As myself and Caroline closed our doors on Monday 23 March, we were unsure what the next couple of months held for us and the team of physios. Despite the uncertainty, we loaded ours cars with patient records, other relevant paperwork, models of joints, exercise files, exercise equipment and laptops. ‘WE ARE CLOSED’ notices we pinned to the front doors and home we went to pastures unknown.
The first day was spent contacting old colleagues, sharing ideas and talking through the potential difficulties that lay ahead.
After research and practice we decided that the way forward was ‘virtual/remote’ physio sessions. We knew that with the correct planning they could and would work. So we launched ‘Video Consultations‘ and waited with baited breath.
Would anyone believe that they would work.?
Well thankfully they are working and we are getting great feedback from those using the service.
During the video consultations, we can perform the usual in depth questioning about the problem and assess movement of joints.
Chatting to the patient about the cause of the problem can allay fears that it is anything sinister and avoid GP or A&E attendances where necessary.
We have had a variety of different problems to assess and ‘treat.’
Achilles pain
Low back pain- many from sitting too much
Shoulder injuries – long term and more recent injuries
Knee pain – often due to ‘too much too soon’ with running
Neck pain – from poor home desk set up
Knee post-op rehab
We have also been working on videos of rehab exercises. These are being used to demonstrate relevant home exercise programmes and patients can use then as ongoing reference.
So for the time being, until it is safe to open the clinic doors, we are contacting patients via telephone and arranging video consultations as required. Who knows, we may continue to offer this service to those who are unable to get to our clinic,either because they live a distance away, due to work pressure and being unable to make the time for a clinic appointment or because of ill-health
