Gail Sumner: CHRC Founder

BHSc Honours Physiotherapy: Leeds University, Certified with The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, Health Care Professions Council.
Certified Perrin Technique Practitioner,
Advanced Perrin Technique Practitioner
Qualified CranioSacral Therapist: Levels ST1, CST2 and SER1
Qualified Acupuncturist: Certified Member of the Acupuncture Association of Chartered Physiotherapy
PGDip in Nutrition, Middlesex University: Certified Member of British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine/BANT and Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council/CNHC
Counselling Level 3
Bio Resonance Practitioner 2024

I have always been interested from a young age in the physiological and biological working of the human body. This inspired me to go to university straight from school and train to become a physiotherapist, graduating from Leeds University with a BSc Honours in Physiotherapy in 1998 and becoming a fully chartered and state-registered physiotherapist.

After graduating from university, I went into the NHS, working at the Royal Bolton Hospital. I gained a wide range of experience treating people with acute injuries, post operative rehabilitation and chronic pain and illness.

Later in this period, I moved into community-based healthcare for the NHS as a Senior Physiotherapist working in musculoskeletal and orthopaedic medicine. I also qualified as an acupuncturist to support and complement the physiotherapy treatment I was offering, and I became a member of the Acupuncture Association of Chartered Physiotherapy/AACP.( fix or relocate)

Physiotherapy, by its nature is a ‘hands-on’ treatment but it also means you spend a considerable amount of time engaging with people, often people in distress or coming to terms with a life-changing injury or chronic disease. Seeing the wider effect this had on people’s lives actually started my thinking about a patient’s long term recovery and other post treatment factors that could optimise their recovery after physiotherapy treatment finished. (need better bridge to next para PH)

However, in October 2000 my life and career were turned upside down overnight…

After enjoying a busy life of work, travel, regular exercise and playing hockey, I woke up one morning with severe pain in my muscles and joints and I could barely lift my head off my pillow.

I was constantly dizzy and nauseous, I couldn’t control my body temperature, sometimes sweating and feeling cold at the same time. I couldn’t think clearly, I had ‘brain fog’, my glands were swollen and my heart was pounding and I had palpitations. I was utterly exhausted, suffering from severe fatigue. It was a truly terrifying and disorientating experience. (PH fix run on sn)

Overnight, I quite literally went from being a fit and healthy 24-year-old full of energy to being bedridden and disabled.

This started an experience with the NHS that I have become all too familiar with in the last 16 years after treating hundreds of other patients with CFS/ME, fibromyalgia and, recently, Long Covid.

After many months of NHS investigations and routine testing, I was told there was nothing abnormal in my test results and nothing more my doctor or the NHS could do. The best guess was that I was suffering from Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome (PVFS) which they said was a form of CFS/ME and there was no NHS treatment for it.

There was no ready or obvious pathway to recovery and very little information available regarding chronic fatigue syndrome back in 2000. There was even less information on where to find help in the UK and which health professionals or specialist practitioners were working in the field of chronic fatigue treatment and research.

Recovering from CFS/ME and being free to do even normal everyday things in life is indescribable.

After recovering from chronic fatigue syndrome, I dedicated my professional life to specialising in the field of ME/CFS, Post Viral Fatigue, Long Covid and Fibromyalgia treatment. In 2007 I qualified in Craniosacral therapy at levels CST1, CST2 and SER1 at the Upledger Institute, Brighton. In the same year I became a licensed Perrin Technique practitioner, training directly under the guidance and assessment of Dr Raymond Perrin in Manchester. I then went on to work closely with Dr Perrin at his Manchester Practice for 14 years while running my own practice too.

My long-term goal has been to create a clinic that would focus on treating the three pathways I believe are fundamental in aiding recovery from severe fatigue-related illnesses:

Improving mechanical functionality and lymphatic drainage
Reducing biological burdens and genetic predispositions
Improving psychological and emotional wellbeing

With this aim in mind, in 2012 I completed a PGDip in Nutrition from Middlesex University and qualified as a Nutritional Therapist, subsequently registering with the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine/BANT.

I have continued with my professional development up to the present day, including qualifying as a Level 3 Counsellor and completing the foundational course with the Institute of Functional Medicine / IFM. More recently I have completed Bioresonance Practitioner training with one of the UK’s leading Bioregulatory Medicine consultants.

In 2017 I participated in Dr Perrin’s landmark CFS/ME research study which was published by the British Medical Journal later that year.

Recently, I was selected by Dr Perrin to be one of only 12 worldwide practitioners to complete his 2-year Advanced Perrin Practitioners programme.

I know what it means to be given a second chance at a full and active life and that’s what drives me to continue with professional development. I want to give our patients with CFS/ME, Fibromyalgia and Long Covid the best possible chance of making a recovery.