News

Chrissie breaks world record

On the 12th July, Chrissie Wellington maintained her unbeaten record in ironman over the last 3 years by winning The Quelle Challenge in Roth, Germany. The winning time was 8.31.59, smashing the previous mark by 13 minutes. Her next major event is in October when she attempts to win the Hawaii Ironman in Kona for the third successive year. If you want to keep up with her progress see her website at www.chrissiewellington.org.

Chrissie Wellington - World Champion Iron Man

On the 6th April this year, 31 year old Chrissie added the Iron Man Australia title to the World Iron Man title that she won in Kona, Hawaii back in October 2008 becoming Britain’s first ever Irin world champion! The gruelling event which starts with a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bike and finishing with a 26.2 mile run was won in a time of 9.03.55, 5 minutes faster than the time of 9.08.45 set in kona.

Chrissie is a longstanding patient of Physiokinetic’s and competes for the Birmingham Running and Triathlon Club locally. She turned professional last year and Kona was only her second Iron Man making it an even more amazing feat.

In 2005, Chrissie came second in the New Zealand “coast to coast” race, a 243km two day endurance race across the Southern Alps incorporating running, cycling and kayaking. The most unbelievable part about this story was that she had only been taught to kayak in the week before the race!

This truly amazing athlete is one of only a handful of current female world champions in Britain including Victoria Pendalton, Rebecca Romero and Christine Ohuruogu but she failed to get a mention at the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year awards 2007. In 2008, Sports Illustrated voted her the world’s toughest female athlete (10th overall, Tiger Woods was number 1)!

STOP PRESS! Chrissie successfully defended her world iron man title in Kona, Hawaii beating her nearest rival by over 15 minutes despite a 10 minute delay to fix a puncture. For further details, see ironman.com

New Sports Medicine Clinic

From September 2008, our patients will be able to benefit from the knowledge and experience of Dr Mark Gillett, Consultant in Sports Medicine. He will be running clinics on a fortnightly basis at our clinic at Birmingham University. This service will be particularly relevant for a number of scenarios, examples are listed below:

• athletes with acute injuries who require urgent information on diagnosis / prognosis
• athletes who are suspected of having injuries that may not respond to conservative management and require further investigations and interventions (ie. MRI / ultrasound scan, bone scan)
• athletes who have particularly complex injuries that have not responded to physiotherapy
  athletes who are feeling ill or fatigued as a result of training
  

Dr Gillett is registered with all major medical insurance companies and further details about his sports medicine experience can be found in the Meet the Team section.

Occupational health and industry – saving companies money

Physiokinetic have been working with Allied Bakeries, West Bromwich over the last 2 years in attempt to reduce the amount of time taken off due to musculoskeletal disorders in the workplace. Over this period, there has been a 51% reduction in sickness days related to musculoskeletal injury. Jo White, Occupational Health Nurse at Allied Bakeries comments that:

"Physiokinetic have provided a reliable, efficient service. Their early intervention methods have proven effective".

Our aims as physiotherapists are to reduce pain and restore function in order for employees to remain at work or return to work as soon as possible. It is accepted that time off due to musculoskeletal disorders is not only a financial burden on companies but can lead to anxiety and stress related conditions.

Physiokinetic offer companies a free site visit in order for the therapists to understand the working environment and practices specific to each company. Initial assessments are accompanied by a report indicating prognosis, diagnosis and recommendations for further management including workplace modifications and advice. Employees can be seen at either of our three clinics in Birmingham and Solihull or on-site if there are suitable facilities. The cost of this service is very reasonable and can be frequently ofset if the employee has private health insurance. If this is not the case, the savings made by the employees swift return to work usually make this a cost effective approach to dealing with musculoskeletal injury if the referral is made in the early stage of injury. For further information, please phone 0121 440 7736 and ask to speak to either Peter Hatton or Michael Gosling, Clinic Managers.

ITV Central News - The Human Guinea Pig experiment

Physiotherapists Peter Hatton and Michael Gosling are currently working with Central News reporter, Keith Wilkinson in his attempt to compete in a sprint distance triathlon event. Keith sought the advice of the Physiokinetic team following a recent injury to his left knee. Pete and Mike appeared on two consecutive days in May assessing and treating “The Human Guinea Pigs” injury with further appearances to come in the future. The footage can be viewed by clicking on the following link to the Central News website and selecting “Feeling the strain”.

Patient satisfaction – a key to our future growth

A recent audit of patients found that our most important referral source was “word of mouth” advertising which accounted for 40% of referrals. As a way of finding out further information, Physiokinetic are currently issuing patient satisfaction questionnaires to a random selection of patients.

As a company, any positive feedback and constructive criticism in order to improve quality of patient care is welcomed.

Private medical insurance – a cost effective solution to payment

Paying for your treatment by private medical insurance can be a cost effective option. Often, you are able to self refer to our clinic but on occasions, it is necessary to see a GP for referral. Our physiotherapists are registered with all medical insurance companies including BUPA, AXAPPP, Norwich Union, Standard Life, Group AMA, Remedi, Cigna and HSA. If you do wish to pay by this method, please provide us with an authorisation / membership number and we can invoice the company directly.

Experienced physiotherapists – Why compromise on outcome?

Physiokinetic are to continue their policy of employing only the most highly skilled and qualified physiotherapists.

“It is a concern to us that other private clinics and private hospitals are continuing to use newly qualified physiotherapists to treat patients with conditions that they are inexperienced at dealing with purely for profit.”

All of our physiotherapists have at least 10 years post graduate experience and are committed to ongoing professional development. They are all members of the Health Professions Council and Chartered Society of Physiotherapy regulatory bodies. See the section entitled “meet the team” on our website for further information or contact the number below if you require an appointment.