National Physiotherapy Week June 20 - June 25

Date: Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Time: 10am
Venue: Physiotherapy reception, West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds. As for Superintendent Physiotherapist Diana Meredith
Photo: Physiotherapists helping a child and adult back on their feet
Interview: Physiotherapists from all disciplines will be available for interview as well as patients

Next week is National Physiotherapy Week and the hospital’s physiotherapy team is inviting journalists and photographers to visit them to see them in action.

There will be opportunities to interview physiotherapists who work in a number of different areas and some of the patients they are working with.

National Physiotherapy Week is organised by the Chartered Society of physiotherapists and aims to raise the profile of the profession.

At West Suffolk Hospital there are 30 physiotherapists and 15 physiotherapy assistants. They treat between eight and 15 patients each every day.

Superintendent Physiotherapist Rosie Finch said: "Many people still have a misconception that physios massage people who have had an injury and physiotherapy is always related to sports injuries.

"We do of course treat sports injuries, but we work in many different areas with people who have a range of injuries, conditions and illness.

"We work with premature babies, children with physical disabilities, with mothers who have just given birth to help them get moving again. We work with amputees, people who have suffered a stroke, people who have had fractures or been in road accidents and we help get people back on their feet after surgery."

To train as a physiotherapist you have to undergo an intensive three or four year degree course which tests students physically as well as mentally.

Did you know that

• Physiotherapists are experts in human movement, able to identify normal and abnormal function of posture, gait, muscles and nerves.

• All Physiotherapists must be state registered with the Health Professions Council in order to work in the NHS. This provides a benchmark of quality and protects the public. Over 36,000 Physiotherapists are currently state registered.

• Physiotherapy developed as a profession in the late 1800s, with a coalition of trained Masseuses and Medical Gymnasts.

• Physiotherapists treat a huge range of acute and chronic conditions, including strokes, head injuries, fractures, serious breathing problems, sports injuries, spinal injuries and cerebral palsy.

• Physiotherapists educate people to manage their own recovery promoting the positive effects of movement and fitness after heart attacks, joint replacement, major surgery, road traffic accidents, limb amputation and falls.

• Physiotherapists train over three or four years, for a BSc Physiotherapy at one of 30 university sites in the UK. It is one of the most popular university courses offered.

• Around 25,000 Physiotherapists work in the NHS but many others work in private practice, special needs schools, industry, education and sport bodies.