Physiotherapy, movement, and getting outside with Jamie Kavanagh
We chatted with Jamie about her travels, hiking with a puppy, and how running helps her better relate to her clients.
How did you end up in Victoria?
I’m originally from Ontario, but my boyfriend and I moved here from Calgary at the end of November 2024. We always knew we’d move to BC at some point, either the Interior or the Island. We had done a couple of road trips through BC and discovered so many nice places. Victoria has been such a nice place to land and get to know. The ocean and trails are incredible, but it also has a nice small-city feel to it. It reminds me of a Toronto neighbourhood in some ways. But then we can drive 20 minutes straight to a rainforest. It’s so green here!
Calgary is nice, too, though! We moved there for the mountains and spent a lot of weekends and summers hiking and camping. I like to trail run, so it was neat to be able to do that there. Even after living there for two years, every time we’d drive up to where the mountains begin (and they seem to emerge so suddenly), we get butterflies. It never gets old!
You spent a few years living in the UK!
I did my Master’s in England, which took two years. And my boyfriend is English, so I stayed and worked as a physio for another year. Moving to the UK for school was something I had wanted to do, to experience traveling and go somewhere a little further away and do something different. I loved how we could go anywhere on the island in under two hours. And, the UK itself is so close to other destinations, so travel is affordable. I flew to Morocco for £20! It’s an interesting place to travel: you’re on a small island that has a lot of people, so while there is a lot of green space, there are also a lot of people accessing the same space. But, you can see and do a lot.
Tell us about your van camping experiences
We like to say that we have a “converted van for camping” (rather than a “camper van”). It has been so nice for Vancouver Island! When we were living in Alberta, we would take it around the Rockies and into BC to camp. We bought it from a couple who had converted it to drive to the Yukon. We bought it partially because of the weather in Alberta: the nice, outdoor camping season is not that long, but we could stretch the season a bit longer with the van. Plus, we have a dog and she gets wet and dirty, which is not fun in a little tent! We still tent camp and backpack, but it’s easy to have everything ready to go in the van.
Why physio?
Going into my undergrad, I knew I wanted to do something within the healthcare field. I was always into sports growing up, and I had my own experiences with physio. I had the option to participate in a specialization program in rehab science (this includes things like occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and speech-language pathology) and I completed my undergraduate practicum in a rehab hospital. This was a place for people who have experienced spinal cord injuries, for example. It exposed me to a whole different side of physio that I hadn’t known about before, which helped me realize that I was quite interested in physio as a career.
It was very inspiring to witness how hard spinal cord injury patients worked to do something like standing up for an extra 30 seconds or being able to reach with a little bit more trunk control. They were such little changes that they worked so hard for. I didn’t know much about physio at that time, but just to see how much effort and motivation people have and that they put into these things was humbling.
I think quite often, when we think of physio, we think of orthopedic clinics, but there are so many different areas you can work in as well. In the UK, I worked in their hospital system, including in the emergency room, trauma and orthopedics, and the cardio-respiratory areas of the hospital. Some days I would be helping people get out of bed after a hip surgery; other days I would be setting people up on non-invasive ventilators, for example.
Plus, physio as a whole is a really meaningful job and helps people in a way that’s meaningful and specific for them.
What’s it like to be a physio in Victoria?
It’s a little bit of everything! We see athletes, weekend runners, and active older adults, among others. Especially in Victoria, people are just moving! It makes it really engaging as a physio, especially when people are motivated to get well.
How do you stay active these days?
I pretty much just run right now. I’ve always been a bit of a casual runner, but now I’m actually training. I’m running the BMO Vancouver Marathon in May and an ultra in the summer. It won’t be my first marathon, but it’s the first I’ve trained for. It’s nice to have company on the long runs!
What inspires you to run trail races?
I love trail running, it’s a nice way to spend time in nature. I’m not someone who needs to run fast the whole way, I like the combination of running, hiking, and walking. You can cover a lot of trail that otherwise might not be doable if you were just hiking. And, with races, you have access to aid stations, so it feels safe. I’ll be doing the Squamish 50-miler in August, it’s my first 50-miler! But I’m working my way up to that distance, with a few smaller races before that. One is the Kusam Klimb, in Sayward.
I’m actually more nervous about the marathon because every minute counts! But I’m doing the marathon to keep up with my running for the trail races later. With trail racing, it doesn’t really matter how fast you run it: it’s more about coming to the race prepared, feeling excited, and then not stopping.
How did you get into trail running?
I’ve always liked running on trails from my cross-country days in high school. When I lived in Calgary, I started doing it more consistently. There are some really cool hikes that are sometimes longer than what you have time to hike. I discovered if I hiked up and ran down, I could cover more ground! And then I felt like I really earned going fast after all the hiking.
Trail running has also allowed me to discover what I’m capable of, even if it’s hard.
What’s your motivation to get outside?
I love to be in nature, and having a dog that likes to run helps! It’s a good way to tire her out, I run with her a lot. It makes it more fun, and she’s having a good time, too. Her name is Luna, she’s a two-year-old 50-pound golden retriever. We also take her backpacking with us; she even has her own little pack!
What is it like to work with runners through your physio practice?
We definitely see a lot of runners at Arbutus, and it’s always nice to work with someone you can relate to. Speaking from personal and professional experience, runners don’t like to be told to take a break from running until they are physically unable to run due to pain. Something like 15-88% of runners are technically injured, which is why education and knowledge can be so important. Especially when it comes to female runners! We are really interesting and complex and have a number of physiological and hormonal differences that can contribute to different injuries. I’m very interested in the different stages of being a female runner from teenage years, pregnancy, and through to perimenopausal.
How do you stay up on the latest research in physio?
There are a couple of podcasts I put on while running or driving that focus on things like motivation and communication, which are so important in the work of a physio (90% of our job is education and understanding our clients’ motivations!). I also get updates from the orthopedic division of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association. And, my colleagues at Arbutus are super helpful, as are our clients: chatting with them always brings up interesting questions.
I took a running course from a doctor of physiotherapy, and she does a lot of running podcasts that I find interesting. One is called More than Miles. I also enjoy the NAF Physio podcast and PhysioTutors.
