Our clinic is open with experts providing both online and face-to-face appointments. Book Online Now
Have you been told that your pain will not resolve and you can’t return to the activities you enjoy? Our Physiotherapists and Osteopaths successfully treat people with chronic or complex pain, even if they have had lots of treatment elsewhere including seeing other physios, osteopaths, chiropractors, doctors and having had injections and operations. Check out our testimonials or google reviews to be inspired or book in now to see one of our specialists.
Chronic pain is a term banded around without people appreciating that it is not a diagnosis. The meaning of ‘chronic’ varies but really just means ‘long term pain.’ ‘Long term’ is defined as anything from 3 to 6 months or more. Chronic pain is NOT the same as ‘incurable pain’ but unfortunately the terms have become synonymous. That is why we prefer the term ‘complex pain.’ Just because someone has been experiencing pain for a long time it does not mean that it will not get better. What it does mean is that the treatments designed for acute or short term pain will not work. Or at least they will not work as quickly as they do for pain that has only been experienced for a short time. Basically the longer you have had your pain the longer it will take for it to get better and for you to return to doing the things you want to do.
For example, if you have had pain for six months, you will need to have physiotherapy for six months to a year to recover. If you have had pain for a year of more, you will be looking at a programme of up to eighteen to twenty four months. Unfortunately it is highly unlikely that your insurance company or the NHS will provide you with physiotherapy for this period of time and you will therefore need to pay for at least a proportion of it. The short term cost needs to be weighed up against the long term gain of being able to work and do the things you enjoy. You also need to consider that it may not be as costly as it sounds as long as you do all the things that the physio tells you to do (and not to do!) so that in effect you become your own physio and therefore do not need frequent appointments. In fact, I would recommend that you question the clinical reasoning of your physio if they ask you to have weekly appointments for more than about six weeks because after this time you should be becoming more independent and less reliant on hands on treatment. Hands on treatment will then only be appropriate during flare ups, and this should only be episodic. By the time a year is up your appointments should only be once every few weeks or months.
Please do get in touch if you would like further information or to speak to one of our experienced Physiotherapists or Osteopaths.
Facet joint pain is normally localized: centrally over your spine or to one side. It may feel like a "catching pain" during certain movements like bending backwards, or turning. It is associated with poor posture, repetitive strain (e.g. horse riding) or injury (e.g. snowboarding falls)The common factors that contribute to...
Read MoreThe unfortunate, but sometimes necessary stage for certain back conditions is surgery. We work with the top spine surgeons, so we know exactly who to guide you to, so be reassured that you will be in good hands. We will work closely with your Orthopaedic Consultant to ensure that you...
Read MoreClicking or crunching in the shoulder can be caused by a number of things. Most people fear that the clicking is caused by bone hitting bone. However, thankfully nowadays this is rare. If you have this, it is likely that for many years you have been suffering severe pain and...
Read MorePain behind the shoulder, behind or around the shoulder blade and/or in your upper back/neck is not strictly speaking a shoulder problem because the pain is probably coming from the back or neck. However, lots of people refer to it as shoulder pain because thats where the discomfort is felt....
Read MoreProblems in the joint that joins your spine to your pelvis are still hotly debated in the physio, osteo and medical worlds. Strains can occur when the ligaments supporting the joint are loose (e.g. during pregnancy or with hypermobility) and we have seen many patients with SIJ pain following a...
Read MoreClicking or crunching in the back can be caused by a number of things.Most people fear that the clicking is caused by bone hitting bone. However, thankfully nowadays this is rare. If you have this, it is likely that for many years you have been suffering severe pain and movement...
Read MorePlease click here to read how to train shoulder posture and click here to read how the shoulder works before reading the following. The serratus anterior muscle is commonly weak. An indication of this is if your shoulder blade looks like it is winging at the back.
Read MorePlease read how the back works before reading the following. These are the muscles that are supposed to be worked in Pilates; however we have seen plenty of people who have been to lots of Pilates classes and have not been using these muscles at all! You really need an...
Read MorePlease click here to read how the foot and ankle work before reading the following.
Read MoreTo treat elbow problems properly the stability of the shoulder and neck often needs to be addressed, because if the shoulder is moving inefficiently more strain is exerted on the elbow. Treatment should therefore never focus purely on the elbow itself. However, the following exercise is a valuable exercise in...
Read MorePlease click here to read how the shoulder works before reading the following. The lats are often tight and over active relative to the smaller shoulder muscles like the rotator cuff muscles.
Read MoreGet rid of your hip and groin pain with...
Get rid of your foot and ankle pain with...
As a physiotherapist I deal with the psychological as well as...
A friend wants me to help him plan his training...
Hover over the specific body parts and find out more
Use your mouse to hover over the dark grey dots and click through to the specific body parts to get advice about your injury.
We promise to never share your email address with anyone.