Meet Greg Stern
Founder & Physiotherapist at GroundUp Physio
The reason I approach pain and movement differently.
My passion for movement and helping others didn't begin in a classroom, it began with my own struggle.
In 2013, what seemed like a routine ankle sprain while playing football changed the course of my life. Instead of healing, the injury developed into four years of chronic foot pain that affected nearly everything I did.
Like many people who walk through our doors today, I spent years searching for answers. I worked with different rehabilitation professionals, tried a wide range of treatments, and eventually underwent surgery, hoping it would finally solve the problem.
It didn't.
Although the surgery addressed my foot, my body had already adapted. Compensatory movement patterns led to persistent hip and back pain that I'd never experienced before. Every time I thought I'd solved one problem, another seemed to appear.
It was frustrating, discouraging and at times overwhelming.
But it also became the turning point in my career.
I realized that if I wanted to truly understand why my body kept breaking down, I needed to look beyond the painful area. I became obsessed with understanding how the body functions as a whole and why pain so often persists even after treatment.
While earning my Bachelor's degree in Physiology and Kinesiology and later my Master's in Physical Therapy at McGill University, I spent countless hours studying far beyond the curriculum. I immersed myself in books, research, courses, mentors, and movement systems from a wide variety of disciplines. I wanted to understand not just what worked, but why it worked.
Slowly, my perspective changed.
Instead of chasing symptoms, I began focusing on the relationships between different parts of the body. I looked at how the feet, hips, pelvis, rib cage, breathing, and overall movement patterns influenced one another. I also began paying attention to the everyday habits that shape how we move, from the shoes we wear to the amount of time we spend sitting.
Rather than searching for another quick fix, I started rebuilding the way my body moved. It didn't happen overnight, but over time my pain disappeared.
Today I'm able to play the sports I love without fear, move freely and even hike barefoot for hours; something I never imagined possible when I couldn't comfortably stand for more than a few seconds.
That experience continues to shape every assessment and every treatment I provide.
GroundUp Physio was built on the belief that lasting recovery comes from understanding the body as an integrated system, not as a collection of separate parts. My goal isn't simply to help people become pain-free. It's to help them understand why the problem developed in the first place, regain confidence in their movement and build a body that's more resilient for years to come.
I believe injuries are more than something to recover from, they're an opportunity to learn.
When you're willing to become curious about how your body works, you don't just heal. You often come away moving better than you did before the injury ever happened.
