What is Physiotherapy?

Physiotherapy focuses on restoring movement, strength and reducing pain in musculoskeletal problems or post-surgery. Our experienced physiotherapists have knowledge of a wide variety of treatment options.

All our treatments are based on national and local guidance for specific conditions, with a large focus and evidence base for exercise prescription. Options will often include education, advice and exercises, which will allow patients to manage their pain and appropriately mobilise and strengthen the affected area. Sometimes patients are referred to exercise classes or manual therapy (such as joint or soft tissue) may be suggested as an appropriate addition to your management plan. Your physiotherapist will discuss this further with you if this is the case.

How to help yourself

It is worthwhile exploring our advice and help section before considering a referral to physiotherapy. Many problems improve with suitable advice and exercise. If after trying this for a period of time your problem still persists, then you may wish to either see your GP or First Contact Physiotherapist (FCP) at your local GP surgery (? Insert FCP link) for further guidance or alternatively you can consider self-referring to physiotherapy.

What to expect from an appointment

Your initial consultation will last up to 45 minutes depending on your needs. The physiotherapist will ask you a range of questions about your problem, medical history and complete a thorough physical assessment. They will talk to you about anything you might have already tried to solve your problem, the impact your problem is having on daily life, and also what you would like to achieve by receiving physiotherapy.

Following your consultation, you will be able to discuss your condition and the best management plan for you. All management plans are individually tailored to suit your needs. To get the most from your treatment you may be asked to follow advice and undertake exercises at home.

Why a scan/MRI might/might not be recommended

Sometimes your doctor may refer you to our service advising you may need further investigations such as a MRI scan or an x-ray. All referrals into our physiotherapy and specialist services are looked at by an experienced clinician to ensure that you receive the right care, seeing the most appropriate clinician for your presenting problem. In many cases scans or x-rays may not be appropriate and in fact a course of physiotherapy is the best management to help ease your symptoms.  If this is the case, then your treating clinician will explain this to you. However, we operate an integrated tiered service so should your condition not respond to physiotherapy as expected then your care can be discussed and escalated for further investigative and management options as appropriate.

Where to go

• We offer appointments at different sites across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Please follow the link to see more information on our sites.

What to bring/wear

We recommend you wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothing that will allow us to easily see the joints and muscles around your affected areas.

So that we can achieve the best assessment possible of your condition, we may ask you to remove or move clothing around the problem area. You have a choice not to do this if you are not comfortable. Please discuss this with your physiotherapist who will then modify the assessment progress accordingly. Also, you are welcome to have someone with you if you do not feel comfortable doing this on your own, or you can ask for a chaperone to be present at the consultation.

How many appointments will I have

One or two sessions of physiotherapy will often be enough, but sometimes you may need to have more. This will be dependent on your condition; how long you have had it and how well you keep up the exercises and management advice you are given.

What should I do if I’m running late?

Unfortunately, if you are more than 10 minutes late we may not be able to proceed with your appointment on that day. This is because we allocate time to assess your condition(s) and determine the best action towards your care. Therefore if you are late we may need to rebook you for another appointment.

If you are running late by more than 10 minutes, please contact 0300 555 0123 and speak to our team.

What happens if I fail to attend an appointment?

Failure to attend or late notice of cancellations increases our waiting times considerably and may lead to you being discharged in accordance with our access policy. Our policy states that a missed appointment with no prior warning will result in the patient being discharged from the service.

Follow-up process/what to do if your condition is not improving

We run a patient initiated follow-up  'opt-in' booking system, where if your problem persists you can call us on 0300 555 0123  to book an appointment if required. This is available to you for up to six months following your last appointment.

It is designed to reduce the number of missed appointments and gives you more flexibility as to when you return to see us and more choice of appointment times to suit you. If you wish to have further appointments with your physiotherapist, please telephone the number above.

The NHS website has useful information on various conditions, living well, mental health and care support which you may wish to review.