The first thing you can expect is a warm welcome. The initial appointment is 1 hour in duration. To begin with we will take a history from you. This will include questions about the issues you are currently experiencing and how they first began. We will ask you questions about the pain you may be experiencing, when it occurs, how long it takes to go away (if it does at all) and what it is preventing you from doing. We will ask you about your relevant medical history, about any medication you are taking and about your hobbies, interests and work life where appropriate. We like to find out as much information as possible as this helps up to understand you more and your problem more. This will also guide the examination that we undertake.
Once we have taken the history we will perform a physical examination. This will include looking at how you move and using our hands to feel how you move. The body is a complex system of muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, nerves, bones and blood vessels and as part of our examination we will be trying to work out what is the main source of your symptoms. This will often involve us looking at and testing areas of the body above and below where your pain is as quite often the site of the pain is not necessarily the source of the pain.
A provisional working diagnosis, or clinical impression as we like to call it will then be provided. We will try and provide this in as clear and simple terms as possible. It is no use us treating you if you do not understand what the problem is! If you are not sure about anything let us know and we will try to explain it more clearly.
In your first session it is unlikely you will receive treatment. This is so that there is enough time to assess you as comprehensively as possible and to get to the root cause of your problem. Please be realistic in your expectations as a magical cure of your issue in one session is often not achievable! A proposed treatment plan will be discussed. In subsequent sessions this may involve a number of different treatment techniques that we have at our disposal, including manual therapy (hands on treatment), exercise based rehabilitation, taping, acupuncture and education. We will advise you on what we feel is the most appropriate form of treatment in that session. We will ideally look to try and change how you are moving, improve your function and ultimately help you with your pain.
We will provide you with a bespoke programme of exercises. This is the most important part of the process as we need your participation in your treatment to achieve the most desirable outcomes. It is likely that your exercise programme will need to be evolved and modified over time to allow you to return to what you wish to return to. We will tailor your programme to ensure it is is achievable within your work and life commitments
We will also provide you with a clear and realistic prognosis regarding the time it may take for your problem to resolve. If we feel it is an issue that requires further investigation or is not appropriate to treat from a physiotherapy perspective, we will point you in the right direction to ensure you get your problem fixed.
Firstly, a positive attitude! We love working with people who want to help themselves to get better and return to the things they enjoy doing. We appreciate that pain can make you feel pretty gloomy, so if you're not on tip top form don't worry we will do all we can to help you get your mojo back!
In terms of clothing, as we need to expose parts of your body to see and feel how you move we would suggest the following:
If you have a problem with your neck, shoulder or elbow we would suggest a vest top so we can observe how the body is functioning from the neck/shoulder blade area downwards.
If you have a problem with your lower back, hip, knee or ankle we would suggest a pair of shorts again so we can test the body appropriately and give you a potentially more clearer diagnosis.
Please be aware that at times we may ask you to dress down to your underwear if this is required to provide more effective treatment (e.g with manual therapy or acupuncture). We will observe and preserve your dignity at all times in this case by providing towels to cover any exposed areas. Your privacy and dignity is of utmost importance to us and central to your care. If you prefer to be treated through clothing we can do this but the treatment effect is unlikely to be as positive. If at any time you do not feel comfortable with anything you must let us know. Please be aware that you can request a chaperone for treatment or if you feel more comfortable bring someone along with you too.
If you have any relevant investigation reports (x-rays, MRI scans etc), clinic reports or referral letters from consultants/GP's then please bring those along. Also if you have a medication list bring that along too. The more information we have the more we can help you.
No. We are a recognised provider by a number of the major health insurers. This includes AXA PPP, Cigna, WPA and Aviva. We currently bill all insurance companies directly for your convenience. All we ask is that you provide your membership number and valid authorisation code before your first treatment session. Without this information we cannot submit the invoice to your health insurer. We also ask that you are kindly aware of your limitations of your insurance policy, in terms of the excess and the allowance for treatment that you have been provided. All patients are liable for the cost of any treatment not covered by their policy/the policy excess and this is not the responsibility of PHYSIO 206.
No. Anyone can refer themselves. It's as simple as picking up the phone, sending us an email, sending us a message through Facebook/Instagram or even doing the good old fashioned thing and knocking on the door when you're passing! We love nothing more than face-to-face contact. If you are going through private health insurance you may be required to provide a referral letter from your GP/consultant so that your authorisation code for treatment can be provided. Please check with your insurance provider.
No. We do not accept NHS referrals. However, you can self pay for treatment and indeed most of our clients do. Many people supplement their NHS treatment by having sessions also with us.
Ocassionally. Generally it shouldn't be. However, it isn't unusual to feel some discomfort with certain treatment techniques and it is possible that you may feel some soreness in the 24-48 hours following your assesment / treatment. Also as part of the assessment process we will have to reproduce your pain to allow us to effectively diagnose what the problem is. During all assessment and treatment sessions we regularly monitor your response to treatment and ask about any pain you may be feeling. There is this myth out there that physiotherapy is painful and adheres to the adage "no pain, no gain!" However, this I can assure you is far from the truth and achieving the desired treatment effect does not require such an approach.
Initial treatment sessions are normally 1 hour in duration and follow-up sessions either 60 or 30 minutes dependent on the therapists recommendation, client preference and the problem that you have. In terms of number of sessions, this is again dependent on the type of issue that you present with. It is unusual for people to be cured by attending one treatment session. Most people will require a course of treatment (on average 4-6 treament sessions) though this is dependent on your problem. We will aim to provide you with an outline of what we would recommend from a treatment perspective during your first session.
We provide the following treatment options at PHYSIO 206:
Manual Therapy - The hands-on treatment. This is in the form of massage, mobilisation, manipulation and dynamic stretching.
Rehabilitation - The exercise based component of your treatment and essentially the most important, getting you back to what you want to do.
Acupuncture - To help with pain relief and muscle release.
Taping - Rigid and sports taping to assist with your rehabilitation programme.
Do not expect to be placed on a machine for treatment. We don't do machines at PHYSIO 206. We are passionate about following the most recent up-to-date clinical research and implementing this in to your treatment programmes. We want to empower you to be the best that you can and we feel that the treatment options outlined above will help you to achieve this.
Please see our services page for further information on the types of treatment we offer.
We treat anything that is musculoskeletal in nature. In essence that means any issue you have with a bone, joint, ligament, tendon or nerve. At PHYSIO 206 we do have a special interest in the treatment of back pain, running related injuries (in particular knee pain) and shoulder pain. However, though not an exhaustive list, we treat all of the following conditions:
Back pain
Sciatica
Neck pain
Headaches
Shoulder pain
Tennis/golfers elbow
Wrist and hand pain
Hip and groin pain
Knee pain
Sports injuries
Tendon pain
Ligament sprains
Osteoarthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Muscle and joint pain during/after pregnancy
Rehabilitation after orthopaedic surgery
Paediatric (Children above the age of 6) muscle and joint pain
Hypermobility
If you don't see something on that list, that you have then get in touch and we will advise you on whether we can help you or if not point you in the right direction of where you need to go.
For more information and to book a consultation please email bookings@physio206.co.uk or call 07512 203536.