Riley Bodger

Physiotherapist

Riley adds to our list of legend Physio’s stemming from across the ditch in NZ.  Almost considering herself as an Aussie local, she has been living and working in Melbourne for the past 10 years. We met Riley some years back and have been trying to entice her to Sydney ever since. Fortunately for us she has now made the move and decided to settle on the Northern Beaches.

She has held some high-profile positions in Private Practice and various Athletic Performance Centres with high profile Athletes. Throughout her Physio career she has always been involved with sports teams, and most recently worked for 4 years as Head Medical at Carlton Football AFLW. The remainder of her time she spent working in Private Practice since 2008.

She has always had a passion for sports and been lucky enough to work with incredible athletes throughout her career. Riley feels that the ability to support and rehab an athlete from acute injury to return to sport, at sometimes the highest level of their discipline, is truly a humbling and rewarding experience.

In this setting, she has learnt an incredible amount alongside other health professionals including Sports Drs, GP’s, exercise physiologists, dieticians etc. In her experience, this collaborative and holistic approach is what achieves an outcome that is sometimes deemed impossible or unlikely.

She reminds herself of this in any area that she works, collaborating with those around her whenever needed, and always striving to obtain the best outcome for her patient.

Along with her MSK and Sports treatment skills, Riley is also a qualified Pilates instructor having been teaching Pilates for 10 + years in 1:1, rehab, and group fitness settings.

The main reason Riley loves Pilates is that it empowers patients to move and brings them back into control of their own bodies.

Often injuries can induce fear in our patients, and because of lack of education or awareness they feel like the only option is to stop moving in case they make things worse. Movement is key, combining our hands on treatment with a progressive rehab plan such as Pilates is how Riley is able to create the long-term changes and results

With a list on Ongoing Education as long as my arm, she has an arsenal of treatment techniques including commonly requested Dry needling, muscle energy and manipulative manual therapy amongst the many other options. She loves the challenge of deciphering which tool will work best for which patient.

Outside of work Riley enjoys spending time with friends and family, loving her weekend coffees and walks with friends. Being by the water is important to her, no wonder she has settled in so well here in Manly.

Like the rest of our Team, she enjoys staying fit with a mix of running, Pilates, Yoga and resistance training. We are glad to finally have Riley on our team and hope you get to meet her one day.

The Quiz:

1. Most inspiring historical or public person:  Michelle Obama
2. What is your favourite movie:  Bridesmaids – anything with good humour
3. Favourite book:  Any great coffee table book on interior design or art
4. Which country would you most like to visit:  Number one is always home to NZ to see family, and then the Amalfi coast in Italy