Radi Zinger
Senior Lead Remedial Massage Therapist, Physio K · massage_therapist
TAFE Australian Natural Therapist Association registered · 28750
Sports Injuries · Upper back pain and tightness · lower back pain · Sports Massage
Radi practices at Physio K in Bondi Junction, treating clients in their forties to sixties who want to keep doing the things they enjoy without stiffness or recurring pain getting in the way. Since 2022, he has treated over 200 patients, with particular depth in cervical radiculopathy and chronic lower back pain, working closely with Physio K's physiotherapy team — including mentor Kenny Merlevede — to deliver coordinated care. He holds a Diploma of Remedial Massage (TAFE NSW, 2023) and is a current member of the Australian Natural Therapists Association. His approach is paced around how a person's body is actually responding in session, working nervous system regulation first and tissue work second, using deep tissue massage, myofascial release, trigger point therapy, and assisted stretching. Each summer since 2023, he has also led aquatic exercise classes of 20–30 participants as part of the University of Sydney's aquatic fitness program. Outside the clinic, Radi stays active through tennis, kayaking, swimming, and cycling — bringing that same approach to movement and recovery into his work with clients.
About
Radi Zinger | Remedial Massage Therapist
Diploma of Remedial Massage, TAFE NSW (2023) · Current member, Australian Natural Therapists Association (ANTA)
Aqua Exercise Instructor, Sydney University Aquatic Centre Radi practices at PhysioK in Bondi Junction, where he works mostly with people in their forties to sixties who want to keep doing the things they enjoy — work, sport, gardening, or just moving without constant stiffness getting in the way. Since 2022, he has treated over 200 patients, including chronic pain presentations, soft-tissue and sports injuries, and post-surgical or specialist-referred rehabilitation cases, working closely with physiotherapists Mark Howlin, Josefina Canepa Bustos, and Kenny Merlevede at PhysioK to deliver coordinated, multidisciplinary care. What draws him to this stage of life is that the body isn't broken, it's just carrying years of load: old injuries, work habits, recurring neck or back pain, shoulder and hip issues that flare and settle and flare again. He has particular depth in treating cervical radiculopathy and chronic non-specific lower back pain, two conditions that often come wrapped in as much anxiety as physical limitation. Rather than chasing quick fixes, Radi works nervous system first, tissue second, using deep tissue massage, myofascial release, trigger point therapy, and assisted stretching, with treatment paced around how the person's body is actually responding rather than a fixed protocol. Documented cases have shown pain reductions such as 8/10 to 2/10 following treatment. He combines this hands-on work with practical movement advice and self-management strategies, helping clients understand what's actually driving their pain rather than just chasing the symptom. His goal isn't only short-term relief — it's helping people build the confidence and tools to manage their own body long term, so they can stay active and keep doing what they love. Each summer since 2023, Radi has also led weekly aquatic exercise classes of 20–30 participants as part of the University of Sydney's aquatic fitness program, working with older adults, pregnant clients, and individuals managing chronic joint pain. His internal class reports have recorded an average shoulder flexion increase of 20 degrees and a 70% pass rate on sit-to-stand mobility testing, alongside consistently positive participant feedback. Outside the clinic, Radi stays active himself through tennis, kayaking, swimming, and cycling — an approach to movement and recovery he brings directly into how he treats his clients.
Clinical Approach
Radi's clinical philosophy centres on the principle of 'nervous system first, tissue second'. Rather than forcing muscles to release through excessive pressure, he works to create conditions where the body feels safe enough to let go of protective tension. His treatment is deliberately paced, constantly reading the client's response and adjusting pressure based on tissue feedback rather than following fixed protocols. He maintains continuous communication throughout sessions, helping clients distinguish between productive discomfort and pain, building their understanding of what their body is experiencing.
This approach emerged from years of hands-on practice and the realisation that technique comprises only a third of effective treatment – the rest being timing, trust, communication, and the ability to read each person moment by moment. Radi focuses particularly on helping clients understand that their bodies remain adaptable and capable of recovery at any age, challenging the common belief that pain and restriction are inevitable with ageing. His goal extends beyond immediate relief to building clients' confidence and tools for long-term self-management, helping them recognise that most bodies need guidance and appropriate load rather than fixing.
In Radi's own words
YOUR SPECIALIST CONDITION
People in their forties to sixties who still want to do the things they enjoy: work, sport, gardening, or just moving without that constant stiffness creeping in. They tend to care about their health without being precious about it, which makes the work easier. They're willing to engage with their body instead of being afraid of it.
What I find genuinely interesting about this stage of life is that nothing's "broken.” It's just showing the wear of years of load, old injuries, and habits picked up from work or training. A neck that tightens up under stress. A back that "goes" doing nothing unusual. A shoulder or hip that flares, settles, then flares again a few months later. I've treated this pattern enough times to know it's rarely about one tissue or one bad movement, it's about a body that's been compensating quietly for years.
The part I enjoy most is showing people that their body can still adapt and recover at this stage, it just needs the right input and a bit of consistency. Most of my clients are surprised by how quickly things shift once we find the right starting point.
WHO HAS SHAPED YOUR PRACTICE
The biggest influence on how I practice isn't a clinician I trained under. It's a man I never met, whose story I've carried with me for years. He had a serious accident early in life, the kind that could easily have left him disabled for good. Instead of handing his recovery over to someone else, he built his own daily routine of movement and self care, physical and mental, and stuck with it. He lived to 97, active the whole way through, and eventually spent his life teaching others what his own body had taught him.
What I took from that wasn't a technique. It was proof of something I now see every day in the clinic: the human body is tougher and more adaptable than most people give it credit for. Very few people actually need to be fixed like something fragile. What they need is to understand what's going on, get guided well, and be given the right load and the confidence to let their body do what it already knows how to do.
That's still the lens I use with every client who walks in.
EXPLAINING REMEDIAL MASSAGE THERAPY TO PATIENTS
The question I get almost every first appointment, when someone comes in with tingling, numbness, or odd nerve-like pain, is some version of: "Is this a trapped nerve? Have I done something serious to my spine and back?"
By that point most people have already convinced themselves it's structural. A disc, a bone, permanent nerve damage. So I keep my answer calm and simple. I'll say something like, sometimes a nerve is genuinely irritated, but a lot of what you're feeling comes from how the surrounding muscles are working, how much tension is sitting in the system, and how well things are actually moving, not from something being broken.
Then I explain the bit that usually surprises people: scans don't reliably match symptoms. You can have real changes on an MRI and feel completely fine. You can have strong symptoms and a scan that looks unremarkable. Once that lands, the conversation shifts. People stop asking "what's wrong with me" and start asking "what can we actually do about it," which is the much more useful question, because movement, load, and easing unnecessary tension are things we can actually work with.
YOUR CLINICAL APPROACH
Nervous system first, tissue second. That's the whole approach.
You can't force a muscle to let go by pressing harder. I learned that the hard way early on, leaning into tight tissue and getting nowhere, until I realized the muscle wasn't being stubborn, it was being protective. It releases when the system feels safe, when the pressure is right, and when the person can actually relax into the work instead of quietly bracing against it.
So the actual treatment is slow and deliberate. I'm reading the client constantly and adjusting pressure off what I'm getting back, not working to a script. I talk through the session, but not to fill silence. I am checking in and tracking what they're feeling, helping them tell the difference between discomfort that's doing something and discomfort that's just discomfort and painful.
No single course handed me this. It came from years on the table, hands on people, paying attention to what actually worked versus what I'd been taught was supposed to work. The real turning point was realizing technique is maybe a third of the job. The rest is timing, trust, communication and how well you read the person in front of you, second by second, not how textbook your pressure is.
THE BIGGEST MYTH ABOUT REMEDIAL MASSAGE THERAPY
The one I hear constantly, almost word for word, every single week: "I'm not strong enough anymore, I need to build more muscle or I'm just going to keep falling apart."
They walk in already decided that the problem is weakness, and that the fix is more heavy strength work, starting now, before things get worse. And I get it, but I usually stop them right there. I'll say something like, strength matters, but at this stage of life it's often not the first thing, and sometimes it's not even the main thing. If your body's stiff and not moving well to begin with, loading on top of that just makes everything feel tighter and angrier.
So I reframe it and guide them with a new approach. What actually holds up over time, for most people your age, is staying in motion day to day. Walking, swimming, cycling, a bit of regular stretching, that stuff does more for how you function in ten years than chasing heavy lifting too early ever will.
Honestly, the moment that lands, you can see them relax. Because it takes the pressure off having to "fix everything in the gym," and gets them focused on something they can actually keep doing, week after week, without burning out or getting hurt trying to prove something to themselves.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
Honestly, a good session is the easy part to spot. Someone gets up off the table and their neck's not screaming anymore, they can turn their head without thinking about it, that's the immediate stuff. But that's not really the win I'm after. The win is what happens three weeks later when they're doing something normal, putting the bins out, sitting through a long drive, and they don't even notice that it didn't hurt.
I think about one patient a lot. Not because his case was wild or dramatic, it actually wasn't, but because it's the story that repeats itself the most. He came in with cervical radiculopathy. Real pain, numbness shooting down his arm, and he'd been told surgery might be coming. He was scared. And by the time he got to me, the neck thing wasn't even the whole problem anymore. He was anxious, scared, and just worn down from months of not knowing what was wrong or what was going to happen to him and how to proceed.
We didn't do anything heroic. A few sessions of hands on work, and a handful of simple things for him to do on his own between visits. What actually changed wasn't just that his arm settled down, though it did. It was somewhere in there he stopped sitting around waiting for it to get worse and started feeling like he had some control over his own body again. By the end he was moving normally, his pain was something he could manage day to day, and he was in a genuinely better headspace than when he walked in. He'd also started working with his GP to come off antidepressants around that time, which obviously wasn't down to me alone, but it tells you how much that whole period had been weighing on him.
That's the bit I actually care about. Not just less pain that day. Someone leaving believing their body's theirs to look after, and actually having the tools to do it.
Specialist Areas
Radi brings particular depth to treating chronic muscle tightness and postural overload in desk-based workers and those with physically repetitive jobs, addressing the constant neck, shoulder, and lower back tension that characterises modern working life. His sports massage work focuses on active adults managing recurring tightness, overload, or old injuries that flare during busy periods or training spikes, combining targeted soft tissue treatment with load modification advice and mobility work. This movement-focused, outcome-driven approach emphasises identifying contributing factors rather than treating symptoms in isolation.
A significant portion of his practice involves active ageing and maintenance care for people in their fifties, sixties and beyond who prioritise staying mobile and independent. Rather than chasing performance gains, these clients benefit from regular maintenance-style treatment that keeps joints moving well and reduces stiffness through consistency rather than intensity. His work with sports injuries encompasses strains, sprains, and overuse conditions, applying deep tissue massage, trigger point therapy, and joint mobilisation whilst pacing treatment according to individual tissue response rather than fixed routines.
Expertise & Credentials
Experience: 4 years
Qualifications: Diploma of Remedial Massage TAFE NSW, Aqua Exercise Instructor
Conditions treated: Gluteal pain and hip tightness, Calf pain and tightness (gastrocnemius and soleus strain), Hamstring strain and tightness, Quadriceps strain and tightness, Upper back pain and tightness, lower back pain
Memberships: Physio K, University of Sydney's Aquatic Fitness Program, Physio K Remedial Massage Therapist
Notable Organisations
Sydney University Aquatic Centre (sports-team, 2020-present)
Every summer since 2023, I've led weekly aquatic exercise classes of 20–30 participants as part of the University of Sydney's aquatic fitness program. My classes bring together a real mix of people — older adults, pregnant clients, and individuals managing chronic joint pain and reduced mobility — and I adapt the movements and intensity in real time based on how each person is actually moving and feeling that day, rather than running a fixed routine. I take safety seriously and have maintained a fully incident-free record across every session I've run. I also track outcomes properly rather than just going on instinct: my internal class reports have recorded an average shoulder flexion increase of 20 degrees and a 70% pass rate on sit-to-stand mobility testing among participants, alongside consistently positive feedback on improved mobility and reduced joint discomfort. What I enjoy most about this work is watching people who came in stiff or guarded move more freely by the end of the season — and knowing the water is doing exactly what it's meant to: taking the pressure off their joints so they can actually build strength and confidence in their movement again.
Tennis Club (sports-team, 2022-present)
Tennis is something I've played for years, not competitively, just because I genuinely love being on the court. That experience has taught me a lot about how the body actually moves under pressure. Through the bursts of speed, the twisting through the hips and torso, the strain that builds up in the shoulders after hundreds of serves. It's given me a real appreciation for what athletes' bodies go through, and it's something I think about often in my massage work. Through my time at my local tennis club, I've seen up close how players push through nagging injuries, tight muscles, and overuse issues just to keep playing the sport they love. That's part of why I'm so passionate about recovery work. I understand the toll this game can take, because I've felt it myself. I bring that perspective into every session, helping clients move and play with less pain and more freedom, whether they're on the court or just going about their day.
Physio K (corporate, 2023-present)
I'm a remedial massage therapist at PhysioK in Bondi Junction, where I treat clients in their forties to sixties who want to keep doing the things they enjoy — work, sport, gardening, or just moving without constant stiffness getting in the way. Since 2022, I've treated over 200 patients, with particular depth in cervical radiculopathy and chronic lower back pain. I work closely with PhysioK's physiotherapy team, including Kenny Merlevede, to deliver coordinated care, and I pace each session around how a person's body is actually responding rather than following a fixed protocol — working on nervous system regulation first, tissue second. I hold a Diploma of Remedial Massage (TAFE NSW, 2023) and I'm a current member of the Australian Natural Therapists Association.
Achievements
Remedial Massage Practitioner, Physio K, (2023-Present)
Diploma of Remedial Massage, TAFE NSW (2023). Current member, Australian Natural Therapists Association (ANTA). Provided remedial massage treatment to a caseload of 200+ patients, comprising 15 chronic pain presentations, 40 soft-tissue and sports-related injuries, 5 post-surgical or specialist-referred rehabilitation cases, and 140+ general muscle tension and maintenance treatments. Applied a range of manual therapy techniques, including deep tissue massage, trigger point therapy, and joint mobilization, within individualized, condition-specific treatment plans. Worked in close collaboration with physiotherapists Mark Howlin, Josefina Canepa Bustos, and Kenny Merlevede at PhysioK to deliver coordinated, multidisciplinary patient care. Clinical outcomes were monitored through both measured and self-reported pain assessments, with documented cases demonstrating reductions such as 8/10 to 2/10 following treatment. Consistently recognized by patients for responsive, short-notice scheduling in time-sensitive cases, strong clinical and manual therapy skill, and sustained therapeutic progress achieved through ongoing fortnightly reviews.
Aqua Exercise Instructor, Sydney University Aquatic Centre (2022–present (seasonal, summer))
Designed and delivered weekly aquatic exercise classes of 20–30 participants each summer season since 2023, as part of the University of Sydney's Aquatic Fitness Program, for a clinical and recreational cohort including older adults, pregnant clients, and individuals managing chronic joint pain and reduced mobility. Adapted programming and intensity in real time to accommodate individual mobility profiles and presenting conditions, maintaining a fully incident-free safety record across all sessions. Authored internal reports evaluating class outcomes, recording an average shoulder flexion increase of 20 degrees and a 70% pass rate on sit-to-stand mobility testing among participants, alongside consistently positive participant-reported improvements in mobility and reduced joint discomfort.
Publications
Remedial Massage Therapist (other)
Continuing Professional Development
Registered practitioner with the Australian National Register of Accredited Natural Therapists (ANRANT, December 2023, 120.00 hrs)
Australian Natural Therapists Association Accreditation Certificate (ANTA, December 2023, 120.00 hrs)