Finding a good physiotherapist

When I talk about physiotherapists in this section, I am referring to chiropractors, osteopath’s, massage therapists and physiotherapists’.

It took me a couple of years to find a good physiotherapist. With every physiotherapist I saw, I did see a bit of improvement; however, sometimes it wasn’t worth it.

When I became very proactive in my healing, I finally found a good physiotherapist. I asked a lot of questions, if I didn’t understand what they were saying, I would ask them to write it down – then I would look it up that evening.

I talked about my pain with my colleagues and friends, who would then provide me with the names and numbers of physiotherapists’ that have helped them, or others they knew.

I looked for physiotherapists' who were hopeful, but also realistic. To many times I would see professionals who felt that I should learn to live with the pain indefinitely. This is true to some degree, but there is always room for improvement.

Also, if a physiotherapists said “oh I can fix you”, this raised red flags for me - particularly, as they would say this without seeing any of my x-rays, or previous history.

I looked for physiotherapists who had experience dealing with back and nerve pain, and were comfortable with themselves to ask others for advice - when they didn't have all the answers.

I saw one osteopath in particular, who said, “we’ll have 3 appointments together, and if we don’t see any improvement in that time, then I will refer you to someone else”.

I like this – provided some sort of guarantee. I also liked when a physiotherapist took me as far as they could, and then admitted it! I find too many physiotherapists won’t admit that they aren’t helping you anymore. This is extremely unprofessional… I often see this with chiropractors.

I have had some bad experiences with chiropractors… I would not recommend a chiropractor for disk degeneration, and the resulting nerve pain. I feel their solutions are not long term, but quick fixes... fixes that make you have to return again and again.

I would however, recommend a good physiotherapist, whose techniques incorporate osteopathy. Also a good osteopath is fantastic – however, they are more pricey than physiotherapists.