Yes, but preferably phone or WhatsApp the practice at +27 (76) 434 0043 to make your appointment. We are moving onto an online booking portal soon!

No, we do not do home visits currently.

Bring any referral letter, reports, X-rays or scans that are relevant to your condition or injury. Wear or bring comfortable clothing if possible, eg. Shorts for leg conditions (we have gowns for females if needed)

Yes, free street parking is available in York Road (the one way road which comes down from Cavalcade Road off High Level Road). Free parking is also available opposite Giovanni’s, adjacent to Helen Suzman Boulevard (access from Main Road).

A thorough initial assessment will normally take 45 minutes. If you have multiple areas requiring treatment, please let our reception staff know at the time of booking. Follow-up treatments will take approximately 45 minutes, but, allow one hour.

Yes. We accept cash, debit or Visa or Mastercard.

We do not treat IOD injuries. RAF treatments will need to be paid by yourself and claimed back from the fund.

Patient compliance and active participation in rehabilitation are key factors that any health professional has to capitalise on. Ask if you don’t know what to do at home, or if you are unsure of what you can do to contribute to your recovery. It is incredibly important to note that you have a key role to play in your recovery. Be an active participant and not a passive recipient!

Before highlighting the key aspects and differences of each of the above, it is worth noting that there is frequently an overlap in intervention by certain professions, such as physiotherapy and chiropractic.  The patient consequently suffers from confusion or misrepresentation.  Ultimately, each profession is governed by what is termed ‘scope of practice’, for example, physiotherapists cannot inject.  The tendency is often to have a territorial approach, when a collegial, collaborative approach is best. Further to this, in spinal therapies, science points to multi-modal approach as having the highest efficacy. 

• Physiotherapy(click here for more information) – An orthopaedic and sports physiotherapist is a degreed allied health practitioner skilled in orthopaedic and neuro-musculoskeletal diagnosis, treatment and management of the patient. Note that dry needling, rehabilitation, manipulation and massage are in the scope of practice of the physiotherapist, mostly via post grad course work. However, physiotherapists vary in their skill set and approaches based on post-degree and/ or higher degree education. These practitioners are sanctioned by and required to be members of the HPSCA (Health Professional Council of South Africa) and, in my case, also the South African Society of Physiotherapy.
• Biokinetics– A ‘bio’, as biokineticists are often called, is an allied health practitioner specialized in the rehabilitative modality of exercise. Being degreed individuals, they are educated in final phase rehabilitation and prescriptive exercise interventions for the health promotion and maintenance of special populations. The scope of practice of biokinetics does not include hands on manual physiotherapeutic approaches of mobilisation, manipulation, dry needling and direct soft tissue release of the musculoskeletal system. These practitioners are sanctioned by and required to be members of the HPSCA (Health Professional Council of South Africa).
• Chiropractic– A chiropractor is a degreed practitioner titled a Doctor of Chiropractic by their institute, but are not qualified medical doctors as they do not train at a medical school or hospital. While Chiropractors no longer exclusively do ‘adjustments’ (they frequently do a host of interventions not dissimilar to a physiotherapist), ‘Chiropractic’, by definition, involves ‘adjustments of the subluxation complex’ of the spine. These adjustments, when appropriately applied, are very effective when administered by a skilled Chiropractor, as is manipulation when done by an osteopath or post-grad trained physio.  Adjustment (manipulation) , however, is not a fix-all for all spinal pain or pathology, nor does it produce alignment, and can create injury if inappropriately applied by any practitioner.   These practitioners are governed by the Allied Health Professional Council and not the HPSCA (Health Professional Council of South Africa).
• Massage Therapy– Massage is very useful for therapeutic or relaxation purposes. Massage therapy can take several different forms. Massage therapists are certified by their institute of learning and are to be distinguished from simple massage delivered in a spa environment.  The former are not educated in diagnosis or rehabilitation.

Clicking or popping of spinal joints does not mean that joints were ‘out of alignment’ are put back into alignment. For example, you can look at your hand, ‘click’ your knuckles, and look at it afterwards only to see that it appears 100% the same as before, while feeling looser. We refer to the clicking of joints as manipulation, and the sound that is generated is called ‘cavitation’. This sound is likely the result of gaseous pressure change in the joint, and involves a stretch of the capsule and ligaments with a feedback message into the adjacent muscles that can cause them to relax more – in effect, loosening the joint. Manipulation is not proven to be the only method of restoration of joint mobility. True malalignment is seen in scoliosis and is not correctable by manipulation. Note that clicking one’s own spine is not advisable! The physiotherapist, after mobilising or manipulating the spine and releasing the soft tissue (muscle and fascia), will give you exercises that will strengthen the weaker muscles and lengthen any shortened muscles. In this way your muscles will be able to provide a strong pillar of support during daily activities and sport.

The disc is adhered to the adjacent two vertebrae and will not separate from the vertebrae even in severe injury such as car accidents. The disc can therefore not ‘slip’ – this is just lay terminology. The lumbar discs are cushions between the vertebrae and assist in shock absorption and movement. A disc has an outer layer of cartilage (annulus), and a softer gel-like centre (nucleus pulposus). With ageing, trauma, overuse or misuse, small cracks can develop in the cartilage with the soft centre distorting the cartilage (like a ‘tyre bubble’) or even pushing through (like a ‘burst toothpast tube’’).
Medical terms like herniation, prolapse or protrusion are used to describe the severity of the disc injury. This can cause swelling and inflammation resulting in pain, or push directly on nerve tissue causing local or limb (referred) pain. In the leg this referred pain is called ‘sciatica’. Worse yet, nerve compression can result in weakness and numbness and may require urgent surgery. An MRI is the tool typically used to make the most accurate diagnosis as an X-ray only shows bone, as prescribed by an Orthopaedic Spine Surgeon or Neurosurgeon.
Manipulation is typically avoided by physiotherapists or other manipulative practitioners (such as Chiropractors) in the presence of a disc injury. Thorough assessment and solid clinical reasoning will help the physiotherapist determine what approach is to be used.

Nerves are not ‘pinched’ but can become compressed due to disc problems (see preceding FAQ) or bony osteophytes (spurs) pressing on them. If that is the case, pain (in the typical distribution of that nerve), tingling, numbness or weakness may result. It is possible to have pain and NO weakness/numbness/tingling, or weakness/numbness/tingling and NO pain, or BOTH. This depends on where the nerve is compressed. By the way, pain in the leg does not necessarily mean you have sciatica – let your practitioner make that diagnosis. Weakness and numbness are considered to be far more serious than pain and require urgent attention.

Dry needling is the use of acupuncture needles for treating muscle pain. It is not the same as acupuncture per se, which is applied according to certain Chinese medicine principles. Physiotherapists claiming to perform acupuncture must be registered as acupuncturists, thus Chinese medicine practitioners. The concept of dry needling evolved from trigger point injection using a syringe (‘wet’ needle).The action of the needle itself was observed to have more effect on healing than the medication it administered, hence the “dry” needle. Dry needling is used to elicit a natural healing response from your body by increasing blood flow to specific muscle structures, eliciting a muscle spindle reflex (twitch) and stimulating your body’s many natural pain inhibition systems, thus also stimulating the secretion of natural pain inhibitors. Not all conditions require dry needling! The decision to offer this rests with the therapist and the patient, together they can make an informed decision to accept or not accept this approach.