Move Better with Expert Personalised Treatment – We are not just for athletes.
Author: James Kirkpatrick (MSc, MSST, FHEA). James is a teaching fellow with 14 years of clinical experience specialising in running injuries and tendon pain.
James Kirkpatrick (registration number SST8030) is the Clinic Director and Lead Therapist at The Recovery Room (Founded in 2012). James is teaching Fellow and formerly the programme leader on a Sports Therapy degree programme at the University of Chichester and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Winchester. More recently I have returned to being a full time clinician (November 2024).
My passion for teaching, and improving the health and well-being of others, is the reason why I love my job. My clinical experience has developed from my hobbies of tennis, surfing and trail running. In February I went on my first ski holiday and my daughter, pictured below, she gave me some lessons 🙂
I am an avid trail runner and enjoy running distances from half marathons to ultra marathons (38 miles), very very slowly!
My clinical areas of interest include; chronic overuse injury- especially running injuries and treating chronic pain. I provide shockwave therapy in my clinic for chronic tendinopathy, alongside bespoke rehabilitation for relevant to your sport and lifestyle needs. I have treated professional athletes but my passion is to help anyone move better and live life freely.
My work relating to running injury and prevention has been published in Women’s Running magazine. I have also researched limb strength and injury prevalence in tennis players, runners and regular gym goers. This work has helped me form links with strength testing dynamometry companies, which I use in my clinical practice to measure progress and improve exercise adherence.
Tennis was my main sport growing up and I qualified as an LTA level 4 coach and have experience of teaching all age and abilities in Romsey, Southampton and Salisbury. During this time, my main interest was teaching people the correct biomechanics to reduce the risk of injury. By helping people suffer less injury, I went on to complete an MSc in Sports Therapy in 2012 to complement my BSc in Sports Science from Southampton University in 2004. In 2024 I completed the PGCert in Teaching and Learning and have worked as a Senior Lecturer at The University of Winchester. I am now working clinically full-time.
Although I treat all types of injuries, I have become known as a running injuries specialist with lower limb and tendon problems being my main areas of interest.
I want to help you move better and feel better, regardless of your lifestyle or sporting needs.
Professional Overview:
Adele is a Sports Therapist graduating from Bournemouth University in 2022 achieving the highest grade in her cohort. She currently works here at The Recovery Room and part-time within the NHS as a Senior MSK Clinician.
Adele treats all musculoskeletal injuries but particularly enjoys treating lower limb and sports-related injuries. She treats with a focus on functional exercise rehabilitation combined with hands-on techniques including soft tissue techniques, sports massage and joint mobilisations. This combination of techniques alongside education helps to create a comprehensive rehabilitation plan with the patient’s goals at the centre of care.
Treatment approach and Clinical Skillset:
She has a strong belief that the enjoyment of movement plays a huge role within peoples lives whether they want to return to everyday activities or performance.
As a youth international sailor, she understands the demands on athletes and the level of performance required for competition and so ensures the highest standard of rehabilitation.
Currently, she is in the final stages of becoming an APPI Matwork Pilates Instructor and so uses Pilates-based rehabilitation as an alternative approach when helping people return to function. This approach can take patients from injury to instilling good exercise habits to promote a healthy active lifestyle, prevent injury and reoccurrence in the long term.
In her NHS role she has had additional training in supporting adolescent athletes and understands the differences and demands on their body. Due to her youth participation in high level sport, she understands the demands on athletes first hand.
Professional Memberships
Research:
As part of her dissertation Adele studied how psychological strategies and interventions can help to improve confidence in rehabilitation. From the learnings of this she instilled goal orientated rehabilitation into her approach. She focusses on developing goals and testing outcomes to clearly guide and track progress across the rehabilitation journey.
Following completion of her degree she worked as a research assistant at Bournemouth University on a project looking at reducing falls and fractures in the community. She helped to develop patient resources to help educate and prevent patients from falls and improve health to reduce fracture risk. She has seen the benefits of exercise first hand in both private practice and the NHS setting as well as the huge impact it can have on people’s lives.
Outside of Clinic:
Adele enjoys being outdoors and can usually be found participating in wind-based watersports, cycling, tennis, running or skiing (in the winter). She is currently learning to play golf to add to the list! If she isn’t doing one of the above, she will likely be walking her dog or watching Formula 1.
We restore your function, allowing you to move freely and live a happier, healthier life
