21/10/2026
WHY I TAKE A SOMATIC APPROACH TO REHABILITATION 🌿
Because rehabilitation is about more than muscles, joints and movement.
After years of working with people experiencing persistent pain, recurring injuries and unsuccessful rehabilitation, one thing has become increasingly clear to me:
We cannot fully understand someone's movement without considering the person behind it.
Our bodies don't operate in isolation from our experiences.
Stress, previous injuries, fear, protective behaviours and our nervous system can all influence how we move, how we experience pain and how confident we feel in our bodies.
This is why I integrate a somatic approach into my clinical assessment, rehabilitation and movement coaching.
Somatic work encourages us to develop a greater awareness of our internal bodily experiences — how we breathe, hold tension, respond to movement and recognise what our bodies are telling us.
For me, this means combining:
🌿 Clinical reasoning & assessment — understanding the injury, physical capacity and individual needs.
🌿 Somatic awareness — exploring breathing, tension, body awareness and protective movement patterns.
🌿 Functional movement — developing coordination, control and confidence through purposeful movement.
🌿 Progressive strength & rehabilitation — building the physical capacity and resilience needed to return to the activities we love.
It's not about choosing between science and a holistic approach.
It's about recognising that both the physical body and our lived experiences matter.
My goal isn't simply to help someone move better.
It's to help them understand their body, rebuild trust in their abilities and develop the confidence and capacity to move forward.
Because meaningful rehabilitation is about more than recovering from an injury. It's about reconnecting with your body and learning what it's capable of.
Riona
Function First Rehab | Rehabilitation Coaching
