Article: History of our practice

There is an overwhelming choice of health care services in South East Queensland. Literally thousands of practitioners providing all manner of treatment from specialist medical to weirdly esoteric. If you can imagine it, somebody does it. We often think it would be better if some of the treatments on offer hadn't been imagined in the first place, but who is to say that there is no place for "electro kinesio past-life detox colour therapy colonics" . Hey...not us, go for it!

Whilst our practice is one of the many, we have the distinction of being the first "holistic" practice on the Gold Coast. Our original location in "Trust House" (Surfers' Paradise) was established in 1980 by Dr Peter Pedersen with herbalist Gary Ozarko. We think that makes us the oldest practice in the region, but we really don't want to shout about that particular distinction.

We were also the first to offer the spectrum of chiropractic, osteopathy, massage, acupuncture, psychology, naturopath, iridology photography, and medical services in the one practice. That really is something to talk about...

The integration was quite new at the time and not without opposition. Did we face some hostility from the already established practices? Sure, just a tad. Peter Pedersen was making too much noise and getting local media attention.

The Gold Coast was not quite ready for such innovations.

"Go back to Sydney!" "It'll never work up here." "We already have enough doctors" etc.

But...the public had other ideas.

In June 1981 we conducted the first "Health Expo" in Queensland, in the grounds of the Surfers' Paradise T.A.F.E. campus. Two days of free talks & demonstrations, herbs, vegetarian food, Tai Chi, Polarity Energy Balancing, Applied Kinesiology, Chinese Medicine, Orthomolecular Nutrition with the late, great, Dr William Vayda, and a dozen other "new and radical" natural health displays. The Gold Coast was a bit behind the rest of Australia back then. As the premier holiday location in the country, the emphasis was on shopping, sun, surf, sex and lookin' good. Some things never change!

If you remember the "Gold Coast Health Expo" or were a patient or student in those early days, we would love to hear from you.

Over the years our practice team has grown and changed; practitioners maturing and venturing into their own clinics, pursuing further study, retiring or just going separate ways. The core has evolved, time and experience are great teachers, but always with the same philosophy that your health matters.

Since 1985, we have been located in the geographic centre of the Gold Coast, near the Nerang Rail Station, just west of Cararra and the Metricon Stadium.

The train takes 50 minutes or so from Brisbane and you get to sit back and look at the scenery. Our patients driving from Brisbane get to us in 45 minutes on the M1 motorway (take exit 71). From the south, the Pacific Highway becomes the M1 near Tugun, well south of our turnoff, but it is the same stretch of road. Look for the signage directing you to Nerang Station or "Nerang East". The exit is the same number, 71.

Your Health Matters is a group practice, with several practitioners working in their chosen field.

Our emphasis is the physical; prevention still takes second place to crisis care, not because we want it to, but more people come to us injured than well. We are interested in structural biomechanics, from the feet up, and we have a physiotherapist who can assess foot pronation and heat mold orthotics for immediate use.

East meets West with a combination of Osteopathy & Chiropractic, Myofascial Therapy-Trigger Point Dry Needling (after Travell & Simonds), Myotherapy & Massage, Traditional Acupuncture & Applied Kinesiology. We teach postural therapy in the style of Alexander and have created a whole body stretching routine with bits borrowed from Tai Chi, Yoga and the stretching guru, Anderson.

We are definitely more structurally oriented than nutritional, although we do refer to naturopathic practitioners, who are adept at assessing all your holistic health needs, including biological age and cellular health.

We lean to the scientific rather than the spiritual...our Reiki practitioner also has a Bachelor of Science degree. Having said that we are all cognisant of the fact that we are spiritual beings in a physical body. It's just that we tend to signpost that we treat physical conditions that occur on or to the physical body. Our practice is fairly earthy, not at all cosmic. With Byron Bay only 45 minutes away we figure you can waft down there if you really want some past-life-prahnic-consciousness-raising-energy-balancing...stuff!

We refer patients for X-ray or MRI if they have a spinal condition. (Not just a one-off sore back, an actual condition.) If your condition is not suited to our care, we will refer you to the most appropriate practitioner. We don't advocate massive treatment programs, contracts that sign you up for a year or two, bring your husband, mother, best friend, have a free colonic if you pay in advance...honestly, we don't believe in masses of treament because...YOUR HEALTH MATTERS.

If you happen to be on the beautiful Gold Coast, in sunny Queensland, you may need to visit our practice for health care. Our www.yourhealthmatters.com.au web site gives you information about the services we provide and the help that we can offer. We frequently care for visitors to the region, especially those who require ongoing treatment for a pre-existing condition.

Please ask your regular practitioner for your "listings" or a brief case history so that we can duplicate previous care if you so require. Or perhaps give our methods a look-see, you might just like what we do!

Visiting doctors are especially welcome to call in for treatment or just a chat.

Article by Dr Peter Richard Pedersen