The human story behind Human Tecar® in Australia

A lot of people ask about the story behind Human Tecar's arrival in Australia.

Well, this is our story...

It was mid-2018 and we were off to see my wife’s family in Italy. As with any family trip, there was a lot to plan. For us, there was also a lot to consider. 

You see, my wife sees a physio once (sometimes twice) a week to keep things in check—manual therapies, dry needling, pilates. Unfortunately, it’s been this way for most of her adult life. Her body is a volatile combo of fibromyalgia, chronic neck/back issues, migraines, and auto-immune disease. 

So as part of our planning, I had my wife’s physio notes translated into Italian before we left (just in case). 

When the holiday became reality, it had its usual challenges: long flights, delayed flights, uncomfortable hotel beds, and loads of luggage. 

After about twelve days, it all caught up with my wife. She was now confined to our hotel room—curtains closed to keep out the light; her back and neck seized; and migraines taking hold.

The hotel gave us the address for a local physio. The clinic was about twenty minutes drive away and if my wife’s situation wasn’t bad enough, me driving in Italy was only making things worse. 

When we arrived, we shared our pre-prepared physio notes. And thanks to Google Translate, we were able to engage in some basic two-way conversation.

The physio kept referring to ‘Human Tecar’. We’d never heard of it. But by this time—and in this situation—we didn’t have much choice.

I left my wife to finish the treatment and I waited in reception with our son. When my wife walked out, she had tears in her eyes. 

My first thought: the treatment hadn’t worked.
My second thought: what do we do now with two weeks left in Italy?

Fortunately, those overwhelming emotions were good ones. The tears dried and I could see the life back in her eyes. 

My wife hugged the physio goodbye. I souvenired a business card from the front desk. And we went back to being tourists again. 

The treatment remained stable. We finished the next two weeks of our family trip and arrived back in Australia keen to pursue this ‘new’ technology.

Upon returning home to Perth, we enthusiastically shared the experience with my wife’s physio. He’d never heard of it. 

I reverted (as you do) to Google. The search results suggested Australia had ever heard of it either.  

Still intrigued, I contacted my wife’s cousin back in Rome who (coincidentally) coaches track and field. He answered my query with the kind of tone that suggests I really didn’t do enough research... 

“John, everyone knows Human Tecar.”

Well, as we now know, not everyone does.

So I went straight to the source: reaching out to Human Tecar's head office in Italy. I started the conversation around Human Tecar’s presence (or current absence) in the Australian market. 

“Why are we yet to see Human Tecar in Australia?”

In a nutshell, compared to big global medtech companies, you could say Human Tecar is a ‘boutique’ company. After 25 years, it is still run by its passionate founder, Mario Scerri. Mr Scerri and his team of specialists maintain a very personal relationship with the athletes and medical professionals they work with—and they take the same approach with their distributors. 

Historically, much of their focus has been direct with elite sporting organisations and athletes—Ferrari Racing, Atletico Madrid, Nike, Adidas, INSEP, etc, etc. The frontline of professional sport has always been the ultimate proving ground for Human Tecar; fine-tuned environments where recovery and (p)rehab can make or break careers. 

And back to my point about Australia... 

Well honestly, we were simply a country that hadn’t yet been considered. Compared to the USA, China and the rest of western Europe, our market is relatively small. To complicate things, our regulatory body is one of the strictest in the world. 

Despite its market challenges, the team at Italy’s head office spoke highly about the Australian physio industry. And the prospect of actually seeing Human Tecar Down Under was something that Mario Scerri himself was quite excited about.

So what began as a conversation around Human Tecar for my wife, soon became a conversation around Human Tecar for Australia. 

As the company shared more behind-the-scenes information, we began to learn more and more about Human Tecar’s case studies with athletes. 

And when they talk about athletes, it's not about sponsorships or ambassador roles. It's about some of the most remarkable success stories in modern sport, including Usain Bolt’s career-defining hamstring injury (and recovery) in the lead up to Rio.

So what began as a random holiday experience in a small Italian village quickly developed into a greater appreciation for Human Tecar and its capabilities in physiotherapy, rehabilitation, S&C and high performance. 

Getting a greater understanding of the ‘bigger picture’ led to the launch of our company, Athleticus.

By early 2019, our budding Australian company would go on to establish the first partnership with Human Tecar in the Southern Hemisphere.

In April 2019, we launched Human Tecar in Australia, with Human Tecar’s Sports & Strength Recovery Specialist, Cristian Martinelli, flying in from Italy. 

Representing Athleticus at the launch was our lead physio and trainer, Mattia Fredella (ex-CONI in Rome and trained by Human Tecar's academy in Italy).

Joining our team in Brisbane were Nathan Carloss (Integrated Physio Centre) and Thomas Harvey (Recovery Science) – both of whom were trained on Human Tecar’s suite of technology by Mr. Martinelli.

Speaking that evening was our guest, Nigel Smith from Brisbane Sports & Spinal Physiotherapy. Nigel presented an insight into his recent PhD thesis that researched the prevalence of hamstring injuries in elite football players.

Socceroo, Brett Holman, also took the mic to share his own personal story overcoming injuries in elite sport. His time playing in Holland exposed him to Human Tecar where the technology was an integral part of the club's rehab, recovery, and strength & conditioning programmes.

Although it is still very early days for us here in Australia, our team has already followed in the footsteps of Human Tecar on the world stage, proving the effectiveness of the technology with some of Australia’s most respected athletes. There have also been recent opportunities where the Athleticus team has worked alongside visiting physio and medical teams from the world’s best international athletes.

And now, with each new day, the story goes on...

If you want to find out more about the Human Tecar story in Australia, shoot me an email via petkovic@athleticus.com.au or feel free to give me a call on 0418 742 551.

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Written by John Petkovic
Founder of Athleticus