What to expect at your first treatment
It's best to wear casual, comfortable clothes or sportswear.
A vest top is a good idea if you have a neck or shoulder problem.
If you have any hospital or G.P. letters about your problem it would be helpful to bring this along as well as a list of your current medication.
Our first priority will be to take a thorough history of your problem to help us establish the nature of the condition and the best way to help. You will be asked questions about your current problem, general health and medical history. We will ask you how your symptoms started, where they occur and what aggravates and eases them.
After taking a detailed history, with your consent, we will then make an examination of your problem area, initially observing your posture and movements before palpating the muscles, bones and other connective tissues in the area. We will be looking (and feeling) for uneven movement, stiffness in a particular area or joint and the way that your muscles work to support you and produce movement. We will also look for any other problems which may be relevant.
Once we have concluded our examination we should be able to explain, in a way that makes sense to you, the nature of your problem and what we can do to help. Often we use models of joints so that you have a clear idea of what is going on. You will have the chance to ask as many questions as you like. In most cases, the first session will also involve treatment of your problem.
Often treatment is a partnership – there are things that we can do for you and things that you can do to help yourself. We may have identified a stiff joint which might need mobilising to improve its movement or you may have weakness in muscles for which we will give you a guided series of exercises to improve.
For most people a short course of treatment is enough to completely resolve your problem but for conditions of a chronic nature (for instance arthritis), we will reach an agreed level of improvement where you can manage your problem yourself with appropriate exercises or modification of lifestyle.
