Amanda Pearse (nee George)
BSc(Hons) Physiotherapy, MHPrac (Hons) Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy, PG Cert HSc (Acupuncture), MMACP, MNZMPA, MNZSP/Co-director
Amanda qualified in 1996 in Aberdeen, Scotland, and is a musculoskeletal physiotherapist specialising in occupational health, and pain management. She worked in Scotland between 1996-2002, commencing in occupational health in 1998. In 2002 she moved to New Zealand, continuing to work as an occupational health physiotherapist.
From 2000-2002, she was responsible for the Occupational Health service for 7,500 hospital employees in Aberdeen, and set up a clinical service for staff, including:
Designing rehabilitation programmes for employees off/struggling at work and altering their duties/hours to encourage an early return to work.
Providing advice, education and worksite assessments.
Instigating a self referral process, with the physiotherapist being the first point of contact.
Maintaining the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy's clinical standards.
Working closely alongside Occupational Health and the risk management advisory service.
Concurrent with this she worked as the lead spinal physiotherapist at the orthopaedic triage clinic working with an orthopaedic consultant. This involved patient assessment, requesting and interpreting x-rays, bloods and MRI scans and deciding the appropriate management.
In New Zealand from 2002 onwards she worked for Taranaki District Health Board as senior Physiotherapist on the vocational rehabilitation and pain management contracts of Graduated Return to Work Programme, Activity Based Programmes, Functional Capacity Evaluation and Comprehensive Pain Assessment, before setting up Therapy Works in 2004 with Michelle.
She completed postgraduate studies at AUT, Auckland in 2006, graduating with a Masters of Health Practice (Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy) - first class honours and a PG Cert in Health Science (Acupuncture). Her main area of interest is low back pain, and she has presented on this subject at the New Zealand Physiotherapist conference 2005.