Please note that it is a policy of Zen Physio to charge a fee should you have to cancel within 24Hrs of your appointment time.
On the first occasion there is a reduced fee of £20 to cover room rent and my admin time.
On the second occasion there will be a full charge of £45 to pay for the room rent in a clinic or home visit if I cannot find another client to take your place.
As I am self-employed, I do not have the luxury of sick pay or holiday pay so would appreciate your comprehension of this policy.
Many Thanks.

If you would like some advice for your condition within the realms of General Physio or Neuro-Physio but you live further away than is possible for you to visit me or me you, then contact me regarding your condition and I will fix up an online consultation which will take up to 40 mins and cost £50 which can be done by transfer prior to the session. With long waiting lists to see NHS Physios this may be a useful option for some. I will provide a suspected diagnosis, exercises, stretches and advice from 24yrs professional practice to enable you to get on top of your issue.

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Laser Healing
Lasers can be used to resolve trigger points in muscles and with the THOR Laser Max, Mike can work on resolving issues by finding and treating sore points in muscles (using his knowledge of acupuncture and using the acu-locator laser) and use Red Light and Infrared clusters to improve lymphatics, reduce inflammation even improve stem cell production to more fully heal whatever needs to be worked on.

Michael has been a physio for 25 years and has a steady flow of people with;

Shoulder problems (usually rotator cuff strains),
Back problems (often lower back muscle strains or between the shoulder blades),
Hip issues (often ilio-psoas or long term arthritis),
Neck pain (sudden onset or postural),
Knee pain (often cartilage from injury),

And much more, from respiratory problems (asthma, COPD), migraines, foot pain, (often plantar fasciitis), and much more.

I have seen each of these so often.  In terms of treatment, I use,

Massage/trigger points/some myofascial/acupuncture for pain relief/ Bowen Technique/Cranio-Sacral/Breathwork/Therapeutic Ultrasound/ Neurostimulation with electrotherapy, also, I have used elements of Hypnotherapy, NLP and Coaching occassionally.

Besides treatments though, I also give exercises that you can continue at home and a lot of advice which may involve discussion of de-stressing, breathwork, complementary approaches, understanding medications, diet, supplementation and psychotherapeutic approaches – So be prepared to make some notes :).

These help to understand psychological and emotional elements surrounding some physical issues. This is the Holistic side of the Physiotherapy that I offer and provides a contrast with the NHS Physio these days, that only has time to offer a diagnosis and sheet of exercises.

In the NHS we would be given three to six sessions to help people and I would still recommend considering the same number of sessions depending on the severity or acute/chronic nature of your problem.

I can usually give people a lot of reassurance and interpret/debunk what they have been told by their doctors, consultants or other therapists.

So I would call myself a generalist.

I used to specialise in Multiple Sclerosis, Strokes and other Neurological conditions (see NeuroPhysio under Services), but nowadays I generally have something to offer for all conditions whether it be motivation, understanding the mind-body connection, or just the basics of recovering after injury or surgery.

Book an appointment with Michael on 07956 409300.

We are very lucky in this country to have the NHS. 
When someone has a stroke, they are taken to hospital where they are managed by a medical team who hopefully manage and stabilise their condition.  Then it is up to the Physiotherapy team to help get them up and back on their feet, hopefully with intensive daily therapy until they are at least up and walking with a stick and are able to be discharged home.

This, in my experience is when the real problems start, when the person who has had the stroke and their families have to deal with the massive change.  The Occupational Therapists, Social Workers, Speech and Language Therapists and Physiotherapists may well come and give a few more visits, hopefully at home but then the progress can just stop.

The NHS doesn’t have the resources to continue treating people indefinitely even if continued therapy would be really useful and improve that person’s quality of life considerably.

This is where private Neuro Physio comes in and there is not much out there.  If you were lucky enough to be insured then you will get extra sessions of physio usually at the local private hospital.

In my experience there is inevitably a shortfall of support, good advice, and ongoing strategies and programmes in place or on hand to help the individuals affected and their families, assimilate the changes in their lives and strive to reach their highest potential in terms of the fullest recovery.

In some cases I have referred clients on for counselling and even hypnotism to relieve their anxieties and trauma, in others I have found them appropriate ankle (knee/wrist/hand) braces to help with foot/drop (where the person due to weakness has trouble lifting up their toes during walking) and other aids or discussed other issues which may arise.  The key thing is offering a holistic and experienced service to people who are trying to recover the best they can.

In the MS Centre where I am mainly based, I ran Positivity for Health groups for years as I feel that a positive mental attitude is crucial for us to achieve our goals.  We discussed many modalites and techniques from meditation to nutrition and we all have gained a great deal of support from it.

OvercomingMultipleSclerosis.org is a great source of info for those with MS but also for anyone who wants to see some great research and advice on nutrition for optimal health.

I am particularly interested in Functional Medicine’s approach to assessing, informing and treating regarding our finding the road to our fullest health.  The most recent book along these lines is ‘Beat Autoimmune’ by Palmer Kippola (I’ve linked the podcast from Dr Pompa above).

Michael has worked with people with MS in the South West MS Therapies Centre in Exeter since 2004.

He has seen how people can improve, maintain or decline with their symptoms over a decade or more.

Most of the people he sees on a regular basis are wanting to keep as fit as possible, to keep on top of any symptoms they may have and to address musculoskeletal problems, especially tightness, spasm, stress, balance, strengthening, joint and muscle imbalance, core stability, pelvic floor strengthening and to help with the pain.

For fatigue and brain fog, Michael has found that regular breathing exercises and the Higher Brain Living sessions can help and many find the Hyperbaric Oxygen can give a good energy boost as well as help with bladder problems and sleeping.

At the MS Centre there is a great well-equipped gym with parallel bars, wall bars, treadmill, Balance-master, VibroGym, Active-Passive exercise bikes to exercise arms or legs (can even be used from a wheelchair), LEVO Chair (which can stand people up straight from a sitting position and much more.

Michael has run Positivity for Health groups over the years which has demonstrated the importance of a positive mental attitude with MS as well as life in general. Also there was an OMS weekly group that was helpful in motivating and clarifying the work of Dr George Jelinek with extensive advice regarding supplements (especially Vit D) and diet.

It was 20 years ago that my first rotation as a student physio brought me to what I felt was the most rewarding of jobs for a Physiotherapist.  When someone has a stroke, which is a bleed or a blockage in the brain, it dramatically and suddenly changes their life.  They may be left with significant brain damage, with any level of disability from being bedridden for the rest of their life or with one side of their body paralysed (hemiplegia) or a slight limp or loss of fine, precise movement in one hand.

After the person wakes up in the hospital it might take a few days for them to be assessed to see what damage has occurred in the brain and whether it was a bleed or a blockage (which affects what meds are appropriate).

Once the swelling reduces from the brain injury and or the bleed is under control, it is up to the physios to get the person up out of bed and get walking again.

The others in the team are the consultant, doctor, occupational therapist, social worker, and of course, the nurses.

At the end of 2015 Mike went to Mexico to a Higher Brain Living retreat which blew him away, so much that he went to Chicago in 2016/7 to train and become the first to bring the technique back to the UK.

This involved coaching based on Ken Wilbers’ Integral Theory, energising movement, energetic touch and breath, all very exciting and effective

Mike has used meditation and mindfulness a lot for himself and this has helped him to find peace and an understanding of Fundamental Well-Being.

In Breathwork Mike has been lucky enough to do workshops with Dr Stanislav Grof, the creator of Holotropic Breathwork and Leonard Orr who wrote the seminal ‘Rebirthing in the New Age’ in the 1970’s. Breathwork is such an easy way to get into the psyche/unconscious that it should be taught in primary schools especially as breath is a primary requirement for life it is common sense to learn about it and educate yourself in its many varieties. On a recent holiday Mike came across the excellent ‘Breath’ by James Nestor which is a must-read for anyone interested or involved in Breathwork.

Since 2022 Mike has been running regular workshops to give a taster of Breathwork in Totnes at the Seven Stars so contact him if you are interested, (he currently has a winter series running once a month from November 23 to Jan 24)