Physiotherapy in Hungerford
Whether you’re a keen sportsperson, someone suffering with restriction or pain, or simply wanting to function better, physiotherapy may be able to help you. This therapy is ideal for practice members of all ages, from infants to the elderly.
“Physiotherapists are Primary Care Practitioners and as so, we provide a thorough assessments, diagnosis, treatment and ongoing recommendations to our practice members,” said Andy Mitchell, our Physiotherapist.
Physiotherapy focuses primarily on your body as a holistic system. We look at blood flow, nerve interactions, joint restrictions and the bodies’ function in general. We are concerned with the way soft tissue heals and biomechanics (the way you move). Physiotherapy also looks at why you move the way you move. Our paramount goal is to raise someone up to their optimal physical health as effectively as possible, and then to teach them how to maintain themselves at that level.
Our Therapies
We employ a broad array of modalities to get the best results for our practice members. These include cold laser therapy, acupuncture, cupping, electrotherapy, manual treatments, massage and postural correction advice. All of our sessions will include a range of rehab exercises to help you maintain and build on the improvements we make in the sessions. We have many different ways of looking at the issues you may have and there is always something in the ‘Physio Toolbox’ to help.
Cold Laser Therapy
As an addition to our suite of modern services, we are pleased to provide practice members state-of-the-art cold laser therapy. We chose to offer the Class 4 Mphi 5 machine from ASA Laser, which allows for simultaneous dual treatment.
How Does It Work?
Cold laser therapy features various wavelengths and outputs of low-level light that are applied directly to a specific area. The tissue absorbs the light and the red and near-infrared light then causes a reaction. The cells that are damaged respond with a physiological reaction that promotes regeneration.
Receiving the therapy is painless; you may experience a slight sensation of heat. Some of the benefits of cold laser therapy include pain relief, improved circulation, decreased inflammation and more. For more information, please see ASA Laser’s FAQ page.
Preparation for your session is key; each initial appointment will follow a similar structure where our friendly front office staff will greet you and provide you with the necessary paperwork to complete (if you haven’t done so in advance). The paperwork will take you through a series of medical history questions and will ask you what your current issues are and the history behind your condition.
Once the paperwork is complete we will invite you through to the consultation room and you will meet with your physiotherapist. They will look over the paperwork, take a subjective history and ask you some targeted questions. This helps us understand the history of the problem. You may be asked the following types of questions:
- What’s happened and how are you dealing with it?
- What effect is it having on you physically, mentally and emotionally?
Your physiotherapist will then conduct a full objective assessment. This is a hands-on assessment that is designed to test the areas that we think may be contributing to the issue and to help your practitioner understand you as a whole person. The ultimate goal of the assessment is to determine where to apply the treatment for the biggest health benefit and the fastest recovery.
We encourage you to wear loose-fitting athletic clothing that provides access to the area or joint we need to address. It may be necessary in this session to ask you to remove items of clothing, but this will be communicated to you by your practitioner if required.
After reviewing your paperwork and the results of your assessment, our physiotherapist will provide you with a report of findings. They will explain as much as they can whilst they move through your objective assessment, but if your case is a particularly difficult case or requires further investigation or research, the report of findings may take place in a separate session. Your physiotherapist will provide a possible diagnosis and explain what the problem is and why it’s happening.
They will discuss with you and answer the following:
- How long will things take?
- What can I do at home?
- What can I expect from the sessions?
- How much will it cost?
Once your questions have been answered the practitioner will discuss with you your course of care, the frequency of sessions and the best plan of action to help resolve your issue. Normally we get started with treatment right after your report of findings.
Chiropractors are focused primarily on the nervous system-preparing the body by removing interference and helping to aid healing as naturally as possible without the use of drugs or surgery. From a physiotherapy perspective, we look at things perhaps a little more structurally. The way we work together is each practitioner understands the other’s expertise and we work to our strengths. In this set-up the chiropractor initially may focus on the spine, where the physiotherapist may focus more on the peripheral joints of the arms, legs, shoulders and hips. This is not prescriptive and each practitioner will treat all areas of the body, although we do find that the best results come from combined care, a combination of physiotherapy and chiropractic.
Booking in for Care
Once you have discussed your plan of action, your practitioner will have you book in for your course of recommended care. If it’s a 12-week course, ideally we look to book at least the first half of the course in advance so that the integrity of your course of care and our recommendations are met. This allows for the body to start to adapt to the changes in the best way possible and to ensure that we are aiming for your best results.
