Assessment
When you book your initial consultation, we will send you a “New Patient Form” to complete. This form helps us understand your reasons for seeking care and gives us information about your health history to ensure we deliver the most appropriate treatment for you. It also includes a short questionnaire about the impact of your pain which helps us assess and monitor your progress more effectively.
During your first appointment we will take a thorough case history, delving deeper into your pain and any other relevant information from your new patient form. We will then conduct an examination, which includes orthopaedic and neurological tests, joint assessments and evaluation of the muscles looking at areas of tightness and strength tests. We may also perform movement screens and functional testing.
Please allow up to an hour for this initial consultation.
Treatment
Once we have done our assessment, we will explain our findings, provide a diagnosis and discuss your treatment options. Treatment will be tailored to you and your needs based on your goals and lifestyle. Usually, a course of treatment consisting of advice, home exercises and manual therapy will then be provided with a set time scale in which to review your progress.
If it is appropriate to do so we can begin your treatment on the first visit.
Review, Reassessment, and Prevention
We continuously monitor your progress at each treatment session. After a set number of sessions or a specific timescale, we will conduct a more formal review of your progress. This review involves repeating the pain impact questionnaires, redoing some relevant tests and assessing your progress toward your goals.
Based on this review we will provide further advice to enhance your improvements and prevent future issues. This might include shifting the focus to a more rehabilitation-based approach and active care. If you are not responding as we would expect we will look in more detail as to why this is and may order some further tests or refer you to another healthcare professional.
Maintaining your health and well-being is an ongoing process, and we aim to empower and support you with the knowledge and tools to do so effectively.