Catherine, from London was referred through to our Circle Integrated Care Musculoskeletal (MSK) NHS team in Greenwich, after suffering with ongoing back and hip pain.
After struggling with back and hip pain for quite some time, Catherine, 87 felt like giving up as she was unable to live her life as usual and carry out her normal everyday tasks such as housework, whilst living alone and away from her family. Catherine is “unable to drive” and was therefore reliant on her daughter who comes to visit, which made life quite challenging at times.
After being referred to a clinician to organise a telephone appointment, Catherine soon began her NHS treatment of virtual physiotherapy, provided by the MSK team at Circle Integrated Care.
Catherine was quickly provided with “very helpful advice” and a series of at home exercises to help relive her of the pain she was experiencing in the comfort of her own home. These exercises were specifically tailored to Catherine, in order for her to manage her pain. Catherine told us “Following the advice about exercising at home, I felt a lot better”.
Although her road to recovery was not an overnight change, Catherine went on to tell us how improvements were beginning to happen, “it did take a little white, several weeks of gentle exercising at home such as chair and floor exercises, which I found really helpful over a period of time.”
Going forward, Catherine will continue to have once a month catch ups with her assigned physiotherapist to manage her pain, as well as continuing with her taught exercises at home, which she is very happy with. Catherine told us that her virtual sessions were convenient to her and the physiotherapist was “very patient and understanding”.
Relieved with the physiotherapy that she was being provided, it was clear to us that this was having a positive impact on her life, as she went on to tell us ‘I definitely feel better, I am now able to take out the lawn mower, which I couldn’t do before.”
“Up and down the stairs, I had trouble with, but that is much better. I could only stand for 10 minutes when ironing and I can now stand for 45 minutes, which is a big improvement.”
“By comparison, the physiotherapy has changed my life… I felt that I was losing all my independence, but definitely got my confidence back. It’s absolutely fantastic and has made life easier.”
Catherine Lehane