Most families have at least one person in the house they refer on as the “family medico’’, the go to individual when their is a fall, kitchen mishap or someone is under the weather.
At the Evans household it is more of a roster system, four of the five family members all having qualifications in a variety of medical fields.
Sisters Kelsey and Bethany, who have just launched their own physiotherapy practice in Kyabram, are among four health professionals who live among the variety of pets at the family’s Webb Rd property.
Their mother, Vikki, is a nurse, and Bethany’s twin sister Shinara is also a nurse and paramedic.
It gives the remaining family member, postie father Greg, plenty of confidence that he has a strong support network if he was to find himself in any discomfort.
Empowering Physio, which is based out of the Reflex Massage rooms in Allan St, is the new initiative of Kelsey and Bethany Evans, who are at their happiest surrounded by their pets — but have a shared passion for helping humans enjoy a high quality of life.
“We both like helping help people, particularly those who are trying to regain the full use of their body after injury,” Bethany said.
The Evans sisters were both educated at St Augustine’s and Kyabram P-12 College, Kelsey graduating three years before her sister.
Their early interest in physio came from the positive feedback of their mother, who was regularly the beneficiary of tension relieving massages from her daughters.
Both girls graduated from La Trobe University at Bendigo, with physiotherapy qualifications, but were familiar faces during part-time gigs at Kyabram’s Bakers Delight and Mackrell’s Butchers shops.
They stepped into the sports training world while studying their craft, Kelsey at Lockington and Bendigo Pioneers, where Bethany joined her two years later.
“We were at the Pioneers during the Ollie Wines years,” she said.
All three sisters grew up playing with Kyabram Netball Association in the under-13 team coached by their father. The twins are still playing, now at Lancaster, where Kelsey and Bethany ply their craft as the club’s sports trainers.
Kelsey worked at Bendigo Base Hospital for seven years, with its Emergency Department and Rehab area, while also based at Sandhurst Football Netball Club.
She first tested the water of private practice through pilates instruction and for a time had a practice at Gisborne.
After 12 months at Echuca Regional Health, Bethany worked in inpatient and outpatient physiotherapy services at Bendigo Health.
“After COVID we decided to come home, but we didn’t have the business proposal in place at that time,“ Kelsey said.
After moving back to the area, in February 2022, Kelsey was buying carpet in Kyabram when the salesman (who turned out to be Lancaster premiership defender Phil Carroll) noticed her Bendigo Pioneers jumper.
“He asked if I wanted to do sports training at Lancaster and after speaking to the vice-president we were roped in,” Kelsey said.
It became the catalyst for the girls to make the move into their own Kyabram practice and came in a highly successful year when all three Lancaster football teams made the grand final.
“We discovered there was a real void in this area of sports physio in Kyabram. We worked on a casual basis out of Lancaster rooms, and people’s houses, for a while before moving into Reflex,” Bethany said.
The sisters’ love of animals, and a friend’s involvement in a $30,000 animal physio course, sparked their attention and they decided to expand their horizons to study canine rehabilitation.
“We didn’t want to commit that much to the study, but we found another avenue dog rehab will be part of the business going forward.
“Melbourne is the nearest dog physio, and because the muscles and techniques are quite similar, we think we can make a real difference to the recovery of dogs who have had injuries or surgery,” Kelsey said.
They will travel to Brisbane later this month to complete their canine rehab qualifications.
“Dog physio has been around for a while. We know how much and we’ve seen first-hand what a difference it can make,” Bethany said.
They helped their 16-year-old miniature dachshund go from being paralysed and dragging her back legs around due to a back injury to a full recovery, before even gaining their qualifications.
No such problems for the over active border collie and Aussie shepherd puppies that are now an extended part of the family.
The sisters are now fully set up for private health, NDIS, TAC and Medicare clients, but plan to focus heavily on sports physiotherapy.
We are starting two days a week and won’t move into the canine work until next year.
“We also plan to work with people who have neuro conditions and can offer amputee rebab.
“The whole reason we went into physio was to help people do what they wanted to do,” Bethany said.
To book an appointment with Empowering Physio go to the Facebook page, go to www.empoweringphysio.com.au or contact Reflect Sports and Massage on 5852 3334.