From Surgery to the Stage: My Journey to the World Physiotherapy Conference in Tokyo

In January 2025, I was invited to present one of my papers from my PhD research (published in PLOS ONE), at the World Physiotherapy Congress in Tokyo. The study explores the often-overlooked link between depression and non-communicable diseases in older adults, a silent catalyst with far-reaching consequences for global health.

But just five days before my departure, everything changed. During a routine training session, while pressing 60kg dumbbells in each hand, I suffered a catastrophic avulsion injury, my triceps tore the olecranon into pieces. Within hours, I was facing major surgery, scheduled just four days before I was due to fly.

The easier choice would have been to withdraw. But this journey was never about convenience, it was about purpose. I had a message to deliver, a truth to represent, and a responsibility to the older people behind the data. And so, in a brace and in recovery, I boarded that plane.

I wouldn’t have made it without the quiet strength beside me, my wife, who stood in when I couldn’t, and helped carry the weight when my body couldn’t. This wasn’t just a presentation. It was a defining moment of resilience, love, and unrelenting belief in the power of science to change lives.

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