Stephen Miller

Academic qualifications

BSc Physiotherapy, MSc Advanced Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy

Email

s.miller1@ucb.ac.uk

LinkedIn

"I’ve supported athletes through various Olympic and Paralympic cycles including London 2012, Paris 2024 as well as the Glasgow 2014 and Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games."

My students call me Steve; I’m a Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist with a passion for Sports Injury Management. My specific expertise covers holistic management through the injury journey back to returning patients and athletes back to sport. This includes applying injury reduction strategies such as screening, monitoring and profiling. I also love the buzz of gameday and I’m well-rehearsed in managing acute injury and trauma scenarios after working with rugby teams for over a decade.

My industry experience includes roles as First Team Physiotherapist in Premiership Rugby; Senior Physiotherapist at the UK Sports Institute/British Judo, various private sports injury clinics and elite sporting event cover. My clinical focus ranges from complex upper limb, lower limb, and spinal rehabilitation, guiding athletes safely back to elite levels across disciplines, including rugby, football, judo, gymnastics, volleyball, hockey, and handball. My seven foundation years in the UK public healthcare system shaped me as a Primary Care Clinician, Team Leader, Mentor and Advanced Development Programme Trainer.

I’m a member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), and affiliated with the Musculoskeletal Association of Chartered Physiotherapists (MACP). These memberships reflect my commitment to clinical excellence and lifelong learning, and I bring my up-to-date insights back to the classroom.

Among my proudest achievements is setting up Grow Physio Academy - an online resource that allows students and clinicians across the world to see inside my world of elite sport and the approaches used in this often restricted world. This initiative has not only furthered numerous students’ physiotherapy careers but also propelled my teaching onto the international stage through my courses and conference presentations. Being able to contribute a chapter to ‘Essential Skills for Physiotherapists’ helped support students to gain valuable insights on non academic skills such as self care, finding your purpose, communication, networking and career development whilst all proceeds supported a Down’s Syndrome charity.

I’m keen to get across the message that physiotherapy is far more than massage or a “magic sponge.” It’s about Differential Diagnosis, Patient Optimisation, and nurturing independent management skills for every athlete and patient. By actively engaging with leading academics and seasoned clinicians, I ensure my knowledge and insights are not just theoretical but instantly relevant, practical, and fully career-ready.

Consistently recognised for my high energy and deep engagement, I prioritise a practical, skills-focused approach - specifically, equipping students with competencies for direct clinical application and professional success. My advice to students is to ask questions, challenge your lecturers, and arrive having read the pre-reading, as you’ll get so much more out of the session.

Outside of work, I really value time with my family and friends, watching my son playing sport, hiking through the countryside, kayaking or paddleboarding. I remain active in tennis (both as a player and working for the International Tennis Federation tour), and I also play five-a-side football in my local community. 

My favourite film is The Butterfly Effect, and my top book recommendations are Atomic Habits by James Clear or The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini. I've had a few close shark hairy encounters diving in Fiji and Australia, but nowadays my adrenaline boosts mainly come from excessive coffee intake!

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