The world has changed fast in the past few weeks: habits have been disrupted to aid a higher cause, leading to many people losing their jobs and important services being interrupted.

Why is the clinic open? Isn’t it dangerous?

Lots of clinics like ours have temporarily (maybe!) closed too. We’ve recommended elderly, frail or immuno-deficient patients to stay home, and everybody else to be as safe as possible, limiting social interactions as much as they can.

We decided to stay open to help our health system as much as we can (as encouraged by the Government’s Minister of Health). In fact, staying open helps people to seek help before their ailment becomes so severe they need medical assistance and then go to a medical centre or a hospital. Those are in fact the last places you want to be as they’re already very busy with the current emergency and they’re the places where sick people should go to to get screened. Quick tip: you don’t want to be there.

Staying home is still the safest thing to do, but we’re complying with the latest safety protocol to minimise the risks. And that’s why we’ve started offering online consultations too.

Online consultations are now available

We want to still be here for you, offering our support for your rehab or pain management. Remote physiotherapy is a very effective option that can deliver our service safely and effectively. In fact, studies have shown that the diagnosis and treatment accuracy in online consultations is the same as for face-to-face treatments, while the outcomes are similar or better.

Surely, there’s one question everybody wants to ask:

“What about the hands-on treatment!?”

I know, we are very hands-on at our clinic and losing the pain of getting IN THERE on a trigger point is a major bummer - we all know that. However, there’s many other factors in our consultations in addition to that.

If you’ve already visited our clinic, you know how long we spend asking 2500 questions - and quite weird ones too. Getting a very clear idea of what you’re feeling and how the problem is affecting you is usually what gives us a strong idea of what’s going on from the beginning, the things we check manually usually then confirm our hypothesis for a diagnosis.

Even though we remove touch from the assessment, our team of practitioners have an average of 17 years of experience.
You can’t lose that.

How does it work and what can I get from it?

Once you book your online treatment, you’ll receive a link to join the video consultation on your computer. You can the explain to me what you’re dealing with and I all ask you all the details I need to understand exactly what’s going on.

Cats’ paws, my favourite metaphor for the meniscus in the knee joint.

At the clinic it happens often that I explain some anatomical detail on a picture on screen or show you a tool you can use at home on the Internet. Sometimes we show cats’ paws pictures, just because they’re silly. However, we can still definitely do that online: we'll share our screen so that we can show you the mechanism of what’s going on in your body, give you appropriate links or relevant references.

You should find a wide, comfortable space to have the consultation in, as I might ask you to perform movements or particular actions, so that I can assess the range of movement of your joints or the strength of your muscles.

We’ll then go through the exercises you need to learn to improve, and do them over and over until done properly and safely. Even if wireless, we can’t switch off our clinical reasoning and our educating skills. I bet we can teach you how to do exercises or even manual therapy by yourself, as easily online as in person.

In fact, I’d show you how I would manage myself if I had the same injury or condition: we are not immune to injury ourselves and this is the appropriate time to share our self-management secrets. While social distancing at home, I’m following a daily shoulder stabilization routine because my left arm has been hurting a bit - last month I did 3 chin ups in a row, massive strain! You could join me and do the circuit together.

Many of you receive a management plan at the end of your consultation; usually this will include the home exercise program, advice for what to do and not to do, preventative strategies and self management tools. This implemented plan is sometimes the most crucial part that matters in your progress, in situations like tennis elbow (or other tendinopathies), acute or chronic back pain, repetitive strain injuries or chronic conditions in general.

After the consultations you can always email me to ask questions instead of having to wait for your consultation - I’m always online, you’ll receive your answer very quickly.

Why should I bother? I’m not sure it’ll help me, really.

As health professionals, we are committed to help people experiencing pain or restriction in their activity levels. This is an occasion to widen our range and reach even more people.

Keep in mind that telehealth is not just videocalls. It can be emails, phone calls, online exercise/education programs. We are here to discuss the best solution for you, and we’re not keen on turning our backs to whoever asks for help or advice, so feel free to pick our brains and see what’s available and if we can adjust it to your needs - and if we end up just exchanging emails, that’s fine too.

I know it still might sound strange, but online consultations are an option you should consider if:

you’re currently in pain and could benefit from our expertise and advise
you suffer from a chronic condition, such as tennis elbow, neck/back pain, knee/hip osteoarthritis
you want to learn self-guided manual therapy and trade secrets
you’re ready to do the work to get better
you value our help and the contribute we can give to your recovery

Available online consultations

If you’re looking for some additional healthy activities, Anne has already started online, live Yoga classes. Discover more about it here or book online here.

And it doesn’t end up just there, we’ll guarantee you’ll have all the support you need after your consultation too.

Please visit our website and like our Facebook page and Instagram profile for more information and for more updates, comment below and send us an email if your have any question too.

Stay safe and see you soon - even online.

Resources

Holland, A. E. (2017, October). Telephysiotherapy: time to get online. Journal of Physiotherapy. Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphys.2017.08.001

Odole, A. C., & Ojo, O. D. (2014). Is telephysiotherapy an option for improved quality of life in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee? International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications, 2014, 903816. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/903816

Prospect Physio and Health Plus Blog

Is online physiotherapy the right thing for me?