Current work Position
Craig Smith is a practicing Sports Physiotherapist, registered with both the Health Professions Councils of SA and the UK and is a member of the South African Society of Physiotherapy and the Sports Physiotherapy Group in SA (Passed Chair of the SPG NEC) and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy and Association of Chartered Physios in Sports Medicine in the UK.
Craig spent 11 years as the physio to the South African Cricket team from November 1991 to June 2002, working with the likes of Kepler Wessels, Hansie Cronje, Jonty Rhodes, Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and the rest.
In 2003, Craig joined Lancashire County Cricket as the senior club physio and then moved to Nottinghamshire County Cricket in March 2004 and spent 7 years working in county cricket in the UK as the Notts lead physio. Craig also consulted to Hampshire CCC in 2010 and also worked in tennis with Amanda Coertzer and Anna Kournikova (2001), in club rugby with UCT and professional footall with Hellenic FC.
Apart from Craig’s ongoing physiotherapy consultation work in private practice in Cape Town, Craig is also the director of Club Physio, a Physiotherapy and Sports Medicine Education company that facilitates / organises Seminars, Mini-Conferencing and Post Graduate courses/workshops in South Africa, India, Middle East, USA, Europe, Ireland and the UK – www.club-physio.com.
Craig is also the director of The Dry Needling Insitute (www.thedni.net), a body that specialises in the marketing, support and education of dry needling courses and seminars in Europe, Asia, Australia, USA and the Middle East.
Craig now lives in Camps Bay Cape Town with his 2 sons and dog ‘tiger’.
Passed Positions
Lead Physiotherapist; South African Cricket Team – November 1991 to June 2002;
Lead Physiotherapist; Lancashire CCC – March 2003 to February 2004;
Lead Physiotherapist; Nottinghamshire CCC – March 2004 to February 2010;
Consultant physiotherapist; Hampshire CCC; part time June – September 2010.
Attending physiotherapist; Exhibition tennis matches between Anna Kournikova and Amanda Coertzer; South Africa, November 2000.
Presentations
3-day Dry Needling Level 1 courses 2015 to date; Falkirk, Scotland; London, UK; Dublin, Ireland; Bangalore, Hyderabad, New Delhi, India; Cape Town & Johannesburg, South Africa; Kuwait; Sarajevo, B&H; Milan, Italy; Ljubljana, Slowenia….
3-day Dry Needling Level 2 courses 2015 to date; Mumbai & New Delhi, India; Dublin, Ireland; London, UK; Dubai, UAE…
Deep dry needling conference workshop; Bosnia & Herzegovina Physiotherapy Congress, June 2015. London Physio workshop evening, April 2014; Novel Physiotherapies Conference, London, June 2015
Kinesiology taping course; Mthatha, South Africa; August 2015
Sports Physiotherapy course – traveling with international teams; South Africa, UK and Namibia; 2005 – 2008
Chronic Ankle Injuries in Fast Bowlers; June 1999; 1st World Cup Cricket Science and Medicine Conference UK
Chronic Ankle Injuries in Fast Bowlers; European Foot and Ankle society Conference; Stockholm Sweden; June 2000
Chronic Ankle Injuries in Fast Bowlers; Australian Sports Medicine Conference, Sydney; September 2000.
Hamstring Injury in Fast Bowlers; South African Sports Medicine Association meeting, Bloemfontein, November 2001.
Published Literature
To Stretch or not to Stretch; Journal of Orthopedic and Sport Phyical Therapy; July 1992.
Post Graduate Dry Needling training
- Attended first dry needling workshop in Cape Town in 1993
- Assisted on numerous Module 1-6 and Level 1 dry needling courses from November 2010 to November 2014
- Taught first 3-day level 1 dry needling course in May 2015.
- Have subsequently taught 4 dry needling level 1 courses in 2015.
- Dry needling instructor – The Dry Needling Institute and Club Physio
Education
University of Cape Town 1983 – 1989
BSc Physio (Hons)
BSc (Med Hons) Sports Science
Camps Bay High School; 1978-1982
Matric exemption certificate