How do I know if I am seeing the right Physiotherapist, Osteopath or Chiropractor and if I should get a second opinion? By Marathon Physio Lucy Macdonald

How do I know if I am seeing the right Physiotherapist, Osteopath or Chiropractor?  

All professions have those that excel at what they do and those that do not. Medical and health professional are no different. Therefore, it is important to equip yourself with the knowledge to be able to discern the difference. An excellent Physiotherapist, Chiropractor, Osteopath or other similar therapist will fulfil the following criteria:

1. They never tell you that you need ongoing treatment.
2. You never have more than three appointments without you showing SUSTAINED and SIGNIFICANT improvement.
3. They modify your activity levels instead of telling you to rest. Complete rest is very rarely beneficial (you can read more about this later.) 
4. They listen to exactly how your symptoms are affecting your life and use a scale to give a number to every activity that is affected (not just a 0 -10 pain scale.) This helps with diagnosis, directs treatment and gives a baseline so you both know to what extent you are improving. 
5. When they say what is causing your symptoms it makes complete sense. 
6. They give you the ideal treatment plan with clear time frames including number of sessions and frequency of visits and tell you why you need to see them for those sessions. Then they ask you if this is realistic for you time and budget wise, and together you make compromises.
7. They observe how you do the movements or components of the movements that cause your pain, not just running. They then explain how to adjust these activities e.g. the way you walk, go up and down stairs, sit at work, and of course run. These small alterations in your technique can often result in an immediate reduction or cessation of pain when running.  
8. Hands-on techniques are only one component of the treatment and when they do them you feel comfortable with why they are doing them and confident you can ask them to stop at any time.
9. You are given exercises that make total logical sense and can be easily related to running and your other painful or difficult activities. Most exercises should be standing up (ideally on one leg.) Lying down exercises have their place, but you should have a clear understanding of how they relate to running.
10. They tell you when they don’t know the answer and refer you to someone who does. If they say they want you to have a second opinion or ask one of their peers to join a session with you then you know you are in safe hands. 

Testimonials

If you have doubts about your treatment, the first thing to do is to discuss them with your health professional, then get in touch with Lucy and her physio team. They are accustomed to getting people better who have had lots of unsuccessful treatment elsewhere, here are some testimonials attesting to this:

I was told that I should never run again due to knee pain. I sought a second opinion and the consultant said this was nonsense and referred me to Lucy who he described as the best bio-mechanical physio he had ever come across. Within 10 minutes Lucy noticed something that all the physios and chiropractors I had seen previously had all missed. Lucy gave me simple but effective exercises and within a few sessions I was running again. I have been running pain free for over 6 months and it is all down to her skill and expertise. J Trumper

The first to take me seriously after seeing countless people. Having had knee problems for years now and seen countless people about it, Lucy has been the first to really take me seriously and tailor a training programme to my needs .I’m now feeling fitter than I have done in a long time and hope to continue making this sort of progress! J Higgins

This time last year I could barely get out of bed and move without pain killers and I was planning on running an Ultra Marathon! I asked Lucy for help to get me to the start line. As part of my training I worked with Lucy to fix a back problem I have suffered with for the best part of 25 years. Lucy was just incredible; her knowledge of the musculoskeletal anatomy is just outstanding. She hardly laid a hand on me, importantly she taught me to reconnect to my body and gave me the tools and exercises to help myself. I had a few setbacks, but Lucy was always there to get me back on track. I have been to so many physios/ osteos etc with little success. It’s not too bigger claim to say that the treatment I got from Lucy has changed my life – I now live without constant pain…and I completed the Ultra Marathon! T Barnes

More marathon physio advice 

Follow @octopusclinic on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and/or Lucy Macdonald on YouTube to access our latest free videos on marathon training and injury prevention. If you would like our marathon handbook and are running for charity please contact Lucy Macdonald directly on lucymacdonaldphysio@hotmail.co.uk or if you would like to get the video course Your Marathon: Your Physio please click on the link.