Meet the Physiotherapist
Meet Miranda.
Miranda is a qualified and well experience physiotherapist specialising in limb difference.
As a Physiotherapist who specialises in limb difference, my role can vary from day-to-day and person-to-person. The main aim of my role is to reduce risk of injury and pain whilst facilitating as many aspects of the life you desire as possible.
That means I work in: Pre-operative care, post-operative recovery, use of assistive devices and prosthetics, movement education, assistance to return to independent living, pain management and specialised or sports movements.
I like to remind anyone who I work with that working together is a partnership. You tell me the goals and I can help break down the stages to get there and the realistic chance of success at each stage. It is a big part of my job to help you with expectation management and help you to self- review progress and goal making, but most decisions are up to you. I am also there for advice and support, those days when you are feeling like the treatment isn’t working or you are not getting any better, or if you want to start a new sport talk to your Physio about it.
If you are thinking of visiting a Physiotherapist here is what to expect:
1: Medical history – be prepared to be asked questions that do not seem to be connected to your current question, all these parts of the puzzle help us understand your health and how we might be able to build a programme which works for you.
2: Physical assessment – you may be asked to strip to your underwear, but you will almost certainly need to show the residual limb. We will look at how level everything is on your body and ask you to move to look at sources of pain and compensatory movements or limitations.
3: Specialised tests – depending on the issue this could be anything from looking at your shoes, to hitting your knee with a hammer. These tests help us to get closer to the source of problems.
4: Treatment – this could be manual where the therapist uses their hands for treatment, you may be asked to perform exercises or movements or a machine may be used, depending on what is deemed necessary by the therapist.
5: Homework – few things can be treated in a single session and it is important that you keep working at home to improve, a therapist will normally give you advice and things to try out at home.
We are a science-driven profession and this means usually the first treatment we apply is that which has shown the greatest results for your particular issue, but nothing works for everyone. Be honest, tell your therapist if you are not improving and they can discuss a different approach with you.
Visit the BBC BBC Bitesize website to learn about the lift of a prosthetist https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/articles/zr3b7nb