Everything You Need to Know

Traditional physiotherapy typically focuses on the site of pain — massaging tight muscles, strengthening weak areas. Chiropractic focuses on joint alignment. Massage targets tissue tension.

Neura Manual Therapy™ was developed by our founder, Lee Stewart. It's a nervous-system-led approach that addresses the neural patterns creating your symptoms in the first place. Instead of focusing only on where it hurts — or what shows up on a scan — we assess how your nervous system is driving both pain and dysfunction.

This matters because in many chronic conditions, the nervous system itself becomes part of the problem. Our techniques are generally gentler and more precise, aimed at changing neural patterns rather than just releasing tissue tension or repositioning joints. Sessions are longer, and every clinician on our team is senior-level.

Your nervous system controls everything — muscle tension, pain signals, coordination, even inflammation. When it gets stuck in protective mode (often from injury, stress, or overload), symptoms persist even when there's no structural damage.

Our approach works directly with these neural patterns, calming overprotective responses so your body can function normally again. Rather than treating symptoms in isolation, we address the system that's generating them.

Your body has remarkable innate healing intelligence — it knows how to repair, regulate, and restore balance. Sometimes protective patterns get in the way. Our role is to identify and remove those barriers, creating the conditions for your body's natural healing capacity to do what it already knows how to do.

We're not forcing change — we're facilitating it.

Yes. Our approach is grounded in current pain science, neuroscience, and research on the nervous system's role in chronic conditions. While the specific integration of techniques is our own clinical methodology, every component is informed by peer-reviewed research.

We're happy to discuss the science with you during your session.

Structural issues are real, but they're rarely the whole story. Research consistently shows that many people with significant structural findings on scans have no pain, while others with "normal" scans are in significant pain.

The nervous system determines how your body responds to structural changes. By calming overprotective neural patterns, we often see meaningful improvement even when structural issues can't be reversed.

Yes — many of our clients have been living with their condition for a long time. Chronic conditions often involve a sensitised nervous system that keeps amplifying pain and limiting function even after tissues have healed.

Neura Manual Therapy™ is specifically designed for these presentations. We assess how your nervous system has adapted over time and build a therapy plan around your current capacity, goals, and what your body can tolerate right now.

That's very common — and something we're experienced with. Multi-area presentations are actually where this approach shines. When you have pain in multiple places, or symptoms that don't fit a neat diagnosis, it often points to nervous system involvement.

Rather than treating each area separately, we address the underlying patterns that connect them. This is one of the key advantages of a nervous-system-led framework.

Yes — persistent post-surgical pain is one of the conditions we work with regularly. Surgery can be successful in structural terms but still leave you with ongoing pain, stiffness, or sensitivity. This is often because the nervous system has become sensitised through the injury, the surgical process itself, or the recovery period.

Our approach assesses why the pain is persisting beyond expected healing times and works with your nervous system to help calm that response. This applies whether you've had spinal surgery, joint replacements, abdominal procedures, or any other operation.

Absolutely. Our services extend well beyond pain management. Many of our clients come for preventative care — addressing muscle aches and nervous system tension before they build up to something more chronic.

If your body is telling you something doesn't feel quite right, that's a good reason to come in. Preventative care is always easier than crisis management.

We work with a wide range of conditions — from chronic pain and complex neurological presentations through to post-surgical recovery, sports injuries, and developmental conditions in children. Many of the people we see have conditions that haven't responded well to conventional approaches.

For a full overview, visit our Conditions page.

For private Neura Manual Therapy™ sessions at our Prospect clinic, you don't need a referral — you can contact us directly.

If you'd like to claim through Medicare (via a GP Management Plan), you'll need a referral from your GP first.

For NDIS-funded sessions, physiotherapy needs to be included in your plan. Your support coordinator can make a referral, or you can submit one online.

There are three easy ways to get started:

• Submit a referral or enquiry online through our website
• Call us directly on 08 8351 2270
• Email us at [email protected]

Once your booking is confirmed, we'll send a welcome email with an intake form and session information. We may also reach out via email or phone to confirm details and make sure you have everything you need before your first visit.

Get in touch and our team will recommend the clinician best suited to your specific condition. All our therapists are senior clinicians, but each brings different areas of experience and expertise. We're happy to match you based on your needs and preferences.

For private bookings, wait times are generally 1–2 weeks depending on therapist availability. If you'd like to be seen sooner, we can add you to our cancellation list — we'll contact you if an earlier spot opens up.

We ask for as much notice as possible so we can offer your spot to someone else who may be waiting:

• NDIS sessions — 48 hours notice required
• All other bookings — 24 hours notice required

This helps us fill the booking and keep wait times short for everyone.

Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothing that allows movement — shorts and a singlet or sports bra work well. This helps us easily assess and examine movement in the areas we need to work with.

Bring any relevant medical information or scans you have — X-rays, CT, MRI, or ultrasound results related to your condition. If you have referrals or reports from other practitioners, those are useful context too.

Nothing is essential on day one. Most importantly, come ready to share your story and what you're hoping to achieve.

Our clinic is at 146 Churchill Road, Prospect SA 5082.

You can reach us by:

• Car — street parking out the front on Churchill Road, plus additional spaces at the rear
• Bus — Adelaide Metro buses run frequently along Churchill Road, with stops a short walk away
• Train — the Gawler line runs nearby; Dudley Park is the closest station, about a 250 m walk to the clinic

Yes — parking is free and easy. If there's a space available out the front on Churchill Road, please use it first. If street parking is full, a small number of parking spaces are available at the rear of the building.

For photos of the clinic, arrival directions and everything else you need for your first visit, see our clinic welcome page.

Monday–Friday: 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Saturday: 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM

We're closed on Sundays and public holidays.

Yes. We offer in-home physiotherapy throughout the Adelaide metropolitan area for both private clients and NDIS participants. We bring everything we need to deliver the full clinic experience at your home — including a portable therapy table and all clinical equipment.

Home visits are available for:

• Private clients — ideal if you have difficulty travelling to clinic, prefer the comfort of home, or have mobility limitations. HICAPS on-the-spot claiming is available at home visits.
• NDIS participants — home visits, group homes, and community facilities across Adelaide. Travel charges are transparent and follow NDIS Price Guide rates.

Travel fees apply based on your location. Call us or email our team to check availability in your area.

Absolutely not. Your pain is 100% real — it's being generated by your nervous system, which is a physical structure. When we say pain is "nervous system–driven," we mean the neural pathways that process and amplify pain signals are involved.

This isn't psychological — it's neurophysiological. The good news is that these patterns can change with the right input.

Usually not. Dysfunction is often multi-layered — there may be issues at the injury site, but these are typically connected to wider patterns in the nervous system. For example, a painful shoulder might involve local tissue tension, but also cervical and thoracic spine involvement, neighbouring reflexive pathways and even central sensitisation.

Effective therapy addresses all layers, not just the painful spot.

Most therapies address symptoms without changing the underlying patterns that create them — like turning off a fire alarm without putting out the fire.

By working directly with the nervous system — the controller of muscle tension, pain signals, and protective responses — we're addressing the source. When the pattern changes at that level, results tend to hold.

We promote natural healing — not miracle cures. Your body has its own healing timeframes, and we respect that. While this approach is effective for a wide range of conditions, some situations require input beyond what we offer.

When that's the case, we'll refer you for further investigations or bring in other health professionals. We work closely with GPs, specialists, and allied health practitioners to make sure you're getting the best possible support — not just from us, but from the right team around you.

We run two complementary but distinct streams:

• Neura Manual Therapy™ — clinic-based in Prospect, focused on chronic pain and complex conditions. Available for private, Medicare, and NDIS participants. This is our signature hands-on approach.
• NDIS & Community Physio — mobile across Adelaide, including home visits, hydrotherapy, functional assessments, and plan review support. For NDIS participants who need flexible, community-based care.

Many conditions can be supported through either pathway. If you're unsure which is right for you, give us a call and we'll help you figure it out.

Beyond our two core streams, our services include:

• General physiotherapy for injuries and post-surgery
• Neura Manual Therapy™ for chronic and complex pain
• Hydrotherapy — one-on-one, physiotherapist-led pool sessions
• Functional capacity assessments and NDIS reporting
• Individualised exercise programs
• Home visits across the Adelaide metro area

All services are available in clinic or at home.

We take your privacy seriously. All personal and health information is handled in accordance with Australian Privacy Principles. For full details, please refer to our Privacy Policy page.

We welcome all feedback — it helps us improve. You can share your experience directly with our team, or visit our Feedback and Complaints page for more formal options.

We're always interested in hearing from experienced clinicians who are passionate about what they do. Email your CV to [email protected] with the role you're interested in, and our team will be in touch.