Our Team

Practice Principal & Senior Physiotherapist

Professional
Libby Austin is an experienced musculoskeletal and Olympic Sports Physiotherapist who founded Eastern Sports and Spinal Care. Libby is committed to maintaining the highest level of patient care with cutting edge treatment techniques and innovative exercise approaches to facilitate rapid recovery and optimum lifestyle.

She has a special interest in assisting clients with cancer to stay well throughout their treatment, to minimise side effects and maximise their recovery.  Libby sees men and women with all types of cancer both during and after their medical treatment to maintain well being, help manage fatique and regain strength and function.  It is never too early or too late to improve your quality of life.

Libby also has a special interest in current neuroscience particularly as it relates to clients with long standing pain conditions. She conducts pain education with individual clients as well as group workshops.

In 2011 she qualified in clinical hypnosis and uses this in conjunction with focused relaxation sessions to assist clients with stress management, pain control, anxiety and sleep problems.

Libby is committed to ongoing education to stay at the forefront of latest treatment approaches.

She has worked extensively with athletes from recreational and club level to Commonwealth Games and Olympic level, including the Australian Olympic and Commonwealth Games Team on three occasions and volunteered to work with overseas teams at the last Commonwealth games in Melbourne. She also has extensive experience working with clients from a diverse range of industries, cultures and lifestyles.

Personal
Libby enjoys cooking, camping, entertaining with friends, drawing and painting. When she has the chance she likes to go fishing on Kangaroo Island!

Qualifications
Ba App Sc Physiotherapy – 1980
Grad Dip Adv Manip Therapy
APA Sports Physiotherapist
Certified Pilates Practitioner
Certified Pinc and Steel Cancer Rehabilitation Physiotherapist

Senior Physiotherapist

Professional
Louise has a Masters in Manipulative Physiotherapist and particularly enjoys working in the area of postural pain syndromes and exercise based management. She has completed the Polestar Pilates training as part of her exercise focus.

She also has a special interest in the management of tendinopathies. In particular hip tendinopathy ( and bursitis) but also tennis elbow, rotator cuff pathology (shoulder) and achilles pain.

Personal
In her spare time Louise enjoys keeping active with cycling and walking around Adelaide and further afield when she gets the chance!

Qualifications
Ba.App.Sci. (Physio)
M.App.Sci. (Manip. Physio)

Physiotherapist

Professional

Rhianon joined our Physiotherapy team after completing her Bachelor of Physiotherapy in 2011.

Prior to undertaking physiotherapy studies Rhianon worked for many years as a Personal Trainer in the area of injury rehabilitation and return to work programs as well as goal orientated fitness programs. She also worked in childcare settings and for Robert de Castella’s futures program. Rhianon was the personal trainer for the SA Metropolitan Fire Service for 8 years and has also been the head trainer for 3 football clubs.

She has broad experience in musculoskeletal and sports injury management and has a special interest in neck injuries and related issues.

Over the last few years Rhianon has developed a special interest in Paediatric Physiotherapy and has been working as a clinical educator at the University of South Australia working with babies and children with gross motor delay and disability.

She also offers paediatric appointments in kindergartens, schools and childcare environments to help children further their development in a familiar space and help them achieve their milestones. We recognise the importance for a child to feel as though they fit in with others and can perform activities at an age appropriate level.  Rhianon has a good understanding of the age appropriate milestones and how to help children achieve them with play based treatment

In addition to working within the practice Rhianon also offers clients appointments at their personal gym to create gym programs that are tailored to their goals and injuries. She focuses on correct technique and use of both cardio and weighted machines in combination with techniques taught in Pilates classes to ensure that you are getting the most out of each work out.  Rhianon has had a lot of experience tailoring programs to:

• Women’s health           – post natal exercise program & issues with pelvic floor whilst exercising
• Adolescents                 – appropriate weight programs to complement fast growing young adolescents and postural issues

Personal
In her spare time, Rhianon enjoys gardening, cooking and keeping fit.

Qualifications
B. Physiotherapy

Physiotherapist

Professional

ESSC is really pleased to welcome back Lorna Ferguson to our team after 9 years of working and gaining experience elsewhere.

Lorna is a clinical Manipulative Physiotherapist with over 35 years experience.   She completed her undergraduate training at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. Following up on a keen interest in manipulative physiotherapy she then travelled to Australia to complete a Graduate Diploma in Manipulative Therapy (1989) and a Masters Degree in Physiotherapy (1994).

It is one of Lorna’s core beliefs that living your life to the full depends on developing and sustaining optimal lifelong movement and posture habits.   As part of this she encourages her patients to thoughtfully and consciously incorporate regular incidental exercises into their daily schedule (without raising a sweat!). She will be far more likely, therefore, to prescribe a straightforward stretching routine than a half-marathon.

Lorna enjoys analysing complex clinical presentations such as the problematic shoulder as well as other spinal and peripheral disorders. She is adept at designing and progressing functional stability programs for the upper body and the lower back/pelvis/hip area.

In the course of her professional life, Lorna has worked in both the public and private sector. She has been the physiotherapy representative on the child assessment team for the Southern Region of Adelaide, has developed and provided public health programs in back care for hospital staff while employed by the South Australian Health Commission and has worked with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Adelaide College of the Performing Arts.

Lorna is currently consulting on Monday afternoons and Thursday mornings.

 Personal

Outside work she is a lover of the fine arts and enjoys playing the piano.

Qualifications
Grad Dip Adv Manip Therapy
M.App.Sci. (Physio)

Physiotherapist

Professional
Since graduating in 1992, Andrew has worked in the hospital system for 10 years doing a wide variety of work followed by private practice work since 2011.

His special interest is in the management of neck pain and headaches but he has a broad range of experience in managing musculoskeletal problems with manual therapy, dry needling and exercise.

Personal
Andrew enjoys playing various musical instruments, writing and keeps fit by going to the gym.

Qualifications
Ba.App.Sci. (Physio)

Physiotherapist

Professional
Tenille is a recently qualified physiotherapist who is passionate about sports injury management, treatment and rehabilitation.
She has worked as a trainer for the West Adelaide Football Club for 3 years and is now the physiotherapist for the U16 and U18 SANFL teams.
Tenille has also been involved in hydrotherapy since 2014 and is a qualified floor Pilates instructor.
She has recently added a dry needing qualification to her repertoire.
Tenille is highly committed to developing her skills and knowledge to best achieve positive patient outcomes.

Personal
Tenille has played numerous sports and participated in many different physical activities however due to two knee constructions before the age of 18, has narrowed her interest to competitive aerobics, group fitness and running.

Qualifications
B. Physiotherapy