#41 - When Numbers Tell The Truth, People Heal Faster | Dr Faisal Sheikh

What happens when rehabilitation is guided by evidence, clarity, and care — rather than assumption or delay?

In this episode of Engaging Conversations, Leon Goltsman is joined by Dr Faisal Sheikh from Nepean Advanced Rehab & Allied Health Centre to explore a rehabilitation model that centres on dignity, transparency, and measurable outcomes.

Drawing on Faisal’s background in public health, governance, and allied health, the conversation examines how modern rehabilitation can reduce uncertainty for everyone involved: patients, families, clinicians, employers, and insurers by replacing guesswork with objective insight and shared understanding.

They discuss how evidence-based assessment and progress tracking support safer, more confident return-to-work decisions, reduce the risk of re-injury, and help align all parties around a single, realistic pathway to recovery. Just as importantly, the conversation highlights why multidisciplinary collaboration and preventive care are critical for easing pressure on individuals and the broader health and compensation systems.

This is not a conversation about technology for its own sake.

It’s about doing rehabilitation properly with intention, accountability, and respect for the people navigating recovery.

For those involved in healthcare delivery, claims management, policy, or community support, this episode offers a grounded look at how thoughtful rehabilitation models can deliver better outcomes while preserving trust and dignity.

Transcript

Setting The Stakes In Western Sydney

Leon Goltsman 0:00

Hello and welcome back to Engaging Conversations. I'm your host, Leon Goltsman, and today's episode comes from Western Sydney, a region shaped by resilience, family, and people who quietly get on with the work that truly matters. Some people treat injuries, some people manage systems. But every now and then, you meet someone whose work is about restoring dignity, not just movement. Today, I'm joined by Dr. Faisal Sheikh from the Nepean Advanced Rehab and Allied Health Centre. Located directly opposite Napean Hospital in Kingswood. Faisal's background spans public health, governance, and allied health. And that breadth of experience shows in the way this center approaches rehabilitation. Because this isn't just about appointments, treatment plans, or ticking boxes. It's about what happens after someone is injured. How clearly progress is measured, how long people are left in the uncertainty, and whether families, employers, clinicians, and insurers are genuinely working towards the same outcome, or simply operating in parallel. The P in Advanced Rehab is redefining what modern rehabilitation can look like, combining multidisciplinary care with objective, evidence-based assessment tools that remove guesswork, reduce delays, and help people return back to work and life with confidence. And this is why this episode goes beyond technology. It's about prevention over reaction, transparency over friction, and why doing things properly, even when it takes more care, ultimately leads to better outcomes for everyone involved. Faisal and his team are all about empowering movement, restoring life, and helping Australians get back to what they love doing best. And a special thank you to Niaz Cannoth for supporting conversations like this. Just a quick note though, this episode is shared for general interest, and it isn't medical, legal, or professional advice. I'm affiliated with Nope and Advanced Rehab and Allied Health Center, and the views shared here are those of the individuals involved. So whether you're a clinician, a case manager, an employer, or someone navigating recovery yourself, settle in. This conversation is worth hearing. So without further ado, let's get into it.

Dr Faisal Sheikh 2:17

Hello, my name is uh Fessel Sheikh, and I'm an operations and compliance manager for the Nippian Advanced Rehab and Allied Health Center. My background is predominantly from public health, uh, engaged with a lot of public health programs ranging from malnutrition, tuberculosis, health technology assessment, uh, governance for the NDIS, and now uh Allied Health. We are based out in the Nipean region. Uh, to be exact, we are at 38th Somerset Street, Kingswood, right in front of the Nipean Public Hospital. Uh, what started off as a uh simple mission and a vision to serve the people, uh, not allowing them to fall through the cracks. We know that we are doing great work because we're getting feedback from from all over Australia that we're doing something amazing.

Leon Goltsman 3:03

That's probably the best feedback that you can get when people who reach out to you and say thank you. Absolutely. Do you find that happens quite a lot?

Dr Faisal Sheikh 3:11

Yes. And with the uh and that's the validation for us. Uh, the model, the delivery of care that we want to provide when it stands out, and people across different spectrums they validate your work.

Meet Dr Faisal And The Centre’s Mission

Leon Goltsman 3:22

And that's always very reassuring. Faisal, most people assume a physio, and I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions. So most people assume a physio assessment is just watching someone move. But modern rehab is now using tools that capture what the human eye simply cannot see. How does technology like human track reveal hidden issues that everyday people and even experienced clinicians would otherwise miss? In fact, you might want to first begin by telling us what human track is.

Dr Faisal Sheikh 3:48

Uh, you're absolutely right, uh Leon. Uh, we've invested ourselves in having evidence-backed uh care, uh, along with introducing an amalgamation of technology. As you rightly said, technology can give you something that the human eye misses. And in order to remove that ambiguity, we invested in a wonderful product, which is a human track. A human track, it basically identifies your small initial changes in your day-to-day movements. How it's done is it does a 3D analysis of your movement. The physiotherapist team or the Allied Health team can just uh assess the range of motions just by simply making you stand in front of a camera and the software that reads your subtle movements. Whether that's a wrong motion due to a hairline fracture that you had three years ago, or whether there's some uh issues you had while you were working out your squat rack, we identify that at uh the beginning and it helps prevent long-term injuries. And that and that's important because if you can catch something early, you can prevent things. Absolutely. Coming from a public health background, preventative methodologies is the best. As you've already heard time and again, prevention is always better than cure.

Leon Goltsman 5:00

Always better than cure. But then when people think nothing's gonna happen to them, and it usually does, that's that's when real big problems occur. Correct. Talking about problems, let's say, you know, whether it's an injured worker, uh, a mum caring for a child, or a case manager handling dozens of claims, nothing beats objective evidence. And we know that the proof is in the pudding. How does objective data from your systems help create trust between clinicians, patients, insurers, and employers?

Dr Faisal Sheikh 5:29

You know, the biggest advantage of having uh objective data uh from your systems uh that creates a lot of transparency, specifically between the clinicians, patients, and the insurers. As clinicians, you would want to give them the best treatment, the best outcome, a treatment plan that would be catered and curated to their needs. But certain times with the clinician's expertise and uh evidence-based uh education could lead you to doing some uh clinical work that might not be pretty relevant for an insurer. That's where an objective-based data system comes into the place, where the wherein you remove the ambiguity, you remove subjectivity, and you get a data that is completely reliant on real numbers.

Leon Goltsman 6:16

And you can't argue with that. I mean, the the the as we said earlier, the proof is in the pudding. It's evidence-based.

What HumanTrack Actually Measures

Dr Faisal Sheikh 6:22

Correct. And what it does is that it completely eliminates the uh burden of the treatment. For example, the uh a lot of times the insurers and the clinicians are on the opposite side of the table. And the insurer also wants to uh wants the uh the client to go back to work, whereas the clinician is trying its level best to provide that treatment so that the outcome is achieved. What we do is we keep the clinicians as well as the insurers and the patients on the same side, and we provide that data which allows them to not point fingers at each other rather than work in coherence to provide the best outcomes.

Leon Goltsman 7:00

Well, it seems like a big game changer because in the past, especially in large government departments or when you have many different company departments, for instance, not everyone talks effectively to each other. So, my understanding is you're actually helping people connect better amongst themselves.

Dr Faisal Sheikh 7:18

Just for an example, take this uh in the disability sector. Nobody has used such a technology in the disability sector. There are a lot of assessments that go on that you need to do in a disability uh sector. Imagine this if we have a data-backed objective assessment, which the disability sector can just peep into and what's what's happening with the participant. That could just remove the uh subjective or biased from the clinician side as well as from the disability sector. It could actually streamline all of your applications and all of your assessments to go faster.

Leon Goltsman 7:52

We're talking about clinicians and professional service providers, but let's bring it back to the mums and dads, to the people who are using those services. Let's say when someone's injured, and it's not just the individual, families, employers, and insurers all feel that impact. How does using tools like Human Track and ForceFrame help everyday families by reducing the time someone is off work or struggling with the pain?

Dr Faisal Sheikh 8:18

Let's begin with the individuals and the families. First and foremost, there's reduced wait time, which allows the individual to render the treatment as soon as possible. What does it do? It allows them to get back to work as soon as possible, and that restores their dignity and the socioeconomic impact that would have on themselves and their families. With regards to the families, there's always a stress when your loved one or your individual is going through rehab. And there's a lot of uh areas where you don't know what the outcome would be. Uh such technology and assessment tools can actually help provide a health education for the families, but which could in turn be hand in glove for the treatment outcomes for their individuals.

Leon Goltsman 9:00

For me, it's not about the technology. I mean, if the technology helps me, that's great. But really, people don't care about the technology. All they really care about is A, how soon they can get to work, how fast they can start earning their money, look after their families, and that in itself enables them to continue having dignity. You know, if you can achieve that, then what's so special about this equipment that others may or may not be able to provide?

Dr Faisal Sheikh 9:25

When you're doing a movement analysis, you need a lot of biomarkers on yourself, and it gets very uh tedious in order to do that analysis. How does this uh assessment tool from Human Track come into play? Is it's a robust mechanism. You just stand in front of the computer, it analyzes your movements, and bang, you get the report. It's a lot more efficient. It's a lot more efficient, easy to use, and the best part is it's mobile. So you can carry it to your aged care homes, villages, uh, NDIS service providers, it can go into the community. It is not a system that you you would only want to house in your center. It allows you to take this technology to the unreached.

Leon Goltsman 10:04

When you say allows you, do you mean the patient or the provider? The provider. Okay, so this can be done remotely. So people don't have to come into a clinic. They can actually have someone come and see them. Absolutely. That in itself can be a win for the community because it means some people don't have the mobility to get up, go to a center.

Data That Builds Trust Across Stakeholders

Dr Faisal Sheikh 10:27

That's absolutely correct. Just for an example's sake, imagine this a 65-year-old lady just had a hip replacement surgery and she's all by herself in some house in Katoomba. We get the request, we have our team ready, and they go out to Katoomba, to her place, and all she has to do is welcome us in. We do all the analysis, all the assessments, and that's it. When you said 65, 65 is still very young, isn't it? Absolutely. At the end of the day, all we want is to empower movement, restore life.

Leon Goltsman 10:59

Well, at least we're keeping people feeling younger longer. Many people assume all physio or rehab clinics offer the same level of care, but clearly that isn't the case from what I'm seeing here.

Dr Faisal Sheikh 11:11

What makes Napian Advanced Rehab and Allied Health Center stand out from a standard allied health clinic or a physiotherapy clinic is an amalgamation of the following. We have a multidisciplinary care approach. We've got the best-in-class technology which puts us ahead of the curve, and we do evidence-based uh progress tracking. And what makes us truly apart is that we provide really curated and personalized approach to the treatment needs of the individuals. And what does that actually look like? Uh I'll give you an example. We had an NDIS participant who came in, and uh that participant was only looking for a physiotherapy assessment. When the participant came in, we were able to provide a physiotherapy assessment. Yes. When then went every week, we have a multidisciplinary uh team meeting wherein we share our uh participants, we share reports, what was going on, how have we uh was there any uh any specific uh treatment needs that were catered to? And in that we were able to identify not just one, but we identified that the same NDIS participant needed a speech pathologist, the same NDIS participant also needed a psychological session as well, and that to ongoing. And because we have that, and we call proudly call ourselves one-stop solution. And what we did is now the NDIS participant walks in on one day and gets all of those sessions sorted at the one place. The thing that we do as a center is that we do a needs assessment. We try to understand the needs of the participant, the client in focus, and then we curate their treatment or triage them accordingly to various services, whether that's physiotherapy, occupational therapy, a psychology, uh behavior support, or speech pathology.

Leon Goltsman 12:54

Yeah, well, I'm glad that you mentioned that the way that you did, because like most people, we often feel lost in the rehab system, not knowing what progress they're making or what the next steps are. So, how do the visual reports and clear data from valve systems give patients confidence and help case managers and insurers see the progress in real time?

Dr Faisal Sheikh 13:15

It gives them a sneak peek into their outcomes. What it does for the insurers is that it we understood the barrier. One of the biggest barriers that the insurers had was that they were not able to keep a dynamic progress of where their clients were, which did not allow them to give a definitive back-to-work uh timeline. What we did and what we wanted to understand or bridge the gap from Val system was we wanted these case managers, insurers to have a sneak peek, a dynamic and a live progress tracking tool, which they could use anytime. So it's as simple as logging into your system, you uh go on to your uh client and participant and get whatever information you need.

Leon Goltsman 13:57

And we've seen that major injuries can be life-changing. We see it all the time. We hear about it, we see it. But the right support can completely rewrite someone's outlook, can it not? Absolutely, you're spot on. So, so, and thank you very much for that because um we do see that. We do see that. So, what role does evidence-based rehabilitation play in helping people rebuild their confidence and identity after an injury?

Bringing Rehab Tech Into Disability Care

Dr Faisal Sheikh 14:22

Uh, evidence-based rehabilitation plays a major role in helping people rebuild their confidence, and it allows them to get back to where they were before the injury happened. It gives it gives them dignity, it empowers them to lead the quality of life that they were leading before they had an injury. And and probably they thought they lost afterwards. Absolutely. Uh, and by saying so, I'll give you an example. Uh so we had a participant, let's refer to him as Bob. Bob came in with osteonecrosis. He was diagnosed with Perth's disease when he was four and a half years old. Bob loved dancing, he was a teacher by profession, and he loved his profession, wanted to go out and teach the kids. But last three, four years, he was in and out of surgery. A failed hip replacement put him under crutches, his movement was restricted, and he had lost all hope that he might ever be able to do what he loved the most. And you know, Bob he really wants to open up his uh food truck and wants to be a chef. He's already a trained chef. Where we came in was first we restored the hope that Bob could have the quality of life that he is determined to have. After that, we understood what he needed. We provided him with an evidence-backed therapy approach, which gave him a hope and purpose to see that he could be a trained chef at the end of the day. And when I said we're doing a multidisciplinary approach, he came in for an injury, but we identified he needed mental health support. From there, we were actually able to provide him uh support for his mental health issues as well. As of now, Bob is in his journey of rehabilitation and he wakes up every single day embracing life.

Leon Goltsman 16:07

The journey of people doing things with a purpose, they live a more meaningful life. Do they not? Absolutely. What I'm hearing is that the politicians, insurers, and families, they all want the same thing. People safely and confidently back to meaningful work. They do. Everyone wants to get back to work, or most people anyway. And now I'm learning about this technology, which is remarkable. And so, Faisal, how does the force frame help you confidently determine when someone is genuinely ready to return to work? Not rushed, not delayed, but at the right time.

Dr Faisal Sheikh 16:44

Uh so uh force frame is a uh comprehensive system that allows you to accurately uh measure the strength thresholds of every major joint in the body. Force frame allows you to uh limit the reoccurrence of injury while you are in rehab. Most of the times, reoccurrence of injury elongates your rehab and the timeline to return to work gets exceeded than the normal. Here we are with this repeatable, adaptable strength testing technology, which allows us with in-depth analysis and an understanding of each and every individual and just fast-tracks their rehabilitation journey.

Leon Goltsman 17:24

When people had an injury and then they had this opportunity to return back to work, we often find that when people feel they no longer have the ability to do something, and then they're given that chance, they see things differently. It's they were given if it's almost feels like a sense of having another chance in life to do it. And I have personally seen and even experienced in my own life that when you get a chance to do something when you thought you're never gonna be able to do, you end up doing better. You actually end up coming back and being stronger. And in a sense, would you say this has the ability to do the same?

Faster Relief For Families And Workers

Dr Faisal Sheikh 18:05

You remember our friend Bob? Yes. When we met him, he could not imagine himself getting out of the bed, go down for a walk, even with his crutches. But now he's determined to be a chef, and that's that's the journey we have been going on with him.

Leon Goltsman 18:20

So Bob's gone from being a dancer to being a chef, and who knows? He's got his whole life ahead of him. He can almost can become anything he wants. Good on you, Bob. We need more Bobs out there, and we need more people like you helping people like Bobs. And we are. Yeah, good. Because across Australia, the number of workplace injuries and chronic conditions is rising. Putting pressure on insurers and healthcare providers.

Dr Faisal Sheikh 18:43

Uh at Nippian Advanced Rehab and Allied Health Center, the model of delivery of care that we are working on is a uh bi-spoked model, wherein your uh allied health professionals are using the technology with an evidence-based uh uh judgment for clinical outcomes, which allows them to treat more individuals in a shorter duration of time. To summarize it, state-of-the-art technology, culturally ready and uh understanding team that understands the demographics of the region and has a clear indication of the needs of the client and a model of care that allows more clinical outcomes for individuals.

Leon Goltsman 19:26

So you've got a system, right? From what I'm seeing, from from what we're reading, from what's out there, we know that it's a system that can help. We know that it can help people, and we know that it can help lots of people, not just the providers, but most importantly the people receiving the services.

Dr Faisal Sheikh 19:44

Napium Advanced Rehab came up with that vision and mission for the clients, participants, patients who are out there waiting for the right kind of treatment at the right time.

Leon Goltsman 19:56

There's always barriers and there's always challenges. And for politicians and insurers, and I'm mentioning that because at the end of the day, if we don't have the politicians get behind it, the policymakers, and we don't have the insurers, the people who are backing this, we're not going to have a system that's going to be fully effective.

Dr Faisal Sheikh 20:17

Measurable technology helps reduce long-term claim costs while still delivering the treatment that is required for an individual. Targeted interventions can shorter the recovery times and it has better well-being outcomes, and it's a quicker way to get the people back to work.

Leon Goltsman 20:33

I can already see if uh if you're eliminating certain processes that don't need to be included, by carrying out fewer treatments, shorter recovery times, and better well-being outcomes, people can get to work quicker, keep the politicians and the insurers happy because it does reduce costs. That is spot on. So if we could deliver that and hopefully get in their years, at least get a chance for you to show it to them.

Dr Faisal Sheikh 20:58

Leon, I would welcome an opportunity like that. I would be there, present, and let the politician insurers know what body of work and the systems we're doing.

Mobile Assessments And Community Access

Leon Goltsman 21:07

Yeah, well, you know, maybe maybe you should be presenting it to them for more information. I mean, what we're talking about here is only just touching the surface. I'm sure if people who want to save money and get people back to work quicker would want to talk to you. Yeah, it would be great if they did. I'm sure if they listen to this podcast, then they'll be able to find a way to reach out or leave their details and you can give them a call. But as we're coming towards the end of the program, there is just one more question I'd like to ask you, and that is to do with the future of healthcare, especially when it comes to data-driven, personalised and accessible offerings. So the future of healthcare is data-driven, personalized and accessible. And clinics like Nippian Advanced Rehab seem to be leading the way. If you could send one clear message to Australian insurers, policy makers and community leaders about the future of rehabilitation, what would it be?

Dr Faisal Sheikh 22:02

At Nippian Advanced Rehab and Allied Health Centre, we aim to be the leaders in innovation for rehab, providing dignity, giving transparency, providing preventative care, as we said, prevention is always better than cure, and national scale benefits.

Leon Goltsman 22:17

We can do a podcast or a program just on one of those things. But just to recap, we've never in the entire history of technology seen so much going on in such a short period of time. And to make a visionary bold statement like that and being able to back it is reassuring. Innovation, dignity, transparency, preventative care, and of course, national scale benefits, that's a very ambitious but an achievable goal. Faisal, thank you so much for taking the time. I know you're not just representing one clinic, you're representing what a lot of the clinics out there wish they had someone speaking for them. And I feel today you're doing that. Thank you so much, Leon, for having me and this podcast. Faisal, you're very, very welcome. And if people wanted to reach out to you, if people wanted to get in contact with you, what is the best way they can do that?

Dr Faisal Sheikh 23:11

So people can uh contact us by calling us at 1 300 283 001, or they can just jump onto our website. That's www.advancedrehabhealth.com.au.

Leon Goltsman 23:24

Perfect. Well, I'll have all those details in the show notes. Faisal, once again, thank you so much for coming on board. Have a fantastic rest of the day, and I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Dr Faisal Sheikh 23:35

Thank you so much, Leon, for having me and you too have a lovely rest of the day. Thank you.

Why Multidisciplinary Care Beats Silos

Leon Goltsman 23:41

Thank you for joining us on this episode of Engaging Conversations. And a sincere thank you to Dr. Faisal Shake for a thoughtful and grounded conversation. What today's discussion reminds us is that rehabilitation, when done properly, isn't just about rushing outcomes or managing numbers. It's about clarity. It's about trust. And it's about giving people the confidence to move forward, physically, mentally, and emotionally. The work done at Napian Advanced Rehab and Allied Health Center shows what's possible when evidence replaces assumption and when everyone involved patients, families, clinicians, employers, and insurers are working from the same information and towards the same purpose. I'm going to repeat that again. It only works when everyone involved, patients, families, clinicians, employers, and insurers are working from the same information and towards the same purpose. If today's episode resonated with you, whether you're a clinician, a case manager, an employer, or someone involved in shaping health and recovery systems, I encourage you to reflect on how much better outcomes can be achieved when care is transparent, preventative, and grounded in dignity. This episode is about empowering movement, restoring life, and helping Australians get back to what they love doing. And a special thank you once again to Niaz Cannoth for his continued support. If you enjoyed this conversation, please follow the show, share the episode, or leave a review. It helps us continue bringing meaningful stories to listeners across Australia. And if you or someone you know has a story worth sharing, a lesson worth passing on, or work that's quietly making a difference in the community, I'd love to hear from you. You can reach me anytime on 1-300-423-027 or email at leon.goltsman at ecohq.com.au. I'm Leon Goltsman. Thank you for listening. Until next time, stay connected, stay curious, and let's keep building stronger communities together.