Sheffield sports physio creates 20 jobs with £100k investment in new clinic

A Sheffield sports physiotherapist, who is just one of six certified kinesio taping instructors in the UK, has invested £100k in a brand new clinic.

Sheffield Sports Medicine, established in 2009 and headed by Dr Michael Lee - a Consultant Physiotherapist in Sports and Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine, has relocated to Graves Health and Sports Centre in the Norton area of the city.

The business will take on 20 new staff as a result of the move.

Sheffield Sports Medicine’s new clinic was officially opened by Kate Allatt, who was rehabilitated by Dr Lee after she survived a huge brain stem stroke and subsequent locked-in syndrome in 2010.

Dr Lee helped Kate, a keen fell runner, recover from a state of paralysis in her hospital bed to run again in less than 12 months.

Sheffield Sports Medicine is a practice which specialises in Sports Medicine, Physiotherapy, Rehabilitation, Podiatry, Sports Psychology, Sports Massage and Sports Science.

Dr Le said: “It was an honour to have Kate come ‘home’ and officially open our new clinic. There’s something extremely poignant about Kate returning to open our new premises.

“This new clinic will help us take a giant leap forward into a new era, and further enhance the award-winning service which we offer to clients. It’s a significant investment for a business of our size but a necessary one, too.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to display and develop our forward-thinking mentality to execute life-changing treatments to all of the patients that we meet. We’re so excited about what the future holds.”

In February 2010 Kate suffered a massive brain stem stroke - just 24 hours after taking part in an endurance event at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. The mum-of-three was told she would never walk, talk or even swallow again by doctors, and faced the prospect of spending the rest of her life in a nursing home.

However, Kate became the first person in history to make a full recovery from Locked-In syndrome. Kate credits Dr Lee with finding the keys to her recovery and rehabilitation.

Within six weeks of her first physio appointment with Dr Lee, Kate was out of her wheelchair and onto crutches. And, in another six weeks – less than four months after leaving hospital – she was running again.

Kate, who is now a motivational speaker and was made an Honorary Doctorate Litterarum at Sheffield Hallam University, commented: “When I got the call to ask if I wanted to come and open Sheffield Sports Medicine’s new clinic it was a no-brainer. Mike (Lee) gave me a new lease of life.

“I think the assumption was, when I lay there in my hospital bed after my stroke, that I’d be better off dead. I was written off six weeks after going into rehab – but my expectations were far higher than that and I wanted to run again by my first anniversary, which was three-and-a-half months after my stroke.

“The mindset I had after the pure chance meeting with Mike – an incredible meeting – I now invoke and pass on around the world. I couldn’t have wished for a better place to spend my birthday – Mike helped create the ‘new me’. Sheffield Sports Medicine is going to go from strength to strength.”

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