Narrative CV
Mannie Babington Smith qualified as a physiotherapist in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1970. Her first years of professional life were spent in orthopaedics, and then in a well-established centre for cerebral palsy children in northern Germany.
During her time there she attended the Bobath course in London. Subsequently, various jobs in Germany and England enabled her to observe and learn different treatment techniques in different places. Mannie qualified to practice in the United Kingdom and Germany, and has worked in both countries in a variety of hospitals and practices. She gained experience in many aspects of physiotherapy, including out-patients, geriatrics, neurology, pre- and post-operative orthopaedics, paediatrics, and pre- and post-natal gynaecology. Throughout her career she has kept abreast of new developments and research in her professional field.
Mannie settled in Oxfordshire in 1992. She worked at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre for 2 years, participating in that time in an intensive trial of treatment for chronic back patients (Functional Restoration Programme). Her success with these patients increased her interest in looking at the body as a whole, rather than just the location of the pain - hence "holistic postural physiotherapy". She now specialises in postural re-education.
In 1991 she became very interested in Functional Kinetics. This is an analytical approach to the whole body and its alignment in space, and the inter-relationship of its weights, fulcrums and levers. It teaches the patient to use the often dormant deep postural muscles and so to carry the body better and reduce the muscular imbalances which create pain. Mannie uses this method of treatment for all musculo-skeletal conditions, helping patients to gain confidence in their body and in their ability to become independent of therapists in the future.
She also sees Functional Kinetics as the basis for ergonomic advice for employees in the workplace, for patients at home, and for children at school, using it to explain how muscular imbalance can lead to repetitive strain injures and chronic pain anywhere in the body. She particularly enjoys, and is interested in, the preventative aspect of this work.
For 3 1/2 years until August 1998 Mannie worked part time in the Didcot Hospital`s outpatient department, as well as privately. She is now working exclusively in private practice, as this allows her to devote more time to patients and to preventative work.
She divides her time between treating private patients, and, through ETCOM People Engineers, giving preventative postural training and advice in the office to bring the benefits of good posture to employees and employers. She also provides consultancy where there is pain and discomfort at work.
Mannie is registered with the Health Professions Council, is a member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists (MCSP), the Organisation of Chartered Physiotherapists in Private Practice (OCPPP), the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Occupational Health and Ergonomics (ACPOHE) and is an Associate Member of Ergonomics Society.
Mannie is a director of ETCOM People Engineers.