# Private physio vs NHS physio



## aman_21 (Jul 29, 2013)

Basically I had a slipped disc a while ago, and have now finally been reffered for nhs physio. Also my private medical insurance (through work, i completely for about it) has also offered physio sessions.

Is it worth sticking with the nhs ones, or are private physios better?


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## The-Real-Deal (Dec 5, 2014)

Makes no difference.

A qualified physio is a qualified physio imo.


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## RUDESTEW (Mar 28, 2015)

just go for a fit one (a fit woman ) , iv had a creepy turkish mofo forgetting where the coxis stopped and the ass began .


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## ellisrimmer (Sep 9, 2012)

Natty Steve'o said:


> Makes no difference.
> 
> A qualified physio is a qualified physio imo.


 what a load of rubbish.

o/p private physios you can research online and see if they have good satisfaction levels from people who use them. In the NHS you get what you're given.

A private physio is likely to be someone with more experience and the NHS physio is more likely to be newly qualified but not always the case.

You can't make an assumption that they're better because they're private but you can do your research on them. So see who they would provide you with firstly.


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## The-Real-Deal (Dec 5, 2014)

ellisrimmer said:


> what a load of rubbish.
> 
> o/p private physios you can research online and see if they have good satisfaction levels from people who use them. In the NHS you get what you're given.
> 
> ...


 Are you qualified to debunk my opinion? I think not.....are you a Physio....?


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## The-Real-Deal (Dec 5, 2014)

Most physios have either come from the NHS to private, or jumped from private to the NHS. They may even do both.


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## ellisrimmer (Sep 9, 2012)

Natty Steve'o said:


> Are you qualified to debunk my opinion? I think not.....are you a Physio....?


 I'm a podiatrist so work with physios and our scope of practice overlap with each other. Employment within the NHS and private work also are very similar. So yes I am qualified to debunk your opinion.


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## SILV3RBACK (Jun 23, 2012)

Go private. My wife was waiting 3 months between appointments on the NHS. Then when she went back they had 'lost' her records so started from scratch!!

Bit hit and miss on the NHS.


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## Fbmmofo (Feb 10, 2015)

In my experience if it's related to lifting go private. Whenever I've been to NHS about "leisure" activities the advice has always been- stop doing what hurts or rest. Which might be the right advice but it's fu**ing annoying.


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## The-Real-Deal (Dec 5, 2014)

ellisrimmer said:


> I'm a podiatrist so work with physios and our scope of practice overlap with each other. Employment within the NHS and private work also are very similar. So yes I am qualified to debunk your opinion.


 That's some mean feet.

Alas not a physio though....

My opinion still stands.


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## superdrol (Aug 9, 2012)

I've never been to an NHS physio that has actually touched me to loosen anything up, just been given stretches and exercises to do to loosen stuff up, in reality it's never worked, private sports physio that utilised a tens machine and actively loosens and releases muscles helped me immensely more, although I'll also add that a Chiropracter has done more for my back than a sports physio and definately more than a Chiropracter, I may have just been unlucky and not seen a decent nhs physio with the four I've seen

i believe NHS physios have there hands tied somewhat by rules and regulations with regards to treatments and what they can and can't do  they may be very capable of releasing muscles and removing knots, however they simply can't do it unfortunately

The Chiropracter was the only one who started out (IMO in the right way) saying we need to find the root cause of the issue and fix that rather than just loosening the muscle up or prescribing stretches... He's the one I'm now seeing to sort my issues


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## andyboro (Oct 1, 2006)

There's a fair chance that you'll see the same people working within both.. so no difference IMO.

other than how long you may have to wait.


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## DSG (Nov 13, 2015)

Well I had 2 NHS physios for bad shoulders/winged scapular, one of them refuted all of the exercises I was given by my first physio, and then he gave me some decent exercises that worked for a bit, but I asked about doing exercises such as deadlifts etc, he said "I wouldn't recommend deadilfts because you're still using your shoulder" whilst doing an example of a bent over row.

That being said, I think some physios will know more about injuries related to weight training and how to work around them if they are themselves a weight trainer or have experience in the field. As someone said above, NHS will give you someone you don't have a choice over, which could be any one of my useless physios. Private you will probably get a choice of someone more specialized for your situation.

My physios always seemed to rush me off too.


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## ellisrimmer (Sep 9, 2012)

DSG said:


> Well I had 2 NHS physios for bad shoulders/winged scapular, one of them refuted all of the exercises I was given by my first physio, and then he gave me some decent exercises that worked for a bit, but I asked about doing exercises such as deadlifts etc, he said "I wouldn't recommend deadilfts because you're still using your shoulder" whilst doing an example of a bent over row.
> 
> That being said, I think some physios will know more about injuries related to weight training and how to work around them if they are themselves a weight trainer or have experience in the field. As someone said above, NHS will give you someone you don't have a choice over, which could be any one of my useless physios. Private you will probably get a choice of someone more specialized for your situation.
> 
> My physios always seemed to rush me off too.


 They HATE weight trainers, they get all jealous


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## GCMAX (Dec 31, 2013)

I used a private physio a while ago for a similar problem, disc bulge in the neck which caused pain in the left arm. She tried her best but it was a waste of money really as it had more to do with bad posture during the day and a latex pillow at night. After correcting my posture and changing the pillow to a feather one, things improved vastly and quickly.

By the way, some physio's are better than others and word of mouth helps but if you are going to use the NHS you can't pick and choose.


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## Clubber Lang (Nov 4, 2009)

ellisrimmer said:


> what a load of rubbish.
> 
> o/p private physios you can research online and see if they have good satisfaction levels from people who use them. In the NHS you get what you're given.
> 
> ...


 agreed!

NHS physio = wank and a utter waste of time!

my missus has big problems with both knees, years of swimming, impact sports and teaching PE has left her with no cartilage, and all the NHS can/has done so far, 3x sessions, 2 of which had been reduced to 30mins from 60mins due to lack of staff, and all 3 were with different nurses that had to spend 10mins talking about what the other one did before they started. And all they did was stretches and tell her to do stretches at home?! Last 30min sesh they put 2x acupuncture pins in each knee and left her for 20mins.

i know NHS are under pressure but feck me, not worth going and shes not been since.

private physio, better one to one service, more upto date, better quality overall.


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## BoxerJay (Jan 11, 2011)

NHS Physio's tend to have a "No touch policy" they tend to just diagnose the issue and give you Pilates and resistance band type correctional exercises, something every physio will and should do but private Physio's will often utilise a lot more manual therapy skills such as massage, soft tissue release, MET, PNF & CRAC, mobilisations etc - Personally If you have the money go private 100%, I'm willing to bet they will better understand your view point as someone who is active as opposed to the NHS physio's who are used to dealing with couch potatoes and lazy f*cks.


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## superdrol (Aug 9, 2012)

BoxerJay said:


> NHS Physio's tend to have a "No touch policy" they tend to just diagnose the issue and give you Pilates and resistance band type correctional exercises, something every physio will do but private Physio's will often utilise a lot more manual therapy skills such as massage, soft tissue release, MET, PNF & CRAC, mobilisations etc - Personally If you have the money go private 100%, I'm willing to bet they better understand your view point as someone who is active as opposed to the NHS physio's who are used to dealing with couch potatoes and lazy f*cks.


 Exactly, that's bang on from my experience!


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