MEET JOSH
Dr Joshua Saxton
Osteopath & Accredited Exercise Physiologist
From pain and uncertainty back to strength
Josh combines hands-on osteopathic care, exercise rehabilitation and progressive strength training to help people recover from sports injuries, understand recurring problems and return to the activities that matter to them.
His approach extends beyond short-term symptom relief. The goal is to rebuild movement, strength, confidence and physical capacity for sport, work and everyday life.
Ahpra-registered osteopath · ESSA Accredited Exercise Physiologist · Consulting in Norwood from November 2026
OSTEOPATHY + EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY
Treatment and rehabilitation should work together
Josh’s clinical approach was built in two halves.
After qualifying in clinical exercise physiology, he began working as an Accredited Exercise Physiologist in 2015. This gave him the tools to prescribe exercise, rehabilitate movement and progressively rebuild strength and physical capacity.
However, he wanted to offer more support during the earlier stages of pain or injury, when movement may feel restricted, uncomfortable or uncertain. He subsequently trained as an osteopath, adding physical assessment and hands-on care to his rehabilitation background.
Today, Josh does not treat osteopathy and exercise physiology as separate or competing services. Depending on your presentation and stage of recovery, an appointment may combine assessment, education, hands-on treatment, movement retraining, exercise prescription and progressive loading.
The balance changes as you progress.
Two qualifications. One connected approach.
Josh can help manage the journey from the treatment table back to meaningful activity—not simply the first few steps.
“I’m your coach and running mate. I can help set the direction and run beside you, but I can’t run the race for you.”
WHO JOSH WORKS WELL WITH
Care for active people and people who want to become active again
Josh works with people experiencing a broad range of musculoskeletal pain, injuries and movement concerns.
His particular clinical interests include:
Sports, gym and training injuries
Recurring or persistent musculoskeletal pain
Back, hip and lower-limb concerns
Rehabilitation following injury or surgery
Returning to sport, training or physically demanding work
Rebuilding strength after inactivity
Strength, resilience and healthy ageing
Combat-sports injury rehabilitation
Load management and exercise progression
Rebuilding confidence in movement
Josh is particularly well suited to people who want to understand their problem, ask questions and take an active role in their recovery.
You do not need to be an athlete, and you do’t need to complete every exercise perfectly. What matters is being willing to communicate honestly and genuinely try the plan.
Honest effort beats a perfect plan gathering dust beside the couch.
JOSH’S APPROACH
Reset. Retrain. Reload.
Josh uses a three-stage framework to guide care from the initial assessment through to meaningful activity.
These stages are not rigid or completely separate. They frequently overlap and may temporarily move backwards during a flare-up, change in training or increase in activity.
Reset
Create an opportunity to move.
The first step is to understand what is happening and establish a workable starting point.
This stage may include assessment, education, activity modification, hands-on osteopathic care and simple exercises. The aim is to reduce barriers to movement and create an opportunity to begin rebuilding.
Retrain
Build control and confidence.
Targeted exercises are used to explore useful movement and practise it with greater confidence.
Exercises may initially be simple and performed regularly while you become comfortable with a movement, develop control or gradually return to something that has felt difficult or threatening.
The goal is not to manufacture perfect movement. It is to develop movement that is useful, adaptable and appropriate for what you need to do.
Reload
Develop strength and capacity.
Once movement is improving, rehabilitation progresses towards strength training, physical conditioning and the demands of work, sport or everyday life.
Feeling better is useful. Being physically prepared for what you want to return to is the longer-term goal.
REAL EXPERIENCE
A practitioner who understands being injured
Josh has trained in Judo for more than 20 years and holds a Judo black belt. He is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, with a broader sporting background that includes Rugby Union, CrossFit, and strength training.
He understands how active people think, how training fits into their lives and why simply telling someone to stop everything is not always a realistic management plan.
Josh also knows rehabilitation from the other side of the treatment table. His injury history includes ACL reconstruction, meniscal repair and extensive wrist surgery.
Being injured is frustrating, disruptive and, put simply, it sucks. Josh does not pretend otherwise.
Where continuing some form of activity is clinically appropriate, he works with patients to establish sensible boundaries around what they can do while rehabilitation continues. Sometimes the theoretically perfect plan needs to become the best plan someone can realistically follow.
The question is not always whether you will return. It is how you can prepare yourself to return well.
BEYOND THE CLINIC
The person behind the practitioner
Outside the clinic, Josh is husband to Roz, dad to Evie and one half of the husband-and-wife team behind Live Better Be Stronger.
He can usually be found training on the mats, lifting something unnecessarily heavy, planning the next family trip or finding an excuse to head somewhere involving mountains and snow.
His own experience of family life, sport, injury and rehabilitation has shaped a broad view of what physical performance means.
Performance is not reserved for elite athletes. It might mean returning to competition, keeping up with your children, managing a physical job, getting confidently onto the floor or maintaining independence as you get older.
What matters is being physically capable of living your life.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Qualifications and professional memberships
Registered Osteopath — Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
Member — Osteopathy Australia
Accredited Exercise Physiologist — Exercise & Sports Science Australia
Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science (Clinical Exercise Physiology), with Honours — University of New England, 2014
Bachelor of Clinical Sciences (Osteopathic Studies) — Southern Cross University, 2020
Master of Osteopathic Medicine — Southern Cross University, 2021
Selected further training
Functional Movement Screen
Selective Functional Movement Assessment
Y Balance Test
Dry Needling, including advanced training
Visceral Manipulation Level 1
NeuroKinetic Therapy Level 1
Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilisation Part A
FIFA Diploma in Football Medicine — currently completing
BOOK WITH JOSH
Ready to move forward?
Josh will consult from Bounce Back Osteopathy, Norwood, from November 2026.
Appointments may combine osteopathic assessment, education, hands-on care, exercise rehabilitation and progressive loading according to your presentation, preferences and goals.