Physiotherapy

Our physiotherapy service provides rehabilitation for inpatients and outpatients at Charing Cross, Hammersmith, Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea and St Mary’s hospitals and various community locations.

Treatment may include education, advice and exercise to maximise independence and self-management strategies. The inpatient service provides expert physiotherapy assessment, treatment and advice for all inpatients that require physiotherapy to facilitate recovery following acute illness or surgery and to facilitate discharge home or onward referral for rehabilitation.

The outpatient service receives referrals from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust consultants for patients requiring expert physiotherapy assessment and treatment and for rehabilitation after surgery.

Conditions and treatments

We offer inpatient physiotherapy services within all speciality areas provided by the Trust. Our physiotherapists are allocated to specific wards according to the specialty skills of each therapist. All hospital departments can discuss the specific physiotherapy needs of a patient with their ward-based therapist and referrals for physiotherapy will be responded to within 24 hours. Our physiotherapists attend the board rounds and multidisciplinary team meetings on the wards to assist our medical teams in the planning of on-going care. All patients are assessed by a Health & Care Professions Council registered physiotherapist and treatment is individually tailored to the patient's needs.

The service will accept referral for inpatients with any presenting condition if physiotherapy would benefit the patient, including:

• orthopaedics – trauma and elective surgery
• respiratory – acute and chronic respiratory disorders and critical care
• stroke and adult neurology/neurosurgery
• neuro-rehabilitation
• major trauma – head injuries and multiple fractures
• elderly medicine – patients that have fallen or have mobility problems
• obstetrics
• gynaecology
• cancer
• vascular and amputees
• renal
• children's services

We offer outpatient services for:

• musculoskeletal conditions e.g. back and neck pain, other joint pain, soft tissue injuries
• post-orthopaedic surgery
• rheumatology conditons
• chronic pain
• vestibular disorders
• hand therapy
• intermittent claudication – classes
• amputees – prosthetic rehabilitation
• obstetrics – antenatal and postnatal assessment, treatment and advice for back pain, continence and urogynaecological problems
• gynaecology – conservative management for women with continence and urogynaecological problems
• advanced practitioner service in orthopaedic clinics, pain clinics, chronic respiratory care, and HIV clinics
• chronic pulmonary illness
• neurological conditions – expert opinion and signposting to appropriate services only

All outpatient referrals are screened and may be referred on to our community-based services if appropriate.

Treatments we offer

• Treatment and education 
• Postural and ergonomic advice and back care education 
• Gait re-education to improve mobility
• Manual therapy to mobilise the joints and soft tissue 
• Teaching specific exercises to improve strength or flexibility 
• Joint management 
• Self-management strategies and healthy lifestyle choices 
• Hydrotherapy 
• Strength training regimes 
• Functional task practice 
• Respiratory and cardiovascular exercise regimes 
• Group exercise sessions 

Additional information

Clinical research

Caroline Alexander is our lead clinical academic for therapies at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and is a professor in practice (musculoskeletal physiotherapy) at Imperial College London. She is a senior clinical academic physiotherapist in musculoskeletal outpatients and has a motor control laboratory situated in the physiotherapy department of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. She is a member of the human performance group in the department of surgery and cancer led by Alison McGregor (professor of musculoskeletal biodynamics, surgery and cancer). Her research interests include investigation of the cortical and reflex control of movement using transcranial magnetic stimulation and electrical stimulation of peripheral nerves. She is particularly interested in the control of movement in people with musculoskeletal problems such as Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder as well as factors relevant to developing rehabilitation interventions for this population.

Current projects include an investigation of the cortical and reflex control of movement in people who are hypermobile. If you would like to find out more about volunteering to take part in these studies please contact Caroline Alexander at caroline.alexander1@nhs.net.

Dr Alexander supervises BSc, MSc, MRes and PhD students from Allied Health Professional and Bioengineering backgrounds. If you are seeking research supervision, Masters supervision is arranged through the students’ Higher Education Institute only. However, if you are seeking information about PhD supervision please email caroline.alexander@imperial.ac.uk.

 Education

We provide education and training to undergraduate physiotherapists from London universities including Brunel, King’s College London, St George's University, St Mary’s University Twickenham, and London South Bank University. For more information about education opportunities, please see the physiotherapy page in the clinical support professionals.

Further online resources

• NHS Choices: Physiotherapy
• Chartered Society of Physiotherapists