I’m way down the NHS waiting list for physio to try and fix my neck/shoulder/arm thing, so just booked a session with a local guy who specialises in sports injuries.

Hoping to hear your tales of successful physio treatment.

There is no such thing as a sports injury. There are however soft tissue injuries sutained whilst playing sport.

I’m of the opinion that the word “sport” in therapy is similar to the word “wedding” in photography – i.e. a license to charge more.

I have a physio degree btw. 😀

There is no such thing as a sports injury. There are however soft tissue injuries sutained whilst playing sport.

I figured someone who has a lot of experience of treating injuries sustained during sports (he does a lot of work on rumpy players) would be a better choice than someone who treats car crash injuries (for example) as the type of impact/damage would be similar? I’ve absolutely no experience of this type of thing btw.

That’s a mistake a lot of people make. I’d chose the person who had the best reputation or training in whichever injury I had. Some physios are good at knees, some are good at shoulders, some are good at neither, but can get a stroke victim to walk again or clear some punters chest.

No tales of success or failure then.

Tales of success- I can totally walk. Sometimes I even ride bicycles. All NHS- not from a sporting injury but it didn’t seem to matter, I was able to be very specific about what the leg had to do after it was fixed (she sucked her teeth and went “Well, you’re not going to enjoy the next 6 months, if you want it to do that!”).

Couldn’t have really asked for more tbh.

Any injuries I get the first thing I do is go see a physio. never had a problem last longer than a couple of weeks, from strained rotary cuff, tendinitis in shoulder

I always go for someone who works with sports people as they seem to be able to advise better on what I should avoid and do in my training sessions.

that said have had great physio from NHS post an RTA but as you have found it takes to long

I had private physio for a fractured clavicle, I had a plate and hook fitted which restricted arm movement, physio helped regain full range of movement, without it I could of got frozen shoulder (according to my physio), each session got more painful but more successful, IME most of the physio was done by myself as home.

I was getting calf pulls and sore back, mainly through floorball (*hockey with youngsters), sometimes biking and initially did physio – the advice was worth it – warm up for longer(till you sweat, always stretch down at end), I certainly noticed the differences in mobility after the sessions – it **presumably** speeded up recovery and reduced likelihood of same problem again.

Bit difficult to be totally factual as to what worked – but the folllowing deffo helps me – longer warm up, proper stretch down routine and for floorball I wear a neoprene calf aid.

I was doing some home-brew physio (light exercises, stretching, press uppy things) but no idea if was doing the right stuff. It’s gradually worsened (to the point that i can’t hold on to the bars with my right arm 😥 ) so i’ve stopped everything for the last couple of weeks. I’m not expecting anything from tomorrows initial session except a list of things i should be doing at home.

It’s bloody shite not being able to ride but your experiences are very encouraging. Cheers lads 😀

The ‘shoulder specialist’ physio I went to for a rotator cuff problem was useless.

When I broke my clavicle and had a hooked plate for six months I didn’t bother with a physio – just moved my arm and walked a lot – then swam – no problems. The consultant was constantly surprised at the amount of movement I had in my arm.

You need to find someone with a reputation for being good, be them physio, osteo, or whatever.

Be patient with the recovery.

If they say that you’ve got a shoulder impingement ask them what kind it is. If that throws them be worried….

Have been to quite a few (privately) over the years and they were all pretty good but not bike-specfic, as said above. Finding one that actually understands the need to bike is difficult but eventually if you ask around your lbs/clubs the same name will crop up.

My problem is that I want to understand what the physios are doing so I can help myself, but being the professionals they are, they are reluctant to give too much away to a paying customer.

Try and find out as much as you can about what they’re doing you will help yourself in the long run

And gws

NHS physio sorted out my shoulder a few years ago. They were much better than I expected them to be, a bit of advice on exercises, a bit of heat treatment off them, which I was sceptical about…

With the NHS, I don’t feel they did much other than give me advice and a rubber band to help my exercises.

I do say though, that after attending the walk in centre about my shoulder I was sent to the physio the same visit and got an appointment for a week later. Pretty blooming good if you ask me.

Now I have a stuck rib and chose just to go straight to a private physio. It’s going to be a more hands on deal. One assessment visit, one bone grinding cracking visit (yesterday) and just one more to go, hopefully. They’ve been excellent but the cost will be IRO £90. NHS was free.

I defo couldnt have pulled my ribs back on my own that’s for sure although some stretching exercises have helped, if only to limit the amount of pain the physio has to administer at the next visit.

I’ve had shockingly bad ones, mediocre ones and brilliant ones (both NHS and private). I’ve seen probably 10 physio’s in 15 years. I now have two regular ones I will go to, one who specialises in shoulders and one who is a good all-rounder.

The best advice is to get a recommendation.

Iahead quite a large OTB moment three years ago resulting in a messy shoulder injury. (Dislocation but rather than the tendon breaking, it tore the bone in two. Really hurt.)

After about six referrals and misdiagnosis, I got referred to a Physio at a private hospital, who had had a similar injury, she told me exactly what she was trying to achieve in every session and really sorted me out. Some of it bloody hurt, but she later admitted that once she discovered I wanted to get back on the bike ASAP and could take a bit of pain, she didn’t hold back on some of the work.

My favourite memory being one of her resetting a tendon which was sitting in the wrong place, she uttered the immortal line “that hurts doesn’t it? I can tell. You’ve stopped breathing”

Kept in touch and go see her privately for any injuries – loads cheaper and most importantly, I trust my physio. Find a good one and they’re worth keeping hold of!

rumpy players

Euro, that’s caused a wry smile here thinking of sex induced injuries. Thank you auto-correct 😆

The NHS physiotherapist for my snapped Achilles was timorous and overly cautious I felt. I was sent away with a raft of printed off exercises and that was about it.

I decided to see a physio privately who came highly recommended by work colleagues and had worked with the England RFU. He was merciless with his massages – using two golf balls and running them roughly up either side of my now thickened Achilles tendon, to disperse synovial fluid that had built up in the paratenon (I think I’ve got that right). This was coupled with reasonably aggressive massaging of my calf muscle. He also gave me more progressive routines than the NHS ones and installed some confidence in me, as I was mincing around, fearing a re-rupture.

I was back cycling four months (to the day) after fully rupturing my tendon and was head and shoulders above all of the other ‘rupturees’ in my NHS group, some of whom were 15 years younger and had elected surgical repair (I was conservatively managed in a cast) – I attributed this to the Physio I’d seen – worth every penny.

Another tale of success here:-
I injured my shoulder in a kite-buggy accident and didn’t do anything about it. Several months later, still in pain I went to a physio who specialised in sports injuries. She gave me some exercises/stretches to do and within a few weeks most of the pain was gone. Whenever it re-occurs I just do the exercises again.

Private physios are worth every penny. Experts in their field, with reasonable incentives to get you fighting fit again – they know next time you tweak something you’ll be back into see them if they fix it up quickly and efficiently. Have been fixed up very promptly in the past for injuries that could be (shoulder/shin splints) with minimal amount of appointments and for longer term issues I’m extremely confident in the advice they have given me (although pending MRI confirmation!)

NHS physio and GP have been rubbish for me. GPs are particularly poor with anything non-life threatening. The NHS physio (and GP actually!) didn’t even examine one problem I had and just gave me a stock set of exercises to do which did not make any difference. I stopped going to they physio sessions for a while as they had no solutions and the consultations could have been done over the internet, with them just emailing me the same exercises to do again.

I wonder if NHS physios in England are worse than those in Scotland. Given that it only takes 3yrs to qualify in England, but 4 in Scotland.

Broke wrist on 2nd june.
Paid for 2 private physio sessions whilst I was waiting for the NHS to catch up with me. Useless. He gave up on me after 2 sessions saying “I’d have thought this would be getting better by now” this is after 7 weeks in plaster & pinned in 3 places !!
Anyway, now had 3 sessions of NHS physio which has been great, better than I thought. Their advice coupled with lots of work in my own time has meant my wrist is getting much better all the time. I can 2 hand type, drive a car & went on my first ride Sunday for weeks ! 🙂

Went to specialist sports physio with running related knee injury that was causing me a lot of problems over a few months. Essentially my quad muscles were imbalanced causing my kneecap to be pulled to the side. The resulting inflammation could be bad enough to make walking difficult.

It took him about 3 minutes to diagnose the problem, gave me some simple exercises to strengthen offending muscle. Completely cured in 4 weeks for £25. Happy customer.

I use a private on in Nottingham (long term shoulder problems)
Great bloke, wouldn’t go anywhere else as he’s kept me going so far & doesn’t see me unless he really needs to.
Having said that, there’s a shoulder specialist up on the Wirral that I’d go to if it wasn’t for the travelling.

Private physio Worked well got the problem sorted
2 Mates who do different therapies – both made massive progress with my back.
One of the mates above is also sorting out some of my hip issues.
He is very good.

I’ve been getting NHS treatment for an unspecified ‘soft tissue injury’ that limits the movement of my 4th finger knuckle after a crash that broke a bone (5th metacarpal) in my right hand at Xmas. Got the physio appointment the same day I was referred to them from the fracture clinic, then the physio threw everything at it over a 3-4 month period and eventually handed me over to the occupational health dept who can make up more elaborate finger splints etc and are still treating it. When I saw the hand specialist I was told to expect 18 months typical recovery for this sort of thing, but the hand specialist then went to see both physio and occ health to discuss my further treatment.

But it’s still not fixed so is that a success or a failure?

We need a stw registry of recommended physios, etc…

We need a stw registry of recommended physios, etc…

I always feel like it’s too much like advertising to suggest my mate – must get him to advertise on here.

From the miraculous; compartment syndrome cured by accupuncture on the NHS to the pointlessly expensive when the physio said “It isn’t going to get any better and you’re now wasting your money and our time” and everything in between

But all in all I’m glad of ’em. The number of times, in my rugby playing, and refereeing, days they got me back on the park faster than I’d have managed unaided, is almost countless.

But there is only some many times you can break an ankle, for instance, and not end up with permanent damage.

Before setting up a registry of stw recommended physios I have a question for all of you. What makes a good physio?

@euro – depends what your problem is, I’ve generally found the first session or two the most valuable as it’s in these you get the diagnosis and the exercises, it’s then up to you to make sure you do the work. IME what ever problem you have will not be fixed in physio sessions alone, you have to do the work, a lot of it usually.

glupton1976 : Before setting up a registry of stw recommended physios I have a question for all of you. What makes a good physio?

Availability lunch times and early evenings
No long waits for an appointment
Clear communication of diagnosis
Explanation of chosen course of treatment both what it is and why it is
Detailed instruction on exercises to be done at home
Honest appraisal of chances of full rehab or if limited to what degree.

It’s very unlikely that anybody who is really good at their job will be

Availability lunch times and early evenings
No long waits for an appointment

Unless their industry is flooded with above average people.

So good physios aren’t allowed a lunch break or to go home at a decent hour….

The best physios I know work the hours they want to work and make enough money to satisfy their needs without having to work over lunch and in the evening.

Is getting an injury fixed not important enough to a) take some time off work to get it treated, b) put the effort in to strengthen stuff.

I’ve been to two:

1) A strange naggy one who did all sorts of woo woo stuff with an electronic acupuncture machine, but who correctly diagnosed my injury as being cartilage (the docs had put it down to “overuse”)

2) A post-op NHS referral one, who was aghast at my doing a 10 mile bike ride the day before. “Do you think you’re some kind of superman?”. Didn’t go back.

Did you know that some NHS trusts limit the number of physio appointments that the physio is allowed to give you. Probably the reason why many people are unsatisfied with NHS physios. The NHS physios tend be be even more annoyed that they cant give you more treatment and are having to disharge you before they would like to.

I had NHS physio after my injury last year. Can’t prove it but I’ve convinced myself that they’re the reason I need to have surgery in a few weeks time.

Hoping to somehow afford private physio this time as I don’t want the same to happen again.

As I say, nothing proven, and even if it was proven I suspect on the whole, NHS physio is alright if you don’t mind perhaps a longer wait, and probably less convenient appointment times!

Well, appointment went better than expected. He didn’t take long to get to the root of the problem (which also happened to match my self diagnosis – ruptured disc in my neck that’s pressing on nerves). A bit of a rub with some zapping and reduction in discomfort in my shoulder meant i could get the first decent nights sleep in a good while.

Home physio is mostly posture work. Seemed a piece of piss at home, but now i’m back at work (hunched in front of a mac for hours on end) it’s proving tougher than I thought. Currently in work, bolt upright with a tucked in chin. A bag of Aunt Bessies frozen carrot and parsnip draped on my neck. Cooooolio.

As a general rule, I believe that whether you have physio or not the long term outcome will be more or less the same.

Having said that, I’d always opt for the physio.

SB