The Body Matters clinic, based in Southend-on-Sea in Essex, is now offering online video consultation and support for those that are suffering from musculoskeletal pain, and may not feel justified in presenting to their GP, but are still worried about their pain. Appointments will be held via telephone calls or video consultations.
How to Manage Musculoskeletal Pain
A lot of the help we offer is about giving reassurance and advice on how to manage musculoskeletal (MSK) pain. We have temporarily lost the ability to be face-to-face with our patients which means that hands-on treatment cannot be offered but there are activities you can do at home that may well be as effective for you and can initiate your own rehabilitation process.
Safety is paramount to know that you are not doing anything inappropriate and that what you are doing is effectively helping to aid your recovery.
MSK practice can either isolate what is going on in the body as the cause of pain, known as a biomedical approach, or, consider not only what is going on in the body, but also factors such as sleep patterns, anxiety and stress, and diet and exercise levels, known as the bio-psycho-social (BPS) approach. The BPS model of healthcare also looks at how certain beliefs unconsciously impact the individual experience of pain.
Telephone & Online Musculoskeletal Clinic
Matthew Oliver will be using a platform called doxy.me to offer online support and advice without having to leave your home. I can provide details of how to set up the contact you will receive an invitation email to click on the link and be invited into the waiting room where we can have a secure video consultation. You can use any device for this consultation, laptop, phone or tablet.
Matthew has a keen interest in pain science and has studied extensively to be able to explain to patients ways they may better understand why things hurt and create a context to better deal with suffering and give confidence in painful movements. Evidence has demonstrated that those that have an understanding and context behind why they hurt have a statistically better outcome than those that do not. Negative thoughts around pain may make the situation worse with catastrophising thoughts and behaviours. Catastrophising thoughts often lead to fearful avoidance of movements and positions that provoke pain, which in turn cause considerable de-conditioning of the muscles and joints further reducing tolerance to these physical stresses on the body.
During the consultation, Matthew will listen to their story and look to identify factors that contribute to the pain to help with context to reduce fear and anxiety around their pain. The process would then make specific recommendations on rehabilitation and/or movement-type exercises to build muscle strength and gently expose patients to movements and resistance that hurt.
Please get in touch and we can arrange a convenient time to link up for a video or telephone musculoskeletal consultation.
Call The Body Matters on 01702 714968 for more information about our telephone & online MSK clinic in Southend-on-Sea & Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.
