Helping hand
Published:
AS THE largest allied health professional group, physiotherapists work with people with a variety of disabilities, injuries and illnesses and their families and carers.
Primarily, they use physical means to promote health, rehabilitation and, where possible, recovery.
Physiotherapists also consider psychological, social and cultural factors. They use a variety of interpersonal skills to enable clients to take an active role in their recovery/rehabilitation programmes and work with other health and social care professionals in a variety of hospital and community environments.
One graduate from the Robert Gordon University is taking physiotherapy to the cutting edge of practice in the UK and using preventative rather than reactive methods to gain the optimum performance from athletes.
Karen Young, 32, from Kemnay, graduated with a first class honours degree in physiotherapy in 1998. After graduating she started in a junior post at ARI, carrying out rotations in different departments including out-patients, orthopaedics, neurosurgery and gynaecology.
Karen stayed at ARI for five years, progressing to acting superintendent of orthopaedic trauma before leaving the NHS to return to RGU’s School of Health Sciences as a lecturer.
She said: “Working at the hospital was a great grounding for my career. By working in different disciplines you learn what you like and are good at and it can really impact on your future career decisions.”
On teaching at RGU Karen said: “It was strange to be back at university teaching, rather than as a student. There were quite a few lecturers there from my first time around so it took a little while to build my confidence but it was a great experience. It’s really satisfying to enthuse and motivate students and impart knowledge to the next generation of physios.”
Karen lectured at RGU full-time for a year and then continued part-time when she started her own practice, Banks O’ Dee Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic, with classmate Lesley Steele.
Karen looks after the sports related work and Lesley works on the neuro-physical side with conditions such as MS and strokes.
During this time Karen was appointed lead golf physiotherapist by the Scottish Institute of Sport, working with golfers such as Richie Ramsay (US amateur champion and European Challenge Tour Golfer), and Clare Queen who is currently on the European tour. For three years she has worked on national golf programmes, co-ordinating the treatment of injured athletes, travelling on winter training golf camps, and enhancing performance by striving to improve body mechanics which can, in turn, improve the swing.
Karen said: “My work is really about performance enhancement and correcting any issues before they become problems. By analysing the body during physical screening I can pick up any physical issues that may be limiting the golfers’ swing potential. While practiced widely in countries such as Australia, this type of preventative work is still very much in its infancy in the UK, something we’re trying hard to rectify.”
It was initially through an elective placement at the Australian Institute of Sport Golf Division that Karen became interested in this field. This was when she began working with Ramsay McMaster, who started one of the first golf injury clinics, The Melbourne Golf Injury Clinic. Karen and Ramsay still keep in contact and it is through these links that Karen’s knowledge remains cutting edge. They delivered a golf camp together to the national golf squads at the start of the last golf off season to kick-start the winter strength and conditioning programme. Indeed, Tiger Woods is a longstanding promoter of the importance of golf fitness to becoming an elite golfer.
Karen has also been working at Meldrum House with Neil Marr, PGA golf professional and Scottish Golf Union coach to assist golfers in the area.
She said: “Neil and I will be working together to technically and physically screen golfers to highlight any areas for improvement. Physical improvements will be targeted at the areas which will provide the biggest technical changes, and is an adjunct to golf coaching.”
Speaking about careers in physiotherapy Karen says: “As in any job if you work hard and are committed you can excel. While I was lecturing, setting up my practice and working with the Scottish Institute of Sport I was sometimes working 70-hour weeks. It’s not for the faint hearted but if you want it enough and work hard there’s no reason why you can be successful at anything you set your mind to.”
The number of job vacancies for junior physiotherapists has fallen in the last few years but Karen doesn’t feel this should deter anyone who wants to enter the profession.
“In the US the job market for physios seems to follow a cycle and jobs are buoyant every four years. It’s quite possible the same will happen in the UK. At the moment countries like the US and New Zealand are screaming out for physiotherapists so it’s a great career if you want to travel and there are middle level jobs in the UK to come back to when you have five years’ experience.”
Karen is doing her best to help prepare students and recent graduates for the competitive job market. Her practice at Banks O’Dee Physiotherapy is starting a sports physiotherapy education programme for graduates who want to get experience in the field, and to start them on a career pathway. When jobs in the NHS are so hard to come by, Karen and her colleague Julie Campbell, Aberdeen Grammar Rugby FP’s physiotherapist, are helping graduates get part-time jobs with local sports teams.
Karen speaks very highly of RGU’s head of Health Sciences Liz Hancock’s support of the university’s students and graduates.
Liz has been behind the RGU’s postgraduate programme to give graduates improved career prospects. These included sports first aid, strapping, and respiratory on-call courses. Karen says: “Liz is very vocal with the Scottish Executive to push forward the situation of physiotherapists. While she feels the work she does is just part of her job she really does go above and beyond the call of duty and we’re all very grateful for that.”
Karen has recently opened her second practice, Banks O'Don Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic at Aberdeen University’s Hillhead Centre on Don Street with her business partner, and now has five physiotherapists working across both practices. As well as this, she has been appointed as physiotherapy co-ordinator at the Grampian Institute of Sport.
For further information on physiotherapy courses at RGU go to www.rgu.ac.uk/health
