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Well 2019 felt like it just flew by! It doesn’t feel like very long ago that I was just writing my year-end blog for 2018. This year has been a busy one as the clinic continued to grow and expand our services. Bringing the new shockwave machine into our clinic has been a real game changer. This has helped us tremendously to speed up the recovery of those chronic injuries that were difficult to treat such as tennis elbow, patellar tendonitis and plantar fasciitis. Our patients have loved the results and being able to finally get back to the activities they love. It was also great to have three of our therapists, including myself, now trained in anatomical neuropathic IMS or dry needling.
On a personal level, I enjoyed lots of fun outdoor activities again this summer like my morning swims at Sasamat Lake, Diezvista hikes, and some great road biking including a fun trip cycling around a couple of the San Juan Islands this past summer.
Professionally it makes me happy to reflect back on an amazing two weeks in September with the Canadian Indoor Lacrosse Team. I was honored to be chosen as their team physio and enjoyed working with this amazing group of individuals. The icing on the cake was winning a gold medal again with this team, pulling off an exciting win over the Iroquis Nationals in the final game.
I am however very sad to have to say goodbye to our physio Riley Bay, but so excited for her and her fiancé Andrew as they embark on an adventurous year ahead which includes hiking through South America for a month and then spending a year working abroad as physiotherapists in Australia. We will all truly miss the amazing energy, compassion and big smile that Riley brought into our clinic every day.
I am very excited to welcome both Shenise Born and Dan Folino to our Royal City Physio family. Shenise has begun working with us just recently and Dan, also trained in IMS, will be taking over Riley’s schedule and patients. Having two experienced physiotherapists join our team will immensely help us to keep up with our ever-growing new patient volume.
And lastly, I am most grateful and continue to be truly humbled by all the continued support that our clinic receives from this amazing community! We love working with each of our patients and are so thrilled that they continue to recommend us to their friends, family, colleagues & teammates that require our services. I couldn’t imagine our clinic being anywhere else!
Karen Nichol, founder of Royal City Physio, graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Science in Physiotherapy. She is currently the head physiotherapist for Coquitlam Adanac Sr A's and head physiotherapist for the Police Academy at The Justice Institute of B.C. She is also a member of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association, and the Physiotherapy Association of B.C. Book with Karen today.