Our Team

 

 Graham Morgan, CONSULTANT PHYSIOTHERAPIST, BSc Physiotherapy, MSc Musculoskeletal Medicine, INDEPENDENt physiotherapist PRESCRIBER, INJECTION THERAPIST, MCSP, HCPC registered

Graham has been working as a Clinical Lead Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist for over a decade now, he is the Clinical Lead for our clinic and acts as a mentor for the majority of the team. He has studied to gain an additional masters degree in Musculoskeletal Medicine alongside his previous physiotherapy degree. His main specialty is management of complex spinal conditions and he continues to work full time in his advanced clinical practice role with the spinal surgeons in the local NHS trust. Graham is a Clinical Lead for the region in management of back pain. Part of his role within the clinic involves planning and implementing high level combined physical and cognitive therapies programs for people with persistent spinal pain, he is trained in cognitive functional therapy. Graham treats patients with longstanding lower back pain with or without leg symptoms, neck pain with or without arm symptoms, post operative spines and patients who may have developed neurological deficits. He is experienced at interpreting spinal imaging as well as recognising when imaging may be required to assist care. Graham is also an independent prescriber and an experienced injection therapist and is used to administering steroid and hyaluronic acid such as synvisc and ostenil to help patients manage chronic conditions.

Niall carter, CONSULTANT PHYSIOTHERAPIST, BSc physiotherapy, msc advanced physiotherapy, independent physiotherapist PRESCRIBER, INJECTION THERAPIST, MCSP, HCPC registered

Nial is one of the most qualified and experienced Physiotherapists in the region. We are very lucky to have him as part of our team. When he is not working at Consortium as one of our Clinical Lead therapists he holds the same role as Graham working as an advanced clinical practicioner in the management of complex spinal conditions within the local spinal surgical team. Nial is also a Clinical Lead within our NHS region in the management of persistent back pain. Part of his role within the clinic involves planning and implementing high level combined physical and cognitive therapies programs for people with persistent spinal pain. Alongside this, he is vastly experienced in managing a wide variety of other musculoskeletal complaints. In addition to his two degrees in Physiotherapy he also an independent physiotherapist prescriber aswell as an injection therapist.

clare haslam, CONSULTANT WOMENS HEALTH PHYSIOTHERAPIST, bsc physiotherapy, mcsp, pogp, hcpc registereD, MUMMY MOT PRACTICIONER

Clare is a Specialist Women’s Health Physiotherapist within the local NHS trust and has been for over 10 years. She is regional expert in Women’s Health, is a member of the special interest group Pelvic, Obstetric & Gynaecology Physiotherapy (POGP) and is a certified Mummy MOT practitioner. She specialises in treating a variety of women’s health conditions including pelvic floor dysfunction, overactive pelvic floor, pelvic floor weakness, pelvic organ prolapse, bladder and bowel dysfunction such as urinary incontinence, overactive bladder, constipation and faecal incontinence. Although she does not see women during pregnancy, Clare can offer support with post pregnancy related conditions such as weak pelvic floor, obstetric injuries, rectus diastasis. As a certified Mummy MOT practitioner she offers specialist post natal examinations to help women recover after vaginal or caesarean deliveries (read more about this on our blog). Clares scope of practice also includes Male Health Physiotherapy for pre and post prostatectomy: including assessment, treatment and support with urinary incontinence and errectile dysfunction.

Abi Holt, CLINICAL LEAD MSK PHYSIOTHERAPIST, Bsc Physiotherapy, INJECTION THERAPIST, MCSP, HCPC registered

Abi has been working as a Clinical Lead Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist for a number of years now. When she is not working at Consortium she is one of the senior staff in the local hospital MSK physiotherapy department while she also works in the local emergency department assessing and managing patients with acute MSK conditions. She has gained extensive post graduate training in all aspects of MSK physiotherapy including Injection Therapy. She also has a special interest in treating spinal pathology, especially patients with chronic lower back pain. Abi works with Molly in heading up our team of Ossur brace fitters where they frequently fit patients with the Unloader One brace to help with knee osteoarthritis.

Gary Bradley, CLINICAL LEAD MSK PHYSIOTHERAPOST, BSc Physiotherapy, INJECTION THERAPIST, MCSP, HCPC registered

Gary is a Clinical Lead Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist and Injection Therapist. He supplements his work at Consortium by working in the East Yorkshire NHS services as a Team Lead MSK Physiotherapist. He has a wealth of experience having spent many years working within different facets of musculoskeletal medicine. He is skilled at seeing patients with hyper-acute injuries aswell as managing chronic conditions and long term rehab. Gary has extensive post graduate training, he spends time at the clinic implementing high level combined physical and cognitive therapies programs for people with persistent spinal pain, he is also trained in cognitive functional therapy.

Gary has always been driven to specialise in MSK Physiotherapy he is currently mid way through his Masters degree in advanced Physiotherapy. He is also an experienced injection therapist and is used to administering steroid and hyaluronic acid such as synvisc and ostenil to help patients manage chronic conditions.

His main focus is to empower his patients to be able to understand their condition and to manage it as effectively and independently as possible.

Tom Nozedar, SENIOR MSK PHYSIOTHERAPIST, MSC physiotherapy, bsc sports rehabilitation, mcsp hcpC registered

Tom is an experienced senior Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist. He works as a Senior MSK Physiotherapist within the NHS and is part of our in house Consortium MSK Physiotherapy mentorship program. Tom is an asset to our team, and can offer our patients a wide range of skills having initially graduated as a Sports Rehabilitator before returning to study and gain his Masters degree in Physiotherapy.

ShAFEEQ younus, SENIOR MSK PHYSIOTHERAPIST BSc Physiotherapy BSc, bsc SPORTS REHABILITATION, LEVEL 3 IN SPORTS MASSAGE THERAPY, hcpc registered

Shafeeq has a BSc degree in both Physiotherapy from Sheffield Hallum University and also a full degree in Sports Rehabilitation.

Aswell as seeing patients for Physiotherapy, Shafeeq also sees lots of patients for soft tissue work and he is often in high demand. His training and experience leaves him really well placed for any advice on pain, injuries and rehabilitation.

Shafeeq is a really valued member of our team having been with us throughout his training period on the Physiotherapy degree. He is now part of our in house Consortium MSK Physiotherapy mentorship program.

bart klimek, SENIOR MSK PHYSIOTHERAPIST, BSc Physiotherapy, bsc sports rehabilitation, level 3 in sports massage therapY, HCPC REGISTERED

Bart has a BSc degree in both Physiotherapy from Sheffield Hallum University and also a full degree in Sports Rehabilitation.

He is an experienced soft tissue therapist having graduated in Sports Rehabilitation a number of years ago from Hull University before then going on to become a fully qualified MSK Physiotherapist. Alongside his work at Consortium, he also works as an MSK Physio for the local East Yorkshire NHS MSK Physiotherapy team.

His sports rehabilitation experience as well as his physiotherapy degree leave him in strong position to manage a wide variety of MSK patients whether it be for soft tissue work/massage, or management of a variety of MSK complaints and sports injuries.

debbie robinson : senior rehabilitation therapist, associate member of the chartered society of physiotherapists

Debbie has been working as a Rehabilitaton Therapist for over 25 years. For the last 13 years she has been carrying out community home visits as part of the local NHS Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy team. Her vast experience in orthopaedic rehab, care of the elderly and with amputees makes her a valuable member of our team who can offer these services to patients in their own home or care facility as required.

MASSAGE TEAM:

bart klimek BSc Physiotherapy, bsc sports rehabilitation, level 3 in sports massage therapY, HCPC REGISTERED

Bart has a BSc degree in both Physiotherapy from Sheffield Hallum University and also a full degree in Sports Rehabilitation.

He is an experienced soft tissue therapist having graduated in Sports Rehabilitation a number of years ago from Hull University before then going on to become a fully qualified MSK Physiotherapist. Alongside his work at Consortium, he also works as an MSK Physio for the local East Yorkshire NHS MSK Physiotherapy team.

His sports rehabilitation experience as well as his physiotherapy degree leave him in strong position to manage a wide variety of MSK patients whether it be for soft tissue work/massage, or management of a variety of MSK complaints and sports injuries.

To find out more about the Consortium Sports Massage service please use this link. 

Tissue Regulation

Perhaps the best way to introduce this topic would be to pose the following questions..

Why do some runners demonstrate a poor style with limbs thrown all over the place with no obvious control yet they can continue uninjured?

So how are these lucky individuals able to continue to exercise pain free while many people with better style and form continually run into strings of injuries?

It seems clear therefore that injury does not solely relate to style, biomechanics or perfect alignment.

Each of us has a certain amount of capacity in our tissues to tolerate stresses and loads. Some may have a huge amount of leeway (the sloppy runner who is injury free) and others very little (the perfect runner who is always injured). Some people may be able to suddenly and drastically increase their training loads without injury, while others only have to make the most minimal of changes and they run into trouble. As a general rule of thumb however large changes in activity does seem to be a precursor to injury. The concept of tissue regulation and capabilities of tissues to tolerate load is not something new, in fact it was first described by Scott Dye an American knee surgeon in 2005 (Source).

The model that Scott puts forward should have huge influence in the way we treat patients today. We feel this is a very important concept for the majority of our patients to understand and we have tried to explain it in its most simple terms. 

OPTIMAL LOADING - sensible appropriate loads at the right intensity, speed and position with the correct amount of recovery will in time improve the capability of that tissue to tolerate load. No different from training for a marathon, take it too quick and you run the risk of injury, take it too slow and you waste time. It is a balancing act.

UNDERLOADING/SUBOPTIMAL - e.g complete rest! This will create the reverse effect and decrease the tissues capability to deal with load, as it would when you take time out injured. This can result in malnourishment, pain and pathology. The same principle applies with overloading. This is why we will try to avoid at all costs and will very rarely prevent you from having to stop participating in your activity.

How do you know if your exercises are pitched into the right zone for you?

If you can tolerate your current exercises/training load or activity in a pain free manner, with no flare up of pain on the second day after exercise then you are likely to be working within a capable zone for that tissue.  Be careful though as it is common for tissues to flare up 24 hours later. This can often be due to a latent production of an inflammatory chemical called cytokines.

No pain, no gain in the majority of cases is therefore not applicable what so ever!

What is the ideal?

Theoretically it is best to remain working at the upper limit of your optimal zone. Loading OPTIMALLY and allowing correct progression and recovery time will increase the capability of that tissue to deal with a task in a healthy manner.

What to do if I'm injured?

You will need to work in a lesser zone and then slowly build back up again. Even injured joints can function very well with certain activities. Examples of this can be using swimming and cycling where there is less direct impact yet you can still maintain strength and movement without continuing to overload and worsen your injury.

In summary, your tissues don't take well to sudden changes. Changes such as increases in training need careful grading. Think of your tissues like employees, if you drastically change someone's job role overnight without prior warning, you will have outrage and backlash on your hands. If you make small changes and are appropriately prepared it will make for a smoother transition. This is an especially important principle when dealing with patients chronic pain, they may well need to take much smaller steps and take them over a much longer period of time.

Exercise prescription is therefore something that should be taken extremely seriously. It is not just a case of picking exercises, giving them a go and quickly abandoning them if they don't give you the results you want. Exercises and training regimes must consist of OPTIMAL loads and need to be sensibly and accurately applied. The volume and intensity of your exercises needs to be monitored in order to be able to progress and regress them appropriately. The principles we have discussed here about regulating tissues must be applied in order to ensure successful recovery.

Thanks for reading 

Hello! Welcome to our blog...

So this is our first ever blog as Consortium physiotherapists.  We have known for a long time that we wanted to open this clinic and have spent a lot of hours discussing the ideas and principles behind our service.  

We want to provide a forward thinking evidence based approach in a completely open and honest way.  We are passionate about our profession and believe that we can provide a huge amount of expertise to boost the quality of care in our regions private physiotherapy sector.  It is important to us to empower our patients, promote activity and avoid using the long established passive treatments that unfortunately still haunt many private physiotherapy practices across the uk.

We want to utilise this blog as a way to educate our patients about recent developments within our field. We will be including posts that focus on providing valuable advice and information, dispelling many of the traditional myths that we find are still being fed to patients on a day to day basis. 

We also want our customer experience at Consortium to be comfortable, convenient and enjoyable. For that reason we have spent a lot of hours considering how we want our clinic to look and feel inside. We are renovating what will be our clinic site as we speak and let's just say it has been a labour of love. Anyway, the diggers have now finally cleared out, the excavation is complete and we are starting to see some exciting progress! The building itself is a pretty old one, with a good amount of character so we intend to make the most of this and keep its style traditional but with a modern edge. Inside there will be two large private clinic rooms, a comfortable waiting area with reading material, TV and Wi-fi for customer use (some home comforts are always good). 

Outside we have a large spacious private car park, accessed through a private gated entry for an easy parking experience. We hope to be ready to see patients early in 2016. There is quite a bit of extra land on site so once up and running we also plan to build a well equipped gym to aid aspects of our exercise therapy and movement analysis.

So that's an update on where we are at the moment with Consortium. Now that you know a bit about us as a group,  next time we'll share a bit more about us as individuals and let you know what each of us will bring to the service.  We hope you'll join us to read this from time to time and feel free to share your comments, they are always welcome.

Thanks,
The Consortium Team