FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

We will ensure you receive your treatment, training or rehabilitation quickly and safely by skilled and experienced clinicians and practitioners. This will result in a faster recovery, prevent recurrence of injury and illness and reduce the need to wait for necessary appointments.

We will ensure that you only receive the treatment that you need and will always liaise with your GP regarding your problem, with your consent. We will always direct you on for further investigation or will refer to other clinicians as appropriate.

We will always write and provide an individualised home exercise program for you to complete at home should you wish to.

Our aim is to put you in charge of your problem, assisting in your recovery, whilst ensuring you don’t become reliant on clinicians to ‘fix’ the issues at hand.

Before you receive any Physiotherapeutic, Massage or Clinical Pilates treatment it is essential for you to undertake an initial assessment. This will enable the Physiotherapist to understand and diagnose your problem, be aware of your general health and any pre-­existing medical conditions and discuss your goal and treatment requirements.

This will result in a safe and clinically beneficial treatment plan that is specific to you. Each Initial Assessment is one hour in duration. The Physiotherapist will ask you some detailed questions about your symptoms and will then perform a physical examination. This will involve looking at the area or areas that are affected, assessing how certain moments are performed, and determining if pain, muscle spasm or stiffness are present.

The Physiotherapist may require you to remove some clothing in order for a thorough physical examination to be made, however it is also advisable to wear loose, comfortable clothing to your appointment and all subsequent appointments. Shorts are a good idea if you have any lower limb, pelvic or spinal problems that will need to be examined, and vest tops are useful for upper body, neck or upper limb examinations.

At the end of your assessment, if time allows, some treatment may be incorporated into the session, however this will always be discussed with you beforehand. The Physiotherapist may also wish to inform your GP that you are attending for treatment at Enliven Health and may write to them with your consent.

A Women’s Health Physiotherapy Assessment will normally involve a ‘full screen’ of your Pelvic Health.

This will involve detailed questioning about all aspects of your Pelvic Health [including bowel, bladder, sexual and obstetric elements]. This will always be carried out in a sensitive way by your Therapist.

After this, a physical examination will often be undertaken. If you have symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction or pelvic health problems, an internal vaginal or rectal exam may be undertaken. This will be fully explained to you prior to being performed and your full informed consent will be obtained.

Please be reassured that this examination is very gentle and is not like having a smear test. No speculums, clamps or metal devices of any kind are used in this examination, and all that is involved is one gloved finger. Your Therapist will explain everything they do as they do it and will put you at ease.

The internal examination is a very useful procedure as it enables your therapist to identify if you have overactive or underactive pelvic floor muscles, if there are any painful areas or scar tissue present or if there may be a Pelvic Organ Prolapse. Once it has been completed your Therapist will discuss their findings with you and will devise an appropriate course of treatment.

Sometimes people may have received or experienced a specific treatment modality in the past that they have found beneficial and so request it at the time of assessment. This is often the case with acupuncture. At Enliven Health, acupuncture is used frequently to maximise treatment outcomes in conjunction with other types of treatment. As with all treatments, it may not be suitable for acupuncture to be used on all people, even if they have had it before.

This is because your health may have changed, you may be pregnant or you may have been prescribed certain medications. Therefore it is important that an initial assessment has been carried out to determine any potential contraindications to treatment. Despite this, we will work with you to ensure that you are happy and feel involved in your treatment plan and will take into consideration previous treatments you may have had that have worked for you before.

During your initial assessment, your Physiotherapist will diagnose your problem and will discuss your treatment plan with you. At this point it may be possible to estimate how many sessions of treatment will be required. Of course, this really depends on the problem, it’s duration, nature etc. Some problems may be resolved within a few sessions however others may take longer.

If you have a long­standing problem it may be suitable for you to attend treatment long-­term in order to effectively self-­manage it. However the Physiotherapist will always aim to see you progressing within 6 sessions. In the event that Physiotherapy does not seem to be benefiting you, your Physiotherapist will liaise with your GP or other Health Professionals as appropriate to ensure that you receive the right treatment or investigative pathway that you need.

You do not need to be referred to Enliven Health by your GP or Consultant and self- referral is more than adequate. Some Private Medical Insurance policies will require a referral from your GP and so it is advisable to contact your insurance company prior to booking any appointments to determine what their requirements are.

For a full list of private medical insurance companies that Enliven Health is registered with, please contact us directly. You will need to contact your insurance company prior to making any appointments to determine what their specific requirements are and to obtain an authorisation code if necessary. You will also need to bring details of your insurance policy with you to your appointment once authorisation has been given. This will need to include your policy number, name of insurer and authorisation code.

Please note that we have recently made the decision not to work with several insurance companies and so please do check with us in advance.

Home visits may be available however specific requirements and pricing will need to be discussed on an individual basis. For further enquiries please contact us directly.

Clinical Pilates has been designed by Physiotherapists for people of all populations with a variety of problems. This makes it a safe and clinically beneficial way of exercising, under the guidance of a Physiotherapist and certified Clinical Pilates Instructor. This differs to some of the more traditional Pilates methods which may consist of difficult exercises that may require a high level of skill, strength and flexibility, which may not be suitable for some patient populations.

If you have experience in Mat Pilates then a pre-assessment will not always be required before you start a class. However if you have any specific problems [eg back or neck pain] it is strongly recommended that you have a pre-assessment before you start, to ensure that your Therapist is aware of your issues and can modify the class as appropriate for your comfort and safety.

Reformer and Equipment inductions are required for all new clients before starting a class [even if you have experience with equipment Pilates], this is for health and safety and insurance reasons. It also ensures that you are familiarised with machine set-up and usage prior to starting a class, ensuring that you feel confident to enter a class setting, but also making sure that the class flow is not disrupted.

We recommend that you wear comfortable sports or Yoga wear, to ensure that you can move well and comfortably throughout your Pilates session. Your instructor will need to ensure you are exercising correctly and so very baggy or loose clothing is also not recommended.

Footwear is not used during Pilates sessions and we recommend that you use ‘sticky Pilates socks’ to avoid slipping. If you don’t have any we stock them within the clinic and they are easy to find online.

We don’t recommend that you wear jewellery, particularly if loose, and it is advised that you tie your hair back.

For classes and one to one training/rehabilitation we advise you to bring a drink with you as we are now a ‘cup-free clinic’.

Please also wear a mask to and from the clinic, although this will not be necessary during your exercise session. please also leave all non-essentials in the car on arrival, in line with out Covid policy.

Other than this, Just bring comfy clothing and your beautiful self!

We operate a 15 minute Late Policy for all booked Physiotherapy and One to One Pilates appointments. If you arrive after this time you may be charged for the full appointment and rebooked for another time.

We also operate a 10 minute Late Policy for all classes. This is because it may not be safe for you to start a class late, particularly if you have missed the warm-up, and it is not fair on other clients who have arrived on time.

We operate a 24 hour cancellation policy for all booked appointments and classes. If you do not give this notice for nonattendance you may be charged for your appointment or class.

You are referred to our terms and conditions and privacy policy listed within the website.

All Physiotherapy and One to One sessions can be booked either by telephoning  01908965007, by emailing info@enlivenhealth.co.uk.

Currently all class and massage bookings must be made by email or telephone in order for us to adhere to Covid policies, however we will be moving these bookings to an online system over the coming months.

We are operating a strict Covid policy and expect all of our clients to adhere to this. On booking your appointment or class, you will be emailed a copy of our policy, along with a clinic screen, to complete before arrival.