The New Grad Physio Podcast

The shoulder is more complicated in many ways than other joints like the knee or ankle. But that does not mean you can’t still get quick results… Results that stick and results that mean your patients symptoms don’t return just hours after they leave your clinic room. In this podcast episode I cover some super simple strategies you can use to help you better manage patients with shoulder pain… To...

Connect before you correct. This is so important to the effectiveness of your patient assessments and your ability to find the right patient diagnosis. You need your patients to tell you everything, like their injury history, past medical history, social and drug history, so you can get to the bottom of their problem… But they are not going to do this if they do not feel safe and comfortable in yo...

On the final instalment of my success series I was joined on the podcast by Katie Davis, private practice and women's health physiotherapist. Katie was a wealth of experience in the NHS and private sectors and is a specialist in women's health . We spoke about many of the challenges Katie came up against as both a student and new grad and how she overcame these to progress her career to where it i...

On this episode I had another special guest as part of my success series as I was joined by Gareth Robinson, sports physiotherapist and current personal therapist to one of the world’s top golfers. We recorded this podcast as Gareth was away in Abu Dhabi on the golf circuit and we delved into what life is like as a therapist travelling around the world working with a top golfer. Prior to his curre...

In this special guest podcast I was joined by current lead physiotherapist for the Great Britain Olympic Taekwondo team, Ben Harper. Prior to his current role in Olympic sport Ben has been involved in professional rugby union and rugby league, most noticeably with the Leeds Rhinos, Castleford Tigers and the Huddersfield Giants, the later where he was the Head of Physiotherapy and Rehab. He also sp...

As part of my Success Series I was joined on the podcast by Caroline White, current Football Association Women’s Phase Lead Physiotherapist. Prior to working in football at the FA, Caroline has worked in top flight Rugby Union with both the Northampton Saints and Gloucester, in the NHS, within University sport, with the Great Britain handball team and in a host of other roles. All this after first...

What is not measured is not managed. This is 100% true. But I’m not talking here about your patients assessments but actually your OWN assessment as a therapist. It is so important that you frequently review your own practice to identify what you are good at… And what areas of your practice you need to work on! In this special podcast episode you will discover exactly how to do that, so you can be...

Knowing where to start with a patients rehab programme may sometimes seem hard. What exercises do you pick? How many reps or sets should your patient do? What should I be working on; strength, hypertrophy, power...? Is bodyweight ok or should they use weights? All these questions may confuse you and make you feel unsure about whether or not you have prescribed the right exercises for your patient....

Hip pain can be tough to get a grip a hold of. I’m sure you have seen those patients that seem to get better, sometimes quickly, but then just as quickly, they regress. Sometimes getting rid of their symptoms seems to be the easy part, as no sooner do these symptoms go away, they come back as patients get back in the gym or playing sport. The hip is also tricky because it can also be easily aggrav...

The patella sweep test is a simple knee special test but... It is the simple tests that are often the best tests! This test can give you some important information about your patient's knee injury... Much more than just assessing for the presence of a knee effusion. In this podcast learn more about the patella sweep test, what it is, what it does and why you need to know it... So you can use this...

One of the most common lower limb misdiagnoses made by new grad’s involves ankle syndesmosis injuries. Often these injuries are mistaken for lateral ankle injuries like an ATFL or CFL ligament injury. And this is a big issue… As the management of syndesmosis injuries and lateral ankle injuries, is completely different! It’s kind of funny that I have put together a podcast episode, advising new gra...

Neck pain patients with positive red flag symptoms, like pins and needles and weakness, used to get my head in a spin as a New Grad. I used to worry that I would make this kind of patient worse... Unsure whether or not I needed to refer this type of patient to someone else or if I was safe to start treating them. I had a complex neck pain patient walk through my door recently, who had been in car...

Think about going to see your doctor. And before you even get chance to explain what is going on… The doctor just gives you some pills and shows you the door. You would hope this would never happen. Clearly the doctor needs to ask you some questions and examine you to diagnose your issue and THEN… Prescribe you with the right medication or advice for your illness. But most therapists do this very...

Whilst every patient you see will be different… They will have different injuries… Different past medical histories… And different outcome goals… They ALL require the SAME rehab steps to get them out of pain and back to full function. If you having a clear and structured rehab plan this means you will be confident about which problems to treat first… And know how you are going to progress a patien...

If you sometimes find yourself getting stuck with your patients... And wonder what treatment technique or rehab exercise to use once you have finished your patient assessments… Then this podcast episode is for you! Once you have made a diagnosis and have identified your patients problems… The next step is for you to fix these problems. Whether the patient has lost ROM, or lacks strength or somethi...

Impingement is NOT a diagnosis. I hold my hands up and admit that I used to think it was... And worse still, I admit I gave it this diagnosis to 100's of patients and the athletes that I worked with. Not only is this diagnosis label highly inaccurate... Giving impingement as a diagnosis is actually detrimental to your treatment plan and results in reduced adherence to a patients home exercise prog...

Have you noticed that most injuries you see are not quite as simple or clear cut as you were told at University. Those textbook shoulder, knee or lower back pain patients never walk in to your clinic. Patients always seem to have other issues, like previous injures or symptoms that do NOT fit that textbook clinical pattern. When your objective tests don’t match your subjective question’s, it throw...

When it comes to the shoulder and special testing, the biggest mistake that I see New Grad’s make, is doing too many tests… And worse than this… Relying too much on special testing to make a diagnosis. This is a big problem because most of the special tests at the shoulder are $*&£. They have poor sensitivity and specificity and as such, are not great tests to use to make a correct diagnosis....

Why is it that shoulders are so difficult to treat and especially, tricky to diagnose? The reason… 99% of New Grads (likely you too) are greatly overcomplicating the assessment. This leads to overwhelm and uncertainty about the diagnosis… Leaving you feeling confused, as your subjective and objective assessments don’t match up. You may think that the shoulder is complicated and as a result you nee...

In this special episode I spoke to Jade Danes, a sports therapy graduate currently working in both professional sport and private practice. Just in the last 12 months Jade has progressed from being turned down for jobs in both clinics and at professional sports clubs in favour of other sports therapists and physio’s… To now working in professional sport, including elite rugby union and rugby leagu...

Stop wasting your time and efforts on the wrong rehab exercises and treatments and halt your frustration... So you can treat even tricky ankle patients! The ankle is meant to be a relatively simple joint. So, why is it that even simple ankle cases can sometimes struggle to get back to full fitness? It used to baffle me as a New Grad. I couldn’t quite grasp why such a simple joint was sometimes so...

He had depression and I didn’t know. We were 4 months in to a 9 month rehab programme and he had been struggling for the last 3 months. I had spent 1-2 hours with him almost every day of the week with his post op shoulder treatment and rehab yet… I was totally unaware of what was going on in his head. As a health progressional I was meant to help him. Looking back I let him down. I didn’t have the...

I graduated in the Summer of 2010 and was straight to work in my first job as the Assistant First Team Physiotherapist at the Leeds Rhinos. I have learnt a lot over the last 10 years. I feel fortunate to have had some great successes both in professional sport and private practice. But despite my accelerated career path it has never quite been as rosy as it may have looked from the outside! In bet...

You use your red flag questions to make sure you don’t miss any serious pathology and treat something you shouldn’t. But despite what many therapists believe… A positive red flag answer does not mean instant referral to A & E or the need for a second opinion. Many New Grad’s often tell me they just feel like they go through the motions and ask ‘red flag’ questions just for asking sake… Unsure...

Anterior hip pain can often be tricky to get a hold of as it can be irritated by simple movements and positions, like squatting or lunging… Or even sedentary activities like siting or driving, so it often doesn’t take much to irritate symptoms. Most therapists are missing a simple trick. Its simple when you know what this is… And it can be the difference between successful rehab or persistent pain...