Kusal Goonewardena

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Kusal Goonewardena

MA
NationalitySri Lankan born Australian
Education
Nalanda College, Colombo, BA in Physiotherapy, University of Melbourne

Master of Physiotherapy, La Trobe University

OccupationPhysical therapist, lecturer, author
TitleFounder and Head of Sports Medicine at Elite Akademy, University of Melbourne
Board member ofEntrepreneurs' Organization (formerly)

Kusal Goonewardena is an Australian physical therapist and health lecturer known for being founder and Head of Sports Medicine at Elite Akademy, University of Melbourne.[1] He has authored several books and is a fitness expert on ABC Radio National's Life Matters program.

Early life and education[]

Kusal Goonewardena was born in Sri Lanka. He had his primary education at Nalanda College, Colombo. [2][3] His family travelled often during his childhood, as his father was an engineer who worked for the United Nations. They lived in Zambia, England, Oman and Bangladesh before settling down in Australia when Kusal was nine.[4]

Kusal Goonewardena earned a bachelor's degree in physiotherapy from the University of Melbourne in 1999.[5] He earned his Master of Physiotherapy from La Trobe University in 2007.[6] He specializes in sports physiotherapy and high-intensity interval training (HIIT).[7][8]

Career[]

Physical therapy[]

In 1999, Goonewardena founded Vigor Sport Medicine, a chain of fitness clinics in Melbourne which double as teaching clinics for La Trobe University and Melbourne University.[9] He also runs clinics in Bacchus Marsh and Melton, Victoria.[10]

He became a team physiotherapist for University of Melbourne in 2002, and has been Head of Sports Medicine for the UniSport Nationals' University of Melbourne team since 2008.[11] In an interview with The Age, Goonewardena stated that he wanted "to give something back to the University that gave me a great grounding in my career".[5]

He was the head of the medical team for University of Melbourne during the 2009 Australian University Games,[11] and is the official provider for the university's Elite Athlete Program.[12] In this capacity he is known for working with Australian athletes such as Katya Crema, Lachlan Norris, Phoebe Stanley, Jeff Tho and Freddy Ovett.[13] He is also the physical therapist of German tennis player Laura Siegemund.[4]

Goonewardena is the head physiotherapist of Elite Akademy, a training clinic based at University of Melbourne, which he founded in May 2012.[14] The training clinic is part of the Nona Lee Sports Centre and works with Olympic, Winter Olympic and national athletes from Melbourne University Sport.[15]

He has authored several books including 3 Minute Workouts (2015), Natural Healing: Quiet & Calm (2016) and Back Pain – 30 Days to Pain Free (2014). Goonewardena created the Kinrgize app with Elite Akademy in 2018, which allows users to track their fitness levels, workout regimens and sleeping habits.[16]

Health expert and lecturer[]

Kusal Goonewardena has been the fitness expert on ABC Radio National's Life Matters radio program since 2017.[17] He has been featured as a health expert on The Informer with George Donikian.[18][19]

Goonewardena has also been a guest expert in publications such as Body+Soul and The Sydney Morning Herald.[20][21]

Goonewardena was a board member of the Entrepreneurs' Organization, an international nonprofit.[22] In 2014, Goonewardena became a mentor at The Founder Institute in Melbourne.[23] That same year he co-presented "The Three Entrepreneurs", part of Swinburne University of Technology's Learning from Entrepreneurs series.[24]

Publications[]

Books[]

  • Back Pain – 30 Days to Pain Free. Wilkinson Publishing. 2014. ISBN 1922178780, 9781922178787
  • 3 Minute Workouts. Wilkinson Publishing. 2015. ISBN 1925265137, 9781925265132
  • Natural Healing: Quiet & Calm. co-authored by Helene Finizio. Wilkinson Publishing. 2016. ISBN 1925265587, 9781925265583

Articles[]

  • Robinson, Lu L.; Tan, M.; Goonewardena, K.; Guo, X.; Mareels, I.; Oetomo, D. (2020). "Effective Assessments of a Short- Duration Poor Posture on Upper Limb Muscle Fatigue Before Physical Exercise". Frontiers in Physiology. doi:10.3389/fphys.2020.541974. hdl:11343/252651.
  • Robinson, M.; Lu, L.; Tan, Y.; Goonewardena, K.; Oetomo, D.; Manzie, C. (2020). "Enabling context aware data analysis for long- duration repetitive stooped work through human activity recognition in sheep shearing". IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. 42nd Annual Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society: 87–90.

References[]

  1. ^ White, Sue (2015-01-16). "The inside job ... in sport". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  2. ^ Sri Lankan-born physio going great guns Down Under
  3. ^ SL born physiotherapy expert to escort the medical team of the renowned tennis player to Aussieland…
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "Sri Lankan-born physio going great guns Down Under". Print Edition - The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2021-06-26.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Scott, David; Soderlind, Laura (January 2012). "Behind all great athletes...". The Age.
  6. ^ "IPC to Host Australian Sports Physiotherapy Programme in SL". Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). 13 September 2019.
  7. ^ "How three minutes of exercise, twice a week could make you fit | WYZA Australia". WYZA. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  8. ^ "The three-minute workout that could be as good as going to the gym for half an hour". The Independent. 2018-04-19. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  9. ^ van Alkemade, Anne (June 2011). "A sporting chance". The Moorabool News.
  10. ^ Cozza, Andria (June 2011). "Test cricketers look to recruit physio's touch of magic". Melton Telegraph Express.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b "A week at the University Games". InMotion. Australian Physiotherapy Association: 32. December 2009.
  12. ^ "Health & Wellness". Melbourne University Sport. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
  13. ^ "Who's Kusal Goonewardena". Elite Akademy. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  14. ^ "University's Elite Akademy wins excellence award" (PDF). University of Melbourne. January 2013.
  15. ^ "Sports Medicine & Massage". Melbourne University Sport. Retrieved 2020-07-28."Elite Athlete Program". Melbourne University Sport. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
  16. ^ Thakar, Subrata (July 31, 2018). "New app uses physiotherapy, accountability to encourage users in losing weight". AI In Healthcare.
  17. ^ "The Exercise Room: Fitness trends". ABC Radio National. 2017-05-08."How to exercise at home". ABC Radio National. 2020-03-24.
  18. ^ theinformer (2021-04-08). "Healthy Ageing | Kusal Goonewardena | TheInformer". TheInformer. Retrieved 2021-06-26.
  19. ^ TheInformer (2020-11-11). "Understand The Human Body | Kusal Goonewardena". TheInformer. Retrieved 2021-06-26.
  20. ^ "The 10 most common health and fitness questions – answered by experts". bodyandsoulau. 2019-01-21. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  21. ^ Cain, Alexandra (2018-05-29). "Oh my aching feet! How to stop long-term damage from standing". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  22. ^ Long, Christine (2015-03-05). "How to make your first million". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  23. ^ "Great Startup Mentors Confirmed for the Melbourne Founder Institute". The Founder Institute. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
  24. ^ "The three entrepreneurs (AGSE Learning from Entrepreneurs)". commons.swinburne.edu.au. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
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