Shannon Lawrence

Shannon graduated with a degree in physiotherapy from Queen’s University in 1994. She joined the team at Comox Physiotherapy Clinic in 1998, bringing with her a strong manual therapy focus and a special interest in treating breast cancer patients.

Over the years, Shannon has had the pleasure of specializing in several very focused areas of practice. In 2001 she travelled to Alberta  to spend a week of intensive training in the rehabilitation of horses. This course, and her years on the Board of the Canadian Horse and Animal Physiotherapy Association, have given her the opportunity to treat horses, dogs, donkeys, cats, and wild birds at MARS Wildlife Rescue Centre. She has presented at the Wildlife Rehabilitators Network of BC Annual General Meeting and has had the pleasure of personally releasing wild birds including a snowy owl, a trumpeter swan, and a barred owl back into the wild after their successful rehabilitation.   

Shannon’s career found an early focus in women’s health and cancer recovery. She has been involved in breast health - including both breast cancer patients and lactating mothers - since 1996. Her experience with hundreds of breast cancer survivors gives her a depth of knowledge that helps women at a vulnerable time to find comfort, direction, and empowerment. She has since expanded her cancer recovery focus to include all types of cancer patients including those recovering from prostate cancer, gynaecological cancers, multiple myeloma, lung cancer, melanoma and more.  Shannon is a certified lymphedema therapist and is able to help her lymphedema patients with compression bandaging, manual lymph drainage and compression garment fitting.

In 2012 Shannon travelled to Ontario to pursue training as a pelvic health physiotherapist and discovered her true calling as a physiotherapist. In the past several years, her passion for pelvic health (for both women and men) has led to her taking numerous courses in Canada and the US. She is certified in Hypopressives, Rost Therapy, and Gynecological Visceral Manipulation, and has completed up to Level 6 with Pelvic Health Solutions. She is a member of the International Continence Society (ICS), the International Uro-Gynaecology Association (IUGA), the Women’s Health Division of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association, and the Women’s Health Special Interest Group of the American Physical Therapy Association.  Shannon also has specific training in pessary fitting.

Recently Shannon has had the great honour to move into ownership of Comox Physiotherapy Clinic by acquiring the practice from her highly esteemed, long-time mentor Linda Maasz. It is her vision to see Comox Physiotherapy Clinic provide an atmosphere where patients feel welcomed, valued, listened to, empowered, and thoroughly assessed and treated professionally with honesty, integrity, and in a biopyschosocial paradigm.