Our Story
About Sarah Diskin
Sarah Diskin is the creator and principal physiotherapist of Physio with Sarah.
Sarah is a musculoskeletal physiotherapist (BScHons). She has furthered her training to specialise in assessment and treatment of chronic back, neck and thorax issues. Combining her manual therapy skills (Certified Mulligan Practitioner and Thoracic Ring Approach clinician) with her movement-based rehabilitation skills (Pilates instructor and yoga teacher, Bradcliff breathing method clinician), Sarah can effectively help her clients relieve pain, rehabilitate and prevent future injury. Sarah has over 10 years clinical experience working in musculoskeletal physiotherapy. She feels she has developed a unique approach to assessing and successfully treating musculoskeletal conditions. Optimise Movement was created to offer clients excellence in physiotherapy and rehabilitation so that they can alleviate pain, move with ease and enjoy being active again.
Who is Sarah?
Sarah is from County Galway in the west of Ireland. Thanks to the support of her awesome family she completed her physiotherapy studies in the University of Limerick, Ireland. She studied under inspiring lecturers and practitioners, including Kieran O'Sullivan, who is world renowned for his research and treatment approach involving clients with chronic back pain.
Professional Career
Sarah started her career in musculoskeletal and sports physiotherapy in Galway city where she worked with university level rugby teams and received mentorship from senior musculoskeletal physiotherapists. She completed an internship at connacht rugby where she developed manual therapy, sports taping and soft tissue mobilisation skills.
In 2014 Sarah made the big move to New Zealand and was welcomed into the Peak Pilates and Physiotherapy family. Sarah completed 350 hours Pilates training and received further mentorship from senior musculoskeletal physiotherapists during her time here.
Sarah took on the challenge of providing physiotherapy for vocational rehabilitation programs and and chronic pain clients in 2015. She enjoyed working with clients in a gym based settings to achieve specific goals each week to enable them to make a safe and sustainable return to the work place. In this setting Sarah received support and mentorship from her manager and senior physiotherapist on pain science, Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome and functional rehabilitation. She also worked closely with and received guidance from vocational physiotherapist/MindBody practitioner, Yolande Johnson.
To further her skills, Sarah completed her training in a type of manual therapy known as the Mulligan Concept between 2014-2017. She is now a Certified Mulligan Practitioner. Sarah has the skills to perform effective yet gentle mobilisation techniques to restore movement and ease pain.
2017 brought about an exciting move to the beautiful community that is Waiheke. Sarah provided musculoskeletal physiotherapy, falls prevention programs, pilates classes to members of the community of all ages. Sarah also pursued further studies and specialised in the assessment and treament of the thorax by taking part in a course that teaches the Thoracic Ring Approach with world renowned physiotherapist, LJ Lee.
Sarah is passionate about teaching clients to sustain the results of their physiotherapy sessions and educating them on how their body functions. In 2018 Sarah completed yoga teacher training with Contemporary Yoga in Auckland. She now uses her yoga skills to give people a way to connect with their bodies so they themselves can maintain the effects of physiotherapy and prevent future injuries.
In 2019 Sarah continued her training in both Yoga and Connect Therapy by taking part is additional training on the pelvis, lumbar spine and hips in both Physiotherapy (with Dr. LJ Lee) and Yoga (with Donna Farhi and Kylie Rook).
With 2020 came some challenges so what better time to dive into some more training, this time in the area of Breathing. Sarah undertook her level 1 training in the physiotherapy based Bradcliff Method and training with Kylie Rook to better understand breathing from a yoga perspective.
2021 to 2022 saw Sarah focus on building an online video library for clients with chronic pain. This is now available on www.physiowithsarah.com.
Inspiration and Values
Sarah wouldn't be the physiotherapist she is today without all the inspiring physiotherapists, yoga teachers, personal trainers, occupational therapists and other health professionals she has encountered on her journey to becoming a musculoskeletal physiotherapist. Knowledge is power when it comes to helping people achieve their goals. Sarah continues to build her knowledge and skills to benefit her clients.
Professional Qualifications
Qualifications; Bachelor of Science (Hons) Physiotherapy (University of Limerick), Clinical Pilates Instructor (Stability Plus), Certified Mulligan Practitioner (Mulligan Concept), Thoracic Ring Approach clinician (The Sports Thorax LJ Lee), Yoga Teacher (Contemporary Yoga), Bradcliff Breathing Method Practitioner (Level 1), Pelvis, Lumber Spine and Hip assessment and treatment (Connect Therapy) .