Sophia von Burg

Sophia’s Profile

In 1995 I finished my Honours research paper on the differences ethnicity plays in fragility (low bone density) fractures and thus completed my first class physiotherapy degree at London’s UCL. Three decades later my passion for bone health has not abated. 

I started at The Middlesex Hospital in the UK’s NHS doing junior rotations and then moved to Hong Kong for a four year stint working for both The Matilda International Hospital and BET rehabilitative Pilates. During this time I was lucky enough to act as a clinician in a research trial investigating the effect of exercise on low back pain. I took annual trips back to the UK to further my professional development and there took numerous courses in all areas of movement dysfunction. At this time I also had the opportunity in three consecutive years to work at the Hong Kong Open with elite men’s tennis. 

In 2000 I moved to Switzerland for six years and worked in private clinics using rehabilitative Pilates in both Geneva and Neuchâtel to treat persistent pain. 

2006 brought me back to Hong Kong where I continued to work with exercise rehabilitation and raise my family. In 2020 it was becoming clear to me that a piece of the puzzle was missing.

Movement dysfunction training was getting my clients better but not the best they could be. I undertook a postgraduate course in strength and conditioning for physiotherapists from the UK which opened a door for me to bring robustness and resilience to my clients. This strength and conditioning knowledge led me further, past the benefits to the muscular system and mental robustness to the added benefit it has on bone density. I came across the 2017 research from Griffith University in Australia about heavy resistance and impact training for improving bone density. Until then no one had heavily loaded humans with low bone density for fear of injury, but these series of trials did with impressive results. To this end in 2021 through Prohealth Posture Plus I became the first practitioner in Asia of the Onero™ programme. This programme is based on the protocol of the Australian trials. I am extremely thankful that we now have an exercise based system to address osteopenia and osteoporosis in low bone density populations such as ultra athletes, peri/postmenopausal women, those with underlying conditions which affect bone and the elderly. 

As a member of the UK’s “Better Clinician Project”, a collection of like-minded health care professionals guided by two of England’s leading physiotherapists, I have the opportunity to stay abreast of the global current clinical evidence base with weekly online reviews of the latest research findings and monthly tutorials on specific musculoskeletal diagnoses. My memberships of both the HK Osteoporosis and Rheumatology societies allow me to stay abreast of clinical guidelines specific to Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis membership allows me to participate in quarterly case study reviews with leading physicians in the region.