Our Staff

Bruce Wihongi was born and raised in New Zealand, one of five children, loved by Mum and Dad, Raywynne and Patariki Wihongi. He played a variety of sports in his youth, and generally had a heck of a lot of fun. 

Having started off heading down a Mechanical Engineering path, Bruce took 2 years off to travel through Europe and Asia. Upon his return to New Zealand he changed his mind about career choices and ended up going to and graduating from Physiotherapy school in Auckland, New Zealand.

With a shortage of PTs in the USA in the early 1990’s an opportunity to travel overseas again beckoned and Bruce landed in Detroit on July 4th, 1993, supposedly for 2 years only and then back to New Zealand to settle down.

However life throws “curve balls” at you and here he still is. He has three children, 2 of whom graduated from MSU, all of whom have moved away. They are fully immersed in their own careers and live in Grand Rapids, Chicago, and Nashville. 

Bruce has been in the Milford/Highland area since May of 1999 when he opened a clinic for Excel Rehabilitation. In 2013 they were bought out by ATI and Bruce remained there until October 2016. Tired of working for a large corporation, he opened Kiwi PT in June 2017 and started another chapter in life. 

He has developed his own style of treatment, taking on board techniques from different PT gurus, and being open to learning new innovations in the PT world, as well as using common sense and the vast experience he has gained from treating all manner of patients and conditions over the past 30 years. 

In his own words, “I have been blessed along my journey with aroha (love) and help from many wonderful people. I am lucky to have a group of fantastic and caring people to work with everyday and am extremely grateful to the local community for supporting us through thick and thin.”

Regina has worked as a Physical Therapist at Kiwi PT since October 2017. Her career started after graduating from the prestigious University of Stellenbosch in South Africa in 1983, with a BCS degree in Physiotherapy. After backpacking through Europe for 3 months, she returned to her home land, Namibia (formerly known as South West Africa). Here she worked for a year in a hospital setting.

Always looking for challenges and learning opportunities, she then accepted a position in an Outpatient Orthopedic rehab clinic in Port Elizabeth. In the three years that she spent, she was involved in the sport clinic of the University of Port Elizabeth, and volunteered for many extreme sport competitions. Slowing down a little, she then accepted a teaching position at the University of the Orange Free State in Bloemfontein. There she was teaching PT students and in her free time she was the PT for the Eastern Free State Cricket team for 3 seasons. 

Regina moved to the USA in September 1991, and started working for a small outpatient clinic in Milford where she worked for 5 years. She loved the community and the church she went to. She met her husband, John Olari, at a bible study and got married in 1993, and they had 3 children, Luke, Katja, and Benjamin. At that time, she became a stay-at-home mom, and then homeschooled their kids. In January, 2023 she became Oma to her first grandchild. 

Regina enjoys scrapbooking, knitting and is always in the middle of some new DIY project. She loves gardening and traveling. She has 23 states, and MANY national parks left on her bucket list. 

Regina is passionate about the well-being of her patients. She enjoys treating her patients, but also includes educating them in being good stewards of their own health. It is important to her that her patients understand their conditions, and limitations, and then assists them in finding a new normal, and encourages them to embrace their own wellness plan. 

Michael has worked as a Physical Therapist since 2013. He attended Michigan State University for his undergraduate education, where he received a Bachelors of Science degree in Kinesiology with a specialization in Health Promotion. Following graduation, Michael moved to Pittsburgh, where he completed his Doctor of Physical Therapy at Chatham University. Michael has experience in multiple clinical settings, including outpatient orthopedics, skilled nursing facilities, neurology, and pediatrics.

Upon completing Physical Therapy school, Michael moved back to Michigan to follow his love for orthopedic therapy. 

Michael married Erika Roberts in 2018. They have three sons; Owen, Mack, and Wade. Michael local to Highland is an avid outdoor enthusiast who enjoys hiking, fishing, kayaking, mountain biking, and classic cars.

Over his 10 years of patient care, he has taken several continuing education courses, as well as muscle energy technique courses focused on low back, hip, and neck pain.  He is certified in Hawk Tools Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization. Michael has also trained in vestibular therapy, with focus on BPPV (​Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo).

He became certified in Dry Needling for upper extremities in 2023.

Mary attended Oakland University and received a Bachelor’s degree in Wellness, Health Promotion, and Injury Prevention in 2013. She began working as a Rehab Tech while completing her Bachelor’s degree and became interested in Physical Therapy. She graduated from the Physical Therapist Assistant Program at Baker College in December of 2017 and began working at Kiwi PT as a PTA in February of 2018.

Mary married her husband Daulton in 2013 and they live in Highland with their two children, Larkynn and Elliott, a dog, chickens, and a rabbit.  She enjoys practicing yoga and became a 200 hour registered yoga teacher through the Yoga Alliance in the Fall on 2019.

Mary became a certified LSVT BIG certified clinician (a specialized treatment for patients with Parkinson’s Disease and other movement disorders) in August 2019. She then certified in BIG for LIFE, which is a specialized group class offered for people that have completed the LSVT BIG program.

She also became a PWR! Moves certified therapist in 2024. This is another Parkinson’s specific treatment framework that addresses bradykinesia, rigidity, and other non-motor symptoms of PD.

 

Josette received her Doctorate degree of Physical Therapy in 2016 from Oakland University. She had a passion to serve individuals suffering with pelvic floor condition and became certified in pelvic floor therapy in 2017. She treats a variety of pelvic floor conditions for both men and women, 18 and up, including conditions such as urinary incontinence, prolapse, pelvic pain, tailbone pain, postpartum, diastasis recti, post prostatectomy and more.

Along with providing manual biofeedback for pelvic floor muscle training and relaxation, she provides extension education on the anatomy and physiology of these conditions to patients so they can fully understand their condition and feel empowered in their care. Individualized home exercise programs are given and ultimately each patient will leave with a much better understanding of how they can manage their symptoms independently. Other treatments may include muscle energy techniques, myofascial release, modalities including estim, and muscle re-education.

Chelsea has been with us at Kiwi PT since 2018. She lives in Fenton with her husband Matt, daughter Lucy, and son Callen.

Chelsea has years of experience in customer service, insurance verification, explanation of benefits, and medical billing.