This blog aims to discuss why amongst all the options you should pick West 1 as your regular physiotherapist provider. If you'd like to see our overall take on factors to consider when picking a therapist near you, please see our Choosing the Right Physiotherapist blog.
You’d have to have been living under a rock to have missed the fact the world has become smaller. Not physically, perhaps – at least not significantly – but in terms of how we live. Everything is now global, and that’s particularly true of consumer choice.
Part of that is about the digital revolution and the almost unlimited access we have to goods and services located hundreds or thousands of miles away. Part of it, though, is about competition.
Competition is fierce. The days when we were with the same insurance company for years on end are long gone. We now choose to get groceries from the retailer with the best offers. What we once used to buy from W H Smith is now available, often at a fraction of the price, on Amazon.
So, when our patients choose West 1 Health, we don’t take it for granted. We know the people we treat have had a wide selection of clinics to choose from and we also know that even though they’ve chosen us this time, there’s no obligation for them to make the same choice next time.
In that regard, we’re only ever as good as our last treatment.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s knowledge that means we always strive to give the very best possible care to every patient at every appointment. It means we always have our clients and their desired outcomes at the heart of every session they attend.
That translates into our success story, because even though our clients and patients can always make a different choice about who provides their physiotherapy, very few of them do.
To us that suggests we’re meeting or exceeding the goals we set for ourselves around patient care.
So, what makes us the first-choice provider of physiotherapy for so many people in London?
We’re big believers in prevention when it comes to musculoskeletal health. Our treatment programmes are developed not just with recovery and rehabilitation in mind, but with a very clear eye on educating our patients in the various ways they can stay fit and pain-free after their treatment with us is complete.
That includes exercise routines that can be done easily at home and which will hopefully mean they have less need to visit the clinic.
This is particularly useful for elite professional and serious amateur athletes who are inevitably more prone to injury.
But that approach to prevention also serves ordinary, non-sporting people who perhaps find themselves in a working environment where they’re involved in manual lifting or repetitive tasking.
We boast some of the best therapists working in physiotherapy in the UK. Many of us have a background in providing physiotherapy services in the elite professional sport sector and we also have specialists who are able to provide spinal injury management, rehabilitative care, women’s health, pelvic, hip and groin treatment and acupuncture.
With a team of specialist therapist comes a diverse range of treatments and services. Whether you’re at work or at play, we can support your physical health management with specialist treatments that sit alongside our core physiotherapy practice.
These include services like gait analysis, workstation assessment and pilates, which are all designed to help you to stay healthy for longer.
We’re also leading UK practitioners of Shockwave therapy – a highly effective non-surgical approach to treatment that uses focused acoustic waves delivered directly to the damaged area to promote and accelerate healing.
If you don’t recover, we’re not doing our job properly – so, we’re always pleased when people no longer need treatment.
We’re based in Harley Street, meaning we’re conveniently located for anyone living or working in the West End, Oxford Circus, Marylebone, Regents Park or Great Portland Street area. Over the last 13 years, we’ve built a reputation for great patient care and customer service.
If you have any concerns or issues with your muscles, joints or ligaments, why not come and see us and learn how we can give you the treatment, tools and knowledge to stay pain-free? We’d love to see you.
It doesn’t matter how great the service is, if the overall experience isn’t up to scratch then the sensation you’re likely to be left with is probably what it must feel like to be a balloon that gets invited to a hedgehog party.
We’ve all been in a situation where we arrive somewhere with high expectations but find the reality is underwhelming – the posh restaurant with gorgeous food and a maitre d’ with all the charm of a slightly irritated bull elephant; or having great seats in the cinema only to have the person in the seat next to you create their own sound effects in their bag of popcorn.
In the end, businesses are there to meet demand, and although your primary concern when to go to see your GP, consultant, therapist or dentist is an improvement in your health and wellbeing, the way you’re treated has a lot to do with how you feel about yourself and about the professionals who look after you when it’s time to leave. That is why we pride ourselves in providing an end to end quality experience, from the moment you contact us with a question or consultation request, to the moment you step though our doors. We detail how bedside manner is one of the important aspects to an excellent service for customers in our Great Physiotherapy Requires A Great Bedside Manner blog if you are interested.
There are enough NHS and private clinics out there that will treat you like you’re just another widget on their production line, and the experience can have a tangible effect not just on your mood, but also on your determination to become well again.
It’s hard to imagine there might be a physiotherapy practice out there that tries to be anything less than good at what they do. But we strive to be better than that.
Our therapists aren’t just recruited for their training and qualification. They’re not even recruited solely for their physiotherapy experience. It goes without saying that we consider the people who work with us here in London to be the crème de la crème of physiotherapy talent available.
But they also need to have lived a bit. We boast a wealth of experience gained outside private practice. We have physiotherapy specialists who have worked with elite athletes in sports physio, those who are leading authorities in occupational physiotherapy and women’s issues and therapists who boast great knowledge gained in other sectors.
We don’t rely on technology to do our job for us – we spent many years in a demanding training environment learning how to make our hands do that! But we do also know that technology can greatly help the way we focus and target our treatments – whether that’s for gait analysis, mobility assessment or occupational health reviews.
While there are some clinics that might be tempted to invest in every new piece of shiny kit, we handpick the equipment we believe is necessary to help speed the recovery of the people we treat.
At West 1 our friendly team goes above and beyond to give you the very best experience from the moment you walk through the front door to the moment we discharge you from our care.
We do that not just because it makes sense from a business perspective – if you feel you’ve been treated with care and respect, you’re more likely to come back – but because we also know the experience you have in our hands is important when it comes to how you manage your rehabilitation and recovery.
Think about it: if you go into a consulting room and you’re made to feel like you’re part of a factory process, you’re probably not going to be completely convinced that this is an establishment that is fully invested in your care.
If you doubt the integrity of your care, you’re probably going to doubt the integrity of your diagnosis. If you doubt that, simple psychology dictates that you’re more likely to be cynical about the treatment and care plan your therapist recommends.
And if you’re not convinced by your treatment programme, you’re going to be less inclined to work to achieve the outcomes you’re aiming for.
The work we do around musculoskeletal disorders, women’s health, sports injuries and clinical pilates is a partnership. It requires many things beyond your physical ability to heal.
It’s well known that psychology plays a huge part in recovery. Our primary aim above everything else – above kudos and reputation, above material gain and our own sense of achievement and success – is to get you fit and well. And we need you onside to do that.
So when you arrive at 22 Harley Street, to us you’re starting the first page in your own success story – and our team of physios want you to feel like your story is one of achievement and happiness. So that’s what we set out to make you feel.
We’re not interested in clock-watching or converting minutes into money. We’re interested in making you feel at home so you feel empowered to share your wellness story in a way that lets us help you as quickly and effectively as we can. Because in the end, our success – or lack of it – is defined by the pain you feel and the confidence you have to tackle it.
We’ll never recommend unnecessary treatments – although we will sometimes offer you the opportunity to have non-essential complementary therapies, explaining why we believe they could aid or accelerate your recovery.
We’ll never assume you have a profound understanding of the condition that has brought you to us (although many of our clients do) and we’ll always take the time to explain the physiological and anatomical effect so you can see how it impacts on your life and better understand how you need to approach your treatment with us.
And we’ll never, ever, ever under-estimate the power of a cup of tea and a chat.
You’re in good hands at West 1 Physiotherapy and Pilates. We stake our reputation on it.
We think life is for the living, and so while our priority is to help you to recover from the condition you or your patient is struggling with, we also appreciate that no one wants to be wrapped in cotton wool and told they can never again do the thing they loved (and which occasionally is responsible for bringing them to us in the first place!)
And whilst very occasionally an injury does mean the end of a hobby or interest, we’ll always do our very best to avoid that being the case.
So, part of our focus is on education. We’re not in the business of delivering in-depth lessons on human anatomy or the limitations of the musculoskeletal condition, but we do think part of our responsibility is to help you or your patients to understand how their body responds – or is likely to respond – to the continued demands we make on it.
That means we’ll spend time ensuring everyone we treat has a working understanding of how they came to be in pain to begin with, what the triggers are likely to be in the future and what they can do to protect themselves while also enjoying the things they love.
If you’d like some advice on how to stay fit or you’re suffering with an injury and would like advice on the best way to resolve it, or maybe you’d just like some advice about other steps you can take to look after yourself, please get in touch.
