Tom Russell
Tom Russell
Physiotherapist and Managing Director
A Bit About Tom
Tom is a loving husband to Danielle and father to Poppy. He also has a love affair with his two Miniature Dachshund boys, Taco and Chandler. Tom was born and bred in Tamworth, moving to Newcastle with his dad in Year 11 to pursue a football career, attending Hunter Sports High.
Sport
Growing Up
Tom’s greatest sporting achievement was making the NSW Schoolboys team in year 12. Unfortunately, two knee surgeries, a whole bunch of injury rehab and time at the physio led Tom to make the smart decision of “trying hard at school”. This seemed like the best back-up option to a sporting career which he now admits he wasn’t actually that good.
Today
Tom has dabbled in all forms of physical activity in his adult life from yoga to, CrossFit, to weight training and pretty much whatever else you could think of. More recently Tom has admitted that the exercise he truly enjoys is that of which is outside, prompting him to sell his car and ride his bike to work. This involves a pretty wild climb up Grandview first thing in the morning. He has in fact always been connected to the bush, nature and the outdoors which may surprise a lot of people that meet him. Some of his greatest memories as a child involved camping at the Warrumbungles National Park.
Physio
Opening Next Gen Physio
Tom started Next-Gen Physio when he was 23 years old and just 18 months after graduating from the University of Newcastle in 2012. Whether this was brave or naive we aren’t too sure! The clinic was originally located inside the now closed Fitness First at Kotara, and such an environment gave Tom a really good footing as a Physiotherapist
Career
Tom has always had a passion for helping people and has a special ability to relate to those of all backgrounds. He is a down to Earth Physio who loves the challenge of difficult presentations in the clinic that require deep thought and reasoning. Tom believes in exercise-based care, empowering patients to truly change their behaviours for better health and still sees hands on treatment as a core component of assisting with a patient’s discomfort. This is Toms 10th year working as a physiotherapist and he truly loves what he does.
Newcastle Knights
Tom’s original career goal when he was at university was to work with a professional sporting team. Tom had worked with the junior Newcastle Knights for two years prior to being promoted to the NRL staff, thus achieving his original goal that he had set out. While super capable, Tom really didn’t enjoy working with the NRL squad as much as he always thought he would. Yes it was fun and a great learning experience, but he came to the realisation that he much preferred working with the vast array of eclectic patients in the clinic, as well as spending more time with his colleagues at Next-Gen. Next-Gen has always been Toms primary passion and this experience further solidified his feelings.
Imaging
As with all Physio’s at Next Gen Physio, Tom can refer you for most scans such as Xray, Ultrasound, MRI, though sometimes this is best done through a specialist for expert interpretation.
Manual Therapy
Tom is skilled and experienced with dry needling, having completed all three of the GEMT dry needling courses and many clinical years of using the same. While Tom acknowledges that dry needling is a short-term symptom management strategy, needling is also an efficient way to confirm diagnosis, and also provide much needed relief before getting down to the long-term solutions. Tom is able to use strapping tape, prescribe & fit braces.
