Physiotherapy

Re-achieve your best

Fully qualified musculoskeletal physiotherapist

helping you to re-achieve your best

Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist

This means that we treat and rehabilitate joint and soft tissue injuries/conditions, neurological symptoms caused by a musculoskeletal problem, long-term pain, and post-surgery. 

Mahala is both HCPC and CSP registered. 

We welcome clients from age eight upwards (we recommend specialist paediatric care for younger children).

Treatment

Your treatment will begin with an assessment where we will ask you about your symptoms and listen to your needs, your expectations, and what you would like to achieve.  I will then devise an individualised treatment plan either to get you to recovery as soon as possible, or to accomplish the best management of your long-term condition.

Treatment techniques will include;

Remedial Massage
Myofascial Release
Joint Mobilisations / Manipulations
Neurodynamics
Acupuncture
Ultrasound Therapy
Taping
Rehabilitation
Movement Repatterning
Postural Awareness

Initial appointments are 45 minutes as hands-on treatment is included in your first visit as well as the assessment.
Follow-up appointments are 30 minutes.

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Treatments

Information to help you better understand our services

Remedial Massage

This is deep tissue massage focusing on specific areas of tension in the soft tissues.  Techniques such as cross-friction massage and acupressure points are used to break down adhesions and scar tissue, and to release trigger points.  This increases blood flow, realigns soft tissue fibres, and improves mobility.

Myofascial Release

Myofascia is a thin, stretchy tissue that wraps around muscles.  It creates muscle compartments and connections, and enables smooth gliding of fibres.  Sometimes, due to excessive strain, adhesions can form in the myofascia, restricting movement and causing pain.  Myofascial release is a technique which focuses on releasing adhesions and lengthening myofascia.

Joint Mobilisation/Manipulations

Joint mobilisations can be applied to any joint in the body, including the small spinal joints, in order to create more mobility.  This involves applying a graded pressure directly to the joint, grade 1 being very gentle, and grade 5 being the most pressure.  A grade 5 manipulation has the aim of releasing a gaseous pressure from inside the joint which may result in an audible ‘click’.  Clients will always be consulted before a grade 5 manipulation is applied.

Neurodynamics

Peripheral nerves start from their route at the spinal cord, to the receptors in the muscles and skin.  Sometimes somewhere along this track the nerve can become impinged or ‘trapped’ which can cause various symptoms such as pins and needles, numbness, and pain.  Neurodynamics are specific movement combinations called ‘sliders’ or ‘tensioners’ that mobilise the nerve with the aim of decreasing neural sensitivity during everyday movement.

Acupuncture

There are two types of acupuncture: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and dry needling.  TCM works by using specific acupuncture points along a meridian or channel.  When the needles are applied the balance of Qi (roughly translated as ‘energy’) is corrected by either increasing, decreasing, or ‘unblocking’ the flow.  This restores the body’s homeostasis and relieves symptoms.  The Westernised theory is that the stimulus of applying a needle causes the release of the body’s natural pain relieving chemicals, and encourages stimulation of the natural healing process.  This type of acupuncture can be applied manually or with the aid of an
electro-acupuncture machine.


Dry needling is a technique whereby the needle is placed into a trigger point (an over-sensitive nodule in a taut muscle).  The needle is then manipulated which causes an involuntary contraction of the muscle fibres called a twitch response.  This is thought to reduce the body’s pain chemicals around the point, and encourage the natural healing process.

Ultrasound Therapy

Ultrasound therapy transmits high frequency sound waves into the cells of the soft tissues. This increases cell permeability, thus allowing the body’s healing agents to diffuse into the cells to speed up, and enhance the natural healing process.

Taping

Depending on the injury or symptoms, tape can be applied to the body in specific ways in order to decrease pain and/or provide support to the soft tissues or joints.

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation includes strengthening, mobility, neuromuscular connection, and proprioception (balance techniques).  Rehabilitation  is a vital part of the treatment so that the damaged tissues can heal, movement patterns can be restored, and functional loss can be reversed.  If this step is bypassed, the area remains a weak spot and is prone to re-injury.  It could also cause imbalances resulting in compensatory stresses and strains on other areas of the body.

Movement Repatterning

Our brains store multiple movement patterns like templates that we call on throughout the day, eg. sit down, walk, standing still, etc.  Sometimes these templates may turn into patterns that no longer allow our bodies to function efficiently.  This could be due to injury (eg. limping), habit (eg. sitting with legs crossed over), learnt (how you learnt the pattern originally), or psychological issues (eg. stress).

 

Inefficient movement patterns can cause symptoms such as postural disturbances, stresses and strains, muscles that don’t activate properly, and balance issues.  Movement repatterning provides your brain with alternative, and more effective ways to move.  By practising the movements, the brain learns that this is the new template for that specific movement pattern.  Over time, using the new template should help to alleviate the symptoms experienced due to the previous, less effective way of moving.

Postural Awareness

Our posture is one of the many movement patterns stored in our brains (please see ‘Movement Repatterning’).  It is the alignment we hold ourselves in throughout the day whether we are static, moving, sitting, or standing.  If our posture (including our foot posture) is the best achievable alignment our bodies are able to perform, our movements are more likely to be efficient, and without compensations.  Therefore I believe it is important to address the posture of every client no matter what part of the body their symptoms are in.

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