Jeff Fox (Owner and lead Physiotherapist)
Jeff has a wealth of exercise and physiotherapy experience starting with his degree in Physical Education from Otago University. In his final year he specialised in Exercise Physiology, exercise prescription and biomechanics achieving A grades for these subjects and topics that are used on a daily basis with educating his clients.
After finishing his degree at Otago, Jeff lectured at Manawatu Polytechnic teaching students in the Certificate and Diploma in Exercise Physiology. This involved training students for roles in the fitness industry. During this time he developed a passion for training athletes and getting involved in their rehab, this required specialised training and the need for a post graduate physiotherapy course.
Jeff completed his specialist training at Glasgow Calendonian University, a two year accelerated Masters course. He then worked for four years in London hospitals including West Middlesex and Hammersmith Hospital. Upon his return to New Zealand in 2002, Jeff continued to established Aspiring Health in Taupo, this quickly grew from a one person Physiotherapy clinic to four Physiotherapists within a year. Jeff sold Aspiring Health and took a well-deserved break but realised his passion for Physiotherapy was still there and established Physio2U. This Physiotherapy service focused on those who preferred care in their home or workplace or were simply unable to get to a clinic, this quickly outgrew itself and the FoxPhysio Clinic was established.
Clinically Jeff is passionate about all those he treats but loves helping those with orthopaedic and sports injuries and getting them back running with and emphasis on good manual therapy to get things moving again and the rehab required to the get the muscle back up and firing.
When not working or looking after his three children Jeff is out there doing anything and everything outdoors, he is passionate about most sports but trail running takes the forefront with “The Goat” his favourite event. He also skis when he can and now plays social hockey as all three of his children play.
Sarah Battson
Since graduating from the University of Otago Sarah has worked in Australia and New Zealand in both hospital and private practice clinical environments. In 2012 she started working for the NZ Snow Sports team and is now an accredited HPSNZ provider and one of the lead Physiotherapists for the NZ Olympic free-ski and snowboard athletes. This role includes traveling with the NZ team for their northern hemisphere training and competition season.
Sarah was selected for the NZ Winter Olympic Games Medical Team and attended the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea. This role included providing on and off snow physiotherapy services throughout the Games and working closely with the entire Health and performance team to ensure the highest quality physiotherapy support.
This work has made her skilled and experienced in diagnosing both acute and chronic injuries. In addition to post injury rehabilitation she specialises in the development of pre-hab programmes for anyone who is involved in amateur or professional sport. This involves identifying risk factors whether these are biomechanical, strength related or due to muscular tightness and developing individualised exercise plans which aim to minimise the possibility of injury.
Sarah is in the process of completing her Masters in Health Practice, specialising in manual therapy and acupuncture. She is also a keen runner, mountain biker and has a 1st Dan black belt in Karate.
Anna Pritchard
Anna is a Taupo local who has returned home after a period of time overseas. Anna has more than 10 years experience as a Physiotherapist and has also been qualified and registered as a Hand Therapist since 2012. Taupo has not had a hand therapist for 4-5 years so it is great to be able to offer this service to the Taupo public.
Emma Rathbone
In 2005 I completed a bachelor’s degree in physical education with a focus on exercise prescription and science. This then lead me to studying Physiotherapy which I graduated from in 2009. At my graduation I was also awarded the Otago physio school’s prestigious athletic shield which recognises sporting (triathlon in my case) and academic achievement.
I have been working as a physiotherapist in Taupo since 2010 and developed an interest in hands about five years ago. Between having two children I was finally able to commit to post graduate training in hand therapy which I finished with distinction (and a newborn baby!) in 2017. I am now an associate hand therapist and absolutely loving specialising in hands- they are amazingly complex and so important for everyday life. I enjoy helping patients achieve their best outcome possible after an injury. Being able to use splinting as a tool is also very rewarding as it often vastly improves a patient’s function and pain while they are healing.
I have two gorgeous girls and a wonderful husband. When I am not busy being a mum and working, I dream of one day having a full night’s sleep, and having some time to run and bike again which is what drew me to Taupo in the first place! For the meantime beach holidays with my family and rock hunting adventures with the girls are keeping me more than happy.