When injuries and illness happen, you need to seek treatment as soon as possible to get on the road to recovery. Here at Houlbrook Physiotherapy we aim to make that possible by offering a service at a time to suit you and in your own home.
We treat respiratory conditions, provide orthopaedic rehab, frailty and falls prevention, sports injury relief, sports massage and musculoskeletal rehab. We carry out workplace and wellbeing assessments, and care staff training.
Community rehab is the cornerstone of our work and we predominantly work with elderly patients. Covering all aspects of rehab and respiratory care where required. We work to improve our patients independence and quality of life.
Sports rehabilitation covers musculoskeletal injuries and rehab. Allowing our patients to return to activity whether sport or daily life.
We offer one to one falls prevention and assessment for patients who have had a fall or feel that they are just becoming more at risk. We will work to help improve strength and balance through targeted exercises. Whether you want one to one treatment or to join our online strength and balance class we’ve got something that works for you.
When we work with patients we like to find out what really matters, and what your goals are, no matter how big or small we will help you to achieve them. By working closely with you and understanding you as a whole, we can offer much better support. We see a lot of patients when they’ve had a hospital admission and we like to be a part of your journey towards independence.
Choosing the right walking aid is a big decision and there are many factors to consider when picking the right one for you. People often feel they’re not at a stage when they need a walking stick or walking aid. However, they reduce the amount they walk as they’re worried about falling.
Before choosing your walking aid consider where you’ll be walking. Is the ground rough or smooth? What will you be doing? Some patients manage with a walking stick. For those who plan to use walking aids for shopping trips, a four wheeled walker or delta frame is ideal as they include a shopping bag.
We carry a range of equipment so our patients can get a feel for what they prefer. We have links to local equipment shops and always recommend you try before you buy.
This depends on what you’re trying to achieve and your personal stamina. For example, if we’re working with someone to build power, we suggest they’re done more regularly, possibly once or twice a day. If we’re working with someone in a maintenance capacity, we suggest two or three times a week. It’s important to get the right advice so your exercise programme works for you and fits with your lifestyle.
We see patients who struggle with shortness of breath due to underlying respiratory conditions, anxiety or a combination of both. There are lots of techniques you can use to control shortness of breath.
The most common one we recommend, and the easiest to do when you’re out and about, is to use a small handheld fan. Let it blow across your cheeks and try to focus on getting a slightly longer breath out versus your breath in. We call this the “breathing rectangle” and sometimes focusing on this type of breathing helps reduce anxiety if you’re feeling very breathless. Using the fan across your cheeks helps lower your respiratory rate by triggering the mamillary dive reflex.
Yes – we really are awesome humans!
Yes, with practise. The more you practise, the better your balance gets. Sadly, as we age, the things that control balance such as muscle strength, eyesight, vestibular systems, and sensory feedback can be impacted by other conditions or just the ageing process.
Anything you can do to improve this decline will reduce your fall risk. We always recommend a combination of tailored strength and balance exercises.
Choosing the right walking aid is not something to be undertaken lightly and there are many factors to consider when picking the right one for you. Often people will feel that they’re not quite a stage when they need a walking stick or walking aid however on the flipside of this they’re reducing the amount they walk as they worried about having a fall. Things I always say to my patients when we’re discussing walking aids is where are you going to be walking, is it rough, is it smooth and what will you be doing. Some patients will manage with a walking stick whereas for some who are using their walking aids to go shopping a four wheeled Walker or delta frame is more appropriate as they have a bag which can carry shopping thus making it easier. We carry a range of equipment so our patients can get a feel for what they prefer but we also have links to the equipment shops in the area and always recommend that patients go and have a try before they buy that way you know you’re getting the right thing for you.
This very much depends on what you are trying to achieve with your exercises and also your personal stamina when they are set. For example if we’re working with someone to try and build power we would suggest that they are done more regularly possibly one or two times a day however if we’re working with somebody more in a maintenance capacity it’s more likely we would suggest that they’re done two or three times a week. Everyone is an individual and therefore it’s really important to get the right advice so you have an exercise programme that works for you and fits in with your life style.
We see a lot of patients who are struggling with shortness of breath, be it from underlying respiratory conditions, anxiety or a combination of both. There are lots of techniques you can use to control shortness of breath but probably the most common one I recommend and the easiest to do when you’re out and about is to have a small handheld fan and let it blow across your cheeks whilst trying to focus on getting a slightly longer breath out versus your breath in. We call this the breathing rectangle and sometimes focusing on this type of breathing can help reduce the anxiety the patients experience when they feel very breathless. Using the fan across your cheeks actually helps to lower your respiratory rate by triggering the mamillary dive reflex. Yes we really are awesome humans!
Balance like everything else can be improved with practise and obviously the more you practise the better it will get. Sadly as we age all of the things that control balance such as muscle strength, eyesight, vestibular systems, and sensory feedback can all be impacted by other conditions or just the general ageing process. Anything you can do to improve this decline is going to reduce your risk of having a fall which is why we always recommend a combination of strength and balance exercises that are tailored to the individual.
Our team consists of Jo, our senior physiotherapist and clinical director, and Hayleigh, our sports therapist and technical instructor.
Together we can treat patients who need the support of two therapists but also treat patients on our own.
