Paying for Physio?

Judging by the amount of people on here that seem to be injured figured there’d be a few people with experience of (or at least an opinion on!) getting non nhs physio…

For anyone that doesn’t know (and to cut a long story short) – I crashed by bike and damaged nerves in my arm. Surgeon seemed to make things worse and almost 5 months on my hand is just about working again but still in quite a lot of pain (well I think so anyway).

I have one appointment left with the original physio people at the hospital at home, and that’s just to check on my grip strength. Having seen my GP at uni I’ve been referred for physio up here to see if that helps, but due to them messing up a couple of weeks ago I have to wait another 6 weeks for that.

Now, as a student I don’t have a lot of spare cash, but I qualify for some DSA support and they’re at some point reimbursing me some of the money I spent on a laptop. I am very tempted to use this money for something productive and pay for physiotherapy because the pain and the not being able to things is really starting to get me down and I feel I need to do something about it!

So singletrack – will it be money well spent? Other than avoiding the wait will the service be better if I pay?

(I expect I’ll regret starting another nhs vs private healthcare debate!)

I’ve found a really good osteopath who I will see for pretty much any injury rather than waiting for the NHS approach of leave it a month to see if it drops off. I don’t suppose she’s any better as they get the same training but I think seeing her sooner makes the difference. Plus, she’s not afraid to tell me to try getting on the bike to see if it has recovered. The NHS way seems to be to tell you to rest for ever, see, it doesn’t hurt now.

Becky. Sorry to hear about your injury. The thing I always think about is how much would one spend on fixing your bike? Surely you’re more important than that. You are! Therefore do whatever it takes, but as you know nothing in life is guaranteed and it could be a waste of cash or it could be the best thing you ever spent your money on. I wish you all the best in your recovery.

Nerve injuries take a long time to heal. What do you expect a private physio to do that a NHS one cant?

Money spent on physio is always money well spent IMHO.

What do you expect a private physio to do that a NHS one cant?

Treat him next week?

(note to self – make an appointment for some treatment on Monday)

Onzadog. As a physio I don’t find what you said about the NHS way to rest forever and to see if it doesn’t hurt to be true.

Theres physio and there is physio

I paid alot o money for a sports physio reccomended hd all the tickets and imo she just went through the motions for the pain i had rather than looking at causes

Went to another one on recomendation of some one else . This one looked at causes and identified that my lower back was as tight as **** and pulling on my leg muscles causing the pain.

Did some stretches for that and have never been bothered since !

Been riding in pain for nearly a year after an accident.

I have one good hand so I’m told I can basically do my own physio on the damaged wrist with that.

It’s still getting better so I live in hope

kharlm, guess I just lost out on the postcode lottery then.

Best bet i reckon is to do as much research as you can on the various types of treatment for whatever the injury is. Much of it you might be able to do yourself, maybe with occasional guidance from a physio. Don’t think there’s much use in seeing a physio unless they put together a plan for you with stuff to do on a daily basis.

Best of luck with the recovery, hope you sort it soon.

kharlm, guess I just lost out on the postcode lottery then.

I’d suggest your experience is more common than not. Certainly I got the impression from my GP that as long as I could walk and do my job my issues weren’t that important to the NHS (granted that was almost 20 years ago – not been back with a sports injury since).

I tried the nhs route once, but after being told there was an 8 week a waiting list, I decided to try private. I saw a few pretty average physios who didnt really help, then found the physio i currently see, and he is brilliant. Defintielt try to find someone who is reccomended. Where are you based, maybe someone on here can reccomend someone

Postcode lottery is right!
I had physio after a broken leg when I lived in That London (Charing Cross) which was excellent.
Now I’m in Shropshire I’ve had very little joy with the NHS over a back injury. After seeing the GP it was a 6 week wait – even though I was in spasm at the time. When I saw the physio there was no massage, or checking where pain/damage might be, just a few exercises of the sort you’d give to a 70 year old who only intends to get out of a chair.
So I went to a specialist sports injury physio (at £35/hour) who got me moving again. Problem turned out to be a herniated disc, which meant either surgery and hoping, or serious pelvic floor/core strengthening. I went for the pelvic floor!

Surrounded By Zulus – Member
Nerve injuries take a long time to heal. What do you expect a private physio to do that a NHS one cant?

Waiting another 6 weeks doesn’t appeal to me, and I’d expect that if I was paying someone my goals would perhaps be taken into account – i.e. I need to reach a certain level of function to continue with things that I want to do, as opposed to my experience of the nhs thus far which has been once you’ve ticked their boxes that’s it, regardless.

I’ve done lots of googling in an attempt to find things to do to help myself, but I don’t even know what the problem is any more to be honest – my nerves have fixed enough that everything is moving, and the pain started getting worse at a seemingly random point so difficult to find anything specific to my problem! Also I think without some professional guidance it’d be difficult to know if I was overdoing/underdoing it or doing completely the wrong things!

Where are you based, maybe someone on here can reccomend someone

I’m in Nottingham for half year, Northampton for the other half

And cheers for the well wishes everyone 🙂

Currently having physio after a rotator cuff repair, all fortunately covered by private health insurance. Difference I think is that the physio came to see me the day after the operation with advice and has guided me through all the stages as soon as I could move on. I think the major difference is that you need to start physio as soon as possible and to suit your needs, and not follow a waiting list. If I didn’t have insurance, knowing what I do know, I would find the money and go private. Good luck

For nerve/hand problems you would do well to find an upper limb specialist. Not all physio’s are going to be good/bad dependant on private or nhs, a reccomendation is going to be best. What you can be sure of with nhs is that you will have a short appointment after a long wait, and they will be wanting to discharge you as soon as possible. The wife is an upper limb specialist in private practice in london and has also worked in nhs so based on some kind of experience. In my experience the problem with a physio is that they expect you to go away and do exercises. Generally people want a magic instant solution.

In my experience the problem with a physio is that they expect you to go away and do exercises. Generally people want a magic instant solution.

I’m under no illusions that it’ll be a quick fix, but I feel like I need someone that knows what they’re doing to tell me what exercises I should be doing, and how often etc. and importantly someone that can modify any exercise plans as necessary.
It’s hand therapy specialist people I saw for a while over the summer (and am seeing once more), I’m not saying that they’ve been unhelpful, quite the opposite in fact – on several occasions they juggled their schedules and whatnot so that they could fit me in, but I’ve reached the point where they think I’m “fixed enough”, and I don’t – I appreciated that they’re not going to be getting back to riding strength, but surely to be deemed fixed I should be able to pick up a cup of tea in my dominant hand, and be able to cook myself a meal without too much pain?
maybe I’m just expecting too much..

Becky – have you told them what you’re telling us? THey may not have the mid reading qualification. Especialy if they are male.

Wor lass, ahsat was discharged by the NHS physio as she had recovered to a reasonable standard of what could be expected following her knee surgery. ie, she had a standard of living.
She spoke to some mates who used sports physios and though it cost her money, they were able to give her specific treatment and exercises to get back to former self.

My experience of nhs physio is that they fix you up ‘good enough’ but if you want to be ‘better’ you need to pay for a sports physio.

I’ve broken a humerus and dislocated a finger. The nhs stuff was great up to a point, then you are on your own.

This is not a dig at nhs, for most people it’s fine. For a climber/biker it’s not.

Don’t settle for ‘good enough’, especially as you’re young. It’s a long time to be wrong and easier to rectify earlier rather than later.

Just make sure it’s a decent physio. if its not working for you find another one.

Becky – have you told them what you’re telling us? THey may not have the mid reading qualification. Especialy if they are male.

I didn’t put it quite how I have above! But yet I have told them (couldn’t complain if they weren’t fixing something they didn’t know about!)

It’s funny you should mention the male/female thing – I find my consultant (male) far easier to talk to than the hand therapists (female), its a pity I haven’t seen him for over a month, and am not seeing him again until April!

I guess the logical thing for me to do would be to wait until I see the hand therapy people, seen as that’s only 2 weeks away (a slightly more reasonable wait!) and see what they say – if they’re not helpful then I’ll get looking for someone else!

Bloody hell, if you’re in Nottingham and have transport then try Jenny in Long Eaton[/url]. She’s sorted the Mrs and me out a number of times.

Becky, sorry for your injury.

I have found NHS physios to be, well, not very good on the whole. Their aim seems to be to get you to some basic mobility and that’s it.

On the other hand private physios differ widely in ability. Ask around, and go on recommendation. If you can possibly squeeze the money out of your tight budget then do. Get well soon x

I think nhs physios are okay for there injuries they see and fixing you to ‘get by’ but aren’t so good at sports injuries and fixing you to compete/take part in sport again. Private physios can be a little costly but will get you mended better for sports injuries.

this time last year I totally wrecked my ankle in a climbing accident. Luckily for me I live close to the national sprot arena at crystal palace and a good sports injury physio was easy to find there….spent about what the climbing holiday to Thailand cost over the last 6 months…but the ankle is pretty good now so money well spent! With previous problems though 2 or 3 visits and some exercises have been enough…much more affordable.

I spent a bit of time working in an outpatiens physio department during my last placement. One of the things that really annoyed me was the sheer number of people who had “sports” injuries who once they got to a decent level simply didnt turn up for their next appointment. No phonecalls to cancel, – nada, nothing, zilch. That’s an appointment that someone else could have had, which would have reduced the 15 week waiting list. Typically there would be 2 or 3 no shows per day for each of the 8 physios on that department – each one a 45 minute appointment.

Because of this, physios had a limit of 4/5 sessions with each patient before they pretty much had to discharge them.

Personally, I think that physios should go down the dentists route for funding – i.e. you pay for the treatment that you get and also for any missed appointments.

I wonder if people really do need to burden the nhs with sprained wrists, tight hamstrings, sprained ankles and other stuff that will sort itself out in a few week.

As above. when my wife was a physio in the nhs she was in a team of 9 and the number of no shows was equivilent to a full time member of staff. This crappy attitude to a free service is one of the reasons waiting times are the length they are.

If your in Northampton I can recommend These[/url] on Billing Road.

If you are Nottingham based, my physio (Gerald at the Beeston Physio and Sports Injury Clinic) has been good for my various injuries, though he’s about £35 a session.

Over in Derby they have the Pulvertaft Hand Centre at the former Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, which is a specialist hand injury/surgery centre who might be worth a call (if you’re unaware).

Recovery from serious injury can take a while, but I hope you can find a way to speed things up.

I wonder if people really do need to burden the nhs with sprained wrists, tight hamstrings, sprained ankles and other stuff that will sort itself out in a few week.

Well I’d probably not go and pay for physio for any of that either – it would cost me a fortune if I went every time I turned my ankle! However there’s plenty of stuff which treatment does make a difference to and doesn’t fix itself in a few weeks – properly torn muscles, inflamed tendons etc.