It’s all about the person in front of you
Hi, I’m Zubair Haleem.
I’m a specialist musculoskeletal and sports physiotherapist. and the founder of Your N=1 Journey.
Sport — and football in particular — has been a constant throughout my life. I played throughout my younger years, and those early experiences shaped how I now understand movement, injury, and performance. Over time, that interest evolved into a career working at Arsenal FC as the Lead Academy Physiotherapist where precision, individual response, and decision-making under pressure matter.
I grew up in East London in a working-class family, where I saw first-hand how health inequalities shape lives. Chronic conditions such as osteoarthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer affected members of my own family — often compounded by poor access to care, low health literacy, and cultural barriers. These experiences shaped why I chose a career in healthcare: not just to treat injury, but to improve longevity, long-term health, and quality of life.
Over the past 13 years, alongside a full-time role in elite sport, I’ve also worked extensively within the NHS, most recently as a Tendon Clinic Lead. Experiencing these environments exposed a stark contrast — world-class, data-informed care at one end, and, despite the best efforts of those on the frontline, under-resourced and reactive healthcare at the other.
Alongside clinical practice, I spent six years in research at Queen Mary University of London, working with a team investigating different treatment approaches for Tendinopathy. Research often reports grouped average outcomes, which can overlook how individuals respond differently to the same treatment. That principle — focusing on the individual response rather than the group — sits at the heart of how I practise and why N=1 exists.
N=1 brings together my experience across clinical care, research, and performance environments to deliver individualised, evidence-based rehabilitation focused on long-term health and resilience.
My Approach
My approach is grounded in understanding and listening first, then acting with intent. Assessment, rehabilitation, and progression are guided by how the individual responds, using evidence, outcomes, and objective insight to support clear decision-making and long-term resilience.
Purpose
Understanding and listening first. Decisions grounded in evidence and individual response.
Clarity
Why we’re doing something, how it fits into the bigger picture, and what the top of your mountain looks like.