Ripped off?

Eoghan41

So I've just been to the physio. Hoped to have some concrete info. leaving the place as to why my knee has been at me. Instead I've really just been told to do some exercises a certain way for a week before going back and handing over another fifty odd quid! What I want to know is have I just been ripped off? Or has anyone else who has gone through a similar process benefited from it?

Masala

Same as the doctors....'Try these tablets and come back to me if you don't feel any better"... and that €45 euro please. Next visit will still cost €25... and you still sick all the time!!

I know a collegue who hurt his leg in a slip and was 'dragged along' for about 10 weeks on visits til he realised that he was getting any better. HE then changed physio and the new lad said ' who did you go to last??? - cos he has fecked up all up We have to start again am afraid" So another 10 visits til he felt no better - then met a guy in a pub who recommended another physio. Thats where I left the saga....he probably remortgaged the house at this stage for treatment. Heard that the last recommendation he got was a 'horse doctor' or some 'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son' !!!!

connollys

Hope this doesnt fall under medical advise.

If knee is persistantly bad, get an MRI and get that looked at. If something is torn all the rubbing in the world isnt going to re-attach it.

Eoghan41

connollys wrote: »

Hope this doesnt fall under medical advise.

If knee is persistantly bad, get an MRI and get that looked at. If something is torn all the rubbing in the world isnt going to re-attach it.

I want to get an MRI but they said if there is no improvement in 6 weeks then we'll consider it..I'm on the medical card and although I went private this time, being a student I wouldnt be able to afford an MRI without my medical card..stuck between a rock and a hard place

Nervous Wreck

Eoghan41 wrote: »

So I've just been to the physio. Hoped to have some concrete info. leaving the place as to why my knee has been at me. Instead I've really just been told to do some exercises a certain way for a week before going back and handing over another fifty odd quid! What I want to know is have I just been ripped off? Or has anyone else who has gone through a similar process benefited from it?

Similar buzz a while back. Did about 4 sessions before realising that if he'd said "Do a fair amount of upper back work", I woulda been able to program it myself. Which I then did and all was good... Sucks balls but sure physios gotta eat too.

Inspector Coptoor

Yeah, they love repeat customers.

Thephantomsmask

Where are you based Eoghan? Euromedic do student/unemployed rate of about €190 for MRI. I know it's still a whack of money but you could be waiting years (seriously) for a public MRI. Your GP could simply fax them a referral letter.

calfmuscle

Do I have this correct? - you have some knee pain, you got an assessment from a physio who prescribed a rehab program. You asked about getting an mri but where told it would not be needed unless you do not improve with standard treatment.

How have you been ripped off? Go do your rehab!

Hanley

calfmuscle wrote: »

Do I have this correct? - you have some knee pain, you got an assessment from a physio who prescribed a rehab program. You asked about getting an mri but where told it would not be needed unless you do not improve with standard treatment.

How have you been ripped off? Go do your rehab!

Because he didn't get any magic beans. OBVIOUSLY!!

howardmarks

calfmuscle wrote: »

Do I have this correct? - you have some knee pain, you got an assessment from a physio who prescribed a rehab program. You asked about getting an mri but where told it would not be needed unless you do not improve with standard treatment.

How have you been ripped off? Go do your rehab!

tried to make him go to rehab, but he said no no no....:D

Dermighty

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/savvy-scientist/tomorrows-nanobots-today/441

Eoghan41

For a student to fork over fifty odd quid for some exercises over a 30 min period and some hooing and haaing it might be this or it might be that it does seem a little inconclusive and besides I'm only asking if I had been ripped off..not saying I was but I think there's the possibility that I could be going back for many visits and if its only for a check up Im wondering if theres a better way of fixing it. The MRI for 190 seems a great deal and would provide me with some conclusive evidence to see if I have soft tissue damage, meaning I wouldnt have to be going back to the physio on a trial by error basis!!

heroics

connollys wrote: »

If knee is persistently bad, get an MRI and get that looked at. If something is torn all the rubbing in the world isnt going to re-attach it.

I agree with this. I have had a number of injuries over the years that eventually needed a scan to get to identify the issue usually after a number of visits to physio. Now I just go to the doctor who looks after the football and rugby teams that I play on. He will either send me to physio or for a scan.

Personally I would much rather get a scan at the start. If I need more than a physio at least I know from the start instead of delaying treatment for 6 weeks.

If you don't have insurance or cant afford the scan privately then do the exercises that the physio recommended. If there is no improvement talk to the physio and see if you can get referred for a scan sooner than 6 weeks.

calfmuscle

Eoghan41 wrote: »

For a student to fork over fifty odd quid for some exercises over a 30 min period and some hooing and haaing it might be this or it might be that it does seem a little inconclusive and besides I'm only asking if I had been ripped off..not saying I was but I think there's the possibility that I could be going back for many visits and if its only for a check up Im wondering if theres a better way of fixing it. The MRI for 190 seems a great deal and would provide me with some conclusive evidence to see if I have soft tissue damage, meaning I wouldnt have to be going back to the physio on a trial by error basis!!

At this point your physio is saying there is no indication you need an mri. The information an mri would provide is not of more benefit than the risk to your health from the exam and the financial cost involved. You are being treated conservatively first. Should you not respond to treatment than more invasive avenues will be followed and an mri will probably be the first of these.

Did you ask how many sessions the physio thought you would need? Do you have another session booked?

Eoghan41

heroics wrote: »

I agree with this. I have had a number of injuries over the years that eventually needed a scan to get to identify the issue usually after a number of visits to physio. Now I just go to the doctor who looks after the football and rugby teams that I play on. He will either send me to physio or for a scan.

Personally I would much rather get a scan at the start. If I need more than a physio at least I know from the start instead of delaying treatment for 6 weeks.

If you don't have insurance or cant afford the scan privately then do the exercises that the physio recommended. If there is no improvement talk to the physio and see if you can get referred for a scan sooner than 6 weeks.

That's exactly what I was thinking..My real fear is not getting diagnosed properly and having this reoccur next winter, when the issues seem to be at their worst, having spent hundreds of euro on getting nowhere.

Eoghan41

calfmuscle wrote: »

At this point your physio is saying there is no indication you need an mri. The information an mri would provide is not of more benefit than the risk to your health from the exam and the financial cost involved. You are being treated conservatively first. Should you not respond to treatment than more invasive avenues will be followed and an mri will probably be the first of these.

Did you ask how many sessions the physio thought you would need? Do you have another session booked?

If I had a regular income, the conservative approach would be ideal. The physio said a six week period where I would do exercises and increase the load on my knee would be followed with a mri scan if no improvement was noted. However, I think we can all agree that the last two days have been nowhere near as cold as before, and I currently feel no pain whatsoever. I fear doing the exercises, telling them that I no longer feel the pain and then being able to return to training before a recurrence of this issue next winter renders these sessions as sunk costs.

Thud

it sounds like standard enough physio practice, if they thing they get get you back right without surgery they will try this first, if and when they think this won't work they will send you the MRI route.

If need to get back sooner and have medical insurance that will cover MRI tell him and you can go down that route.

Brian?

Eoghan41 wrote: »

That's exactly what I was thinking..My real fear is not getting diagnosed properly and having this reoccur next winter, when the issues seem to be at their worst, having spent hundreds of euro on getting nowhere.

Your physio did exactly what he should have done. Assessed you and prescribed a rehab routine. If you stick rigidly to the routine and it doesn't work you might have cause for complaint.

If he/she said an MRI was unnecessary they're probably right, they know a hell of a lot about injury diagnosis than anyone on here

nice_guy80

A good physio, who knows their stuff, doesn't use machines and is reasonably priced is hard to find.
Luckily I have one.

But even my physio would probably have prescribed the same for you - try the rehab exercises first (cheap!)

then consider expensive treatment if it doesn't work

BUT DO THE BLOODY REHAB PROPERLY

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Follow the advice you paid for. Leave the expensive House MD tests for later. Common things are common.

Satanta

Training for Dublin marathon last year I got fairly bad knee pain when I went above 15 miles. Went to a physio and he worked on me for a while and told me to do some bridges and core work. It seemed pointless but I did it and still do. I completed DCM and I am training now for the Derry marathon and have done 18 miles last week with no pain.

Do your rehab as prescribed.

ecoli

Just a word of warning. An MRI is not the be all and end all, its a diagnostic tool for pin pointing exactly where the issue is but the root cause of a pain and where the pain actually is can be completely different.

Many muscles have common referral patterns which can over lap but also muscles working together can create pain through particular movements so that we mistake where the issue actually is.

If your physio diagnosed you with a muscle weakness then strengthening exercises can be the correct treatment in that incidence

physio's / sports therapists are just like many other professions there are good and bad ones. My advice would be to go to someone who comes recommended as having a background in your particular sport and a history of treating similar injuries.

Burkatron

I can never understand why people go to a Dr's, physio etc. when they wont accept the recommendations given if it doesn't fit in to what THEY have decided it is!

Like you've been advised you should do your rehab, give it a MINIMUM of 6 weeks before you decide that the advice is wrong! Then come on here and ask if you've been ripped off!

Jogathon

Don't forget that chartered physio's have gone though a rigorous degree course and are an important part of the medical profession. Trust in them.

It's definitely worth doing the rehab that they recommend, and it certainly won't do you any harm.

Darkwarriorcok

I had a similar situation a few weeks back, knee pain too, she gave me 2 exercises and put out a plan to build in 4 stages, meaning 5 physio sessions, 2 new exercises each session, I was in the first consultation for about 15 mins!

That's the 2nd time at a physio, both times I questioned it, whilst I don't argue against they are professionals who know their stuff, I can't help but feel they milk it!

Why not give me all the exercises or even 4 exercises in the one session? I know they want to monitor you but for my particular ailment I thought it was just a sham, well somewhat.

Anyway, I am back to normal, from just the one visit and some carefully studied light gym work! Not that the op poster should go this route!

Burkatron

Darkwarriorcok wrote: »

I had a similar situation a few weeks back, knee pain too, she gave me 2 exercises and put out a plan to build in 4 stages, meaning 5 physio sessions, 2 new exercises each session, I was in the first consultation for about 15 mins!

That's the 2nd time at a physio, both times I questioned it, whilst I don't argue against they are professionals who know their stuff, I can't help but feel they milk it!

Why not give me all the exercises or even 4 exercises in the one session? I know they want to monitor you but for my particular ailment I thought it was just a sham, well somewhat.

Anyway, I am back to normal, from just the one visit and some carefully studied light gym work! Not that the op poster should go this route!

Not that I'm saying physio's & the rest don't milk sessions the reason they go minimal is to see If you overwork an imbalance that's already present you have a chance at best of not progressing at worst making it worse! If they gave you 4 excercises but wanted you to only do 2 9/10 the patient will jump the gun & do all the excercises given instead of gradually building up!

If you build on poor/incomplete foundations your house isn't going to be solid! Same goes for your body!

ecoli

Darkwarriorcok wrote: »

I had a similar situation a few weeks back, knee pain too, she gave me 2 exercises and put out a plan to build in 4 stages, meaning 5 physio sessions, 2 new exercises each session, I was in the first consultation for about 15 mins!

That's the 2nd time at a physio, both times I questioned it, whilst I don't argue against they are professionals who know their stuff, I can't help but feel they milk it!

Why not give me all the exercises or even 4 exercises in the one session? I know they want to monitor you but for my particular ailment I thought it was just a sham, well somewhat.

Anyway, I am back to normal, from just the one visit and some carefully studied light gym work! Not that the op poster should go this route!

Again reverts back to seeking a quality of the person you are getting looked at. Some physio s are great at what they do in a hospital setting dealing with post op rehab, strokes etc but I would not go near them for a sports injury.

Similarly there are some physio's / sports therapist s that deal with particular sports and certain muscles all day long and as such dont get as much experience dealing with another aspect of the body who may no be as good as others. I know myself for every one upper body injury I have come to me I may have 4-5 lower body.

Some physio's therapists opt for a strengthening approach the whole time while sometimes ignoring the need to lengthen a chronically shortened muscle. This is why you need to research who you are going to. For every good sports therapist you may find 2 bad ones and just because there is someone who is good at treating one type of injury doesn't mean the are a guru in terms of the whole body. Some see patients as cash cows and Euro signs while others aim to educate and improve overall standard of life.

You are only given one body in life, make sure you put in the research to know you are leaving your body in good hands

Eoghan41

Ok guys Ill do the exercises and go back a couple times as prescribed and update you all on how things are going within a few weeks! Thanks all for your input!