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RECOVER · COMPLEX CASES
Been everywhere? Let's look at what's been missed?
For people with long-running, multi-system problems: pain, dizziness, fatigue, brain fog, and conditions like long COVID. We assess the systems together, join the dots, and build a plan you can follow in person or by telehealth.
Not local? Assess with us in person, then continue your program by telehealth, wherever you live.
What we look at together
Eight systems, one picture.
Brain and thinking
Processing attention, thinking while moving
Inner ear and balance
Balance four ways, rotation, reactive balance
Vision
Eye movements, visual and motion sensitivity
The neck
Movement, position sense, strength
Body awareness
Feeling your feet, sense of position
Nervous system and stress
How your body responds to load and stress
Energy and exertion
How much you can do before symptoms rise
Your medical history
Immune, post-viral and other conditions, with your doctors
Does this sound like you?
If you tick more than one, you’re in the right place.
You've seen five specialists and still have no answer
Lots of tests, no clear plan
Your symptoms cross over
Pain, dizziness, fatigue and fog, all at once
Not right since a virus
Including long COVID and other post-viral conditions, with your medical team
Dizzy, racing or faint when you stand
Including dysautonomia such as POTS, with your doctors
Wiped out after small efforts
Symptoms that crash a day or two later. We pace, never push
Pain everywhere, sensitive to everything
A nervous system that’s turned right up
An old injury, new problems
A concussion, whiplash or fall years ago that never quite settled
Your tests are normal, but you’re not
We measure how your systems work, not just what scans show
You live a long way from us
Assess in person, then work with us by telehealth
Why things get missed
Each specialist sees their part. The problem is often in between.
Specialists are experts in their own system. What often gets missed is how the systems affect each other: how the inner ear, eyes, neck, nervous system and energy levels feed into one another, and keep symptoms going.
Function, not just structure
Scans and blood tests look for damage and disease. We measure how your systems are working: balance, eye movements, neck control, reaction and exertion tolerance.
All in one place
Physiotherapy, vestibular and neurological physiotherapy, exercise physiology and myotherapy under one roof, looking at the same results.
Joined-up thinking
We look at how your findings connect, top down (the brain) and bottom up (the senses), and put it in a plain-language case summary you and your doctors can use.
NEUROIMMUNE AND POST-VIRAL CONDITIONS
When the immune system and nervous system are both involved.
After a viral illness, or with an immune condition, the nervous system can stay on high alert. That can show up as dizziness, a racing heart when you stand, brain fog, pain, poor sleep and fatigue that doesn’t match what you’ve done.
1 in 8
Still unwell months after COVID-19
In a large Dutch study that compared people with and without COVID-19, about 12.7% had new or worse symptoms three to five months later that were due to the infection.
Ballering et al. 2022 [1]
Our role
We measure, pace and retrain
We work with people living with long COVID and other post-viral conditions, ME/CFS, dysautonomia including POTS, multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune conditions. We don’t diagnose or treat the condition itself; that’s for your GP and specialists. We measure how your balance, vision, neck and nervous system are coping, and build a program around what your body can tolerate.
Pacing, not pushing
If effort makes you crash
If your symptoms get worse a day or two after effort (post-exertional malaise), as in ME/CFS and some long COVID, guidelines advise against fixed, ever-increasing exercise programs [2]. We start with energy management, and only build when your body tolerates it.
How it works
From your history to a plan you can follow.
It starts with a secure online case review, so we can see if we’re the right fit before you book. Your Assessment can be split across sessions if that suits your energy, and you can stop at any point.
1
Start your case review
Tell us your condition, or what you think it might be, and upload your reports, scans and letters through our secure form.
2
30-minute consultation
If we think we can help, we’ll invite you to book a paid 30-minute consultation to talk it through and plan next steps.
3
Ikigai Shift Assessment
In person at any Ikigai Shift centre, paced to you. Our vestibular and neurological physiotherapists go deeper where needed.
4
Your case summary
A plain-language summary of what we found and how it connects, shared with your GP and specialists with your consent.
5
Your program
A custom program built from your results, in person or by telehealth, with regular re-tests.
Why we measure
Our protocols, chosen for you
Not everyone needs every test. We choose from our protocols based on your history, and go at your pace with each one.
Neck and balance
Neck movement, position sense and strength, compared with balance tested four ways.
Neckcare · VALD DynaMo · mCTSIB
Eyes and inner ear
Eye movements, gaze stability, positional and inner-ear testing.
vHIT · VNG · BPPV testing
Rotation
How your inner ear handles turning and spinning, and how fast you settle.
VTS rail spinner protocol
Reactive balance
Balance when the ground moves unexpectedly, with and without a thinking task.
Reax Run perturbation protocol
Thinking while moving
Processing speed, attention and dual-task performance.
Trail Making · SMARTfit
Exertion tolerance
How much you can do before symptoms rise, measured safely.
KORR CardioCoach [test: confirm]
Standing up
Heart rate and blood pressure when you move from lying to standing (active stand test), measured the same way every time.
InBody blood pressure system · GP referral if needed
Symptoms and function
Standard questionnaires for dizziness, neck pain, headache and daily function.
DHI · NDI · HDI · PSFS
Telehealth
Not limited by your post code.
Come to any Ikigai Shift centre for your Assessment, then keep working with us from home. Your program is built on your objective results, so it travels with you.
In person, once to start
Your Ikigai Shift Assessment happens at any of our Ikigai Shift centres, because the equipment matters.
Then telehealth
Video sessions to coach, progress and adjust your program, with home exercises you can follow between sessions.
Re-test in person
Come back at set points to re-test, so we can see what’s changed and adjust. [Interval: confirm]
For musculoskeletal conditions, live telehealth rehabilitation has been shown to improve function about as well as in-person care [3].
Start your case review
Tell us what’s been happening.
Share your story and your reports in one place. Our clinical team reviews every case, and if we think we can help, we’ll invite you to book a 30-minute consultation [fee: confirm].
Your information is collected securely, stored in our clinical records system and only seen by our clinical team. [Privacy policy link]
Part of your team
We work alongside your doctors
With your consent, we share our findings with the people already looking after you, and refer on when something needs medical attention.
Fees & Funding
Ways to pay
Private Health Insurance: Health fund rebates are available. Some funds also cover telehealth sessions; check with yours.
Medicare: rebates may be available for physiotherapy and exercise physiology with GP chronic condition management plan, for eligible patients.
Workers compensation & CTP: accepted
NDIS: can be funded through your plan. See NDIS
Common questions
Do I need a referral?
Can I do everything by telehealth?
Will you diagnose what’s wrong?
I have ME/CFS or long COVID. Will you push me?
What should I bring?
Research behind the page
Ballering AV, van Zon SKR, Olde Hartman TC, et al. Persistence of somatic symptoms after COVID-19 in the Netherlands: an observational cohort study. Lancet. 2022;400(10350):452–461.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Myalgic encephalomyelitis (or encephalopathy)/chronic fatigue syndrome: diagnosis and management (NG206). London: NICE; 2021.
Cottrell MA, Galea OA, et al. Real-time telerehabilitation for the treatment of musculoskeletal conditions is effective and comparable to standard practice: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Rehabil. 2017;31(5):625–638.
These studies describe groups of people. Individual results vary. We measure function and do not diagnose or treat underlying medical conditions.