About Dr. Karl
For me it all started with acute back pain from the age of 14. Being in chronic pain at age 18 I was diagnosed with birth defects of the lumbar spine, a spina bifida occulta, an L6 (malformed sacrum), spondylolithesis grade 1 at L5, sciatica left leg, Scheuermann’s of the thoraco lumbar spine and a compression fracture of T5).
Not a great diagnosis to have, in particular the sentence given by my Orthopaedic Specialist of a very negative long term prognosis with ongoing pain ending up in a wheelchair.
In addition some further traumatic injuries came along: a fractured knee, fractured ankle, rotator cuff injury, damage to elbows and others.
The issues above took me on a very long path of self-learning as no one seemed to be able to help me.
In 1978 I graduated as a Physiotherapist (registered in Germany) specializing in rehabilitation in German medical health spas renown for their preventative and rehabilitative approach.
On a personal level as a Physiotherapist I addressed the muscle tone/strengthening/fitness approach which gave me all of the above but I was still in chronic pain.
Striving for quality of life I explored many concepts: Yoga, Pilates, the Alexander technique, tensegrity, engineering principles and meditation to name a few.
These had some benefit reducing some of the pain but I still had episodes of acute/sudden onset of pain (without reason).
Accordingly I put my focus on Osteopathic medicine and graduated in 1989 in Australia. Osteopathy gave me a further understanding of the musculoskeletal system and a better understanding of what caused my pain and what I could do to relieve it.
Using my specialist and expert Osteopath understanding of the “bio mechanics of the spine” with emphasis on balance, locomotion and that side-bending of the spine induces also rotation “Fryette’s Law” ( which led me in developing the concept of how to put the spine into gear, the episodes of acute back pain started to reduce significantly in frequency.
Over the following years I developed “a set of tools” which I constantly apply to myself and teach my patients with great success leading to self- empowerment, wellness and quality of life.
I have enjoyed practicing as an Osteopath/Consultant in Papatoetoe/Manukau for the last 20 years with the satisfaction of seeing my patients improve by adopting my formula which allows them to be in charge of their body and how they run it.
- Registered with the New Zealand Osteopathic Council since its formation in 2004
- Current Osteopathic practicing certificate
- Member of the Kneipp Health Spa Association. (Germany) 1978