Will O Flaherty
Sports Rehabilitation Therapist
Will, the Rebel among us, a native of Skibberan and a very proud Cork and Munster man, joined the Balance Twenty One & Kerry Physiotherapy team in 2023. Will is a massive Rugby fan and it was here, at home in Cork, where he developed his love of rugby from a very young age. He began playing rugby with Skibbereen at the age of 12, and progressed to play in the All Ireland League with Midleton. Unfortunately he had to retire from rugby at the age of 23 due to repetitive concussion. It was through his lifelong involvement with Rugby and early retirement that he harnessed his keen interest in injury rehabilitation and performance enhancement. He witnessed first hand the time lost to injury by poor or inappropriate injury management and the more he began to research this the more he fell in love with the subject area.
Will was delighted when he secured his place in the BSc in Sports Rehabilitation in the University of Salford in 2017 and was delighted to graduate with his Honors degree in 2020. The experience he gained during his undergrad was invaluable and he got the chance to work with two top class rugby sides, Rugby Union side Sale Sharks and the Rugby League side St Helen’s. During his time at Salford Will got to work with semi-professional running athletes in the biomechanics lab and gym, studying their technique and how he could help them increase performance. He also got a first in his dissertation, where he studied "the variables that affect the force of a punch in mixed martial arts".
Since returning home, Will has worked in several industry renowned health & fitness facilities throughout Cork, most recently at Echo Athletics. During his time in these high caliber facilities he was afforded the chance to progress his clinical career in conjunction with his first love injury management, rehabilitation and performance.Will gained valuable experience as a strength and conditioning coach and also completed his Level One CrossFit Coaching certificate. Will soon gained notoriety within his field and became lead therapist for Cobh Ramblers in the 2021 and 2022 seasons working with both the first team and the academy. Through his work with Cobh he became a member of the medical panel of therapists for the FAI and covers various FAI international underage camps across Europe.
Will currently divides his time between our Killarney and our Macroom clinic and has become a fully certified APPI Pilates instructor in both Mat and Reformers Pilates. In both his Mat & Reformer classes you will find the perfect blend of traditional Pilates, injury prevention techniques and performance enhancement modalities. His clinical abilities are widespread across many injuries and conditions, however, Will takes a special interest in neck pain, sports injuries, end stage rehab and tailored return to performance protocols. When asked about his perfect patient, Will’s response; It has to be someone looking to not only fix their problem, but improve their performance past pre-injury levels. Someone willing to put in the hard hours in the gym for the end stage protocols, but can also have the craic doing it!