Philosophy
My treatment philosophy is: the human body can do so much more on its own to heal itself compared to anything I can do manually as a physiotherapist. If we can set the right environment... the body will generally take care of things itself. In my opinion the human body is by far the most amazing piece of engineering we have encountered as a human race.
Setting the 'right environment' means living an active lifestyle - getting both physical activity and exercise, eating a healthy diet, getting restful sleep, having good quality social interactions and maintaining low stress levels. As a physiotherapist, that's where my attention is focused. Sometimes the body may need medical help such as medication or surgery to optimise that environment for healing, but both should be reserved for particular conditions or injuries and only as last options. My immediate aim is to fully assess your pain or injury and then determine whether it's suitable to continue treatment with physiotherapy or if a referral onward for medical investigation is the best course of action.
Once we have determined that physiotherapy is the best course of action, then we can start planning together on how best to tackle your pain or injury or how to achieve your athletic goals. As mentioned above, a healthy diet, quality sleep, low stress levels and regular physical activity are the pillars to a happy, pain free life. Sounds easy, but we all know it's incredibly hard to get all of them right. Most of the time we need guidance and someone to lean on when the going gets tough.
That's where I come in.
The initial sessions together generally take time to fully understand your pain or injury, your body, your lifestyle and how you feel about all of the above. Once I have a good understanding of all of this, then I can guide you through each stage of rehabilitation. I believe the best bang for our buck is from graded exercise. An approach that mimics the active lifestyle of our ancestors. Strength training, balance training and cardiovascular training (both aerobic dominant and anaerobic dominant) are the key parts of an effective exercise training program. Our bodies crave movement. Finding the type of exercise or combination of exercises that will be enjoyable and sustainable in a program is key. This is where you take charge. Good coaching on my part helps to encourage this change. You are in control.
I will ensure the necessary time and attention is given to you to achieve your goals.
