I’d like to introduce one of my superstar patients. Please meet lovely accountant, entrepreneur and mum of two Rachel, who is so chuffed with her progress that she’s given me permission to tell her story.
Rachel was hit by a car 3 years ago, while being a good Samaritan on a snowy day, and while the MRI scans — and even an arthoscopy — didn’t show any structural problems, her knee hurt so much that she couldn’t walk. She had been referred to top knee surgeon Ian McDermott but with a clear MRI, he recommended that she see us. She limped into Victory looking and feeling crushed.
Rachel had been seeing an osteopath since the car accident, and told me that she was definitely better than she had been, but she had plateaued and the therapist was stuck.
During Rachel’s 90-minute physio assessment, I found that she had wasting of the muscles of her left leg, especially around her buttock and thigh. Her pelvis was moving poorly, and her left hip was painful when we guided it into rotation. There was also a restriction in her left knee, which was painful when she bent it too far, and she wasn’t able to balance on her left foot.
However, when I controlled the movement of Rachel’s pelvis and left hip, her balance and knee pain significantly improved. This was where I started treatment.
Rachel is not a Londoner, so visits were less frequent, which made her progress a bit slower than usual. Nevertheless, she was totally dedicated to doing her hip exercises, so we were able to see significant changes at every treatment session, as her balance, flexibility and pain levels all slowly improved.
After 12 sessions of physiotherapy, Rachel, who had been on crutches, and had been told that her knee would never improve, was able to run 1.5 miles without pain. She now has normal balance when standing on her left foot, and is now able to play with her children again.
If you know anyone who’s suffering like Rachel was — whether that’s because their scans are clear, because they’ve hit a plateau with treatment, or because they’ve been told surgery won’t help so there’s nothing more to be done — please get them to call us on 0207 175 0150 and book a physio assessment. We’ll be absolutely delighted to help if we can.