The Portside Difference
Personal attention
We've all been to that medical or allied health professional - you know the one. You're rushed in after waiting patiently for your appointment. A few cursory pleasantries, barely any clinical treatment, then *BAM* you're ushered out the door in less than 20 minutes and expected to book again next week (and weekly forever!).
At Portside; our initial appointments are all 30 minutes. During this time, you'll be assessed, receive treatment and be provided with a plan to get you back to the things your injury or ailment is preventing you from doing. Of course, there'll be a friendly chat thrown in there for good measure!
A treatment plan
Have you walked out of an appointment wondering why you were expected to book in again? Obviously the practitioner had a plan in their head when you were told "I'll see you next week" - but they may not have let you in on the big picture. Why not? You're the one who's injured and you're paying for their expert guidance and advice, so why shouldn't you be in the loop?
During your initial consultation, Portside's clinicians will provide you with an actual plan of what they're going to do and the timeframe they'll do it in to ensure you recover from your condition. That's right - a step by step plan based on clinical evidence and none of this "come back next week and we'll see where you're at".
Managing your injury & expectations
Your goal is our goal - to safely facilitate your full recovery in the fastest timeframe so you can get your quality of life back. But your recovery takes some patience and commitment from you. Although technology has sped a lot of things in our lives up - unfortunately, the rate at which the human body recovers from injury has not kept up with technology (unless someone has invented an app that integrates with nano-bots in your bloodstream.....how COOL would that be?). The upside is that the recovery rates in the human body are predictable and there is a tonne of evidence and research to back that up. This is how we can formulate treatment plans with relative certainty of the result.
Right forever, or right 'for now'
You wouldn't expect to stroll onto the MCG as a grand finalist without doing any training would you? Similarly, you wouldn't expect to recover from a chest infection after taking antibiotics for 3 days. The sad truth is; if you've worked in an office for 20 years and you sit in front of a computer for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week - a neck rub and a couple of exercises are NOT going to fix you. It's like constructing a sandbag wall as Tsunami protection....it may keep the townsfolk appeased for a little while, but it's not effective against a 10 metre wall of water!
In the examples above, you wouldn't ignore your coach or your GP; so you don't need to be Albert Einstein to figure out that there's no magic wand that can correct 20 years of postural issues in two physiotherapy sessions.
Stick to the plan, Stan!
We want to make sure you recover, and (most importantly) that you develop the strength and knowledge to ensure your injury doesn't recur. To keep you accountable for your recovery and to ensure you are able to get the treatment you need, on the days you need it; our friendly front office staff will be happy to block book all appointments for you up to your first review.
Our Range of Services
Apart from the normal injury management, rehabilitation and musculoskeletal style physiotherapy services that EVERY private practice provides; Portside Physiotherapy offers a number of other services that we believe set us apart from the rest!
The best part, is that your Private Health fund may cover you for these services (give your insurance provider a call to confirm).