Our History

Spine Plus – Timeline

2000: First Clinic established in Chigwell (Chigwell Osteopathy & Physiotherapy Practice)

2001: Chigwell clinic becomes major participant as a provider of local NHS funded osteopathy services.

2005: Chigwell clinic established as one of the busiest physical therapy clinics in Essex.

2006:   Second clinic opended in GP Surgery in Woodford Green.

2007:   Bow Clinic opened

2008:   Waterloo Clinic opened

2010:   Woodford Green clinic relocated to South Woodford Yoga Studio.

2011:   First IDD Spinal Decompression machine acquired for Chigwell clinic.

2012/13: Second IDD machine acquired and The Harley Street Spine Clinic launched in association with The BMI Fitzroy Square    

               Hospital.

Spine Plus is a trading name for Osteopathy Plus ltd. Founding company director, Robert Shanks qualified as an Osteopath in the year 2000, however Robert was exposed to manual therapy from an early age by virtue of his mother being a chartered physiotherapist. This together with Robert’s interest in sport and previous work as a martial arts instructor gave him additional insight and interest in human biomechanics. After a 12 month apprenticeship working as an Osteopath in Saffron Walden and as a manual training instructor to the London Fire Brigade Robert established the company’s first clinic in Chigwell - Chigwell Osteopathy & Physiotherapy Practice. The core concept of the Practice which remains at the heart of all Spine Plus Clinics, was to feature therapists able to offer specialist, multidisciplinary physical therapy for spinal and musculoskeletal. This subtle new concept soon gained a reputation for effective treatment that delivered superior results.

In 2001 the Chigwell practice became one of the first in the country to be subcontracted by a local health authority to offer NHS funded Osteopathy for patients with low back pain.

Subsequent to this Robert furthered his studies with postgraduate training in medical acupuncture (with The British Medical Acupuncture Society) and as a clinical Pilates instructor (with the Australian Physiotherapy & Pilates Institute, APPI).

In 2006 Robert teamed up with one of his former assistant osteopaths who had a similar open mindedness and ambition for the pursuit of excellence in musculoskeletal manual therapy. Together they established Osteopathy Plus’ second practice within a busy GP Practice in Woodford Green. The osteopath in question was Darren Chandler. Darren had taken similar postgraduate courses to Robert including medical acupuncture. Prior to training as an osteopath Darren had been a national level badminton player and a personal trainer, training many celebrities in London’s West End. Darren brought an added dimension to Osteopathy Plus, through his expertise in exercise advice.

A year later Darren established his own clinic in Bow. The three clinics, under the guidance of Robert and Darren soon gained great respect amongst the GP's, consultants and other medical professionals. The network of medical contacts that this created assisted Robert and Darren taking a lead role in establishing the National Back Pain Helpline in early 2008.

At the beginning of 2009 Robert and Darren were invited by Vista diagnostics to provide clinical assessments for clients self referring for MRI scans and at the same time establish a clinic in the heart of London, hence the Spine Plus name was born.

This was followed in 2010 by relocation of the Woodford GP Clinic to a Yoga Studio in South Woodford.

In 2011 Spine Plus became one of the first clinics in the UK to feature a non-surgical Spinal Decompression machine (IDD Therapy machine). This machine was sited at the Chigwell clinic and soon started revolutionishing outcomes for patients with back pain, neck pain and nerve pain due to bulging and degenerative discs in the spine.

In 2012 Spine Plus acquired their second IDD Therapy machine and launched the Harley Street Spine Clinic in associated with The BMI Fitrzroy Square Hospital.