Caroline Trotter is a registered physiotherapist, who graduated from Auckland University of Technology in 1990. She has had more than 21 years’ experience working in both the public sector (hospitals) and private practice, working in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Germany and now Australia.
Work in the Public Sector (Hospitals)
Her work in the public sector has been diverse, specialising predominantly in orthopaedic medicine, including:
- treating spinal and sports injuries
- developing progressive rehab programmes following joint reconstructions/replacements/spinal surgery
- working within multidisciplinary teams in pain management clinics treating multi-traumas (road traffic accidents)
- obstetric care (pre and postnatal)
- neurology rehabilitation (stroke, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis)
- cardiac rehabilitation following cardiothoracic surgery
WORK IN PRIVATE PrACTICE
Sports
Her private practice experience has varied vastly. While in New Zealand she worked primarily in sports injuries, predominantly rugby, rugby league, soccer and softball. Clientele varied from social players to professional athletes, including working with players from the Hurricanes, New Zealand Sevens and National League Soccer.
Artistic Sports
In 1993, Caroline moved to the United Kingdom. A large proportion of her work was with artistic sports in the West End of London treating gymnasts, dancers, martial artists and circus performers. This involved work with the show Cats, Starlight Express, Saturday Night Fever, Grease and The Phantom of the Opera, as well as Riverdance on their Scottish tour in 1997.
In 1998–2000 she worked within a medical team for the Millennium Dome Show in London with a group of 120 dancers, gymnasts and aerial artists. This involved treatment as well as developing strategies to prevent injuries.
Coming from a dance and gymnastic background Caroline became part of a physio team which started developing movement classes for company members alongside their treatment, integrating explorative anatomy, self healing principles, yoga and pilates.
In this period of integrating physiotherapy in movement practices Caroline was inspired to go on and train full-time at the prestigious Laban School of Dance in London as a contemporary dance teacher – integrating Laban’s philosophies of movement with anatomy, pilates and yoga practices.
She went on to work as a consultant physiotherapist for top London dance and music schools – the Laban School of Dance Injury Clinic, The Place School of Contemporary Dance and the Guildhall School of Music – working alongside dance and music teachers to treat and prevent injuries and assist in assessment and screening for new student intakes into each school.
Corporate Health
She later moved into corporate health, working in the city of London treating spinal dysfunction, overuse injuries, workplace assessments and stress management in the corporate environment.
It was while treating many stress related problems that she trained further in yoga and its application in physiotherapy – breath work, modified asana practices and meditative techniques to stabilise the nervous system.
In 2005 she moved to Australia with her young family, and later set up Positive Integrated Physiotherapy in 2007.
Postgraduate Education
Caroline’s continued professional development has been paramount to her as a developing practitioner. She integrates western and eastern therapies – the western science has given her a sound anatomical basis to build upon, the eastern therapies and movement practices have opened up her knowledge to the body as a whole.
- Structural – she has studied extensively in orthopaedic, structural and spinal manipulation techniques, osteopathic muscle energy techniques and myofascial mobilisation, McKenzie method, Sharman muscle imbalance, neural tension mobilisation (Butler)
- Pilates – having worked with dance companies for nearly a decade, her training and knowledge in this field is diverse, working with its application to dance and clinical pilates. She has trained with Alan Herdman (London), Australian Physiotherapy and Pilates Institute, Dance Medicine Australia and Laban School of Contemporary Dance
- Acupressure – Diploma of Acupuncture (Renshu College of Chinese Medicine, London) covering five elements, eight principles, cupping, moxibustion, dry needling (London School of Homeopathy). Caroline uses acupressure as an adjunct to her physiotherapy treatments
- Craniosacral therapy – Level 1 and 2 (Upledger Institute)
- Dance/movement practices – Postgraduate Diploma in Dance Studies (Laban School of Dance, London)
- Yoga – Diploma of Teaching (Sivananda School of Yoga), Diploma of Hatha Yoga and Philosophy (Dharma Yoga), Prana Flow (Shiva Rea)