At Back into Action we believe all our patients should be treated like they are elite athletes.

Between us we have years of hands on experience working with a variety of squads of elite athletes on and off the pitch from rugby to swimming, badminton to hockey, tennis to rowing. As physios we also practise what we preach and play a lot of sport ourselves from skiing to cycling, eventing to triathlon and we find it really helps us to understand you.

Sports injuries can be acute, chronic or just keep recurring, stopping you from doing what you enjoy most. We need to get to the root of the problem so in order to do this we need to assess the biomechanics of your whole system and see you on the move.

Your foot pain may be related to poor control of your hip muscles, your lower back pain to a stiff thoracic spine. This is the bit we love - it is never quite what you expect - we like to use our clinical reasoning skills to work it out and make it sports specific.

It is also important to factor in your training and your recovery, to teach you why your core is important, to stabilise and strengthen your system. It is not all about the mileage you know!!!!

If your injury needs further investigations, or even surgery, we can recommend you to one of our tried and tested consultants. We can help, advise and rehabilitate all the way back to the sports field, pool, court or track.

We are endorsed by lots of local sports clubs: Tewkesbury Tri Club, Almost Athletes, Old Pats Rugby Club, Cheltenham Harriers, Gloucester City Swimmers, Gloucester Tri Club, Upton Rugby Club, St Peters School Gloucester, Tewkesbury Running Club, Worcester Tri Club, Eastnor Cricket Club, The Athlete Academy as well as many individual elite athletes.

Back pain affects 8 out of every 10 people. It is a complex and debilitating problem. Pain may be acute or chronic, it may also radiate into your arms or legs.

The spine has some seriously complicated anatomy with an interconnecting system of joints, discs, nerves, muscles and ligaments. Any one of these structures can be a source of your pain.

Fortunately most back pain is simple mechanical back pain which is relatively straight forward to fix. In some cases, however, the problem is more structural affecting joints, discs and nerves. If this requires further investigations we are here to help you navigate your way through this process.

Our approach is very hands on, first we take time to listen to you and understand how your pain affects you, your work, your life and hobbies. We believe that it is important that you understand your own spine; it is amazing how many people are terrified of their own back, and at this point we wheel out Fred the skeleton and try to dispel the many myths associated with back pain.

We will assess your spine and work out why it is moving incorrectly. Once your normal movement patterns are restored with manual treatment, rehab is critical to activate your core muscles. Pain inhibits how muscles work and can completely switch off the core muscles which are critical to being able to function pain free. Rehabilitation may involve using our ultrasound scanner so you can actually see your muscles firing, Pilates and core stability exercises.

In the case of chronic back pain we will also help you address your pain control and the physiology of the pain centres in your brain. We can advise you on the ergonomics of your work and home environments.

Our aim is to restore you to “normal, fearless, thoughtless movement” so you can concentrate on what you enjoy doing again.

Shoulder pain can be debilitating it can stop you working, playing sport as well as disturbing your sleep.

Problems affecting the shoulder joint itself fall into 2 categories; instability of the joint and impingement of the tendons and other structures around the joint.

However, pain can also radiate into your shoulder from your neck and your ribs so an in depth assessment is important to differentiate between all these structures.

Our approach will address the mechanics of your shoulder joint, to get you moving your shoulder pain free. It is then critical to correct the muscle balance and firing patterns around your shoulder and upper back so you get a long term resolution of your pain.

Zoe Coltraro has a special interest in the shoulder joint.

Pelvic Girdle Pain (PGP), formerly known as Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD) affects 1 in 5 women at some stage of their pregnancy or postnatally. Pain can be at the front and/or back of your pelvis this is normally made worse by activity.

Women’s experience of being treated for PGP is often frustratingly poor. We have women visiting from all over the UK who are not getting the help and treatment they require to recover from this debilitating condition. Back into Action is endorsed by the Pelvic Partnership and their website has lots of useful information.

Our approach to PGP involves taking time to listen to your story and dispelling the many myths associated with PGP. We will then assess your pelvis to find out why it is dysfunctional. The dysfunction is then treated using hands on physiotherapy techniques.

Once your pelvic mechanics are sorted we need to get your active muscle system working correctly. This may involve using an ultrasound scanner so you can see your muscles working as well as core stability and pilates exercises. We may refer you to our women’s health physio to assess pelvic floor dysfunction.

Our holistic approach will also address you pain control and the physiology of your pain as well as practical advice so you can function on a daily basis.

PGP is a complex and emotive subject but we love the challenge of getting people better and exceeding their expectations of what they can achieve afterwards. Our PGP testimonials speak for themselves. So if you’re experiencing PGP during your pregnancy or you’re still not right 20 years after having your children come and see us.

Children and adolescents are not just small adults. There are a whole host of conditions that are seen only in childhood and can have significant effects on a child's quality of life and ability to complete normal activities and sport.

With the significant increase of high level sport from an early age young athletes can suffer from numerous issues including back, knee and heel pain amongst others. It can have a massive impact on performance and cause significant pain. In the majority of cases this pain can be treated and managed effectively allowing the young athlete to get back to peak performance quickly, with minimal disruption to their sporting endeavours.

Acupuncture is one of our many treatment tools. We use acupuncture in our integrated approach to the management of pain and inflammation.

Acupuncture is based on sound clinical research and has been shown to stimulate the brain and spinal cord to produce natural pain relieving chemicals such as endorphins, melatonin and serotonin. Needles are placed in specific acupuncture points for 20-30 minutes.

Trigger point acupuncture may also be used to facilitate relaxation of specific muscles when a muscle is held in a contraction due to pain and injury.

Trigger point needling is quick and effective, only taking a few seconds to release the muscle. As physios we find this is a very useful technique in resolving long standing chronic muscle pain and dysfunction.

All our physios practise acupuncture and are members of the AACP (Acupuncture association of chartered physiotherapists)

Hydrotherapy is an excellent way to help strengthen muscles against the resistance of water.

Please call us for more details or to book a physio led hydrotherapy session.

It is particularly useful when weight bearing is restricted for example after leg injuries, arthroscopies, ACL reconstruction, joint replacement or fractures. It is also helpful when arthritic pain limits exercise as the warm water helps with pain relief.

As well as lower limb injuries the pool is a great way to exercise shoulder joints and strengthen core muscles to relieve back pain.

A variety of equipment can be used in the water to perform exercises as well as swimming or walking against the endless pool jet.

It is a great way to exercise and you don’t even need to get your hair wet!!! There is a disabled changing area with a wet room shower area.