Reading Time: 4 minutes

Many clients when they first attend physiotherapy sessions remark ‘I’ve never had physio before and I’m a little unsure what to expect!’. So, I thought you would find it useful for me to outline a physiotherapy assessment and treatment session to provide further clarity and answer any questions you might have.

The process of treatment actually begins with very thorough assessment which allows us to develop and treatment plan and subsequently deliver very targeted, effective treatment. After welcoming you to our clean, spacious and private clinic area we begin the assessment by discussing your presenting problem – the main issue that is causing you problems and has resulted in you picking up the phone or sending us an email to address that troublesome pain or injury!

And this is where we stand out from the crowd… And whilst it might sound simple this aspect of assessment is SO important …. WE LISTEN!!!

Yes, believe it or not one of the main frustrations that clients report to us is that no-one has taken the time to allow them to tell THEIR story and thus describe THEIR main problem of concern …. Clients often describe being rushed in and out with inadequate time or that the clinician they consulted didn’t actually listen to their primary complaint or they felt ‘fobbed off’ …. This part of an assessment called the ‘subjective assessment’ and lasts around 15 mins.  This part of the assessment is the patients’ story and at Active Therapy we let you tell this story, guiding you through with specific questions which allow you to fully detail your issues.  We do this without putting words into your mouth nor do we use confusing, medical terminology you won’t understand (but if you are medically literate then of course we will!). This is a very important part of the assessment process as it provides very important information which we then use to help arrive at our clear diagnosis of your complaint and subsequently deliver the most appropriate treatment in conjunction with your own preferences of the options available. By listening to your story, offering you the treatment options available and delivering targeted treatment we achieve outstanding results and get you out of pain and functioning optimally ASAP ….

So, once we have had a good chat about your main issues and you are much clearer about the potential reasons for your pain, injury or sports performance deficit we move into the ‘objective assessment’.  This part of the assessment is the clinical examination can be quite varied dependent upon your condition and the information we have gained from the previous ‘subjective assessment’.  We use research based, very detailed assessment procedures that provide clear information from which we can arrive at a diagnosis.  This part of the assessment often involves being partially undressed as we need to see all appropriate body parts during the assessment to provide the optimal level of information. But don’t worry often shorts (and strappy top if you are a female patient) is sufficient. We always provide professional and private conditions for assessment, and we can always modify the assessment if you feel in anyway uncomfortable. We often find that patients have been assessed whilst fully clothed and since the pandemic maybe just over the telephone.  Both these examples would significantly compromise the accuracy of assessment and most probably lead to misdiagnosis and thus mis-directed treatment and sub-optimal outcomes.

**Please note that all patients under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian during the assessment process.

Once we have completed the physical part of the assessment (around 15 mins duration) we use the information from both the subjective and objective parts of the assessment, along with the results of any tests to date to arrive at the diagnosis of your condition.  This might be problem with a specific tissue (such as a ligament tear) or maybe cumulative overload resulting in pain (too much work in the garden or training overload in the gym for example).  This expert analysis of all the clinical information allows us to form a ‘clinical impression’.  Our lead clinician is an expert in their field with over 20 years’ experience working exclusively in Musculo-skeletal, orthoapedic and sports physiotherapy environments.  We do this expert work, day in, day out and as such we aren’t ‘general’ practitioners. This is in no way dis-respectful to your GP who deal with a whole array of conditions and often don’t have the extended depth of assessments skills or adequate time to accurately assess you and therefore arrive at an accurate diagnosis.  So, for a typical patient with low back pain, you are better placed to see an experienced physiotherapist as your first contact as in the overwhelming majority of cases this will result in an accurate diagnosis and most importantly this is the evidence-based form of treatment required in the vast majority of cases.  If your physiotherapist has any concerns that your condition might need medical assessment, they will refer you to your GP.  The correct pathway has been followed – happy patient and happy GP – huge WIN WIN for all concerned!

But the key thing to understand regarding this is that we EDUCATE you about the diagnosis so that you clearly understand this information, how this effects your treatment plan and what we expect you to do as part of your treatment such as home of gym-based exercise plans.  As part of this process, we can provide timescales for treatment and return to activities of daily living and sport that are of particular importance to you.  We aim that no client under our care leaves our clinic room after that first session with questions and you have a clear understanding of your condition and treatment.  But just in case you do have any queries then you can drop us an email 24/7 and we’ll come back to you ASAP to clarify any specific questions you might have.

Education and understanding are really important factors in clients achieving outstanding outcomes!

And here at Active Therapy we place a premium on high quality, detailed education in language our patients understand.  And for those of you who are visual learners that learn best through images we have a large screen monitor in the clinic room so we can pull up helpful images as part of this process.

So, as you can see the process of physiotherapy assessment and treatment is detailed and targeted and at Active Therapy, we are experts in arriving at accurate diagnoses, providing laser focused treatment which achieves outstanding outcomes!

I hope you have found this information useful but please also contact me at admin@active-therapy.com or 07970110526 and I’d be happy to help further

Look forward to meeting you soon and helping on your journey toward a pain free, active lifestyle

 

Andrew Caldwell BSc (Hons) MSc MCSP

Consultant Physiotherapist

Clinical Director

Reading Time: 3 minutes

This is a question that clients quie rightly ask or ponder at some point when they are thinking of booking an appointment or during the course of their physiotherapy treatment…. And it is important that both client and therapist have a clear and transparent understanding with regard to this at the outset of their treatment pathway …

However (and not to sit on the fence) the cost required to achieve a successful outcome can vary between individuals, their condition and their expectations and specific requirements… So let’s think about a few areas that might influence the number of sessions you require and therefore the cost incurred to achieve that ultimate goal …. A great outcome and a positive experience whilst under our care ….

So, firstly let’s look at the condition requiring treatment. If we look at most common musculoskeletal complaints such as spinal pain, shoulder pain and knee or ankle pain then most patients under our care experience significant reduction in pain and improved function over a timescale of 3-12 weeks and 3-6 sessions of treatment (these are average examples).  You can see already there is variation and this really does depend upon factors such as the duration of symptoms prior to consultation, pain severity and nature, ability to attend treatment sessions and commitment and diligence with prescribed exercises.

Also if we compare a condition which is acute such as a new muscle injury against a long-standing condition such as an degenerative joint then we are likely to see that the acute condition has a more efficient healing potential and therefore might heal in a typically shorter timeframe. That is not to say that we can’t get rapid results with long-standing issues at all but merely an average and typical observation.  In addition those who have required surgical intervention will follow specific timeframes for healing that often are set by their surgeon and then rehabilitation criteria set by their therapist. For example an ACL reconstruction (knee ligament operation) typically requires 9-12 months of rehabilitation as opposed to a sub-acromial decompression (shoulder operation) which might only require 12-16 weks management. You can see how this might effect treatmemt requirement and therefore cost.

Evidence informs us that those clients presenting for initial assessment with high severity pain are likely to experience a slower prognosis to an optimal outcome. That doesn’t mean those clients cannot achieve great outcomes more so that treatment might take slightly longer.  And this might not necessarily mean that you require more treatment sessions but merely that the duration of treatment might be slightly longer.

If we then look at the relationship between the therapist administering the most effective treatment or prescribing targeting exercises (we aim to get this right every time !!) and then subsequently a client fully committing to the treatment prescribed (by attending planned treatment sessions) and being consistent with their prescribed exercise plan we see further variation which can influence cost. For example if client’s do not attend treatment sessions at the intended frequency then we might see treatment effect dissipate and if exercises are not being completed as the treatment plan outlines then they are less likely to be effective. So you can see theta treatment is a partnership between the therapist and client and the best outcomes, in the shortest timeframes at the lowest costs are achieved by both committing fully to the treatment plan. So before you engage in physiotherapy treatment you have to ask yourself an honest question – Can I make time for any prescribed exercises and/or other pertinent information provided to me by my therapist. If you can’t make this commitment, then we probably aren’t a good fit for you as you are unlikely to achieve the results we would aim for.

At the heart of our core philosophy is provided outstanding care that is cost effective for all our clients. We balance the relationship between cost and effectiveness for all patients and you can be assured of a professional approach. And we are transparent about how many sessions you might require and the costs involved. When compared to others with our expert levels of experience we are highly competitive.

Andrew is a musculoskeletal and sports physiotherapy specialist and the assessments provided are comparable to specialist such as orthopaedic surgeons and sports and exercise medicine physicians. However our costs are much lower £50 versus £225-£250 (typically 25% that of an orthopaedic surgeon) for a detailed 45 minute assessment which provides you with clear diagnostic information.  GP’s (unless specifically trained) are not experts in musculoskeletal assessment and treatment and access can be difficult.   Therefore why not choose to be assessed by an expert in this field, over a typically longer assessment timeframe and for a fraction of the cost?

That’s looks pretty costs effective to us !!!

I hope you have found this information useful but please also contact me at admin@active-therapy.com or 07970110526 and I’d be happy to help further

Look forward to meeting you soon and helping on your journey toward a pain free, active lifestyle

 

Andrew Caldwell

Consultant Physiotherapist

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Pain is probably the primary reason why anyone would seek assessment and treatment from a healthcare professional and remains the most common reason why clients initially contact Active Therapy…. The presence of pain causes reduced quality of life, altered movement and function, disturbed sleep and doesn’t make us particularly positive in mood state … It can cause lost time form work and sport and result in stress, anxiety and effect our relationships with others …

But believe it or not many people ‘put up’ with pain often thinking there is nothing that can be done or the ‘pain will look after itself’ despite having painful symptoms for weeks, months and sometimes years!

So let’s look a little deeper at some of those areas to help you understand the role of physiotherapy treatment in reduction of pain and the fact that the overwhelming majority of conditions are successfully treated.

Pain often begins from 2 primary mechanisms, either cumulative forces which result in tissue overload and subsequent pain or traumatic onset pain related to incident or injury. For those presenting with cumulative onset symptoms (these are typically the majority of presentations) we have to act like body detectives and understand the contributory factors that may have caused the pain rather than merely treating symptoms. For example this can be related to how you move, tolerate loads in daily life or sport and maybe of you have introduced new patterns to movement, training or occupation that have resulted in pain due to tissue overload.

A good example would be the client who presents with back pain which begins when completing a movement they have performed many times before (bending forward, turning, tying shoes) who experiences acute onset low back pain. It is unlikely to be THAT specific movement which has caused the pain. It is typically the point at which the tissue become over-loaded and they experience.  So often a little detailed questioning allows us to understand exactly why pain has occurred at this specific time.

For those who experience pain during incident or trauma  we need to fully understand the mechanism of injury as this guides our thoughts and assessment toward the target tissue that may be injured.

Our process ALWAYS begins with education – what has caused the pain, why things hurt and how am I going to get better?  The treatment process often then begins with reducing a client’s pain level so they can move more freely, sleep better and function better in life.  And this allows the rehabilitation process to really get going where we normalize movement, regain strength and support clients back toward normal life and return to sport.

But pain itself, or the absence of pain, is not a strong indicator of full recovery. Whilst it is the single most common reason clients arrange consultation it is a poor indicator of when you are ready to be discharged from care.  Instead we evaluate pain, strength, function (life and sport) and treatment progression to indicate an appropriate point for discharge.  This means that when we fix you we really hope not to see you again with the same issue!  Unlike many other clinics we do not advocate therapist dependence, regular ‘check up’s’ or MOT’s  – unless there is very specific indication to do so..

Instead we provide comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation then provide YOU with all the advice and exercise at the point of discharge that you need to self-manage your condition thereby empowering you to take control of your own care. We find this to be much more effective and powerful way of managing the conditions we treat …

So… If you are in pain …

Don’t let things linger as in the majority a cases we get fantastic outcomes in very short periods of time

If you have had symptoms for quite a period of time then don’t despair … Even when clients present with persistent pain which has been present for many weeks, months or years we can often achieve fantastic results by taking the time to expertly assess and focus treatment around specific known to result in effective outcomes ….

I hope you have found this information useful but please also contact me at admin@active-therapy.com or 07970110526 and I’d be happy to help further

Look forward to meeting you soon and helping on your journey toward a pain free, active lifestyle

 

Andrew Caldwell

Consultant Physiotherapist

Clinical Director

 

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Current waiting times to access NHS services are at their highest in several years… And may clients are eager to have their issues addressed at the earliest opportunity so that they can get out of pain and back to their normal life and sport ASAP !!

 

This has always been the major advantage of ANY form of private healthcare … You paya fee (as opposed to free access via the NHS)  to rapidly access services with a specialist of your choice therefore avoiding lengthy waiting times to either see you GP, obtain a referral or consult a practitioner who is a specialist in the field you are looking for…

 

You can select a physiotherapist with specialism in your field of interest such as sports physiotherapy, musculoskeletal and orthopaedic disorders & sports performance consultancy (all services we offer at Active Therapy).  Not only this but you can be seen before, after work and across the weekend in many cases to avoid disruption to your working day and other commitments …

 

We aim to see potential new clients as soon as possible and this is often within a few days from the time of your call. But equally we are a busy clinic and this is built on our reputation in delivering the highest standards of physiotherapy to our clients so at times this could be 3-10 days dependent upon availability. However urgent cases will always be seen as a priority within 24-48 hours.  This allows us to assess, treat and manage your condition efficiently and effectively right from the get go and attain the great outcomes we strive to achieve for all clients under our care.

 

So no endless calls to your GP, frustrating telephone only conversations with a physio only to receive generic exercise sheets and limited treatment or follow up …

You deserve better and we are here to provide it!

 

Evidence shows us that early access to appropriate healthcare management has profound effects on outcome. We get you on the right path with early diagnosis, targeted treatment and comprehensive self-management.  Our lead clinician has extensive experience in high performance and elite sport and the same principles we use to achieve rapid results in elite sports professionals are adapted and applied to EVERY clients under our care.  It is this attention to detail that allows us to achieve outstanding outcomes, often when physiotherapy hasn’t been effective previously … We tailor follow up sessions at the most appropriate frequency to achieve optimal results whilst being mindful to provide cost effective healthcare … And this will all be transparently discussed at your initial session and outlined in a welcome email.

 

Check out this testimonial from leading orthopaedic surgeon Richard Dias FRCS

 

I have known Andrew as a colleague and friend both in the NHS and in the private sector. Andrew is very knowledgeable and passionate about his work. His main strengths are his honesty, being proactive and seeking the necessary advice to give his client’s the best possible cae. His assessments are thorough and robust and treatment plans are tailored to his patients. I have sent many patients to Andrew who have been dissatisfied with their physiotherapist and they return with glowing comments about his manner, knowledge and management plans. Andrew is different as he knows that he is an outstanding physiotherapist and is confident in this knowledge.  It has been a pleasure for me to watch Andrew’s progress, but then again, I did not have the slightest doubt that he would succeed at the highest level.

 

As they say ‘Your health is your wealth’  …. So take the first steps toward a pain free, fully functional life or enhanced sports performance with reduced risk of injury … We are here to help …

 

 

I hope you have found this information useful

 

Please contact me at admin@active-therapy.com or 07970110526 and I’d be happy to help further

 

Look forward to meeting you soon and helping on your journey toward a pain free, active lifestyle

 

Andrew Caldwell

Consultant Physiotherapist

Clinical Director

Reading Time: 3 minutes

How do you know if physiotherapy treatment will help me ?

 

Now this is a really important question to focus on as it is likely to be a common question for many potential clients who are looking to access treatment for their condition or look to enhance sports performance ….

 

And the very honest answer is that physiotherapy doesn’t come with a 100% iron-clad guarantee of success … But no healthcare treatment in the world does !!! But read on and we will outline why under our expert care at Active Therapy you VERY LIKELY to achieve OUTSTANDING OUTCOMES …….

 

So let’s discuss the first aspect of this question … Pain

 

Pain is most likely the most common reason why you may contact a healthcare practitioner for treatment and it is also the main reason many patients contact Active Therapy each year …. Pain gets in the way of you living your life, playing your sport, spending quality time with your family and getting much needed sleep !!

 

So quite rightly pain reduction quite often becomes the primary focus of our treatment plan initially as this is YOUR main issue that you want resolved …..

 

At Active Therapy we start this process with our in-depth clinical assessment which asks lots of questions about how your pain and how it affecting your life …. We can then discuss appropriate treatments that effectively reduce pain to more comfortable levels and allows you to live your life, perform your sport and remain consistent with those all important self-management exercises we discussed in the last article !

 

Another important aspect of this process is educating you about the nature of pain and often this doesn’t mean harm or damage and you can move within certain parameters with guidance. All the available research informs us that early mobilization and pain management brings about more efficient results …..

 

So the key question is ‘Will physio work for me?’

 

Well ….. That depends upon several factors ……

But what we can say is that physiotherapy treatment is non-invasive, low risk and effective in most cases we treat… It is the minority that require more invasive treatments such as injections and surgery for example ….

 

So I hear you say ‘what are the factors that influence success’

 

Well you have made the first important step … Getting your condition assessed! Therefore you already have an improved probability of a great outcome …

 

The next factor would be attaining an accurate diagnosis of your condition … Believe it or not many patients have condition for months/years and they still aren’t clear on ‘exactly what is my problem?’

Knowledge of your condition is very important in your road to recovery !!

 

Thirdly receiving the right treatment at the right time is vital along with you committing to the prescribed exercises you will receive to maintain treatment effects… We have several patients each year who are inconsistent with their exercise plans and these typically are the patients who take longer than anticipated to get the outcomes we are looking for ….

 

Finally there are no guarantees with any form of healthcare as we are treating human beings who’s life is complex and therefore this can affect treatment outcomes… But be assured that you are in expert hands and we push ourselves EVERY DAY to deliver the best quality care we can to our patients…. We set defined transparent timescales for acceptable outcomes to be achieved … If this is not being met we firstly re-evaluate the treatment plan and adjust as required … We are constantly aiming to make treatment as effective as possible and achieve great outcomes for you in the safest and shortest possible timeframe to get you out of pain back you your normal life !!

 

So when you take all of these combined factors you can be assured that each is being addressed when you are under our care and you are receiving the highest level of physiotherapy care ….

 

And if we don’t achieve the outcome we planned then we can refer you to our network of leading consultants for further management in the knowledge that physiotherapy care has already been optimized at that stage of your care

 

I hope you have found this information useful

 

Please contact me at admin@active-therapy.com or 07970110526 and I’d be happy to help further

 

Look forward to meeting you soon and helping on your journey toward a pain free, active lifestyle

 

Andrew Caldwell

Consultant Physiotherapist

Clinical Director