About Alex Murray
As a clinician
On graduating in 2013, I worked in a clinic predominantly treating people with foot and ankle injuries, under the mentorship of a renowned Olympic Games Podiatrist.
Falling in love with helping people manage their pain and injuries, I’ve worked in this field for the last 9 years in clinics across Canberra.
Seeing a wide variety of patients, from 1 year olds taking their first steps to elite athletes stepping across the finish line, weekend warriors to casual hikers and people who just want to keep up with their kids and grand kids.
As a Canberra podiatrist, I can’t get enough of the smiles that my patients have when I’m able to help them go from a place of confusion and frustration back to enjoying life!
In 2016 I went to complete further study in Sports and Exercise Medicine at the University of Otago, alongside Physiotherapists, General Practitioners, Surgeons and Medical Specialists, graduating with distinction, the highest honour conferred by the university.
This amazing course expanded my skills and trained me to be able to provide all the services to take someone from injury all the way back to their activity. It also exposed me to other specialties and how we can work together to produce fantastic outcomes for our patients.
Priding myself on ensuring I’m delivering the best experience for my patients, I have since completed my Strength and Conditioning Coach certification and worked as a rehabilitation coach with local athletes and a leading local rugby union team.
What are the most important factors in a patient’s recovery?
I’ve learnt in my career that the patient, their goals, the relationship we develop, and a compassionate clinical environment are the keys to success.
That’s what allows us to work effectively as a team to craft a personalised treatment plan that my patients can implement in their lives. That’s what works to achieve the outcome you desire.
It is also what allows us to have an open and honest dialogue, for me to be able to answer your tricky questions, and for me to empower patients to achieve their health goals.
Educator, mentor and author
I’ve had a passion for sharing knowledge for as long as I can remember. There’s something amazing about being able to listen, understand someone else’s problems, where they’re stuck, and being able to teach them something that changes the game for them.
Can’t get enough of it!
What I’ve realised is that most of the professional development out there is focused around presenting research papers and theory. That there’s a real lack of courses and workshops that are clinically focused and built to provide tangible skills and knowledge that helps you become confident at managing real patients and dilemmas that occur in-clinic.
That’s why in 2018, I started a blog under the moniker “Making Sense in Podiatry” to share my passion, knowledge and experiences. It wasn’t long before, in 2020 this morphed into developing online courses and webinars under the business Podiatry Systems, that I started alongside Scott Greenbank. But the demand didn’t end there and in 2021 I started teaching in-person workshops and the re-brand to The Rehab Podiatrist.
Through my teaching I’ve been lucky to get a number of opportunities. As a communication and education partner with CauseHealth, I was able to collaborate with their directors and senior research team to produce an education series on how to best translate academic research into care for patients. I’ve also been able to present at the Sports and Exercise Podiatry Australia (SEPA) Conference in 2022, collaborate on an academic paper and outline how we can better view and manage patients with heel pain and start the podcast “Real Clinicians, Real Chats” alongside Physiotherapist Kit Wisdom.
As of today, alongside my clinic, I now produce and teach 2-3 webinars a year to a global audience of Podiatrists and Allied Health Professionals, regularly present workshops interstate, record a monthly podcast and continue to collaborate on academic papers. I’ve also opened my books to a small number of Podiatrists who want more one-on-one guidance and mentorship.
I love this balance of clinical to teaching work as it keeps me engaged in research and constantly learning so I can always be presenting the most up-to-date knowledge to other professionals and then taking back everything I know to my patients. Seeing the range of workshop participants, mentees and patients all working towards and achieving their goals keeps me energised and enjoying what I do. I wouldn’t trade it!