metahealth, a pioneering Leeds clinic, has launched technology-led treatments to future-proof your health.
A pioneering Leeds health and wellbeing clinic is aiming to change the way people think about looking after themselves, by combining objective health assessment with advanced, non-invasive technologies.
Located in Roundhay, metahealth has been created around a simple idea: rather than waiting until something goes wrong, the clinic encourages people to understand more about their bodies while they are well.
metahealth combines health assessment, recovery technologies and personalised data to encourage a shift from reactive healthcare towards understanding health before problems arise.
While prevention and long-term health optimisation sit at the heart of metahealth, the clinic is also designed to support people experiencing existing issues, from pain and injury to ongoing physical concerns.
The concept is the result of the personal experiences of metahealth founder, Steve Campbell. Steve played professional rugby league between 1996 and 2004 before qualifying as a sports therapist and then moving into coaching and personal training.
A significant change in direction came while working within a muscle and bone clinic in Leeds alongside Professor Nick Harris. Training to conduct DEXA scans for bone health and body composition, and later liver assessments using FibroScan®, provided an introduction to looking beyond someone’s physical appearance or performance and towards measurable information about their health.
Unlike a traditional wellness centre where customers will simply select a treatment from a menu, metahealth’s approach starts with the individual. It brings together technologies and assessments spanning body composition, musculoskeletal recovery, red and near-infrared light, radiofrequency, vibration and oxygen therapy.
A consultation and complimentary Tanita body composition assessment establishes a baseline across measures including muscle mass, body fat, visceral fat rating and metabolic indicators, while exploring factors such as lifestyle, movement, stress, recovery and personal goals.
This then builds a personalised picture of an individual before deciding what treatments or interventions may be appropriate.
Commenting on the metahealth method, Steve said: “For years, my approach to health was heavily influenced by professional sport. It was about training harder, getting stronger, becoming fitter and eating well.
Over time, I became much more interested in exploring what might be preventing a person’s body from functioning and recovering as well as it could, and that became metahealth. We start with the person, understand where they are now and then use technology, assessment and professional expertise intelligently.”
The clinic’s signature Meta360 Reset combines vibration therapy, INDIBA radiofrequency and red-light therapy in a one-hour session designed to create a broader recovery experience, rather than concentrating exclusively on one body part.
The session also incorporates breathing, relaxation and an opportunity to disconnect from the demands of everyday life.
metahealth’s clinical governance is led by its Chief Medical Officer, Mr Shahid Farid, a Consultant Hepatobiliary and Liver Transplant Surgeon in Leeds and the author of more than 60 peer-reviewed publications. His role is to provide independent oversight of the technologies the clinic adopts, the way results are interpreted and the claims metahealth makes about them.
Mr Farid: “I spend my working life at the far end of disease, operating on people whose liver problems went unrecognised for years. Many of these conditions are metabolic and can develop silently, without obvious symptoms, until they become serious. That’s why I strongly believe in measuring and understanding health while people are still well, rather than waiting for problems to emerge.
My role at metahealth is to make sure assessment results are interpreted properly, and that anything needing medical attention is referred to a GP or specialist.”
Central to the metahealth concept is the belief that health technology should have a clear purpose rather than simply being adopted because it is new or fashionable.
The introduction of metahealth’s latest treatment programmes comes as consumers increasingly have access to information about their own health through smartwatches, fitness trackers and other connected technologies.
Sleep, heart rate, activity, fitness and recovery scores have become part of everyday life, while interest continues to grow around longevity, body composition, metabolic health, biomarkers and biological ageing.
Steve added: “There’s an enormous amount of excitement around longevity, biohacking and health technology at the moment, but popularity isn’t the same thing as evidence. At metahealth we believe the next stage of this trend will be helping people make better sense of that information.
metahealth’s role is not to diagnose illness or replace GPs, consultants, physiotherapists or other appropriately qualified healthcare professionals. It’s creating the opportunity for wellbeing and conventional healthcare to work more closely together rather than existing in completely separate worlds.
The ambition is for people to consider their health before they have a reason to worry about it. If we can help people understand their bodies better, ask better questions and take an active interest in their health before something goes wrong, ultimately that’s what I want metahealth to achieve.”
To find out more about metahealth and its treatments visit here or follow on social media @metahealth_longevityclinic.
