Helping you. How we do it.
We understand, through many years of experience, that addressing nerve injury and neurological condition complications (e.g. pain, postural difficulties and movement problems) and working together towards relieving you from that can be a big mental as well as physical challenge. We want to help and reassure you before you step foot in our clinic, so we have outlined the content of a typical first appointment to remove any mystery or reason for anxiety.
Typical First Appointment
In a first appointment we will talk to you about your problem, physically assess you and carry out specialised tests. We will look at your posture, movement and if appropriate, balance. For some nerve injuries we offer a unique service whereby we can assess the viability, level of damage and function of damaged nerves by using Surface Electromyography (SEMG). This is a painless test and the results are available immediately.
It is a way of looking inside the damaged area of your body in a non-invasive way. A thorough physiotherapy assessment will guide us to the best course of treatment to help you. We will need to see your body easily and put our hands on you, so make sure you are wearing shorts or a vest top so this is easy.
Treatment
The treatment of neurological conditions and nerve injuries involves:
- Manual physiotherapy techniques where muscles, nerves and soft tissues are gently manipulated and facilitated to work more effectively and efficiently and reduce pain.
- Exercises to strengthen weak muscles and gain better movement and posture.
- Stretching of soft tissues and nerve flossing.
- Balance retraining
- Low frequency electrical stimulation. This is a treatment for nerve injuries, carried out daily by the patient at home. A very gentle electrical current is applied to the weak muscles with the aim of improving the health of these muscles. Often, as the muscle condition improves, the nerve function improves too. Patients can buy a trophic stimulator from a local supplier. Patients will be shown how to apply and use the stimulator during their appointment at The Nerve Injury Clinic.
- Biofeedback using a computer system to re-educate normal, balanced movement
- Advice upon coping with the day-to-day difficulties of living with a nerve injury or neurological condition. Referral on to other team members when appropriate, eg, orthotist for foot drop splints, physiotherapy colleague for acupuncture, yoga instructor for movement rehabilitation.
- Provide a bespoke home treatment programme to ensure carryover and continued improvement in between treatment sessions, using the very latest exercise rehabilitation methods.
