Clinical Exercise Physiology

What is it?

An accredited exercise physiologist can be defined as an individual who specialises in the delivery of exercise, lifestyle and behavioural modification programmes for the prevention, management and rehabilitation of chronic conditions and diseases, and injuries.

An accredited exercise physiologist provides individualised and specialised exercise and lifestyle education for clients across a wide spectrum of health, from the apparently healthy to those with diagnosed conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory disease, or chronic pain or injury.

The accredited exercise physiologist plays an important role in a multi-disciplinary team by providing specialised exercise testing, exercise programming and client education (within their professional scope of practice) in conjunction with other medical and allied health professionals.  Patient progress and status reports from an AEP contribute to determining an appropriate treatment plan for each patient.

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In the New Zealand context there is under the Treaty of Waitangi a commitment to Maori Health, and Pacific Health and the multi-cultural NZ population.

Risk Assessment Tool

Tool for Exercise Referral

This Risk Assessment Tool has been designed to assist general practitioners and primary health care providers to refer patients to an appropriate exercise practitioner, based on their clinical conditions and needs.

Referral Form

For an Accredited Exercise Physiologist

Please download and use this referral form to refer patients to your preferred clinical exercise practitioner.

Look Locally

Our List of Accredited Exercise Physiologists

Meet The Team

Meet the staff and individual team members that are the heart of this regional association. We come together from various backgrounds in order to create a seamless bridge between the patient, primary health care providers and exercise practitioners. Learn about the team here.

Tanja Allen 

Accredited Exercise Physiologist and Waikato EIM Chairperson

Tanja has been involved in sport and wellness for many years as a coach, manager, player and team medic, mostly in the Te Awamutu region.  Having had a successful massage therapy practice in Te Awamutu since 2000, Tanja went back to study a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science at Wintec in 2012.  A Master of Science (Sport & Exercise) degree followed, with Clinical Exercise Physiology as the major focus.  Tanja is also an ambassador for Exercise is Medicine®, an international initiative aimed at having physical activity levels considered as a vital sign for every visit to a primary healthcare provider.  Her goals are to see:

• Clinical Exercise Physiology recognised as a legitimate tool for primary healthcare to refer to as a treatment/management protocol for all chronic lifestyle diseases e.g. type two diabetes, heart disease and stroke, mental health etc.

• Exercise is Medicine® initiatives adopted throughout New Zealand.

Aaron Murphy

Accredited Exercise Physiologist and Waikato EIM Deputy Chairperson

I have been working in the Health & Fitness industry for over 14 years.  The last 7 years I have been working as an Exercise Physiologist based in Australia working closely with clients with type 2 diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis and musculoskeletal issues.  I have recently returned to New Zealand with my wife and 3 children and have opened our own business “Hale Health Centre”.  We started out opening a 24 hour gym facility with the grand vision of having more of a holistic approach to health, incorporating other health professionals in the one complex.  I love keeping active, very passionate about sport and love spending time with the family.

Kristina Driller

Accredited Exercise Physiologist, UniRec

As a specialist in exercise rehabilitation and chronic disease management I use exercise as ‘medicine’. I am a clinical exercise physiologist, completing my studies in Australia, where I ran a private exercise physiology clinic. I am trained to provide carefully tailored exercise programmes for people from all walks of life, particularly those who may have struggled with exercise in the past, have particular limitations which prevent them from exercising, or those that simply don’t know where to start. I provide expert advice in chronic disease management and musculoskeletal rehabilitation. I manage the MediFit programme at UniRec in addition to overseeing the physical conditioning programme for the University of Waikato Sir Edmund Hillary sports scholars. Please get in touch if you’d like to find out more about how I can help you.

Kate Caetano

NZRP Rehabilitation Podiatrist

I am enthusiastic about seeing people get back to doing what they love and reaching goals. I have always been an outdoor and sports lover, and with that came too many trips to different healthcare professionals. As a result, my passion for rehabilitation and podiatry developed as I know how important all-inclusive holistic healthcare is to anyone’s’ quality of life. I studied at AUT and am now working to give that same opportunity for others to have successful rehabilitation and treatments so they can get back to doing what they love! She focuses on treating the whole body, so you get better and stay better with gait training, biomechanical assessment and pressure distribution therapy. In her spare time Kate enjoys sport, baking and playing frisbee with her husband and border collie.

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