Kenny Merlevede
Senior Physiotherapist, Founder and Director · physiotherapist
AHPRA registered · PHY0002060505
Physio K
Sports Rehabilitation · Musculoskeletal Problems · Sport Injuries · Neck pain, headaches, dizziness, jaw related neck pain
Kenny is a physiotherapist with over 18 years’ experience in musculoskeletal and sports rehabilitation. He specialises in identifying the underlying drivers of pain and treating complex presentations including chronic spine pain, neck and headache disorders, jaw dysfunction, and persistent sports injuries. His approach combines manual therapy, dry needling, and active rehabilitation with strong emphasis on education and long term outcomes. He is also a GEMt dry needling teacher and demonstrator. As an endurance athlete with experience in marathons, Ironman, CrossFit, basketball, and ultra endurance events, he brings a unique performance perspective to rehabilitation and load management.
About
Kenny Merlevede is a Senior Physiotherapist with 18 years of experience in private practice, specialising in complex cervical presentations and persistent musculoskeletal conditions. He holds dual Masters degrees in Physiotherapy and Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy, alongside a Postgraduate Degree in Manual Therapy. As Founder and Director of Physio K, he combines precise manual therapy techniques with active rehabilitation strategies to address chronic spinal pain, neck-related headaches and dizziness, jaw dysfunction, and sports injuries that have plateaued with conventional care.
Kenny's clinical expertise extends beyond traditional physiotherapy through his role as a GEMt dry needling instructor and demonstrator since 2019, delivering training courses across Sydney. His treatment approach integrates dry needling, myofascial release techniques, segmental manual therapy, and exercise-based rehabilitation, with particular focus on understanding how the neck, upper back, and jaw system interact rather than treating symptoms in isolation. This interconnected approach was shaped by his work alongside osteopaths Danny Salaets and Frieda Dedrie in Belgium, and reinforced through extensive training with Robert De Nardis in the GEMt programme.
As an accomplished endurance athlete, Kenny brings unique insight to sports rehabilitation. He has completed an Ironman triathlon, multiple marathons, Everesting in cycling, and the Red Bull Defiance challenge, alongside 25 years of competitive basketball and five years in CrossFit. Currently training for a 100-kilometre ultra-marathon and the Marathon des Sables in Morocco, he understands firsthand the physical and psychological demands on recreational and competitive athletes. This lived experience informs his approach to running-related injuries, load management, and return-to-sport planning, ensuring sustainable outcomes for both simple and complex cases.
Clinical Approach
Kenny's clinical philosophy centres on the principle that the painful area rarely tells the whole story. Influenced by osteopaths Danny Salaets and Frieda Dedrie early in his career, he learned that symptoms in one area often originate elsewhere in the body's interconnected system. This approach was reinforced through his work with Robert De Nardis in the GEMt dry needling programme, combining strong clinical reasoning with practical understanding of movement and manual therapy. Rather than focusing solely on the site of pain, Kenny examines patterns, compensations, and contributing factors that drive the problem - whether that's examining hip movement and glute function in ITB pain, or understanding how stress and jaw tension contribute to persistent neck symptoms.
His treatment philosophy extends beyond hands-on intervention to address the underlying habits and behaviours driving symptoms. Kenny emphasises patient education, helping people understand why their condition developed and what's required to prevent recurrence. Success in his practice means getting patients back to what they love doing without constantly thinking about their body holding them back - not just reducing pain, but building enough strength, movement, and resilience that problems are less likely to return. As he explains to patients, recovery is rarely about finding a single fix, but rather addressing the combination of factors that allowed the 'bucket to overflow' in the first place.
In Kenny's own words
YOUR SPECIALIST CONDITION
If I had to pick one area, it would be neck pain and all the weird and wonderful things that often come with it.
What makes it interesting is that it's rarely just neck pain. Someone might come in because of headaches, dizziness, jaw pain, ear symptoms, ringing in the ears, clenching, grinding, clicking, or a feeling of constant tension through the face and neck. The more you work in this area, the more you realise how connected everything is.
What I enjoy most is the detective work. People often focus on the thing that triggered the pain, but that's usually just the final straw. They wake up with a stiff neck and blame their pillow, but when you dig deeper there's often a combination of stress, jaw tension, poor sleep, muscle overload, posture, work habits, training load, or other factors that have been building for weeks or months.
I also like that it forces me to look beyond hands-on treatment. If someone is clenching their jaw all day because they're stressed, and then clenching all night while they sleep, it's a bit like trying to swim against the current. I spend a lot of time helping people understand the habits and behaviours driving their symptoms. Sometimes that means talking about stress management, meditation, breathing exercises, sleep routines, or even simple things like using an acupressure mat before bed to help calm the nervous system.
One thing I've learnt over the years is that nobody needs to be perfect. The goal isn't to eliminate every bit of stress or tension. It's simply to become more aware of what's happening and make small improvements where possible. Often those small changes add up to surprisingly big results.
I've developed a particular interest in this area through years of treating it and completing additional training in neck pain, headaches, dizziness, and jaw disorders while living in Belgium. The more I learnt, the more fascinated I became.
What keeps me coming back is that even after all these years, these cases still make me lean forward. Every patient is slightly different, and there's always another piece of the puzzle to uncover.
WHO HAS SHAPED YOUR PRACTICE
There are probably three people who have had the biggest influence on the way I practise today.
The first was an osteopath I worked with in Belgium, Danny Salaets. I still remember him showing me the relationship between the neck and tennis elbow. As a relatively junior physio at the time, I was very focused on treating the painful area itself. If someone came in with tennis elbow, I'd work on the elbow, prescribe exercises, and address the local problem. Danny showed me that sometimes the source of the problem can be somewhere completely different. That was one of the first times I really started looking at the body as an interconnected system rather than a collection of separate parts.
The second was another osteopath, Frieda Dedrie, who I worked alongside for about three years. Frieda had trained extensively in different countries and brought together a wide range of approaches. More than any specific technique, she influenced the way I assessed people. She encouraged me to think broadly, to look for patterns, and to consider how different regions of the body interact. A lot of my interest in spinal and neck treatment comes from that time.
The third person is Robert De Nardis, who runs the GEMt dry needling programme in Australia. I've completed all levels of training with him and now teach on the programme as a demonstrator and occasionally as a lead instructor. What I've always appreciated about Robert is his combination of deep technical knowledge and practical clinical reasoning. He has more than 30 years of experience and has reinforced the importance of looking beyond symptoms and understanding the bigger picture of what's driving a patient's presentation.
Looking back over 18 years, all three have something in common. They taught me to think more holistically, to stay curious, and not to get fixated on the area that hurts. That's probably had the biggest impact on how I practise today.
EXPLAINING NECK PAIN, HEADACHES, DIZZINESS, JAW RELATED NECK PAIN TO PATIENTS
One of the most common questions I get from people with neck pain is:
"Why has this happened? I just woke up with it."
Most people assume they slept in a bad position or used the wrong pillow. Sometimes that's part of the story, but it's rarely the whole story.
I usually explain it like this:
"The sleep itself is often just the final straw. Think of it like a bucket that's been slowly filling up. Stress, long hours at a desk, gym training, jaw clenching, poor sleep, or small strains can all add a little bit to the bucket. Then one morning you wake up, turn your head, and suddenly the bucket overflows."
Once I've assessed them, I can usually explain which factors seem most relevant for them. Sometimes it's mainly a stiff joint in the neck. Sometimes it's muscle tension. Sometimes it's coming from the upper back, jaw, or posture. Most often, it's a combination of several things rather than a single cause.
The next questions are usually:
"Can it be fixed?" and "How long will it take?"
My answer is that most neck pain responds very well to treatment. I'll give them an idea of how many sessions they may need, but I also explain that recovery depends on factors such as how long they've had it, how severe it is, and what they're able to do themselves between sessions.
I tell patients that my goal isn't just to get them out of pain. The first step is reducing the symptoms. The second step is understanding why it happened and building enough strength, movement, and resilience that it is less likely to keep coming back.
YOUR CLINICAL APPROACH
The lens I bring to almost every patient is that the painful area isn't always the whole story.
When someone walks into my treatment room, I'm obviously interested in where it hurts, but I'm equally interested in why that area is being overloaded in the first place. I'm always looking for patterns, compensations, and contributing factors that might be driving the problem.
A good example is someone with ITB pain on the outside of the knee. The pain is at the knee, but that's not necessarily where the problem starts. I'll look at how the hip is moving, whether the glutes are doing their job, whether there's stiffness through the lower back, pelvis, or foot, and how all of those areas interact when the person runs or walks. Sometimes the answer is obvious, sometimes it isn't, but I've found that focusing only on the painful area often misses important parts of the picture.
That way of thinking was heavily influenced by a couple of osteopaths I worked with early in my career in Belgium, particularly Danny Salaets and Frieda Dedrie. They taught me to look beyond symptoms and consider how different parts of the body influence each other. One of the biggest lightbulb moments was learning that a neck problem could contribute to something that appeared to be a local elbow issue. It challenged the way I had been taught to think as a young clinician and made me much more curious about the relationships between different regions of the body.
More recently, my work with Robert De Nardis through the GEMt dry needling programme has reinforced that approach. He combines strong clinical reasoning with a practical understanding of movement and manual therapy, and that has had a significant influence on how I assess and treat patients.
After nearly two decades in practice, I still come back to the same principle: treat the person, not just the symptom. The painful area matters, but understanding why it's become painful is often where the real progress happens.
THE BIGGEST MYTH ABOUT NECK PAIN, HEADACHES, DIZZINESS, JAW RELATED NECK PAIN
One of the biggest misconceptions I see is that patients are often looking for a single thing that will fix them.
They'll ask questions like, "Do I need a scan?", "Should I get Botox?", "Is there a medication I should take?", or "Do I need surgery?"
My answer is usually something along the lines of:
"Those things can sometimes help, but they're rarely the whole answer."
For example, with jaw pain and clenching, Botox can be very useful in the right situation, and I do occasionally refer patients for it. But Botox doesn't change why the jaw became overloaded in the first place. If stress, neck tension, posture, sleep habits, or movement patterns are contributing to the problem, those factors still need to be addressed.
The same applies to many neck pain presentations. Medication may reduce the pain, which can be helpful, but it doesn't automatically solve what's driving the symptoms. If the contributing factors are still there, the problem often returns.
What I find myself saying over and over is:
"My job isn't just to get you feeling better. It's to help you understand why this happened and what we can do to stop it from continually coming back."
Most patients are relieved when they hear that. They're often worried that they've damaged something permanently or that they need a major intervention. More often than not, the solution involves a combination of treatment, movement, education, and addressing the factors that contributed to the problem in the first place.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
For me, success is pretty simple. It’s getting someone back to the thing they love doing without constantly thinking about their body holding them back.
One that stands out was a cyclist training for an event called the Three Peaks. He came in about three weeks out from the race. He was quite stressed because his ITB was so tight he could barely push any power on the bike, and anything even mildly uphill made it worse.
What he kept saying was, “I just can’t get any force through my leg. It feels like it’s locking up every time I push.”
At that stage, he wasn’t thinking about the race anymore. He was just trying to get through a normal ride.
We looked at what was driving the load through his hip and knee, treated the contributing areas, and used a combination of manual therapy and specific dry needling. One of the key findings was significant involvement of the vastus intermedius, a deep quadriceps muscle that was contributing to his pain and altered loading through the knee.
Once that was addressed, alongside load management and progressive return to cycling, things started to settle quite quickly. He went from struggling to complete flat rides to gradually rebuilding intensity again over the following weeks.
A few weeks later, he completed the Three Peaks race successfully. What mattered more to him than the result was that he said, “I actually forgot about my leg halfway through the ride. That’s the first time that’s happened in weeks.”
That’s what success looks like to me. Not just reducing pain, but getting someone back to performing and enjoying what they do without it dominating their attention.
Specialist Areas
Kenny has developed particular expertise in complex cervical presentations through 16 years of focused practice and postgraduate training in neck pain, headaches, dizziness, and jaw disorders completed in Belgium. His clinical niche encompasses cervicogenic headaches, neck-related dizziness, and jaw tension or clenching that interacts with cervical spine presentations - conditions where patients typically present with multiple overlapping symptoms and have often tried various treatments without clear explanation for recurring problems. His approach examines how the neck, upper back, and jaw system interact, identifying contributing factors such as joint stiffness, muscular overactivity, load tolerance, posture, stress-related clenching, and movement patterns that maintain the presentation.
Beyond cervical conditions, Kenny brings extensive expertise to sports rehabilitation, particularly running-related injuries and return-to-sport planning. His treatment toolkit includes advanced dry needling techniques (certified through GEMt Levels 1-3), myofascial release, segmental manual therapy, and exercise-based rehabilitation focused on restoring strength, control, and long-term resilience. His continuing professional development includes specialised training in Anatomy Trains Structure & Function, TMJ and cranial techniques through PPFC, spinal mobilisation and manipulation through GEMt, and various taping methodologies including Kinesio, Mulligan, and McConnell techniques.
Expertise & Credentials
Experience: 18 years
Qualifications: Masters in Physiotherapy, Masters in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy, Postgraduate Degree in Manual Therapy, McConnell Taping, Mulligan Taping, Kinesio Taping, GEMt Spinal Foundations of Mobilisation and Manipulation, C-Spine & Intro to Cranial Techniques (PPFC), Anatomy Trains in Structure & Function - ATS & F, GEMt Dry Needling Advanced - Level 2 and 3, GEMt Dry Needling Level 1 - Intro
Conditions treated: Chronic low back pain, Neck pain and associated headaches, Trapped nerve in neck or referred arm pain, Persistent neck pain, Whiplash, Jaw pain, Sciatica, Runner’s knee, Achilles pain or Achilles tendinopathy, Persistent pain that hasn’t resolved with previous treatment
Notable Organisations
GEMt (school-university, 2019 - present)
I have been a GEMT Dry Needling Instructor and Clinical Demonstrator since 2019. In this role, I support the delivery of postgraduate dry needling courses by demonstrating clinical techniques following theoretical instruction. I work with small groups of students to provide clear, hands on demonstrations of safe and effective needling techniques across a range of muscles, ensuring correct application, clinical reasoning, and safety principles are understood in practice. After the theoretical component, I guide students through step by step demonstrations, helping translate knowledge into clinical skill through supervised practice and real time feedback. My role is focused on developing clinician confidence, technical accuracy, and safe clinical application.
Easts Womens Hockey Club (sports-team, 2026 - Present)
As the official physiotherapists for the East Hockey Women’s Club, we provide injury assessment, treatment, and ongoing management for players across all levels of the club. Our goal is to support recovery, reduce injury risk, and keep athletes healthy, active, and available for selection throughout the season.
University Hospital of Hasselt, Belgium (hospital, 2010)
Completed professional development training in clinical tests and buildup of cardiac rehabilitation in patients with chronic heart disease.
University Hospital of Leuven, Belgium (hospital, 2011 - 2012)
Completed clinical attachment training in intensity of training with elderly people in the geriatric ward, and attended professional development on cardiac rehabilitation evidence and practice.
Physio INQ Alexandria (clinic, 2016 - 2017)
Worked as Physiotherapist and Team Leader at Physio INQ, 2/52 McEvoy street Alexandria.
PPFC (Postgraduate Professional Fitness Course) (training-provider, 2023)
Completed TMJ, C-Spine & Intro to Cranial Techniques course in Sydney.
Anatomy Trains (training-provider, 2019 - present)
Completed specialist training including Structural Essentials: Arches and Legs (2019), Anatomy Trains in Structure & Function (2022), Resilient Fascia for Sports Training with Tom Myers (2022), and Look Again: Fresh Perspectives in Anatomy Trains BodyReading (2025).
Artevelde College, Belgium (university, 2002 - 2006)
Completed four-year fulltime Master in Physiotherapy programme.
University of Ghent, Belgium (university, 2002 - 2012)
Completed Master in Physiotherapy (2002-2006), Master in specialised rehabilitation science & Physiotherapy with Great Distinction (2006-2007), Post Graduate in Manual therapy (2007-2008), and Post Graduate in Physiological Chains Method Busquet (2011-2012).
Achievements
Weekly Educational Presenter, BNI Momentum Sydney (2023 - Present)
Delivered regular presentations and educational talks to business owners and professionals on injury prevention, workplace health, physical performance, and physiotherapy. Contributed to member education and referral-based business development within the chapter.
Guest Speaker, BNI Momentum Sydney (2025)
Presented to local business owners on injury management, musculoskeletal health, and strategies for staying active and productive at work.
Great Distinction - Master in Specialised Rehabilitation Science & Physiotherapy (2007)
Awarded Great Distinction for Master's degree in specialised rehabilitation science and physiotherapy, musculoskeletal therapy.
Appointed GEMt Dry Needling Instructor and Clinical Demonstrator (2019)
Appointed as instructor and clinical demonstrator for postgraduate dry needling courses, delivering practical demonstrations and supervising clinical skill development across Level 1 and Level 2 courses in Sydney.
Publications
How to excel on the bike : your best cycling performance with Kenny Merlevede (journal-article, 2021-05-03)
Whiplash anno 2008 (other, 2008)
Master's thesis in Manual therapy (neuromusculoskeletal therapy)
The effect of limited spinal mobility on plantar pressure during walking (other, 2007)
Master's thesis in specialised rehabilitation science & Physiotherapy, musculoskeletal therapy
The difference in spinal bends between a standard hospital bed and a Dorsoo bed (other, 2006)
Master's thesis in Physiotherapy
Continuing Professional Development
Teaching GEMt Dry Needling Course: Level 1 - Intro (GEMt Sydney, Adina Hotel Surry Hills, 11/2025)
GEMt Spinal Foundations of Mobilisation and Manipulation program (GEMt Sydney, 10/2025)
Look Again: Fresh Perspectives in Anatomy Trains BodyReading Live Online with Michael Watson (Anatomy Trains - online seminar, 10/2025)
Teaching GEMt Dry Needling Course: Level 2 - Advanced (GEMt Sydney, Adina Hotel Surry Hills, 08/2025)
Teaching GEMt Dry Needling Course: Level 1 - Intro (GEMt Sydney, Adina Hotel Surry Hills, 10/2024)
Teaching GEMt Dry Needling Course: Level 1 - Intro (GEMt Sydney, Adina Hotel Surry Hills, 03/2024)
Teaching GEMt Dry Needling Course: Level 1 - Intro (GEMt Sydney, Adina Hotel Surry Hills, 08/2023)
TMJ, C-Spine & Intro to Cranial Techniques (PPFC Sydney, 07/2023)
Resilient Fascia for Sports Training with Tom Myers and Michol Dalcourt (Anatomy Trains - online seminar, 12/2022)
Acute Management of Whiplash (GEMt - online seminar, 08/2022)
Anatomy Trains in Structure & Function - ATS & F (Anatomy Trains Sydney, 06/2022)
Plantar Fasciopathy webinar (GEMt - online seminar, 07/2021)
Structural Essentials: Arches and Legs (Anatomy Trains Melbourne, 02/2019)
GEMt Dry Needling Course advanced - level 2 and 3 (GEMt Sydney, 06/2018)
GEMt Dry Needling Course: Level 1 - Intro (GEMt Melbourne, 04/2017)
Chronic pain and rehabilitation: thinking beyond muscles and joints (University of Brussels, 09/01/2014)
Kinesio taping, Mulligan taping and McConnell Taping (René Claassen, Mulligan teacher in Brasschaat, Belgium, 11/2013)
Busquet therapist – ‘Physiological Chains’ training course (University of Ghent, Belgium, 09/2012)