About Nell Mead

Specialist Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist | Creator of How To Be Your Own Physio

I’m Nell Mead, a specialist musculoskeletal physiotherapist with over 25 years of experience, including 10 years as a British Army physiotherapy officer. I run a private physiotherapy clinic in central London near Liverpool Street and Moorgate, where I specialise in helping people with complex, long-term injuries – the cases that haven’t responded to traditional physiotherapy.

I’m also the creator of How To Be Your Own Physio: a systematic approach that teaches you to assess and treat your own musculoskeletal problems using the same methods I use in my London clinic.

Why I Created How To Be Your Own Physio

I got to the point where my waiting list was so long (11 months) that I had to close it. Every day, people were contacting my team – people in pain who couldn’t access quality physiotherapy. NHS waiting times are months long, private care can be expensive, and the quality of physiotherapy inevitably depends on the individual practitioner.

So what do people do while they wait? They Google random exercises. They follow YouTube videos with zero assessment. They try treatments that might work – or might waste months of their time. They end up frustrated, in pain, sometimes for years.

I created How To Be Your Own Physio to solve that problem.

The Problem I'm Solving

Not everyone can access good physiotherapy. Whether it’s geography, cost, or waiting times, there’s a massive gap between demand and supply for high-quality musculoskeletal care.

And here’s what frustrates me: I’m aware of far too many physiotherapists who treat symptoms without really taking the time to work out why the patient is suffering. They focus on where it hurts, not what’s causing it to hurt.

Everything in your body is connected. Your knee pain might be coming from your feet. Your tennis elbow might originate in your neck. Your plantar fasciitis could be driven by your ribcage position. If you only treat the painful area, you’re missing the real problem.

That’s called regional interdependence, and it’s at the heart of how I work – both in my London clinic and in my online courses.

My Approach: The Health & Performance Pyramid

Over my 25+ years as a physiotherapist – from treating injured soldiers in Iraq and the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, to working with the Cyprus Davis Cup tennis team, to running my specialist clinic in London – I’ve developed a systematic framework called the Health & Performance Pyramid.

It’s built on four layers:

Foundation Layer (Vascular System)

Hydration, nutrition, sleep, and stress management create the right cellular environment for healing and performance.

Health Layer (Nervous System):

Understanding alignment, biomechanics, and control (your ABCs) to identify and fix movement dysfunction using the Release, Stabilise, Move model.

Performance Layer (Musculoskeletal System):

Building strength, flexibility, and endurance to create capacity for whatever you want to achieve.

Sports-Specific Layer:

Mastery through specialist coaching and movement patterning.

You can’t skip layers. Trying to build performance on poor foundations is like adding another floor to a house with dodgy foundations – eventually, something will collapse.

What I've Created

My Book: How To Be Your Own Physio explains the complete pyramid system and the science behind why it works. Available as paperback, Kindle, and audiobook.

My Foundation Layer Workbook gives you practical tools to assess and improve your hydration, nutrition, sleep, and stress management.

My Self-Assessment Course teaches you to analyse your whole body systematically – testing each region to identify your driver (the true source of your problem) – just like I would in clinic. Once you know your driver, you can access targeted rehabilitation courses for that specific area.

My Specialist Courses address specific situations: preparing for knee replacement surgery, managing workplace ergonomics, or tackling stress through yoga.

Everything uses the same systematic approach: test, release, retest, identify the driver, fix the cause.

What About Professional Physiotherapy?

Some people have asked whether teaching self-assessment “downplays the physio profession” or whether patients can really understand clinical reasoning.

I think that’s patronising. People manage to build flat-pack furniture, programme their smart homes, and understand their mortgage terms. Systematically testing and scoring a movement honestly doesn’t feel like a huge stretch.

Let me be crystal clear: high-quality physiotherapy is irreplaceable. A skilled physiotherapist who understands regional interdependence, who can listen empathetically, provide hands-on treatment, and adapt to complex cases – that practitioner is worth every penny. I refer to practitioners like this regularly, and my courses explicitly direct people to find highly-trained therapists when they need professional help.

But the demand for high-quality physio massively outstrips the supply. If it didn’t, my waiting list wouldn’t have become so unmanageably long that I had to close it.

Who My Resources Are For

If you try my self-assessment, you might discover you can treat your own problem – which would be brilliant. Or you might develop a better understanding of your body that helps you get more from face-to-face treatment when you do see a physiotherapist. Either way, you’re better off than guessing with random YouTube exercises.

If you’ve already got a great physio – fantastic, you don’t need this. But if you’re stuck on a waiting list, or can’t access the care you need, or just want to understand your body better, my books and courses are here for you.

Because I believe everyone deserves better than “have you tried stretching?”

My Background

10 years in the British Army as a physiotherapy officer, rising to the rank of Major. I worked at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) Headley Court, set up the physiotherapy department at NATO Headquarters in Northwood, deployed to Iraq with 33 Field Hospital in 2003, and served as head of physiotherapy for British Forces Cyprus.

Army-funded postgraduate studies in Sports & Exercise Medicine, plus specialist training with pioneering physiotherapists including Sarah Key (physiotherapist to the Royal Family), Diane Lee and LJ Lee from Vancouver, as well as anatomist Caroline Barrow, osteopath Jean-Pierre Barral and chiropractor Perry Nickelston.

Since 2019: Running my specialist private clinic in central London, focusing exclusively on complex musculoskeletal cases – people whose pain hasn’t responded to traditional treatment.

The only practitioner worldwide fully trained in both the Integrated Systems Model and the Sarah Key Method.

My Mission

Knowledge shouldn't be locked behind a waiting list or a degree course. Patient empowerment should mean actual tools and understanding, not just "here's an exercise sheet, good luck."

My goal is simple: help one million people take control of their own recovery and movement.

Contact Information

How To Be Your Own Physio Books and online courses: howtobeyourownphysio.com

Nell Mead Physiotherapist (London Clinic) For complex cases requiring hands-on assessment Location: Central London (Liverpool Street/Moorgate area) Contact: help@nellmead.com | 0207 175 0150

Please note: My new patient waiting list is currently closed due to high demand. I recommend starting with my self-assessment course while you wait.