We recently connected with Olja Vazic and have shared our conversation below.

Olja, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Is there a heartwarming story from your career that you look back on?

One of my most heartwarming experiences as a chiropractor was working with an elderly woman with limb girdle muscular dystrophy and hip osteoarthitis. She came to me near the beginning of COVID-19, and was complaining of loss of strength and hip pain. COVID had a major impact on her regular schedule, as she was unable to continue with her water aerobics and as a consequence was experiencing a major decline in her physical abilities and an increase in hip pain. My treatment plan therefore heavily included strength-based training, and so I immediately got her started. In that very first session, I told her we were to do step ups on the clinic stair case. She immediately teared up and told me that she was unable. So, this was our goal, to be able to climb the entire set of stairs at the clinic.

It took several months of work in the clinic and at home, before she was able to climb the entire staircase. That was a happy and accomplished day for her, but also for me. She was one of the most hard working, dedicated and strong-willed individuals I have ever met. I was happy to be a small part of her life, and am so grateful for the experience to work with her.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Olja Vazic and I am the co-founder of Aktiv Rehab Collective in Kitchener, Ontario.

My passion for health started at a young age from my involvement in competitive volleyball and school sports teams. I knew I wanted to pursue a career in healthcare but was unsure of the direction I wanted to take.
I enrolled in the Kinesiology program at the University of Waterloo, where my favourite courses were those that focused on the resiliency of the human body, the adaptations capable with consistent exercise and how preventative care can profoundly impact the ageing process. This made it clear that I wanted a career wherein I could help individuals move, feel and perform better, while also promoting a healthy lifestyle. This led me to the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, where I studied for four years to become a chiropractor.

My desire is to provide evidence-based, ethical care for those with musculoskeletal conditions. My treatments focus on patient education, self-management, manual therapies and exercise. I work with individuals who have osteoarthritis in their joints (knees, hips, hands), various sports injuries (ankle sprains, ACL tears), low back and neck pain, jaw pain…etc.
The aspect of my care that I am most proud of is following guidelines to provide high quality and well researched methods of treatment. I believe knowledge is power, and we have a ton of information to help get those in pain, out of it, or at least functioning at a higher level. There is much in our lives that is out of our control, but aspects of our health are not. We can make decisions to improve our health today and for the future, and I hope to help individuals do just that.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Not everyone is in a position to be ready to make significant changes to take better care of themselves and it is about helping people find the little things that can help them in their current situations. Things like work problems, family issues and other stresses may limit their ability to prioritize their health. These are barriers that are difficult to work around. Though there aren’t always easy solutions, there is always a small act that can bring them a step closer to their health goals. I had a female patient, who had considerable stressors in life, from work to family to health. It was difficult to come up with a plan as there were too many barriers to work around. However, a 10 minute walk a few times a week was doable, so we started there. Though this might not seem like much, it was the first action towards a better future and so it was celebrated.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Physical health is intertwined with emotional and psychological wellbeing. Stress can have many physical manifestations, such as headaches, neck pain, or irritable bowel syndrome. Without an appropriate coping stragety to deal with these stressors, it is difficult to improve the physical symptoms. Therefore, it is incredibly important for those working in the musculoskeletal realm to understand the biopsychosocial approach to physical health, and to understand that improving physical health requires a focus on psychological wellbeing too. I think additional training in stress management or trauma would be very helpful in my work. It would allow me to better treat the person as a whole, rather than their physical symptoms alone.

Contact Info:

• Website: aktivrehab.ca
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