Every new client starts here. Before anything is treated, it has to be understood — where the pain actually comes from, what movement is restricted, and what has been loading the tissue badly enough to cause it.
What happens
We talk through the history first: what you felt, when it started, what makes it worse, what you need to get back to. Then a physical assessment — watching how you move, testing range of motion, and testing the muscles and joints involved to narrow down the cause.
Pain is often felt somewhere other than the place causing it. A shoulder that hurts can be a neck problem; lower back pain can come from the hips. The point of assessing properly is to treat the cause rather than chase the symptom.
What you leave with
An explanation of what is going on in plain language, treatment on the day, and a plan — what we do next, roughly how long it should take, and what you can do between sessions to help it along.
Your first hour includes fifteen minutes of assessment and consultation; a first 30-minute session includes ten.
What to wear and bring
Something you can move in, and that allows access to the area — shorts for a knee or hip, a vest for a shoulder or neck. If you have had scans, letters or a diagnosis from someone else, bring them. If you are working towards a specific event or race, bring the date; it changes the plan.
What this is not
It is not a medical diagnosis and it is not imaging. A soft tissue therapist assesses movement, tissue and function — which is enough to explain most musculoskeletal pain and to treat it, but not everything presenting as muscular pain is muscular.
If anything in the assessment suggests it belongs with your GP, a physiotherapist or a consultant, I will say so and tell you why, rather than treating around it. Sending you to the right person is part of the job, not a failure of it.
If it turns out I cannot help
You will be told at the assessment, not after six sessions. That is the point of assessing before treating.
What happens next
Most plans run three to six sessions, spaced to match how the tissue is responding, with things to do between them. You will know roughly how long it should take and what “better” looks like, so you can tell whether it is working rather than taking my word for it.
Not sure what the problem is? The injury guide describes the most common presentations in plain language — but reading about it is not the same as having it assessed.