Michelle Michael
Michelle
Chartered Physiotherapist and Home Physio Coordinator
Qualification: BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy. HCPC registered.
Area covered: Newcastle, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham
Michelle is one of our Home Physio Coordinators helping facilitate patient referrals, answer any questions or concerns from patients and families and connect new patients with one of our excellent physiotherapists. She is also a physiotherapist with her own clinical caseload.
Michelle is a North East physiotherapist in the fullest sense. She qualified with a BSc (Hons) in Physiotherapy from Northumbria University, and trained on the orthopaedic team at the Freeman Hospital across both elective and trauma surgery, with further placements in domiciliary community and palliative care, stroke rehabilitation and facilitated discharge, community paediatrics, and elderly and medical care across Newcastle, Sunderland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Gateshead.
For nine years she was Palliative Physiotherapist and Wellbeing Lead at St Clare’s Hospice in Jarrow, where she was the only allied health professional on site — responsible for the physiotherapy service, for falls and balance work with patients and their carers, for breathlessness and fatigue management, and for training hospice staff in falls prevention and moving and handling. She went on to build and lead the hospice’s Wellbeing Service.
Michelle has extensive experience working primarily with patients with neurological, respiratory and both pre-op and post-op orthopaedic rehabilitation needs. She has worked in many areas in both Community settings and Residential/ Nursing and Specialist Hospice Care Settings for both the Private and Charity Sector. Having extensively worked in the fields of palliative care and oncology and with those living with complex neurological and respiratory conditions as well as towards the end of life, Michelle holds qualifications in Cancer-Exercise Rehabilitation and Gym Instruction, and is a Cancer and Exercise Specialist for the charity Cyclists Fighting Cancer. She is also trained in acupuncture for symptom management and pain relief (Full body and Auricular), and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which has been useful when providing Physiotherapy across GP surgeries with predominantly MSK patients, and those experiencing anxiety and trauma. Michelle is also an accredited ATACP Aquatic Therapist, providing hydrotherapy to those pre and post operative orthopaedic patients, and those generally wishing to improve strength and flexibility through water therapy. In recent years Michelle has developed and taught exercise classes for older people covering falls prevention, balance, general strength and conditioning and is a Physical Activity Volunteer for Versus Arthritis, delivering their specialist Chi Me/ Tai Chi programme.
“It is a privilege to support my patients through physiotherapy during what can often be a challenging time in their lives. I enjoy working closely with my patients, enabling them to reach their goals and potential in whatever life circumstance they find themselves in”.
Interesting fact:
Before she was a physiotherapist, Michelle was a social worker for thirteen years, in child protection and family placement for South Tyneside Council and for Northumberland County Council in Morpeth. She still supports an independent fostering agency as Vice Chair of its fostering panel, and assists Northumbria University with its brain and cognition research.
Michelle spent several months living and working in Tibet and she embraces holistic and artistic differences.
Michelle is a triathlete and marathon runner. She has run the Great North Run every year for the last fifteen years, along with the New York, Paris, Chicago and Berlin marathons, and has completed the Coast to Coast and London to Paris cycling challenges — much of it raising money for St Clare’s Hospice. She is a trail runner, a guide for long-distance walkers, keeps an allotment, and is at St James’ Park for the home games.