Physiotherapy, Pilates & Scar Therapy

What to expect from your physiotherapy session

Your physiotherapy session we will start with an in-depth discussion where we will go over the history of your presenting condition, nature of your symptoms and gain an understanding of your past medical history. I will also assess how your condition is impacting your everyday life and what it’s preventing you from doing. This will help us make a plan together that is relevant to you and your life.

Next, we conduct a postural and functional assessment followed by some specific tests to help formulate a diagnosis and guide treatment. You may be asked to remove some clothing to get a good look at what is happening with your body so please bring appropriate comfortable clothing, such as shorts and a strappy top. If appropriate, some hands-on treatment may carried out in the sessions, such as soft tissue release, mobilisations, facilitation, correction of form and encouraging good motor control.

As a physiotherapist, I strongly believe in movement as a form of rehabilitation, and this is where I hand over to you the client to take control of your rehabilitation. Often aches and pains come with muscle imbalances, e.g. tightness or weakness and therefore this is something only you can do for yourself. Following an explanation of my findings and a discussion to help you understand your condition, we will plan the best course of action, and you will be given a home exercise program to complete.

I am focused on treating the root cause of the problem, not just the symptoms. This can take time and effort but you will reap long term benefits. If you feel you need more hands on 1:1 guidance in the early stages, it is possible to do 1:1 Pilates sessions with me to help you gain body awareness, strength, mobility and confidence moving. I also use manual therapy, taping, acupuncture, ScarWork (scar therapy) and soft tissue release where appropriate to support rehabilitation.  

Over the last couple of years I have been treating many clients online and having excellent results, and it shows that most of the time you don’t always need a hands-on approach to get better. You do need targeted exercises and time to build strength and mobility.

Exercise-Based Rehabilitation

The key to a successful recovery is not only reducing pain, improving movement or accelerating healing, but it is also important to regain muscle strength, joint awareness and balance skills. All these features of the human body that we take for granted are often affected by injury or pain.

When our body is in pain, be it through injury or illness, it can change the way that our muscles behave. It often makes them weaker, tighter or deconditioned.

Physiotherapists are trained to identify which muscles have been affected by your condition. As part of your treatment plan, I may include specific exercises for you to undertake to help regain strength, flexibility and condition to the muscle and the joints it supports. As part of this, it is usual for me to ask you to continue these exercises in your daily life. We all know that practice makes perfect, and this also applies to the recovery of muscles and joints. 

Mobilisation and Manipulation

Hands-on therapy is something we endeavour to provide at Synthesis Clinic. I may use mobilisations of a joint, a slow controlled movement aimed at stretching and mobilising the articular and soft tissue around a joint, with the intent to reduce pain, improve circulation and increase movement within the joint. A manipulation may also be performed to provide instantaneous relief around the joint. Manipulation is often associated with an audible popping sound caused by the instantaneous breakdown of gas bubbles that form within joints. These techniques are always combined with a stretching and strengthening programme to ensure the benefits gained within the treatment session are maintained.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture has been around for over 3,000 years. Evidence shows it can help manage a variety of conditions ranging from headaches and back pain to more systemic problems. Typically physiotherapists use acupuncture to help with pain relief, to encourage tissue repair or for trigger point release. It is used to treat a variety of different conditions, often in conjunction with other techniques.

The treatment involves using small sterile needles placed just under the skin into the muscle. This can often not only be around the painful or injured area but also at points further away, which have specific properties, such as to relieve pain. Needles are usually positioned along ’meridians’ that relate to specific organs of the body and are recognised in Chinese medicine as having specific properties. By positioning needles in this way, your therapist will be able to increase or decrease the way hormones and pain-relieving chemicals behave in your body. This in turn helps to reduce pain, encourage healing and blood flow to tissue. Treatment is often only done for a short period of time, starting from 10-15 minutes, but can be increased for up to 30 minutes. Point selection and treatment duration in acupuncture varies depending on each individual, as our bodies all react differently, even though we may have the same problem.

Scarwork and Scar Therapy

Sharon Wheeler’s ScarWork(TM) is a light touch therapy, and you should be completely comfortable during treatment. It is a new treatment which has been taught in the US since 2012 and more recently adapted in the UK for scar therapy.  It aims to change the quality of a scar liberating it to reconnect with the 3D web of connective tissue (fascia) again. 

Though there is limited research in the area of scar therapy, studies have found that light stretch and compression stimulates the release of collagenase, reducing the potential for excess collagen formation or fibrosis. Drainage of excess fluid with pumping and sweeping actions trigger anti-inflammatory and hydrating actions, helping promote healthier less inflamed tissues.

Benefits of scar therapy:

• Encourage healing

• Improve scar appearance

• Gain mobility

• Reduce adhesions

• Support rehabilitation

• Regain sensation

• Support acceptance of your new body image