Jennifer Blenkinsop
BSc (OT) Wits, Certified Hand Therapist (USA)
Complex Lymphoedema Therapy (Casely-Smith)Guided Imagery and Music Fellow (AMI)
Hand and Upper Limb Rehabilitation
Management of LymphoedemaGuided Imagery and Music
Pr. No. 0087645
The fields of therapy in which I’ve chosen to specialise and practice are all not very well known in South Africa. With this in mind I have included below some information about my journey towards focusing in each of my chosen areas
Hand and Upper Limb Therapy
I completed my Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy at Wits in 1990. I then worked in the area of Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation for a few years before leaving for the United States in 1993. While in the USA, I developed a special interest in Rehabilitation of the Hand and Upper Limb .I successfully passed the United States Hand Therapy Certification examination in 1997, and have completed more than the continuing education requirements for the continued use of the specialty designation of Certified Hand Therapist. In 2000 I left the United States, and worked in Hand Therapy Departments in England throughout 2001. I returned to South Africa in 2002 to open a private practice in Rosebank. Due to its success, I have now also opened practices at Morningside Clinic and Sandton Clinic.
Since then I have attended and presented at South African hand surgery and hand therapy conferences, as well as lecturing at courses for Occupational and Physiotherapists in the field of Hand and Upper Limb Rehabilitation.
Due to the importance of being part of the international community I have attended numerous international courses and conferences including International Federation for Hand Therapy conferences over the years.
I am currently a member of the South African Society of Hand Therapists (www.sasht.org.za) and the South African Society for Surgery of the Hand.
Lymphoedema
It was while in the USA that I developed a special interest in the management of oedema (swelling), attending my first course on this topic in 1997. Since then I have attended a course in the Vodder (German) technique of Lymphoedema Management in South Africa. In 2004 I have completed the more advanced course “Modern Treatment of Lymphoedema” in the USA and have become certified to practice the Casely-Smith (Australian) method of Lymphoedema Management. In 2019 I certified in the UK based Lymphoedema Training Academy programme of Advanced Manual Lymphatic Drainage- Fluoroscopy Guided Manual Lymphatic Drainage. I have attended a number of conferences internationally including the International Lymphology Congresses in Salvador, Brazil and Sydney, Australia and the European Lymphology Society Congress in Genoa, Italy. This ensures that the treatment you receive continues to be of the highest international standards.
As the availability of treatment for lymphoedema is not yet well known in South Africa, I have given numerous lectures to medical professionals and cancer support groups on the topic of the management of lymphoedema, and am also a founder member of the Lymphoedema Association of South Africa (www.laosa.co.za).
Interdisciplinary Pain Management
Over the many years of working with people with different medical conditions one can’t help but realise the difficulty and complexity of the pain experience. Each person’s experience, the impact on their lives and their own suffering is very personal and yet also affects many of those around them. Around 20% of the world’s population live with persistent or chronic pain. In many instances better management of their original pain may have prevented it becoming chronic. Research into the many dimensions of pain and its effective treatment has grown enormously in the last few decades, and yet much remains a mystery. In other words, it’s complicated! Still, there is so much that we can do “turn down the volume” of pain and help people with pain to thrive and live happier, more fulfilled and more productive lives.
I completed my Postgraduate Diploma in Interdisciplinary Pain Management at UCT in 2021, after completing other courses by South Africa’s Train Pain Academy. I am a member of Pain SA (www.painsa.org.za), whose mission is to improve the management of pain in all it’s aspects in Southern Africa.
Breathing Retraining and Breathwork
Someone once said: “That we breath is a matter of life and death. How we breath is a matter of sickness and health”. In fact, how we breath affects every cellular function in our body and brain! Yet so many of us have dysregulated breathing patterns.
I completed the BradCliff Breathing Method Level 1 and 2 training in 2023, after completing the course Breathwork for Human Potential with Jessica Dibb and Dr Dan Siegal and Foundations in Breathwork with Dr Ela Manga.
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