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What Happens When You Attend Your First Sports Therapy Appointment?

You should arrive 5 minutes early to fill out the registration form. Your Therapist will then greet you and bring you into the clinic room. We will start with a detailed medical history to get all the information about your current issue. From here we will do a complete assessment to figure out what the issue is. We will then explain the findings of the assessment to you and answer any questions you have. This assessment allows the Therapist to develop a specific treatment plan for you, this will be started in the first session, and depending on the plan will include hands-on treatment.

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What Does The Assessment Involve?

Depending on where the issue is your Therapist may ask you to remove some clothing. Is advisable to come with shorts if it is an issue with your lower back, hips, or legs and perhaps a vest top if the issue is in your back, shoulders, neck, or arms. It’s important that you are comfortable and that your Therapist can see the area well. 

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Your  Therapist will then observe as you do some basic movements in standing, sitting, or lying. They may also move your limbs to check flexibility or may palpate (feel) to get a sense of what is happening in the tissue.

Generally, the tests are pain-free but some may cause mild discomfort. Be sure to give your Therapist feedback on how it is feeling. This will help them determine what tests to do and will help narrow down to find the true cause of the symptoms.

 

What Will The Treatment Include?

There is a huge array of treatments that Sports Therapists can do. Below is a list of the most common treatments:

• Soft tissue massage

• Trigger point therapy - direct pressure is applied to the area and held still

• Joint mobilizations - the pressure is applied to the joints to increase movement

• Dry needling - very fine needles are placed into the tissue. It can cause a small twitch effect in the area.

• Postural correction and exercise prescription - this can start as simply as some things to remember about your posture on a daily basis, to gentle exercises at home, progressing to gym exercises, and return to sport programs.

• Advice and education - This will cover what to do to help yourself and what to avoid.

Your Therapist will decide upon what treatments will be the most effective for your issue. It’s important to remember none of them are compulsory, if you would prefer not to have a particular type of treatment you can always opt-out.

 

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What Can You Expect To Feel After The Treatment?

You may feel a little sore after the assessment and tender after the treatment. Generally speaking, you will leave feeling better, unless otherwise outlined by your Therapist.

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Now You Have Completed The First Appointment What Will The Follow Up Entail?

After the first appointment, your Therapist will have a treatment plan in action. We will start with a quick chat to determine how you have been doing since the previous appointment. We will then complete a condensed assessment to monitor your progress. The remainder of the session will be then focussed on the ongoing treatment.

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How Many Appointments Do You Need To Attend?

This varies a huge amount from person to person depending on what the issue is. This depends on several factors:

• Which structure is causing the symptoms

• The extent of the injury to this structure

• How long you’ve had the symptoms

• Your fitness levels and lifestyle prior to the pain

• How good you are at following the treatment plan

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Following your first appointment, your Therapist will outline how many sessions they think you will need to have and will re-evaluate this as the treatment continues.

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If you have any other questions before your session, simply email info@tmaclife.com or call: 03300 432 326