Katherine Forch
Specialist Physiotherapist & Clinical Lead - Concussion
BHSc (Physiotherapy), PGDipHSc (Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy) with Distinction, MSEPNZ, NZRP
BHSc (Physiotherapy), PGDipHSc (Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy) with Distinction, MSEPNZ, NZRP
Hailing from Devonport, on Auckland's North Shore, after graduating from AUT with a degree in physiotherapy in 2009, Katherine worked for Tairawhiti DHB in Gisborne. While working there, she developed an interest in vestibular rehabilitation. Following a shift to private practice and sports medicine, she completed the Herdman Competencies for vestibular assessment and management with teaching staff from Emory University and the Mayo Clinic in 2012. Katherine travelled to Phoenix, Arizona in 2019 to attend the annual conference and two-day training course of the Neuro Optometric Rehabilitation Association (NORA) - of which she is the only physiotherapist member from New Zealand.
Katherine has been part of the Axis Concussion Service since it was piloted in 2016 and is passionate about optimising targeted management for patients with these injuries. She is interested in the assessment of the sensory systems and how these can contribute to symptom load, including the vestibular, visual and cervicogenic (neck).
Katherine teaches workshops to other health professionals on cervical, visual and vestibular management of issues following concussion, and regularly participates in supervision or assists with second opinions for other physiotherapists through her role as a Physiotherapy Specialist.
She provides educational speaking services to organisations including Brain Injury Hawkes Bay, Sports Medicine NZ, Physiotherapy NZ, High Performance Sports NZ, and the Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Physicians registrar programme.
She is completing her PhD research in exertional return to play testing following sports related concussion.
As well as her concussion work, she has extensive experience in team management and sideline physiotherapy and loves a good game of rugby.
Outside of work, she enjoys being a mum, surfing and mountain-biking, and recently had the stimulating, mildly terrifying, but ultimately successful experience of attempting to learn to ski as an adult. This has given her a new appreciation for some of the balance difficulties her patients describe following a concussion.
Katherine is a member of the BIST Development Group, aiming to improve diagnosis and management of concussion in primary care settings. Their outputs have included the award-winning Brain Injury Screening Tool (BIST). Katherine provides sports vision screening, baseline testing and concussion management to teams including the Blues, Chiefs, All Blacks, Black Ferns, Emirates Team NZ and High-Performance Sport NZ.
Professional Memberships:
