Physiotherapy & Eating Disorder Recovery
Movement professionals (such as physiotherapists) are to exercise what dietitians are to food in eating disorder recovery. Our role, though often not as frequently discussed, is to help someone work towards a relationship with movement that feels life-enhancing, and not driven by the eating disorder.
I work with individuals all along the spectrum of a relationship with exercise; from those looking to add movement back into their life in an intuitive and joyful way, to those looking for smaller, harm minimisation-based strategies for when big changes feel like too much.
I will see anyone with or without a formal eating disorder diagnosis.
Moving towards safe & intuitive movement...
A non-exhaustive list of what weight-neutral eating disorder physiotherapy might look like:
Discussing or doing...
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Principles of intuitive movement
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Benefits of intuitive movement
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Importance of rest & recovery
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Diet culture myths about exercise/movement
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How your eating disorder may be influencing your movement choices
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Co-creation of life-enhancing movement goals
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Identification of alternative, life-enhancing motivations for exercising beyond ED-motivation
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Guidance of safety around exercising throughout the recovery process
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Exploration and trials of different forms of movement in order to create an intuitive movement menu
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Embodying of intuitive movement in real time
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Harm minimisation approaches to eating disorder influenced exercise
