Bumps, bruises and creaky joints come as part and parcel within the Policing community. Whether it’s a result of street-patrol or repetitive strain injury stemming from office-based positions, we could all do with a little TLC. Such was the case for Rick Alto, head of Organisational Learning Culture and Ethics. Suffering with an injured shoulder Rick took advantage of Harrogate’s Police Treatment Centre to return to full working order and detailed his time there in a diary just for us.
Day 1 at the Police Treatment Centre. Why join you will never need it? Well that’s what I thought as it’s about £7 a month and to most of us that’s a couple of pints, but as we get older and we become a bit creaky in the joints when somebody knocks you off your bike it takes a while for things to repair. I was given a fantastic opportunity to attend the PTC at Harrogate for some intensive physio on my shoulder. I was booked in to meet a physiotherapist at 11am. There was no fuss it was 11am on the dot, in for a general overview of the injury. The assessment was thorough and they went into some real detail as to what was wrong, I thought my shoulder was getting better but within 30 minutes it was proven that this was not the case. Lunch was a bit of a surprise as where you sit is decided for you, it was strict and tables are split so that some who have been here for a week share with those just arriving. It gets you talking there’s no ranks and no one gets priority over anyone else. It is very humbling when you sit down next to someone who is more bothered about why you are here than why they are.
Day 2 at PTC. Up for breakfast, you can have what you want light or cooked breakfast. Physio starts early so be mindful what you have for breakfast. Like I say physio started early for me and lasted for about an hour, more pulling and prodding more exercises and then it’s up to you to go and get on with it. That’s said it’s very relaxed and there is always someone on hand to ask if there are any issues. There are plenty of classes that you can go to if you wish but the physio will tell which are best to go to for you to get the most benefit for your injury.
Day 3 Again up early for breakfast, again you can have what you want and the food is spot on. Straight after breakfast it was physio for 45 minutes, again one to one treatment. The physio has been very specific in what I should do and what I should be careful about doing. The exercises are purely to get you back up and running, the good thing here is that you may think you can do more but I have found the physio winds you back in and gets you to stick to their recovery plan. I have to say it works well and feel that the advice and exercises that I have been given appear to be working. Throughout the day there are many classes that you have access to, Wednesday has the following, AM: General mobility Pilates Circuits Back pain talks Healthy eating. PM: Back mobility, Shoulder hydro, Balance and co-ordination, Aqua circuits, Indoor cycle, Box fit.
Day 4 at the treatment centre, things now seem to be stepping up in relation to the rehabilitation. During the morning it was again in for the one to one Physio. This seemed to go relatively straight forward until they gave me a plan for the weekend and what I needed to do to continue the improvements in mobility. Now I wasn’t expecting what happened next as they gave a me yoga ball to sit on, easier said than done being a bit on the tubby side, so whilst bouncing up and down on one of them space hopper things and everyone chuckling due to the thought of it bursting I was assured that this would assist my shoulder. I have no idea how but it’s something to do with how everything is linked together through my back which was preventing my shoulder reacting to the exercises as it should be.
Be sure to check back soon for week two of Rick’s time at the Police Treatment Centre.
You can find more information on the centre on their website.
