physiotherapy Call

Treatment for muscle and joint pain, with a clear assessment and plan

Musculoskeletal physiotherapy covers the aches, injuries and movement problems that come from muscles, joints and tendons. Assessment first, then treatment, then a plan you can actually follow.

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Muscles, joints, tendons and the way you move

Musculoskeletal is the long word for the system that holds you up and moves you around: muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments and the nerves running between them. It is the largest part of physiotherapy and the reason most people book.

In practice that means back pain that has outstayed a fortnight, a neck that seizes by the end of a working week, a shoulder that cannot manage a seatbelt or a top shelf, a knee that complains going down stairs, hip pain that wakes you when you roll over, and tendon problems in the Achilles, elbow or shoulder that grumble along for months.

It also covers the vaguer ones. A calf that keeps tightening, an ankle that has never felt trustworthy since a sprain two winters ago, or a general sense that one side is doing more work than the other. Those are worth an assessment too, and they are often the simplest to change.

Deborah Orilabawaye's gloved hands treating the area around a patient's shoulder blade

Finding out what is driving it, not just where it hurts

Where the pain sits and what is causing it are often two different places. A knee that hurts on stairs can be a hip and glute strength problem. A shoulder that catches when reaching can be as much about how the shoulder blade moves as the joint itself.

So the first appointment starts with questions: what the problem is, when it began, what provokes it, what settles it, what you have already tried, and what you need to be able to do again. Then a physical assessment of how the area moves, how much strength is there, and how it behaves when you put load through it.

At the end of that you get an explanation of the findings in ordinary language. Not a diagnosis read out of a textbook, but a description of what is going on that you could repeat to your partner over dinner.

What actually happens in the appointments

Treatment is a combination of three things, weighted differently depending on the problem and on how it responds.

  1. Hands-on treatment

    Soft tissue work, joint mobilisation and stretching, used where it helps to settle symptoms and restore movement. Where appropriate, treatment can begin in the first appointment, and you will also leave with an explanation and clear next steps.

  2. Exercise rehab

    The part that holds the change in place. A short set of exercises, pitched at the level you are at now, progressing as you get stronger. Fewer exercises done properly beat a long printed list nobody finishes.

  3. A plan in plain English

    What to do between appointments, what to avoid for now and what to get back to. Also a realistic idea of how long it should take, including when it is likely to be slower than you would like.

People with a specific problem and a specific reason to fix it

Office and desk workers with neck, upper back or wrist trouble that builds through the week. Trades and manual workers whose backs and shoulders take a daily load. Runners, cyclists, swimmers and racket players carrying an injury that has not settled on its own.

People in their fifties, sixties and seventies who want to keep walking, gardening, playing golf and lifting grandchildren without booking a morning around it. Anyone who has been told routine NHS physiotherapy in Dorset commonly runs to several months and would rather not lose that time.

You do not need a GP referral to book physiotherapy privately, and you do not need a scan or a diagnosis first. If an assessment turns up something better handled by a GP or a consultant, you will be told that plainly rather than sold a course of treatment.

What you can do while waiting for NHS physiotherapy

Deborah Orilabawaye assessing a seated patient's neck and shoulders in the treatment room

Conditions treated under this heading

Each page describes the usual causes, what an assessment looks for and what treatment involves.

Book an assessment

Appointments run to 20:00 on weekdays and on Saturday afternoons, usually available within days. Shop 2, 4-6 Roumelia Ln, Boscombe, Bournemouth BH5 1EU.

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