Fit for purpose: one woman’s mission to help those in the rural sector feel well and move well, so that they can perform well

I grew up in a rural community in the UK. We weren’t farmers, but I always had horses. My passion for health, wellbeing and movement stemmed from my own experience with Crohn’s disease, and balancing this with the specific challenges and pressures of living and working in a rural community. I had to have a lot of surgeries and, while I had amazing support from health professionals, few of them understood the reality of the rural lifestyle. I became fascinated with understanding how much your mind, body and fitness are affected by injury or illness. It led to me training to become a movement coach, initially working primarily with equestrian athletes.

My mother and stepfather immigrated to New Zealand about eighteen years ago. I had a great business in the UK, running a studio in a rural village providing movement coaching, rehabilitation Pilates and sports massage therapy. But after my first visit to see my mum in Hawke’s Bay, I could see why so many people visit and want to stay. The rural community immediately felt like ‘home’ to me. I bounced back and forth between the UK and New Zealand for a few years, but moved here permanently in 2015. Home is now my small sheep and beef farm just outside Pōrangahau in Central Hawke’s Bay. I love living in this rural community and being immersed in both farming and the wool industry.

My passion is to support rural people to feel well and move well, so that they can perform well. I go into farms and woolsheds and look at how people move and see where their movement might not be as efficient or as effective as it could be, then give them corrective exercises to help mitigate injury risk and improve performance. People in our rural sector don’t have a huge amount of spare time so I focus on exercises that can be done in small bursts. When you get to a gate, you can do this movement, which will take you thirty seconds, or when you break for smoko, you’ve got a minute and a half to fit in an exercise while the jug is boiling.

I find that, like the UK, New Zealand has amazing healthcare professionals, but they don’t necessarily understand the movement requirements and physical demands of rural work. I spoke at a National Rural Health Conference about the biomechanics of shearing to help healthcare professionals get an insight into working in the wool-harvesting industry. This work with people across the food and fibre sector led me to develop the concept of the ‘Rural Athlete’ mindset.

If you ask any farmer, shearer or forestry worker what the most important tools of their trade are, most will say it’s their ute or tractor or some form of machinery that they know they have to look after to keep in good working order. But I believe your body and mind are actually the most essential tools of your trade. Do we take care of the most essential tools of our trade – our body and our mind – in the same way that we do our vehicles and other literal tools? We regularly maintain our tools, like scheduling annual checks and warrants, to keep them in good working order, but do we carry the same attitude over to our bodies and minds?

When I think about the people that look after their body and their mind the best, it’s athletes. They know how to take care of their physical, mental and movement health. They eat well, and they understand the importance of breathing, sleeping and recovery – because their ability to make a living and the longevity of their career relies on their capacity to look after their body and mind; the tools of their trade. Anybody who works in the food and fibre sector works physically hard. They need endurance, skills, mental agility and a really strong work ethic.

I want to change the conversation from about being fit to being fit for purpose. Maintaining good physical health, mental health and movement health is essential to ensure that everyone can perform well every day, now and for the future.