‘Working within an MSK and Gym based clinic has been quite a unique experience compared to that of my time in the NHS.

For context l previously worked in an outpatients MSK clinic.In Australia l have been working for a  private MSK clinic which specialises in strength training. Access to traditional treatment rooms around a gym with specifically designed equipment.

The team is also  made up of Exercise Physiologists and Exercise Scientists with access to local sports medicine doctors and GP’s available. 

In my current role l see a varied case load of self funding, corporate and public health clients with acute and chronic pathologies. The initial consultations are 1 hour with 30 minute follow ups, seeing 10-15 clients a day. I decided to work 4 days a week and every 3 weeks l am required to do a 6 hour Saturday shift. 

The initial consults are similar to a standard MSK assessment (establishing the clients why, what they can’t do and what they’d like to do). Where appropriate l  also use the gym to collect objective data through strength testing which makes it so much more measurable when tracking client progress. 

Each clients journey is different but generally l’ll aim to guide the early stages with regular physio sessions establishing a plan/ program.Once we’ve got a good program l’ll transition the client into a gym membership where they’ll be guided by the Exercise Scientist team to transition into ongoing independent or supervised strength training, catching up with physio as required. 

Granted it’s not always like this some initial assessments are just clients wanting to join the gym and in that case we’ll explore there why and design a program that’s specific to them. For example l had client with no msk concerns but wanting to improving his golf game, over 2 sessions we designed a gym program together before transitioning into the gym under the guidance of the exercise science team. Similar those with long term health conditions (balance, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases) may initially see the exercise physiology team before or after physio.

Working in a gym based environment has been very rewarding because l can be really targeted with my approach to guide clients in achieving their goal.’