Thomas Lettner - ATUNE Health Centres - Physiotherapist
B.App.Sc (Physio)
Early years
Thomas grew up in a small town near Salzburg in the idyllic Austrian alps. From an early age on it was clear that Thomas was going to be an active person. During his childhood he joined most sports clubs that his hometown had to offer: Soccer, skiing, cross country skiing, snowboarding, swimming, tennis, table tennis just to name some. Thomas went on to represent the State of Salzburg in soccer and cross-country skiing and played some games for the Austrian junior national team. After completing the first 8 years of school in his hometown Thomas visited a Sports Highschool in Salzburg and then continued on to study Health and Performance Sport on the Universities of Salzburg and Innsbruck.
In 2005 Thomas moved to Australia, and once he settled in Newcastle he pretty much never left.
Post University
Since graduating with a Bachelor of Physiotherapy from Newcastle University in 2012 Thomas has worked as a Physiotherapist in Newcastle, Austria and Finland. Thomas has worked in private practice physiotherapy for almost 8 years and has experience in assessment and treatment of a wide range of musculoskeletal conditions. Being an exercise enthusiast, Thomas loves to be involved in strength and conditioning, injury prevention and rehabilitation of athletes.
Spending most of his professional career in private practice, Thomas most recently spent 2 years working in Occupational Health where he was involved in establishing a new approach to workplace health and wellbeing.
Sports Specific Physiotherapy
During a 13 month stay in Finland, Thomas worked as a strength and conditioning coach as well as an injury prevention specialist in Northern Europe’s largest indoor gymnastics centre in Tampere Finland. During this time, he worked with elite gymnasts of all ages and genders and grew his interest in the assessment and management of lower back pain.
In the 6 months Thomas spent in Austria, while visiting a sick family member, he supported his local soccer team in the 3rd division as a Physiotherapist and conditioning coach.
Prior to completing the Bachelor of Physiotherapy Thomas acted as a sports trainer for various clubs in Newcastle and the Hunter.
Professional Development
Thomas draws inspiration from working in cooperation with other health care professionals and loves exchanging ideas and learning new things. Additional to ongoing mentorship and weekly in services he attended the following post grad courses:
Myofascial dry needling and cupping, Manual Medicine Australasia, 2014.
Building the Ultimate Back, Dr Stuart McGill, 2015.
The European Health Care System, Pori (Finland), 1 semester at Pori University, 2016.
Respirator fit testing and lung function testing (Spirometry), 2020.
Personal Life
First and foremost, Thomas is a father of two active boys under the age of four and tries to spend as much time with his family as possible. His partner Anna is a former gymnast and also very active which means the whole family is usually out and about…
Since arriving in Australia Thomas has swapped winter sports for surfing and has become a passionate surfer. When he is not catching waves or hanging out on the beach or in the forest with his partner Anna and kids Leo (4) and Lenni (2) you might see him jogging along the Nobbys to Merewether stretch preparing himself for endurance events or getting stuck into some trail riding on his mountain bike at Glenrock.
Just recently he completed a 24-hour endurance orienteering adventure race at Jarvis Bay which consisted of navigating through nature on foot, on the mountain bike and in a kayak.