Today we’re joined by none other than our 2024 Myotherapist of the Year, Steph Abu Awad. Steph is not only an incredible practitioner, but also a proud business owner who has built a thriving career in myotherapy.

Steph is a Myotherapist and Rehab/Strength Coach with a degree in Exercise Science and over 8 years of experience across private practice and high-performance settings. She is the founder of MyoStrength Performance, an allied health and injury rehab space she has grown over the past 4 years and just recently expanded into a brand-new facility. Drawing on her own experiences with pain, Steph is passionate about empowering clients through exercise, lifestyle, and education to address the root cause of their issues and achieve long-term change.  Alongside her clinical work, Steph is passionate about mentoring and educating the next generation of myotherapists to create lasting impact across the profession.

In this episode, she shares her journey — the challenges, the wins, and the lessons learned along the way — as well as what drives her passion for helping people through myotherapy. 

You can follow along with Steph through her instagram page - @thepainmyo

In this episode, Nadine Holgate, an Occupational Therapist and founder of Neurolinks, shares her expertise on the complex world of Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) and its often “hidden” impacts. Nadine unpacks what an ABI is, how it can occur, and the profound ways it can affect thinking, behaviour, and communication.

Through her 25 years of experience, Nadine offers valuable insights into the cognitive and behavioural challenges faced by people living with ABI — and how clinicians can better recognise and support these needs.

Whether you’re a myotherapist, allied health professional, or simply interested in the human side of neurorehabilitation, this conversation highlights the importance of collaboration across disciplines. Tune in to discover how myotherapists can play a meaningful role in recovery and help clients rebuild confidence, function, and connection after brain injury.

Register for Nadine's webinar "Brain Changes in Practice - Supporting Clients with Neurological Conditions" HERE

You can view Nadine's website here

Talking Sleep with Moira Junge.

Join us as we chat with Moira Junge from the Sleep Health Foundation about sleep, why it matters, how it impacts health, and what Myotherapists need to know for themselves and their clients.

Make sure you check out the free resources provided in the show notes!

Moira Junge - My Story Of Grief, Sleep, And The Paths They’ve Led Me On | Griefline

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) | Sleep Health Foundation

CBTi provider directory

Preventing Chronic Insomnia | Sleep Health Foundation

In this episode, we chat with Haydn Gambling and dive into the powerful technique of Counterstrain — a gentle, non-invasive manual therapy that’s gaining traction in the world of myotherapy. Whether you're a seasoned therapist or just starting out, understanding how Counterstrain works can elevate your clinical outcomes and expand your treatment options.

Tune in and discover why Counterstrain could be the missing piece in your therapeutic approach.

Informed Consent In Dry Needling—an area that can raise unique challenges and responsibilities for myotherapists.

Bodine is a Soft Tissue Therapist and Director of Education for ACE. He holds a Master of Educational Neuroscience and an Advanced Diploma of Health Science (soft tissue therapy). 

Recently, Bodine led an in-depth industry review exploring how informed consent in dry needling is currently being approached across manual therapy professions. From that review, some key recommendations emerged—designed to support therapists in delivering clearer, more consistent, and legally sound consent processes.

We’ll be unpacking what good, informed consent looks like in practice, why it matters, and how you can integrate these best-practice principles into your dry needling treatments with confidence.

On this episode we are joined by Keira Donegan, the Managing Editor of the Australian Journal of Dementia Care, Australia’s only dementia-specific journal. Since 2012, the AJDC has been a vital platform for bridging the gap between research and practice, sharing practical, evidence-based insights from experts around the world. We chat about what dementia is, how to understand the early signs, how myotherapists can best support those living with dementia, and discuss advice for navigating the often challenging topic of dementia with patients. 

https://journalofdementiacare.com/ 

Melinda is a certified practicing nutritionist and qualified counsellor working in private practice in Sydney’s inner west. She lectures in clinical nutrition, she at Torrens University, she is passionate about food as medicine and adopts a ‘food first’ approach to managing health and wellbeing wherever possible. 

She is a member of the Polio Australasia Clinical Advisory Group and an approved practitioner with the Australian Centre of Eating Behaviour. Melinda is a wealth of knowledge on making good food choices to help manage your health and fit with your lifestyle. 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/overallnutrition/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/overallnutrition/

Kimberley is a senior marketing, communications and stakeholder engagement professional with 15 years of experience across multiple industries including tourism, business events, government, aviation and professional services. 

As the Head of Marketing and Communications for Cyber Wardens, she is passionate about raising awareness around the importance of small business cyber security and empowering small business owners and employees to increase their cyber resilience and learn how to stay safe online. 
 

Today we are focusing on the relationship between exercise, movement and eating disorders and how this may present clinically with physiotherapist, Rebecca Gawler. In particular, we discuss how to assess, support and refer clients who exhibit signs and symptoms of a dysfunctional relationship with exercise and/or an eating disorder.

Bec is based in Melbourne and provides compassionate, inclusive, weight-neutral and trauma informed care. She has a strong interest in supporting those with eating disorders who are in the recovery process. This may include support to develop a positive relationship with movement, address bone density issues and manage associated musculoskeletal injuries, pain and tension. Bec also works with clients who are faced with the challenges of chronic illness and chronic pain, including hypermobility, POTS, CFS/ME, long COVID and fibromyalgia. She provides support in understanding these conditions, offering fatigue & pain management strategies and guidance in how to incorporate movement in helpful ways. 

For more information on how you can reach Bec and her follow her work, you can find her:

on Instagram @Intuitive.Movement_Physio

in clinic at Eat Love Live in Collingwood, Melbourne 

Welcome to the next episode of MyoMatters. Today we welcome Dan Rothenberg to the podcast. 

Daniel Rothenberg is a Sports Chiropractor and Strength & Conditioning Coach who is passionate about helping people with chronic pain rebuild their body so they can get back to feeling confident and regain their health and longevity.  Dan owns Scope Sports Injury & Exercise Clinic, which he opened to be able to help people with pain & injury make a full recovery by creating highly effective treatment & rehab plans, providing a clear diagnosis, an optimistic recovery strategy and by helping his patients return to exercise & meaningful activities.

Dan is based in Brisbane with his clinic in Ipswich and is here to talk to us about providing high value care for his patients through evidence based care of chronic back pain.