During your first consultation at Harrigan Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic, we will conduct a comprehensive assessment. This enables us to understand the source of the pain complaint, and help us to provide a diagnosis on order to provide you with a planned course of treatment.

All injuries need to be accurately diagnosed in order to be treated effectively. Your assessment will help us to map out the course of your physiotherapy treatment programme, which will take into account your current fitness level, lifestyle, occupation, any sporting activities, and what levels of function you need to attain.

If referral onwards for a further opinion from a medical or surgical specialist is felt to be necessary, we can arrange this directly. We can also refer you for MRI or ultrasound imaging. If you are already under the care of another medical professional, we can liaise with them to help achieve your best possible outcome for rehabilitation.

What happens during a full clinical assessment?

Your assessment will involve you answering a series of questions regarding the history and nature of your problem. This part of the assessment helps us understand the history of your injury and condition, the nature of the pain and how your pain and symptoms respond to certain activities. This will be followed by a physical assessment, enabling us to determine the source of pain and its impact on your body mechanics.

Completion of the assessment provides our experienced therapists with a working diagnosis to plan a course of treatment. Treatment is then aimed at settling pain sensitive tissues, restoring movement, normal biomechanics and your physical function as required. The assessment also enables us to be able to indicate a likely timescale of rehabilitation and whether an onward medical referral may be required.

A planned course of treatment could involve hands-on therapy sessions, rehabilitation exercise prescription, electrotherapy, shockwave therapy, Pilates-style exercises, on likely an appropriate combination based on your individual circumstances.