What are the common symptoms that your patients tend to present with?

Most patients who present for musculoskeletal physiotherapy have or had sort of pain, discomfort or irritation in one or more of joints. The most common areas of the body that are affect tend to be spinal (neck, upper back or lower back pain), shoulders, elbow, hips, knees, ankle or repetitive strain injuries in their hands, thumbs or finger.

Other symptoms patient commonly present with are swelling, stiffness, instability, pins and needles, and numbness or changes in sensation.

These pains and symptoms can be acute (from one to several days) such as fracture, muscle strain or spasms, ligament strains and stiff spines. Others may have had these symptoms for many years and there is no healing process occurring.

The causes of these symptoms can range from accidents or traumatic injuries whilst playing sport or in their usual daily activities, to overuse injuries such as tendinopathy (tendinitis), or they may be as a result of an orthopaedic or neurological operation.

To determine the genuine cause of these symptoms requires a thorough diagnostic procedure that is led by their subjective history that correlates with a comprehensive objective assessment from which a working diagnosis and then a treatment plan that will involve a period of treatment, frequency of treatment and modalities that we are going to choose to hopefully return them to their chosen sport or activities that they need to perform throughout their day.

My role is to provide my patients with a greater understanding of the causes and pathology to allow them to be motivated to undertake a holistic, comprehensive rehabilitation program that transitions into building greater resilience and the tools to help prevent a reoccurrence of their presenting condition or any other issues that may arise as a result of what I find on examination.

What are the treatments that you're able to offer your patients?

The patient’s initial concern is getting a diagnosis and, alongside that, reassurance that there is something that can be done to help them, so that goes a long way to decreasing their suffering. I make a diagnosis based on subjective history and an objective assessment. If I am unsure of the diagnosis, want a bit more information through images, a second opinion, and/or the patient is not progressing as anticipated then there is an easy referral pathway to Sports Medicine doctors.

My treatments invariably have a multi-model approach that may incorporates, hand-on manual therapy like soft tissue release, mobilisations and manipulation joints; a progressive, periodised exercise programme that incorporates all parts of neuromuscular function; and education about the patient’s condition and what lifestyle changes they can make to help themselves. Alongside these fundamentals, are adjuncts like strapping and taping.

I work within a multi-disciplinary team so, alongside our physiotherapy session, I can easily refer my patient to other professionals who can aid with their recover and on-going management of their conditions such as soft tissue therapy, podiatry, strength and conditioning, and nutritionist.

What are your areas of sub-specialist interest?

Having worked extensively in football, I see a lot of acute lower limb injuries, predominantly knees and ankles. With most lower limb injuries contributing factors are likely imbalances or dysfunctions along the whole limb so my focus of treatment may not be local to the pain.

A lot of lot people lead busy, active lives so I see many overuse injuries, especially tendinopathies and other tissues overloading or irritations, predominantly shoulders, Achilles, around the knee, hip, thumb and elbow.

Neck, upper and lower back pain are very common. These issues are often caused my imbalances and movement control issues around the spine.

Often, these pains can go on for month or years, be multi-factorial, and with that, come its own challenges to treat. My NHS experience gave me broad exposure to these conditions.