Where it all started
Doug began his career as a physio in sport in 1999 and has progressed through the ranks from a volunteer in amateur junior sides, to semi-professional rugby with London Scottish and then on to being the Head physio at Sale Sharks for four years, followed by London Wasps for three years and finally England A and then the full senior side for two seasons.
Not wanting to work in full time professional sport for his whole career he was careful to continue working evenings and weekends in private practice for the duration of his time in professional sport as well as being lucky enough to see athletes from a wide variety of other sports working for Red Bull as a Consultant, part-time for eight years.
As the owner of Altius Doug is passionate about bringing the same standards of healthcare a professional athlete would experience to the private paying client. In order to achieve this standard of care Doug has worked extremely hard to partner with the owners of arguably the best facilities available in Manchester and also retain the best staff with the most relevant experience.
Doug is a keen sportsperson running, cycling and swimming and trying to take his own advice. Unfortunately, Doug was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2015 and successfully operated on in the summer of that year. He was unable to work for three months after the surgery which was twelve hours long, he had to rehabilitate his balance so that he could run and ride a bike again and he was left profoundly deaf in one ear.
Obviously, it was a life changing experience for Doug and it was the main driver that motivated him to set up Altius. Now that he has returned to full activity Doug wants to raise money for Brain tumour charities and people who have sadly not been as lucky as him. He and his family completed the “3 peaks” together in 24 hrs this year and next year his aim is to climb the Matterhorn (the mountain range on the home page).