond Pain and the Vice President of Chronic Pain Australia....

On today’s podcast the team delves into the topic of mindfulness and meditation. Yolanda, Tessa and Dan discuss what mindfulness entails, and how they came to be aware of and practice mindfulness themselves.  We discuss some of the literature and research supporting the use of mindfulness in various populations, in addition to some of the self-reported benefits and physiological adaptations that o...

On today’s podcast we talk to Jessica Allan, a fellow exercise physiologist out of Christchurch who is currently undertaking some important exercise-based research in cancer populations with her colleague, Dr Linda Buss. We discuss Jessica’s studies and experiences as an EP in her homeland of New Zealand and from her time in Western Australia, and the differences between the two. We also delve int...

On today’s podcast we talk to the inimitable Dr Jonny Lo about all-things surfing and his background in medicine and technology, as well as discussing the recent CancerAid Study! Dr Jonny Lo has had an incredible career to date and brings a wealth of experience to the Building Function podcast. We discuss the rationale and significance of the recent CancerAid Study, what exactly the CancerAid prog...

“There’s an issue with the software, not the hardware” On today’s podcast we talk to fellow Specialised Health Exercise Physiologist Jennifer Smallridge about all things invisible illnesses! These include but are not limited to conditions such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and specifically on todays podcast, POTS, or Postural Orthostatic Tachicardia Syndrome.  J...

Anjelo Ratnachandra is the founder of Beyond Pain and an award-winning practitioner who established one of the first private chronic pain physiotherapy services in Australia. Anjelo and his team based in Melbourne help patients with chronic pain conditions to overcome their challenges and build their function and nowadays Anjelo has become popular not only as a practitioner but also for running hi...

Today, our NZ-based EP Tessa Nielsen takes the mike to interview a good friend of hers - Api Taiapa - who works as an organisational psychologist in the Air Force in Blenheim, NZ.  Api gives us some great insight into his favourite areas of psychology, maintaining our mental health and how organisations can better support mental health in the fast-paced world we live in. They talk about how exerci...

Georgia Devine is a Melbourne based Exercise Physiologist working within the Specialised Health team, however, Georgia is one of those remarkable individuals who manages to go ahead and continue studying and so is currently working her way through her Masters of Psychology.  For that reason we thought Georgia would be a great one to chat to in regards to Burnout, what it is and what you can do to...

In this episode, we were lucky enough to rope in Carmyn Barnes to come and have a chat with us about her experience working in the field of Exercise Physiology in New Zealand! Carmyn studied and worked as an Exercise Physiologist (known as a biokineticist) in South Africa, before crossing the globe to end up in New Zealand. Coming from a country where EP's are well known and well embedded int...

This was an absolute pleasure of a conversation that was immensely enjoyable for me and i'm sure you'll love it too. Brad McGregor is a lifetime learner and passionate teacher of all topics related to fitness, strength, conditioning and exercise physiology. Brad is one of the most highly sought after Exercise Physiologists in Brisbane and when plying his trade with our company, Specialis...

In this episode we discuss our novel approach to fatigue management which involves helping patients to track various biometric factors such as step count, heart rate and our "hero" metric, Heart Rate Variability, in order to better quantify the loads being placed on their body and using this information to tailor their activity plans more specifically. We discuss the updated NICE guideli...

Whether it's related to the pandemic or whether we were already trending this way, the incidence of mental health conditions is on the rise. In the general public, there is more awareness of what the symptoms of mental ill-health are, there are more people sourcing treatment and there's less stigma attached to those who are seeking help. But if the general public is improving in all aspe...

Ever since George Engel theorised about the Biopsychosocial approach to rehabilitation in 1977 it's fair to say that the model has caught fire in the rehab world. The number of studies published on PubMed each year, focusing on the BPS model, has increased 30x from around 11 studies in 1980 to 319 studies in the year 2019. So why is it so popular and what are the components that need to be fo...

In this first episode of Building Function you'll get to know us, the hosts, Brad, Aidan and Yolanda and find out why we wanted to start the only (from what we're aware) podcast about working as Exercise Physiologists in the insurance world... Find out how, or if, they can explain Exercise Physiology in 10seconds or less... What is the difference between Exercise Physiology and Physiothe...