What I Treat · Exeter
Joint pain treatment in Exeter
Shoulders that won't reach, knees that complain on stairs, hips that ache after sitting. Joint pain has a cause, and finding it is the whole game.
£75 · 45 minutes · includes your first treatment
Understanding It
One name, many causes
“Joint pain” covers a lot of ground: the shoulder that's lost its reach, the knee that swells after five-a-side, the hip that aches in the cinema, the elbow that objects to lifting a kettle. The joint is where you feel it, but the cause can sit in the joint itself, the tendons around it, or in how the whole area is being loaded.
That's why generic advice for a painful joint so often disappoints: the same symptom can have half a dozen different drivers, each needing a different emphasis in treatment.
Common signs
- Pain in or around a specific joint: shoulder, knee, hip, ankle, elbow or wrist
- Stiffness or lost range: reaching overhead, squatting, or turning becomes an event
- Clicking, catching or a sense the joint might “give”
- Swelling or warmth after activity
- Pain that's rearranging how you train, work or sleep
How Physiotherapy Helps
Find the driver, treat the driver
Assessment is where joint pain is won: a detailed history and physical testing to work out which structure is unhappy and, crucially, why. Sometimes the answer is local; often the joint is the victim of something upstream, like a stiff ankle changing how a knee loads.
Treatment then matches the cause: hands-on therapy to restore movement and settle pain, and a progressive strengthening plan so the joint can handle what your life asks of it. You'll know the diagnosis, the plan and the likely timescale from day one.
And if your joint needs something physiotherapy can't provide, imaging, an injection opinion, or a specialist, I'll tell you at the assessment and point you the right way. No string-alongs.
While You Wait
What you can do today
Keep the joint moving within comfort; total rest stiffens joints and weakens the muscles that protect them.
Adjust, don't abandon: shorten the range, lighten the load or change the activity rather than stopping everything. A joint kept gently working recovers better.
Note what aggravates and eases it over a few days; that pattern speeds up an accurate diagnosis.
Worth Knowing
When to get help
If a joint has been painful for more than a couple of weeks, keeps swelling, or is limiting things you care about, book an assessment; most joint problems respond well once the actual cause is on the table.
Seek prompt medical care for a joint that's hot, red and very painful without injury, follows significant trauma, or comes with feeling feverish and unwell.
Let's find out what's actually going on
A 45-minute assessment gets you a diagnosis in plain English, a clear plan, and your first treatment on the same day. No GP referral needed.