Meet Our Team

Christie 

Director/Registered Hand Therapist/Physiotherapist

Christie

I am the founder of Norwest Hand Therapy, and a registered Hand Therapist and Physiotherapist. After graduating from AUT in 2005 I worked at a physiotherapy clinic in South Auckland for two years before moving into hand therapy at a large specialty hand therapy clinic in West Auckland. I have over 16 years of experience working with the upper limb as a registered hand therapist. I also have a part-time role at AUT co-ordinating and teaching on the hand and upper limb therapy post graduate paper. 

I am committed to ongoing education and passionate about keeping up to date with the latest advances and research in hand and arm related conditions. I have extensive postgraduate training in acupuncture and rehabilitation. I have also completed a Master’s of Health Science degree in 2013 with research in the area of wrist and forearm instabilities, and have also published in the Journal of Hand Surgery.

 

I live locally in Kumeū and love working with our unique and hardworking community. As a busy mum with two children I understand how important it is to be able to keep living life and keep doing normal everyday activities. My goal is to help people feel that they are heard and feel at ease when coming to hand therapy – I love to hear all the wonderful stories people have to share and feel privileged to be able to guide people back to doing what matters to them.

Julie 

Registered Hand therapist/Physiotherapist

Julie

I have a strong musculoskeletal physiotherapy clinical background of 14 years, with a keen interest in sports physiotherapy where I have worked privately and with several rugby teams.

I have completed postgraduate studies in acupuncture, rehabilitation and hand and upper limb therapy, as well as a Masters of Health Practice. My interests have focused mainly on the upper limb for the past 7 years, treating a wide variety of hand and shoulder injuries. More recently, I have also become passionate about managing elbow conditions.

Aside from my hand therapy role I also work in a shoulder clinic which I have found to be a very useful skillset that benefits a lot of my hand therapy patients.