About Us

Mission Statement & About Us

Hip Pain Help’s mission is to provide the best outcomes for those around the world suffering from hip and pelvic pain, by connecting them with high-quality information and Hip Pain Professionals who practice person-centred, evidence-informed care.

Hip Pain Help is a hub that connects individuals with high-quality information and a growing multi-disciplinary community of health professionals with a special interest in the management of hip, pelvic and groin pain (Hip Pain Professionals). This is our mission.

The site has been brought together by Australian physiotherapists, Dr Alison Grimaldi and Kirsty McNab, who have involvement in cutting-edge research and 55 years of combined clinical experience.

The initial impetus for this site was the regular requests Alison received from people all around the world, asking for help and direction with their hip or pelvic pain.

There was a realisation that despite the increase in research and technology, there are still many people who struggle to access reliable information and high-quality care. This appears to be due to the large array of misinformation flooding the internet and a lack of awareness of the general public regarding where to access a trusted health professional who is university qualified and has a special interest and expertise in management of hip and pelvic pain.

The all-too-familiar story was one of misdiagnosis and mismanagement, leading to unnecessary years of suffering, financial burden, emotional distress and substantial impact on general health and quality of life.

The central focus for Hip Pain Help emerged to address a global need for easing physical and emotional suffering and improving outcomes for those with hip and pelvic pain.

To further this aim, we have been focused on developing a multi-disciplinary community of health professionals to provide high-quality, person-centred, evidence-informed care in as many locations as possible around the world.

We refer to these professionals throughout the site as ‘Hip Pain Professionals’.

As a community, we believe that everyone seeking healthcare assistance deserves a person-centred approach. A person should not be seen as a medical condition but treated with dignity and respect and involved in all decisions regarding their care.

This care should be individualised and co-ordinated with all those involved in that care, which may include other health professionals and also home-carers and family members. Hip Pain Professionals are also passionate about keeping up-to-date with the latest research evidence and combining that with years of clinical experience to provide evidence-informed care.

In addition to these key values, management of hip and pelvic pain provided by these Hip Pain Professionals revolves around four key practical pillars – a skilled assessment, individualised advice and education, quality treatment methods and if required, appropriate referral to other health professionals.

This aims to ensure that every person receives the best care from the professional/s best able to provide that care, as quickly as possible.

Dr. Alison Grimaldi

Bachelor of Physiotherapy (BPhty)
Masters in Sports Physiotherapy (MPhtySports)
Doctor of Philosophy in the field of Physiotherapy (PhD)
Clinician, Researcher & Educator

These studies involved research collaboration with the European Space Agency. Alison continues to be passionate about extending our understanding of why we develop problems around the hip and pelvis, and what we can do to most effectively prevent and manage these problems.She has been involved over many years with research studies through the University of Queensland and University of Melbourne in Australia and with collaborative international research. Due to her valuable voluntary contributions to research at the University of Queensland, Alison was awarded the title Adjunct Research Fellow in the School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences.

Recently, Alison and her colleagues published the findings of their high-quality randomised clinical trial on management of gluteal tendinopathy in the highly respected British Medical Journal. This was the culmination of 7 years of work which also generated many other key papers on this condition.  She has also authored or co-authored over 20 other peer-reviewed papers, contributed to 3 leading physiotherapy and sports medicine text books and been interviewed for a number of highly popular podcasts by PhysioEdge (itunes) and the British Journal of Sports Medicine (SoundCloud). In 2018, Alison was awarded the prize for the British Journal of Sports Medicine’s most popular podcast.

Although this biography reads more like that of an academic, Alison is in fact, uniquely, primarily a clinician who continues to contribute heavily to research and education. She has been working in clinical practice as a physiotherapist for 28 years, developing over those years a particular interest and expertise in the management of hip, groin and lumbo-pelvic pain. Alison also has a strong interest in biomechanics and muscle function and has pioneered the use of Real Time Ultrasound technology for the assessment and training of muscle function around the hip and pelvis. Alison and her husband, Nunzio established Physiotec, their own private practice in 2005. Since this time, they have built a team of highly skilled physiotherapists, passionate about pushing the barriers of evidence-informed care. Sharon Hennessey and Kirsty McNab are long-standing members of the Physiotec team, working closely with Alison to optimise patient outcomes and specialised programs for the management of hip and pelvic pain. It was within this environment that the successful education and exercise program for gluteal tendinopathy initially evolved.

It is one of Alison’s core beliefs that research should be relevant to clinical practice and should assist the patients we treat every day.  Health professionals in the community should have access to this valuable information, allowing them to transfer knowledge into clinical practice as quickly as possible. To this end, Alison continues to publish, present and provide practical workshops for other health professionals.

Teaching is a passion for Alison. She has been a visiting educator and examiner on the Physiotherapy Masters programs at the University of Queensland since 1999 and has presented over 100 clinical courses across Australia, New Zealand, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Belgium, France, the United States of America, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates. Alison has presented dozens of keynote, invited and podium lectures at scientific conferences around the world, in the fields of Physiotherapy, Manual Therapy, Musculoskeletal Medicine, Rheumatology and Orthopaedics. To provide learning opportunities for those who are unable to attend Alison’s live lectures or practical seminars, she has developed an online learning portal at www.dralisongrimaldi.com.  Now she is enjoying connecting the health professionals she has taught and learnt from, with individuals in the community who need their care.

Alison-Grimaldi_web_0977

Kirsty McNab

Bachelor of Physiotherapy (BSc Hons)
Masters in Sports Physiotherapy (MPhty Sports)
Clinician & Educator

Kirsty qualified in 1998 with a Bachelor of Physiotherapy with Honours in the UK. She completed her Masters in Sports Physiotherapy at The University of Queensland in 2006.   

Coming to Australia in 2000, she has worked with and treated patients in a multitude of sporting disciplines including triathlon and premiership rugby union.

For 5 years she provided physiotherapy services as part of the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia, including working at many World Cup competitions abroad. In 2006 she was selected as one of four Physiotherapists for the Australian Olympic Team at the 2006 Winter Olympics.  From 2007 she has focused her attention on tennis and became a senior physiotherapist with Tennis Australia. She has worked as one of a team of four Australian Tennis Physiotherapists for the Australian Tennis Open Grand Slam Women’s competition, providing care for the best female players in the world. Her role also encompasses working with the female junior athletes and the female wheelchair athletes.  She has been involved with the Queensland Tennis Academy, based at Tennyson in Brisbane, working with a range of players from 12 years of age through to the elite Australian players who are on the Men’s and Women’s circuit.  As a senior physiotherapist, she has helped educate junior physiotherapists in providing high-quality, sport-specific care to tennis players with particular needs relating to their age and competition level. Her wide experience with sporting teams has provided her with a high level of expertise in the management of acute and overuse sports injuries. 

In addition, Kirsty has worked as a physiotherapy educator, including teaching for the University of Queensland post-graduate physiotherapy programs.  She has taught on courses for physiotherapists nationally in Australia, running courses together with Dr Alison Grimaldi. 

She has been an active member of the Australian Physiotherapy Association, working on the Sports Physiotherapy Committee in Queensland. She has also enjoyed several years on the committee with Sports Medicine Australia. 

She runs and works clinically at her own physiotherapy practice, Physiologix Therapy Solutions, at The Gap, in north west Brisbane. Here she has been involved in many research trials as a treating physiotherapist.  She is passionate about working with her staff to further their knowledge and training. But above all, she most values her role as a clinician, working with clients to resolve their injuries.

kirsty-headshot-475x713
Recovering-from-Piriformis-Syndrome-Deep-Gluteal-Syndrome-or-Hip-Related-Sciatica

Sign Up To Our Mailing List!

For condition information you can trust, powerful self-help tips, myths, must-do's, don't do's and other helpful updates!

News Letter Page

Hidden

Next Steps: Sync an Email Add-On

To get the most out of your form, we suggest that you sync this form with an email add-on. To learn more about your email add-on options, visit the following page (https://www.gravityforms.com/the-8-best-email-plugins-for-wordpress-in-2020/). Important: Delete this tip before you publish the form.
Name(Required)
Are you a Health Professional? : tick box if YES