Jenny Birch

Jenny has worked in sport since she graduated as a physiotherapist from St Martin’s College in 2006. She went on to complete a PG Certificate in Sports Physiotherapy at Bradford University in 2011. She is also a personal trainer, therefore has a great interest in functional rehabilitation and core stability; she will rehabilitate the whole body and not just the injured area, to get a lasting result. To help further her knowledge in this area she has completed level one of the APPI’s Pilates course and Pilates for cycling.

She also passionate about looking after your body, not just when it is injured, to be able to get the best out of it, and to stay healthy for life. Jenny wants to make sure each patient finishes their treatment program being strong enough to perform their own personal challenges/goals whether that be walking to the corner shop or competing in a world championship.

Alongside treating at the CSPC, Jenny has worked with a variety of sports. She was at the Seoul winter Olympics with the Jamaican bobsleigh team in 2018, and went to the Rio Olympics in 2016 to support Lizzie Armitstead in cycling. She has also worked with the Belgian and Brazilian Bobsleigh teams on the World Cup Circuit, also providing physio for the Dutch Bobsleigh team in the lead up to the winter Olympics in 2014, sharing their success in Sochi with 4th place. She has also worked with GBR Bobsleigh, the Dutch track cycling team, GBR mountain running and the junior GBR diving team. It has not always been so glamorous for her – she spent many years stood at the side of a rugby pitch in the glorious British weather supporting Otley RUFC, Leeds University RUFC and the North of England Women’s Rugby team. All of this experience has taught her about the joys and pressures of working and traveling with teams and also gave her time to work closely with athletes on their long-term weaknesses in order to improve performance.

Jenny has also worked on a research pilot for the NHS/ Leeds University to design a service which will help patients with chronic pain and long-term medical problems. This has given her the time to improve her knowledge and understanding of pain and complex medical problems and how to help patients who are living with pain. This provides invaluable insight on how to help some of the patients that attend CSPC.

In the small amount of spare time Jenny gets, she is usually found getting lost somewhere in the outdoors; walking, running, cycling, or just wandering. If you do get an appointment with her, cycling, traveling, books and food are her favourite topics of conversation. She has completed a few triathlons, including ‘A day in the Lakes’ half ironman which will be an experience never to be repeated and a few century rides more recently, but she is always up for a new challenge so any ideas are more than welcome!