New Zealand movement school was set up by Shouvik Nandy with one goal in mind; to help practitioners develop so that we can make research and case studies to be used in everyday practice He set out to show how the reach can be used practically.  He has educated several physiotherapists into their dream careers.  Shouvik is the founding director and owner of Prana Physiotherapy in New Zealand.  With two different centres of excellence and practices within communities along with pop-up clinics he is an entrepreneur, physiotherapist, business consultant and strength and movement coach.

Originally from India, Shouvik moved to New Zealand in 2005 and studies Sports management and coaching at the prestigious University in Otago.  He then continued his studies in sports science and personal training at Auckland University of Technology.  He they completed a physiotherapy degree from the same university.

For the last 20 years, Shouvik has spent his time in the health and wellness industry.  Starting as a  personal trainer to elite New Zealand athletes he set up his own physiotherapy practice at the elite BodyTech Fitness Centre in Auckland.  He worked with people young and old to build up their strength and movement.  He also worked with Olympic athletes and coaches to improve their fitness, physique and technique.

Over the last decade Shouvik and the Prana physiotherapy team, developed exercise-based of sports specific injuries, movement disorders such as Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, and post-surgical rehabilitation. This has improving health outcomes for thousands of older adults, movement literacy for young athletes and improving physical activity participation in the community.

Prana Physiotherapy has developed its own unique programmes that have become world-renowned; these include Geriatric Physiotherapy - Sports medicine, Sports/Generic physiotherapy - Exercise-based rehabilitation/Physical preparation for high-performance athletes - Wellness coaching for corporates and bariatric surgery patients.

Age Successfully program – Our falls prevention program for the over 65+ years of age is run in collaboration with Ministry of health, ACC and Live strong and has been running for the last three years. This is a falls risk small group strength and mobility program for community dwelling older adults. We are currently conducting in- house research in this population and investigating the role of lower limb power development, leg strength asymmetry and fear of falling in this population. We are looking to roll out our flagship program across the whole of New Zealand.

High Performance swim smart package – We have been running sports medicine and strength and conditioning package for one of the most reputed swim schools in New Zealand for the last three years. The pedigree of the coaches and athletes consists of Olympians, World champions and multiple NZ national swimming record holders. We have working together to roll out a national injury prevention and Swim Smart package.

Online Strength and balance testing – During the pandemic we have had to adapt to telehealth sessions for our physiotherapy consultations. During these sessions we discovered that a lot of field test and health related outcome measures can be done via telehealth, for e.g. sit to stand to measure lower limb strength, timed up and go to measure dynamic balance to assess risk of falls. This led us to create our own online health calculator for older adults in the community. Currently we are undergoing second phase of testing to establish inter and intra reliability of these online calculators.

Purposeful Play: Group Exercise session - For the first time in New Zealand, we have introduced the concept of “Purposeful Play” to older adults in the community. This evidence-based approach to exercise and recreation blends the art and science of physiotherapy along with exercise and movement science through interactive games. These games are designed on the principles of exercise prescription and aims to make physical activity a positive experience by making it fun, meaningful, and measurable. We are currently piloting these classes in the community and have so far received remarkable feedback. Our goal is to roll out these programs across different community settings throughout New Zealand.

Knee classes for traumatic knee injures who are at a risk of developing Osteo arthritis- The prevalence of knee and hip OA are one the rise. These classes are meant to help people with elevated risk for post traumatic knee osteoarthritis (PTOA) and prevent adverse health outcomes. The classes also help accelerate recovery after knee sporting injuries, knee replacement and hip replacement by improving their function. These classes will particularly benefit those with high risk (ie, intra-articular damage) or symptoms (eg, pain) and/or functional restrictions (eg, less physically active) persisting beyond usual recovery times, or individuals with subsequent knee injury are taught how to manage this risk. We are rolling these classes across the Indian community which has high incidence of knee OA. I have also been involved in conducting strength and conditioning and injury prevention workshops in India with fitness franchises and had been instrumental developing their fitness program in the past.

 Post Bariatric surgery, reset program- Research indicates that individuals undergoing bariatric surgery have a higher incidence of relapse and weight regain. The reasons for such weight gain occurrence are complex and multifactorial, however, we believe that physical activity and motivation may play a huge role in mitigating these risk factors. We have collaborated with one of the leading bariatric surgery clinics in New Zealand to offer our wellness program that emphasises on activity participation and creates a sustainable fitness/movement regime that allows an individual to achieve their wellbeing goals. It is a person centric approach to encourage physical activity participation and management of existing disease such as diabetes and movement impairments.

 Corporate Wellness – We have been offering corporate wellness packages for reputed organisations such as New Zealand Cricket, Fuji Film, Woods Engineering to name a few. Our packages consist of ergonomic setup, employee fitness and wellness and early intervention.The NZ Movement School introduced Purposeful Play to New Zealand. This changed the way older adults interacted with exercise. The evidence-based approach to exercise and recreation blends the art and science of physiotherapy and exercise and movement science through interactive games. These games are designed on the principles of exercise prescription and aim to make physical activity a positive experience by making it fun, meaningful, and measurable. These classes are currently being piloted across New Zealand and has been implemented in several older adult communities.