Friday 18 November 2016

Shoulder and collar bone pain - Rotator cuff tear investigation and treatment NHS (Part 2)

Physiotherapy Appointment Arrangement Letter (17th November)

A letter arrived to book an appointment, so I called the number shown. I received the inevitable voicemail and left my details. I received a call back by a very rude sounding woman who barked that they only had one appointment available and it was 12th December. Having been to the physio a few times I asked who it was with and I was told it was a 'new physio'. I hate to be cynical but I fear I'm going to be stuck with a young inexperienced 'deer in the headlights' type character again who panics whenever I ask a question.

Private Physiotherapy Appointments

Given the important function of my shoulder and the ineptness I have experienced on the NHS so many times I decided to take the matter into my own hands and book a private physiotherapy session in addition  to whatever the NHS decide to do. Click here to read about these private sessions.

NHS Physiotherapy Appointment (12th December)

After a short wait in some form filling got to meet my new NHS physio who was called it Tanvir.   Having previously been told that my physio was new I had imagined an inexperienced and  therefore and unhelpful individual.  However Tanvir would prove to be quite the opposite.

 He asked what the issues were and where things were today so I gave him a full rundown of everything that had happened.  Although I didn't hold out much hope I asked him if he could tell me whether or not the tail was serious or not from any information provided from Ultrasound report.  I expected the same result that I had at the fracture clinic where he would turn round and say that there wasn't any information provided by the ultrasound person as to where the table was exactly for it severity however I was really blown away by him telling me that he had already looked at the ultrasound before I had arrived and he could tell me exactly what the issue was.  He then asked me to wait while he got a model of a shoulder for him to show me in more detail.  He returned and gave me a full rundown of the problem in which he showed me that the actual tendon which attaches to my arm had been torn.  The size of the tail on the ultrasound indicated that it was what he would call and medium tear.

 I explained that my private physio has said that there was an issue with the pictorial muscle and that's why I was getting paid over my collarbone but he dismissed this as a possibility and insisted that it was referred pain from my initial injury.

 He explained that as a raw they normally wait 12 weeks for any healing to take place before they start strengthening exercises.  Thankfully for me it had been 12 weeks so we could get started with the rehabilitation.

 I showed him the exercises the private physio have given me and he said that those were okay but he wanted me to do some additional ones.  Some using my own hand as resistance, some with a weight, and some with a Thera band.

Overall he seems knowledgeable, really Enthusiastic  and taught me a lot about the injury. He was also a big guy  Who obviously worked out a lot so he was into strength and conditioning which helped him understand that I was keen to get back to the gym. 

I was with him for about 45 mins which I was very surprised at given my previous experience with the NHS, he also asked if I had any questions and then genuinely and completely answered them. Since that appointment I have tried to do the exercises every day so I'm hoping for some improvement.

MRI appointment (15th Dec)

Details to follow

NHS Physiotherapy Appointment Follow Up (3rd Jan)

Details to follow

No comments:

Post a Comment