About
Joint Space

Throughout the last 19 years, Kris’ journey as an Osteopath, naturopath, teacher and student has seen him work with many teachers from West to East, explore different cultures and study an array of scientific approaches and movement arts. As this journey unfolded, it became Kris’s deep rooted ambition to build a space that encourages individual self-sustainability, and to create a culture that teaches individuals and health professionals from all walks of life and backgrounds the deep knowledge of human structure, form and wider ecology.

Spending many years researching the anthropological roots of human existence, it is these principles that  form the foundation of Kris’s approach. Combined with his osteopathic practice and other treatment modalities, Kris uses an array of evidence-based scientific strategies, movement forms and philosophical principles to teach his patients and students how to develop greater movement intelligence, build structural resilience and improve athletic performance.

​​For more than 15 years, Pavlina has been studying, understanding and exploring movement. Pavlina’s path to understanding human form has taken many turns into many depths, beginning with stage performance, choreography and the creative understanding of human expression, moving onto pilates, functional strength training and developing her movement practices.

A journey of competing and discovering different movement forms has allowed Pavlina to build a fluid and dynamic approach to movement and strength training. Pavlina has combined the art of artIstic expression with a scientific understanding of the human body to develop a creative and performance based approach to movement for her clients and students.

Paul’s understanding of human movement and body awareness has been developed over 15 years of industry experience and his own background in competitive sports.

After studying and working as a personal trainer and strength coach, Paul returned to university to study Sports Rehabilitation. This gave him the opportunity to advance his skills and work alongside different health professionals, gaining a more in depth understanding of the human body. 

Paul has a vast range of experience when it comes to dealing with injury and exercise treatments. Utilising his experiences and teachings, Paul uses his sports physiotherapy practice to understand the origins of pain, focusing on movement strategies to develop patients’ awareness of their own bodies, prevent injuries and maximise sports performance.

Dr. Saida is a physician and certified Functional Medicine Practitioner (IFMCP) with over 14 years of clinical experience. She blends conventional medicine with integrative care to uncover root causes, restore balance, and design personalized, evidence-based strategies for lasting health.

Her expertise includes gut and hormonal health, metabolic disorders, weight management, autoimmune conditions, bio-identical hormone therapy, and longevity medicine. She also works with patients seeking prevention and early screening for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, and cancer.

Trained in Russia and certified by IFM (USA) and A4M (USA), Dr. Saida has advanced training in IV nutrition, bio-identical hormone therapy, metabolic health, peptide therapy, and personalized nutrition. She helps patients facing complex health challenges as well as those aiming to optimize performance, vitality, and longevity.

Osteopath, Naturopath & Lifestyle Medicine practitioner Zainali has been practicing for over 9 years. His interest and love for sports initially took him into elite athletics dealing with some of the UK’s top 100m Sprinters & Long Jumpers. He founded his own clinic in the UK where he treated a variety of people from sports to chronic pain and autoimmune conditions.

The knowledge he has built up has allowed him to assess and treat according to your functional goals and abilities, utilising active movement therapy. 3D movement assessments and functional exercises. Zainali is an accredited Golf Performance Specialist from the Gray Institute (USA). This unique approach has enabled him to assist golfers in their mobility and stability as it relates to golf biomechanics.

Most recently, he has embarked on the Institute of Functional Medicine programme beginning with the AFMCP course. This avenue has broadened his understanding of the integrated systems of our human body. It has deepened his Osteopathic treatment to be able to address chronic disease and pain using nutrition and lifestyle changes. Zainali continues to learn, teach and educate himself in order to better serve others.

Tanja Kalezic is a physiotherapist and Certified Lymphedema Therapist, trained at the renowned Foeldi College in Germany and holding a degree from the Medical School in Novi Sad, Serbia. Since 2015, she has specialized in managing swelling disorders, including lymphedema and lipedema, with a strong focus on post-surgical care and rehabilitation. Fluent in English and Serbian, Tanja ensures clear, compassionate communication with her diverse patient base.

Her clinical expertise includes Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD), Complete Decongestive Therapy (CDT), and compression garment fitting. She has a special interest in post-breast cancer rehabilitation and is a strong advocate for increasing awareness of lipedema. Tanja’s patient-centered approach emphasizes tailored treatments, education, and long-term self-care, aiming to improve both function and quality of life.

Outside the clinic, Tanja is committed to professional education, sharing insights through case presentations and training sessions. She also enjoys horseback riding, reading, and beach outings with her family—bringing the same calm, grounded energy into every treatment she provides.

Elena is a physiotherapist with more than 19 years of international practice. She launched her career in Spain and the UK, treating patients in both public hospitals and private clinics before moving to Dubai in 2012.

Certified in Orthopedic Manual Therapy (OMT) since 2016, Elena complements her manual skills with evidence-based methods such as the Mulligan Concept, Dry Needling, and Rehab Pilates. She excels in managing musculoskeletal injuries, guiding post-surgical recovery, and rehabilitating athletes, with a special focus on shoulder dysfunction and cervicogenic headaches.

Driven by a whole-person philosophy, Elena blends her physiotherapy expertise with training in functional medicine, heart-rate variability analysis, and autonomic nervous-system regulation. This integrative approach supports the body’s innate capacity to heal, helping patients move beyond symptom relief toward lasting resilience and optimal performance.

Anja is a Norwegian physiotherapist and sports performance coach with a background as a professional volleyball player. Her experience as both an athlete and clinician has led her to develop a deep interest in the prevention and rehabilitation of sports injuries, as well as sport-specific training and performance. She has worked with athletes of all levels, from recreational to international, across a variety of sports such as football, tennis/padel, basketball, triathlon/running, volleyball, CrossFit/Hyrox, and more.

Anja is passionate about empowering her clients to take an active role in their rehabilitation. Whether the goal is pain reduction, injury recovery, or performance enhancement, she believes in education, collaboration, and building long-term resilience through movement. She also has a special interest in pain education and the neuroscience of pain, and regularly incorporates this into her work to help patients better understand and navigate their symptoms.

Anja integrates movement and performance assessments, exercise-based rehab, and sport-specific programming with manual therapy techniques such as dry needling and Graston/IASTM to support recovery, optimize movement quality, and get people back to doing what they love. 

Yorke’s passion for sport & movement has influenced her career path as a Physiotherapist and Pilates instructor. Gaining her Physiotherapy degree in Durban, South Africa, Yorke has directed her focus into sports and orthopaedics and completed a post graduate diploma in Orthopaedic Manipulative Therapy. With her love for movement, she pursued training in Pilates becoming a certified comprehensive Pilates instructor.

Yorke has worked with a range of people from elite athletes including Olympians, the South African Men’s Indoor Hockey Team, to weekend warriors and anyone in pain wanting to improve their quality of life.

Yorke is a keen sports person herself, growing up in competitive hockey and swimming circles. She now enjoys an active lifestyle including running, gym, golf and Pilates. Her aim for her patients is to treat them holistically through movement, rehabilitation and education for long term benefit and lifestyle change, rather than short term symptom relief.

Trude Stjernen is a physiotherapist from Norway. She graduated from Oslo Metropolitan University in 2008, and since then worked in multidisciplinary clinics first in Norway and then in Dubai after moving there in 2014. Her main knowledge and experience is within musculoskeletal issues, with a wide variety of cases, anything from acute injuries to more long term pains.

Trude strongly believes in movement as medicine and this is an important factor in her treatments alongside manual work. She is also passionate about helping people suffering from long term pain gaining back confidence in their bodies and returning to movements and activities they have been avoiding due to pain. She believes in adjusting or changing up training or activities rather than stopping movement.

Trude has a personal interest in training and staying active, and she also has done courses to enhance her knowledge when it comes to exercises and training. She completed a course in strength training/coaching and also uses her own experience with training when dealing with different clients.

Dr. Alexandra Zashtitin is dedicated to transforming health and wellness. With over 9 years of chiropractic experience and nearly 22 years in alternative medicine, she uniquely blends scientific techniques with holistic practices.

Educated at the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic, her expertise includes pain management and esoteric knowledge, enriching her holistic approach.

Dr. Zashtitin’s practice focuses on integrating chiropractic adjustments, Graston, dry needling, and lifestyle coaching to harmonize physical, mental, and emotional wellness. Her commitment to nurturing the whole person provides a sanctuary for transformative health journeys.

With over nine years of experience in football, clinics, and hospital settings, Mohamed Abdelrhman specializes in musculoskeletal and sports physiotherapy. Having worked five years in football, he holds a FIFA Diploma in Football Medicine and excels in sports injury rehabilitation, pre- and postoperative care, and chronic pain treatment. Since moving to Dubai in 2022, Mohamed has continued to enhance his expertise in body mechanics, focusing on treating shoulder, knee, hip, foot, and spine injuries.He is skilled in dry needling, manual therapy, and the Mulligan technique (MWM), which he uses to improve patient recovery outcomes.

Mohamed’s experience spans both private clinics and hospitals, where he has honed his abilities in sports rehabilitation, exercise therapy, and pain management.Driven by a commitment to long-term health, Mohamed believes in not only helping patients return to their daily activities or sports but also in preventing injury recurrence. He actively develops and implements injury prevention programs, ensuring patients achieve sustained recovery and optimal performance.

With a passion for understanding the human body, movement, and knowing how to deal with pain and dysfunction, Rima had sought various qualifications and skills throughout her 11 years of practice.

She has worked with different types of conditions and environments, ranging from sports, yoga, post op, chronic pain, and elderly. Given her previous practices of sports and martial arts like BJJ, and her current yoga practice, this has given a better knowledge of body function and mechanics of injuries. Rima has a special interest in the body’s fascial system, and is currently specializing in Stecco Fascial Manipulation, which provides a global approach in assessing and treating the body – ‘Manus sapiens, potens est’ – A knowledgeable hand is a powerful one.

Aziza Zubeidi is a highly experienced osteopath with over 17 years of clinical practice across both public and private sectors. Aziza earned her Bachelor of Science with Honours in Osteopathy from the prestigious British School of Osteopathy (now the University College of Osteopathy) in London in 2003.

Originally from Mombasa, Kenya, Aziza has built a diverse international career, treating a wide range of musculoskeletal conditions and supporting patients through acute injuries, chronic pain, and functional movement challenges. Her early years in Kenya provided her with a solid foundation in community-focused care, while the past decade in Dubai has seen her working with a broad spectrum of patients, from office workers and busy parents to athletes and wellness-minded individuals.

Aziza brings a calm, compassionate presence to her practice, with a clinical approach rooted in structural osteopathy, manual therapy, and patient education. She is particularly committed to helping people understand their bodies and empowering them to take an active role in their recovery and long-term health.

Akil is a Rehab Specialist and Sports Performance Coach at Joint Space, bringing nearly 15 years of experience in the fitness and wellness industry and over two decades of martial arts practice.His approach has evolved from traditional strength and conditioning methods to incorporating the Functional Range Internal Strength Model, allowing him to achieve more precise and lasting results for his clients and athletes.

At the core of Akil’s practice is a thorough assessment process, utilizing Functional Range Assessment (FRA) to evaluate joint prerequisites for both sports and daily activities. From these findings, he develops individualized mobility strategies, ensuring clients establish a strong baseline before progressing toward their personal performance goals. His training philosophy emphasizes true strength development, focusing on the nervous system, muscles, joints, and connective tissue, rather than simply performing named exercises or showcasing feats of strength.

Beyond one-on-one coaching, Akil leads Kinstretch classes for teams and individuals, as well as mobility workshops for corporate clients, coaches, and trainers. His goal is to help people move better, build resilience, and unlock their full athletic potential.

Bechara El Khoury is a Level 3 certified Wim Hof Method (WHM) instructor, the first in the MENA region since 2017. He has worked closely with Wim Hof and the WHM Academy, leading expeditions and workshops across the globe, from the icy peaks of Poland and the Himalayas to the deserts of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

In addition to WHM, Bechara is a certified instructor in multiple breathwork modalities, specializing in immune system optimization, nervous system regulation, and high-performance breath training.

At Joint Space, Bechara brings tailored 1-on-1 coaching, group workshops, and private training to help individuals harness the power of breath, cold exposure, and mindset training.

Rose is a leading health and fitness professional with over 15 years experience. Originally from Ireland and is based in the UAE, Middle East for the past 10 years. She works both with personal clients and is also involved within the educational sector of the health and fitness industry.

As a renowned Personal Trainer, Rose specialises in female health and hormonal problems related to training, weight-loss related health conditions, pre and postnatal care along with eating disorders and obesity – these all have a large impact on breathing and she integrates this into her work. Rose is a lead tutor and head assessor with the famous brain based company. body//hack in Dubai UAE.

Driven by a personal passion, Rose helps her clients improve their physical and mental health, cognitive and mental performance through her bespoke approach that takes the nervous system as the priority. Rose has worked successfully with clients who suffer with chronic pain, PTSD, anxiety, depression and addiction. She has developed strong professional circles in her region to fully support clients who come to her.

Rose certified with Oxygen Advantage in 2019 and went onto become a Master Instructor in 2020.