Exciting news!
Starting November 16th, Avril Soards will be hosting a fortnightly Rehabilitation workshops here at Highball – so we thought we’d give you a little bit more information about the upcoming sessions, and a bit about Avril herself!
About Avril –
Avril graduated from Cambridge University with a PhD in Virology before retraining and gaining her MSc in Physiotherapy in 2010. Since then, she has worked in various NHS and private physio settings. She has also worked with elite athletes from various sports, a particular highlight was when she helped gymnasts with Olympic preparation back in 2012.
Amazingly (and this is a personal favourite fact about Avril) she is also a former stunt double, having worked for Richard Curtis for his film, ‘Love Actually’ and in series 3 of ‘The Misfits’.
Avril’s interest in working in elite sport stemmed from her own experience as a national level gymnast in which she became 2012 and 2011 British Veteran Champion. Avril since expanded her sporting interests into adventure sports and has become an avid rock climber, with over 20 years climbing experience AND climbing instructor qualifications.
It’s therefore safe to say that Avril knows, all too well, how common injuries, aches and strains are for climbers.
You may have seen Avril and her fiancé Lee Keeler (also an awesome physio) running free physio pop up clinics at Highball earlier this year. The success of these clinics exceeded expectations and highlighted how many of the Highball community needed help with their injuries. Avril and Lee aim to use their climbing knowledge to help with injury management by running more physio pop up clinics and starting some climbing injury prevention sessions with us.
About the classes –
The pop-up clinics highlighted a few reoccurring climber issues; shoulder problems, hip weaknesses, posture related problems and lower limb control issues.
It was clear that while some climbers lack mobility, others are too mobile and therefore can lack control over their movement. During these classes, Avril will help to address these aches, strains & injuries using a combination of physio, Pilates and yoga exercise rehab tools that she has developed over the years. She has been teaching classes for a decade and is particularly skilled at adapting them to the individuals who attend, their body types and the injuries they are trying to manage.
If you fancy giving the sessions a go, then head to our bookings page here!
-Abby
