ABOUT julie

I love what I do.

After working for some time as a musculoskeletal physio, I noticed there was a portion of patients who didn’t seem to improve with conventional physiotherapy. These individuals had seen many practitioners and had also sometimes tried other modalities.

At the time I was also going through my own health issues, of which stress played a major part. I was fortunate enough to work with amazing practitioners who afforded me a holistic view of the body, helped my own body recover, as well as opening my eyes to lesser-known modalities out there that immensely helped those individuals who were unable to improve with standard treatment.

As a result, I started studying myofascial release, lymphatic drainage and craniosacral therapy. These therapies work deeply with the musculoskeletal, lymphatic and nervous system respectively. As I continued to study and apply these modalities, it became more obvious how these three systems overlap and affect each other. For example, there is a strong association between neck pain and mental stress (Camacho & Nakazato, 2018) - so as much standard treatment I could apply, this condition could keep occurring unless it is addressed from a stress perspective. Addressing factors such as self-care, work, family, relationships and a psychological perspective from a therapist are good and useful - however, addressing the nervous system from a physical point of view may also prove to be e helpful in reducing the chronically high fight-or-flight response (which is where Craniosacral Therapy comes in!). Alternatively, chronic neck pain can also be caused by an acute whiplash injury (Nederhand et al, 2003). The lymphatic system plays a role in clearing pain-signalling chemicals at the injury site- however this may not always be the case after a whiplash injury. By applying Manual Lymphatic Drainage, we can manually stimulate the lymphatic system to clear up the pain-causing inflammatory mediators at the injury site, and therefore reduce neck pain.

As well as improving some musculoskeletal conditions, I realised these therapies were also able to provide overall health benefits and work preventively, since they had a positive effect on the lymphatic and nervous systems. This meant that the body could work more efficiently, since everything is connected.

So all this has led me here today! I’m passionate about educating and empowering you with knowledge on how to improve your overall health through the lymphatic and nervous system (for example - did you know that different breathing patterns can stimulate or downplay your fight-or-flight response?) I’m also particularly interested in helping heal trauma through bodywork, and how lymphatic health has an essential role in your overall wellbeing.

I do also love treating musculoskeletal conditions and blending Physiotherapy, Lymphatic Drainage, Craniosacral Therapy & Myofascial Release to bring about balance in your physical, mental, emotional and lymphatic health.

- Julie Cai (Bachelor of Physiotherapy)