A former international swimmer turned physiotherapist from Newcastle has been appointed physio to the British Olympic open water marathon swimmers.

Darren Wigg runs Newcastle Physiotherapy Ltd and has been part of the Great Britain swimming medical team working with junior and senior, pool and open water teams since 2008. He was lead physio at both the men’s and women’s Olympic qualifying events.

Darren said: “I’m very proud to have been selected to represent Team GB in London. It’s a huge honour and responsibility to work at the very highest level. It’s the absolute pinnacle for a sports physio.

“British swimming is very strong right now. It’s fantastic to work with world-class athletes and be part of their success.
“For London 2012 the women’s and men’s marathon swimming races are 9 and 10 August. The course is six laps totalling 10,000 metres in the Serpentine in Hyde Park. The support team goes to London on 16 July, and we’ll be working on preparing the swimmers physically for the competition both in and out of the water.”

The marathon swimming support team also includes a performance scientist who takes into account the environment – things such as currents and water temperature – to help devise the best training routine for peak performance.
The Team GB marathon swimmers are Keri-anne Payne and Daniel Fogg.

When Keri-anne Payne won the gold medal at the World Open Water Marathon Swimming Championships in Shanghai, she became the first athlete in Team GB in any sport to qualify her place for London 2012.
Daniel Fogg competes for Team GB following the qualifying race in June in Portugal. He was already selected in March to compete in the 1500 metres pool event.

“The 10km marathon is the swimming equivalent of marathon running, it’s the toughest event in swimming,” said Darren.
“A race lasts around two hours, all the swimmers are in a pack rather than lanes and there’s the natural environment to contend with – whatever’s in the water. It’s tactical and swimmers need to understand the course really well. One small lapse in concentration can cost you the race.

“After a race it takes about a week for a competitive marathon swimmer to fully recover. We utilise various recovery strategies from contrast bathing – where swimmers alternate between an ice bath and a hot bath or shower to help to flush waste products from the muscles – and sports massage to compression garments and rigorous hydration and nutrition plans.”

Mark Perry, Open Water Swimming Coach for British Swimming, who will be Team Leader for the Marathon Swimming team in London said: “It is great to have Darren on board for the Olympic Games.

“It is important to have the best support team possible available for Keri-anne Payne and Dan Fogg when they compete in five weeks time.

“We have worked together for a number of years on various Open Water and Marathon swimming events and I am confident that he will be an asset to the team.”

Darren started swimming training aged five at Heaton dolphins in Newcastle. In 1999 he competed in the 400 metres individual medley race in the World Championship in Hong Kong and gained 10th place, and in the 2000 European Championship he gained 8th place.
He retired from competitive swimming aged 22 and studied physiotherapy at Northumbria University. He gained a first class degree then worked in the NHS and private practice.
Darren established Newcastle Physiotherapy 18 months ago and the clinic has grown steadily. There are now another two highly skilled physiotherapists working alongside Darren, David Fothergill who also works with Newcastle United FC Academy and Seong-Joon Lee who also works with Newcastle Falcons rugby team. In addition the clinic is home to a complementary therapist and a nutritionist.

“In the practice we treat a whole range of conditions including sports injuries. The business is going really well, it’s in a good location in Gosforth at Newcastle Great Park and people like the range of therapies we offer,” said Darren.

“I know from first-hand experience the importance of attention to detail when helping people to recover from injury and rehabilitating them back to world class sport. My vision is that any client receiving any service from Newcastle Physiotherapy will enjoy the same care, expertise and attention to detail usually reserved for world class, professional athletes.

“In the run up to the Olympic events I’ll be going all out to help our open water marathon swimmers do their absolute best when they compete in August.”

Alison Fowler PR July 2012

Darren returned from the Open Water World Championships in Shanghai at the end of July confident that Team GB swimming will bring home more medals in London 2012.

Darren travelled to Osaka, Japan on 10th July as lead physiotherapist for Great Britain’s Open Water Swimming Team. Osaka staged the holding camp – a preparatory training camp before the beginning of the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai. ‘The holding camp was fantastic – we had excellent facilities and accommodation and preparations went well’.

The team travelled to Jinshan City Beach, about 90 minutes from the centre of Shanghai, 3 days before the start of the competition, held from July 19–23rd. This years world championships held an extra degree of importance as it doubled as a qualification event for next years London Olympics – the first 10 swimmer’s would automatically gain a place on their respective Olympic teams.

The first event of the championships was the women’s 10k where Great Britains Keri-Anne Payne and Cassie Pattern were amongst the competitors. Keri-Anne had an amazing start, using her tight streamlining and dolphin kick to emerge in first position after diving from the pontoon. Payne dominated the field from then on, using her vast experience to maintain her lead despite a strong challenge in the final 200 meters from second placed swimmer Martina Grimalde of Italy. In winning the event Keri-Anne became the first member of Team GB, in any sport to qualify for London 2012.

Olympic bronze medalist, Cassie Pattern was disappointed with her 21st place finish. She had been troubled by an ongoing shoulder injury for most of 2011 which required an injection before flying out to Osaka. Pattern now hopes to fight for an Olympic spot in next years Olympic trials in March.

Great Britains Dan Fogg and Tom Allen were competing on day 2 in the mens 10k. Fogg followed in the footsteps of Payne for the first 9,000 meters, leading the feild and feeling comfortable. However he couldn’t respond to the late surge from the eventual winner, Spyros Gianniotis from Greece. Fogg was unable to keep up with the pace of the chasing pack and finished a disappointing 15th. Tom Allen, 19, from Swansea managed to get himself into 8th position at one stage in the race but again could not live with the change of pace in the final stages, finishing 26th.

Both men will now have to aim to qualify for the final Olympic qualification event in Portugal next June, where they will have to finish in the top 9 positions if the hope to get to London.

‘To be part of a gold medal winning team at the World Championships is certainly a career highlight for me as a physiotherapist’ enthused Darren. ‘I just hope we can repeat the feat next year in London!’

Find out Kerri-Anne Payne’s thoughts after her magnificent race in Shanghai @ http://www.keriannepayne.co.uk/

This week Newcastle Physiotherapy formed a sponsorship agreement with 20 year-old Jonson McClumpha, a young ambitious boxer with hopes of international titles in the future. Jonson recently turned professional after much success as a young amateur fighter, representing Great Britain on numerous occasions.

Newcastle Physiotherapy will be providing Jonson with as much help as he needs to help him achieve his ambitions. In particular Jonson will benefit from expert, hands on physiotherapy and sports massage to ensure he stays fit and injury free. He will also enjoy professional nutritional support and guidance from Laura Wigg, Newcastle Physiotherapy nutritionist, to help optimise his recovery and ensure he is fueling his body adequately throughout his heavy training and pre-fight periods.

Darren Wigg, Director and practice principle physiotherapist is confident Jonson can be a world beater.  ‘Jonson has the right, professional attitude to succeed as a professional sportsman. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Jonson over the last 12 months and he’s shown strength and resilience to overcome various injuries, where lesser athletes may have failed. He’s a great lad and we’re all thrilled to be in a position to help him over the next few years’

Find out more about Jonson by clicking the link below……

http://www.northeastfightscene.co.uk/site/article/741

Newcastle Physiotherapy are offering free 15 minute taster treatments with Jane Weston, their highly skilled complementary therapist.

Jane offers Indian head massage, reflexology, aromatherapy, holistic and Swedish massage and will soon be adding hot stone therapy to her repertoire. Her treatments are designed to aid relaxation, reduce stress, pain and anxiety and balance energy levels within the body.

Darren Wigg, founder of Newcastle Physiotherapy commented ‘many people have never had the opportunity to experience complementary therapies so we think offering free 15 minute taster treatments is the perfect way to introduce the therapies to our clients’

If you would like to book a free 15 minute appiontment with Jane, just call 0191 2171929 or call in to the practice.

Welcome to the brand new Newcastle Physio Clinic website.