Dr Felicity Lorimer is an Osteopath with a passion for helping people understand their bodies, move with greater confidence, and return to the activities that matter most to them. She takes a holistic approach to care, combining her osteopathic knowledge with her experience in sport, Pilates, movement, and rehabilitation to develop treatment plans that are tailored to each individual.

Originally from Sale in Gippsland, Felicity spent the past five years living and studying in Melbourne, completing her double bachelor’s degrees in Osteopathy at RMIT University. Her journey into osteopathy was shaped by her own experiences with sports injuries and a lifelong interest in movement. Growing up, Felicity was involved in a range of sports, which sparked her curiosity about how the body moves, adapts, performs, and heals.

One of Felicity’s proudest sporting achievements was representing Australia in Women’s Kumite (sparring) at the JKA 16th World Karate Championship in Japan. Competing at an international level gave her a firsthand understanding of the physical demands of sport, as well as the importance of preparation, recovery, consistency, and the mental challenges that can accompany injury. This experience has strongly influenced the way she approaches her work as an Osteopath.

Felicity has a particular interest in sports injuries and helping people return to the activities they enjoy. She understands that recovery is not simply about treating the location of an injury. A thorough understanding of how the whole body is functioning is often important when assessing why an injury has developed, why it may be persisting, and how to support a successful return to activity.

Her osteopathic skillset includes a combination of hands-on treatment, movement assessment, exercise prescription, and rehabilitation strategies. Depending on the individual and their goals, treatment may include soft tissue techniques, joint mobilisation, articulation, stretching, and other osteopathic approaches. Felicity combines these hands-on skills with a strong understanding of movement and exercise, helping patients develop the strength, control, and confidence required to progress beyond treatment.

Felicity is particularly interested in how the body works as an interconnected unit. Rather than viewing the body as a collection of isolated muscles, joints, or injuries, she considers how different areas of the body influence one another. The feet can influence the knees and hips. The pelvis can influence the spine. The rib cage and breathing mechanics can influence posture and movement. The nervous system, strength, coordination, and an individual’s broader health can all contribute to how the body moves and responds to load.

This whole-body perspective is central to her clinical approach. When someone presents with pain in one area, Felicity aims to understand the wider factors that may be contributing to their presentation. This may include movement habits, strength, mobility, coordination, training load, previous injuries, posture, and how the person is using their body in everyday life.

Alongside her Osteopathic training, Felicity is also a qualified Pilates instructor. This provides her with additional skills in movement assessment, exercise instruction, core control, body awareness, and progressive rehabilitation. She uses her Pilates knowledge to help patients develop a better understanding of their movement and to provide exercises that can be adapted to different levels of strength, experience, and physical capacity.

Pilates can be particularly useful as part of a broader rehabilitation program, helping patients develop control and confidence before progressing to more demanding forms of exercise. Felicity enjoys working with patients to build a strong foundation of movement and then gradually progressing exercises as their capacity improves. Her approach is not about finding a single perfect exercise, but about identifying the right starting point for each person and building from there.

Felicity also has a special interest in working with people who experience headaches and postural conditions. She understands that headaches can be influenced by a range of factors, including the neck, upper back, jaw, shoulders, breathing patterns, and overall movement habits. Her approach involves assessing the individual as a whole and developing a management plan that may include hands-on treatment, movement strategies, exercise, and education.

She also enjoys supporting people throughout pregnancy and the postnatal period. Pregnancy brings significant changes to the body, including changes in posture, movement, load distribution, strength, and physical demands. Felicity takes an individualised approach to pre- and postnatal care, helping patients understand and adapt to the changes occurring throughout these stages of life.

Felicity also works closely with Alpha Sports Medicine’s multidisciplinary hypermobility team. This collaborative approach allows her to support patients with hypermobility alongside practitioners who have specific experience in hypermobility spectrum disorder (HSD), hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS), and the broader presentations that can occur alongside connective tissue differences.

Working as part of a team is particularly valuable when supporting patients with complex or multifaceted presentations. Felicity brings her Osteopathic, Pilates, and movement-based skillset to the team, while collaborating with practitioners who may provide additional expertise in strength and conditioning, exercise rehabilitation, and hypermobility-specific care.

Her approach to working with hypermobile patients is centred around understanding the individual rather than simply focusing on how flexible their joints are. She is interested in how a person controls movement, how they respond to load, where they feel stable or unstable, and how their body has adapted over time. Exercise and rehabilitation can then be tailored to help build strength, coordination, proprioception, and confidence in movement.

Whether she is working with an athlete returning from injury, someone managing persistent pain, a patient experiencing headaches, someone navigating pregnancy, or a person with hypermobility looking to build their physical capacity, Felicity aims to provide care that is thoughtful, collaborative, and individualised.

Her clinical philosophy is grounded in the idea that the body is capable of adapting and improving when given the right support. She believes that treatment should not only focus on what hurts, but also on helping patients understand their bodies and develop the tools they need to move forward.

Whether you are recovering from a sports injury, looking to improve your performance, managing headaches or postural concerns, navigating pregnancy, or wanting to build greater strength and movement confidence, Felicity is committed to working with you to understand your goals and develop a plan that supports your progress.

Outside the clinic, Felicity remains passionate about sport, movement, and staying active. Her background as an international karate athlete continues to influence her appreciation for the physical and mental demands of performance, while her experience as a Pilates instructor reflects her ongoing interest in understanding how the body moves as a whole.

Felicity’s goal is to help each person feel more confident in their body, better understand how they move, and build the capacity to participate in the activities that are important to them.