Sports Physiotherapy FAQs for London Athletes

Impact Physio is for athletes, active individuals, gym users, climbers, combat athletes, runners, and anyone who wants a clear plan for recovery.

You don’t need to be a professional athlete to book an appointment. If you want to understand what’s causing your pain, recover properly, and return to exercise or sport with confidence, we can help.

Yes. We’re currently accepting new clients in London.

Appointments are available across City, Fleet Street, and Mayfair, with weekday, evening, and weekend slots available.

We’re based across central London, including City, Fleet Street, and Mayfair.

These locations make treatment accessible for people working, living, or training in central London.

In most cases, no referral is needed. You can book a physiotherapy appointment directly through our website.

If you’re using private medical insurance, check your policy first. Some insurers may require a GP or consultant referral before they approve physiotherapy treatment.

Not usually. For most people, a thorough clinical assessment is the best place to start.

During your appointment, we’ll assess your symptoms, movement, and function to determine the most likely cause of your problem. In many cases, this provides enough information to begin treatment without the need for imaging.

If we believe a scan or specialist opinion would help guide your diagnosis or treatment, we’ll explain why, discuss your options, and, where appropriate, arrange the most suitable imaging or refer you to one of our trusted network of specialist consultants.

If you’ve already had an X-ray, MRI, ultrasound, or CT scan, please email us a copy of the report before your appointment where possible. We’ll review your imaging alongside our clinical assessment to ensure it is interpreted in the context of your symptoms, examination findings, and goals.

Your first appointment begins with a detailed conversation about your injury, symptoms, training background, medical history, and goals.

We’ll then carry out a targeted physical assessment. This may include movement analysis, strength testing, joint assessment, and objective testing where appropriate. The aim is to identify what’s driving the problem and create a clear rehabilitation plan.

The initial physiotherapy assessment usually lasts one hour.

This gives enough time to understand your injury, assess how you move, test strength or capacity where needed, explain the likely cause of the problem, and build a clear plan for treatment and rehabilitation.

Wear comfortable clothing that allows you to move freely.

For lower body injuries, shorts are useful. For shoulder, neck, elbow, wrist, or hand injuries, a vest or loose-fitting top may be helpful. If your injury is connected to a specific sport or movement, bring any relevant kit where practical.

Yes. We work with combat athletes involved in boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling, MMA, grappling and strength training.

Common combat sports injuries include shoulder pain, hand injuries, wrist pain, elbow pain, neck pain, rib irritation, tendon pain, and injuries that affect punching, gripping, pushing, pulling, or grappling.

Charlie’s background as a former England international boxer gives him direct understanding of the physical demands and pressures combat athletes face.

Yes. We support climbers dealing with injuries affecting the fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, back, and grip strength.

Common climbing-related problems include finger injuries, pulley irritation, elbow pain, shoulder pain, tendon overload, grip weakness, and training-load issues. Our treatment focuses on understanding the cause, rebuilding capacity, and helping you return to climbing with confidence.

Yes. We have specialist experience in shoulder rehabilitation.

This includes sports-related shoulder pain, shoulder instability, rotator cuff problems, labral injuries, post-operative shoulder rehabilitation, and upper limb injuries that affect training, work, or sport.

Our shoulder rehabilitation is based on assessment, strength, movement quality, tissue capacity, and the specific demands of your activity.

Yes. We provide post-operative shoulder rehabilitation for people recovering from procedures such as rotator cuff repairs, labral repairs, and shoulder stabilisation surgery.

We have established working relationships with, and are trusted by, London’s leading orthopaedic shoulder surgeons, and regularly receive referrals for patients following surgery. By maintaining close communication with your consultant where appropriate, we ensure your rehabilitation is aligned with your surgical procedure, recovery milestones, and long-term goals.

Your rehabilitation is built around clear milestones, realistic timelines, surgical guidance, and progressive loading so you can return to daily life, training, or sport safely and confidently.

We treat a wide range of sport, training, and activity-related injuries.

These include shoulder pain, elbow pain, wrist and hand injuries, tendon pain, muscle strains, joint irritation, climbing injuries, combat sports injuries, strength training injuries, and post-operative shoulder cases.

Our assessment looks at both the painful area and the wider demands placed on your body.

Impact Physio is built around assessment, clarity, and structured rehabilitation. With 16 years of clinical experience, we combine evidence-based practice with a personalised approach to help you recover with confidence.

Our aim is to remove the guesswork. You’ll leave your appointment understanding what the problem is, why it has developed, what needs to change, and exactly how your rehabilitation plan will help you return to the activities that matter most to you.

Rather than simply treating symptoms, we identify the underlying factors contributing to your pain or injury using detailed clinical assessment, movement analysis, strength testing, and, where appropriate, objective performance testing.

Treatment is tailored to your goals and may include hands-on therapy, exercise prescription, progressive strength rehabilitation, and, where appropriate, close collaboration with your consultant or surgeon.

Every rehabilitation programme is designed to help you move with confidence, perform at your best, and reduce the risk of the problem returning.

In most cases, yes. Exercise will often be key to your rehabilitation programme.

Following a detailed assessment, you’ll receive a personalised programme that may include strength training, mobility work, tendon loading, movement retraining, or sport-specific rehabilitation, depending on your injury and goals.

We don’t prescribe exercises for the sake of it. Every exercise has a clear purpose, and you’ll understand exactly why you’re doing it, how it fits into your rehabilitation, and what progress you’re working towards.

After your appointment, your personalised exercise programme is sent to you electronically, complete with video demonstrations and clear instructions, so you can perform each exercise confidently between sessions.

There are also cases where we’ll ask you to rest completely — and in those cases, the best thing you can do is rest and recover.

Yes. Hands-on treatment forms part of your rehabilitation where it is likely to add value.

This may include joint mobilisation and manipulation, soft tissue mobilisation, dry needling, and other evidence-informed manual therapy techniques where appropriate, guided by both current evidence and clinical expertise.

At Impact Physio, manual therapy is never used in isolation. It is integrated with detailed assessment, education, and progressive exercise to help you recover, build resilience, and reduce the risk of your symptoms returning.

Yes. Shockwave therapy is available where it is clinically appropriate and supported by your assessment.

It can be an effective treatment for certain tendon conditions, including plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinopathy, tennis elbow, gluteal tendinopathy, patellar tendinopathy, and calcific shoulder tendinopathy.

Shockwave therapy is never used as a standalone treatment. Where appropriate, it is combined with education, progressive loading, and a structured rehabilitation programme to give you the best chance of a successful long-term outcome.

The number of sessions depends on your injury, your goals, your training demands, your current level of function, and how your body responds to rehabilitation.

During your first appointment, we’ll have an open discussion about your diagnosis, your goals, and the likely timescales for recovery. Based on the nature of your injury, your rehabilitation goals, and 16 years of clinical experience, we’ll give you an estimate of how many treatment sessions you’re likely to need to achieve the best possible outcome.

This gives you a clear understanding of what to expect from the outset. As your rehabilitation progresses, we’ll regularly review your progress and adapt the plan if needed.

Some people need only a small number of focused sessions to achieve their goals. Others benefit from a longer rehabilitation programme, particularly following surgery, complex or long-standing injuries, or when returning to high-level sport.

In many cases, yes. You don’t always need to stop training completely, but your activity may need to be modified to allow your injury to recover.

Following your assessment, we’ll discuss what you can continue doing, what needs to be temporarily adapted, and how to progress your training safely. You’ll also understand which symptoms are acceptable, what warning signs to look out for, and the milestones that will guide your return to full training or sport.

Our aim is to keep you active wherever possible while supporting your recovery and reducing the risk of setbacks. We’ll focus on what you can do, rather than what you can’t, always keeping your long-term goals in sight.

Return-to-training timelines depend on your injury, symptoms, strength, sport demands, and objective progress.

We don’t rely on guesswork. Your return to training is guided by assessment findings, measurable milestones, and your ability to tolerate the demands of your sport or activity.

The aim is not just to feel better at rest. It’s to rebuild confidence, strength, and readiness.

Yes. Although we specialise in athletes and active individuals, you don’t need to compete in sport to benefit from treatment.

If you want to understand your pain, move better, rebuild strength, or return to exercise with confidence, the same structured approach can help.

Yes. Physiotherapy can be highly effective for long-standing, chronic, or recurring injuries, particularly if previous treatment hasn’t provided a clear diagnosis or lasting solution.

At Impact Physio, we don’t just focus on where it hurts — we look at why the problem keeps returning. Your assessment considers your injury history, movement patterns, strength, training load, lifestyle, recovery, and performance demands to identify the factors contributing to your symptoms.

The aim is not simply to settle your current pain, but to address the underlying cause, improve resilience, and reduce the likelihood of the problem returning.

Yes. Many people come to Impact Physio after previous treatment hasn’t provided the clarity, direction, or lasting progress they were hoping for.

We begin with a thorough assessment and a fresh perspective, taking the time to understand your injury history, previous treatment, current symptoms, and goals to identify what may be limiting your recovery.

Previous physiotherapy not working doesn’t mean physiotherapy won’t work. Understanding what has already been tried gives us valuable insight into what may need to change, helping us create a clear diagnosis, a structured rehabilitation plan, and the confidence to move forwards.

Yes. Where appropriate, we use objective performance testing to measure strength, capacity, movement, and progress throughout your rehabilitation.

Our assessment may include VALD ForceDecks force plate testing, handheld dynamometry, and VO₂ max testing to provide accurate baseline measurements, identify strength deficits, monitor your progress over time, and guide decisions about returning to training, sport, or higher-level activity.

By measuring progress objectively, we can remove much of the guesswork from rehabilitation, ensuring treatment decisions are based on measurable improvements rather than symptoms alone.

Not every patient requires performance testing, but where it is appropriate, it allows us to measure what matters, track meaningful progress, and make rehabilitation decisions with greater confidence.

Look for a physiotherapist who understands both injury recovery and the demands of your sport or training. A good sports physiotherapist should assess the cause of the problem, explain the injury clearly, test strength and movement where appropriate, and build a structured plan with clear milestones.

For athletes and active individuals, treatment should go beyond short-term pain relief. The right physiotherapist should help you rebuild strength, restore capacity, reduce the risk of re-injury, and guide you back to training with confidence.

At Impact Physio, our rehabilitation is based on detailed assessment, objective testing where useful, hands-on treatment when appropriate, and performance-led exercise planning.

Impact Physio provides specialist physiotherapy and performance-led rehabilitation for combat athletes, climbers, and active individuals. Treatment combines detailed assessment, objective performance testing where appropriate, evidence-informed hands-on therapy, and progressive strength-based rehabilitation to help you recover fully and perform at your best.

We understand the unique physical demands of sports such as boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, MMA, wrestling, judo, grappling, and climbing, and tailor rehabilitation to the specific movements, training loads, and performance requirements of your sport.

This may include treatment for shoulder injuries, hand and wrist pain, finger injuries, elbow tendinopathy, neck pain, grip strength deficits, tendon injuries, and training load-related problems.

Whether your goal is returning to the wall, stepping back into the ring, or competing at the highest level, our aim is to identify what’s limiting your performance, build a structured rehabilitation plan, and help you return stronger, more resilient, and with confidence.

You can book an appointment online through our website.

If you have questions about insurance, availability, or whether we’re the right fit for your injury, you can contact the clinic at impactphysioltd@gmail.com.