Inside the Leeds clinic taking a different approach to health and wellbeing
‘We start with the person’
A Leeds health and wellbeing clinic is taking a different approach to looking after people’s health by focusing on understanding the body before problems develop.
Metahealth, based in Roundhay, combines health assessments with treatments including red-light therapy, radiofrequency, vibration and oxygen therapy.
The clinic was founded by Steve Campbell, a former professional rugby league player who later trained as a sports therapist and worked in coaching and personal training.
His approach to health changed while working at a muscle and bone clinic in Leeds alongside Professor Nick Harris.
Steve trained to carry out DEXA scans, which can assess bone health and body composition, as well as FibroScan liver assessments.
That experience led him to focus more on using measurable information about a person's health, rather than just looking at physical appearance or fitness.
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."
Metahealth begins with an assessment rather than customers choosing a treatment from a menu.
A consultation and Tanita body composition assessment looks at factors including muscle mass, body fat, visceral fat and metabolic indicators, alongside lifestyle, movement, stress, recovery and individual goals.
The results are then used to help determine which treatments may be appropriate.
One of the clinic's treatments is the Meta360 Reset, a one-hour session combining vibration therapy, INDIBA radiofrequency and red-light therapy.
It also includes breathing and relaxation, with the aim of providing time away from the pressures of everyday life.
The clinic's chief medical officer is Shahid Farid, a consultant hepatobiliary and liver transplant surgeon in Leeds.
Shahid said: "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.”
The clinic says it does not diagnose illness or replace GPs, consultants, physiotherapists or other healthcare professionals.
Its approach comes as people have increasing access to health information through smartwatches, fitness trackers and other technology, with data on areas such as sleep, heart rate, activity and recovery now readily available.
Steve added: "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."