Well… it’s been one heck of a week, and I hope you and your family are staying safe.
Now that we’ve all been effectively grounded, after a lot of thought, I have made the decision to transition 100% to online physiotherapy treatment sessions, helped by the fact that the company who make my clinical notes software have just released an encrypted “telehealth” (video) module!
Behind the scenes…
It’s never been more important to stay active, move well and breathe well. And for many people, unfortunately pain doesn’t helpfully disappear when there’s a pandemic, and of course I still want to help as many people as I can live free from pain and get back to doing the things that they love to do.
So this week I’ve been working hard behind the scenes, doing online training with one of the England rugby physios, to work out how best to translate what I do in clinic, into the online arena. I’ve also been practising with a handful of patients and other therapists to make sure I can deliver online treatment sessions successfully – and it’s working.
Look Mum, no hands!
Whether you’ve been to see me before or not, you may have noticed from my blog that when I’m in clinic, I use my hands a lot to assess and treat – especially at the start of a course of treatment.
BUT, as my past and current patients know, the VITAL thing that truly allows you to get rid of your pain, and to keep it away, is the rehab exercises that you do in between appointments to continue to progress. So even with online treatment, I can still provide about 80% of the benefit that I can in clinic.
What I’m learning from the England Rugby chap is how to visually figure out where the patient’s pain is coming from (rather than feeling it in my hands) and to create a bespoke treatment plan and coach my patients through their specific exercises to enable them to ease the pain and get back to doing the things that they love to do.
See you online
So – from tomorrow, I’ll be back – but only online.
My sessions will be a bit shorter than usual (30 minutes for online treatment seems to be about right, though I’m going to leave space between sessions so that if we need to run over to 45 minutes, we can) and less expensive; but I still aim to provide the same level of service, with new patients getting a written report of the session, and both new and current patients getting exercises on video if it’s appropriate (though normally I video my patients doing their exercises with me talking, and now you may have to put up with having me in the videos!)
So if you find you’re struggling (which is pretty common when you suddenly have to work from home and aren’t set up the way you are in the office) – please call my team on 0207 175 0150 or email help@nellmead.com and they will get you booked in.
And in the meantime, please stay safe!