New Joint Solutions Service Launches At The Edinburgh Clinic

Scotland’s first fully integrated Orthopaedic, Sports Medicine & injury rehabilitation clinic unveiled by top specialists in Edinburgh

Scotland’s leading private day-case hospital, The Edinburgh Clinic, unveiled the country’s first fully integrated orthopaedic, sports medicine and injury rehabilitation service designed to bring the same high performance level care normally associated with sports athletes to the wider public. The New Year brings a raft of self-improvement goals and resolutions with many thousands embarking on fitness and diet plans to get back in shape.  Whilst exercise is one of the best ways to keep fit and healthy, painful joints, knees, muscles, bones or pre-existing debilitating problems including sports injury, overuse or general wear and tear can be a real issue. Making the right diagnosis is key to getting the right treatment.

The launch of Joint Solutions, which is a one-stop-shop service, is ultimately aimed at helping people stay active and healthy by managing injury as well as offering bespoke fitness and health programmes.  Pain management and injury rehabilitation are often classed as non-urgent with patients facing long waiting times to be seen. However, this new service offers specialist expert advice from highly  experienced senior doctors and top physiotherapists and access to state-of-the-art medical technology.  Joint Solutions work with the patient to identify their health or medical problem and to plan their treatment, whether this is surgery, injections, physiotherapy or a tailored exercise programme.

The founding team includes Dr Carrie McCrea, a highly experienced Sports and Exercise Physician, Mr Tim White MD FRCS, a leading Consultant Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgeon, Mr Sam Molyneux FRCS, MSC (Hons), BMedSCi (Hons), Specialist Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon and Louise Imrie, a specialist Sports Physiotherapist with previous experience of caring for Olympic level athletes, with other leading specialists also on board.

Commenting on the launch, Mr Tim White said:
“Physical inactivity and obesity are the largest morbidity factors today, yet you can add quality years to your life by making the right nutrition and exercise decisions.
“For many people good exercise and nutrition aren’t always put into practice yet it’s important to consider your health inside and out.  We know that people are busy and time is valuable but we’re not looking at short term fixes with Joint Solutions, we’re committed to providing our patients with the right tools to help maximise health and performance with a holistic approach all under one roof.
“This knowledge based approach to health and injury management has often been something that only athletes could access. It’s a field we’ve all specialised in for many years so it was a natural progression for us to collaborate on Joint Solutions, which we believe is Scotland’s first and only fully integrated orthopaedic, sports medicine and injury rehabilitation service.“

The first patient to be treated by the team is Edinburgh-based Dental Surgeon Dr Willie Jack, aged 57 years old. An active cyclist, canoeist and rambler with properties in Edinburgh and Assynt, Dr Jack is an otherwise fit and healthy outdoor enthusiast bar who suffered with recurring pain from shoulder injuries incurred during years of playing rugby in his younger years.  Now semi-retired, Dr Jack was keen to continue to develop his outdoor sports interests. However, he knew he needed to be seen by a consultant but was reluctant to embark upon any surgical interventions whilst still practising as a dental surgeon.

Commenting on his experience with the Joint Solutions team, Dr Jack said:
“My experience at The Edinburgh Clinic was painless and swift. I’d been carrying niggling shoulder injuries for a long time, years in fact. They’ve probably originated from rugby injuries sustained many years ago and frankly over time I’d learnt to live with them as a painful inconvenience.

“Now that I’m semi-retired and spending more time in the outdoors, with a view to becoming even more active, I needed to sort it out once and for all. However, by upping my sports and outdoor activities, I was also running the risk of making the pain even worse and doing longer-term damage to my shoulder.

“I contacted The Edinburgh Clinic and got an appointment straight away. I saw the Consultant Surgeon and had my shoulders MRI scanned right there and then. The Consultant had the results back within minutes of the scan being done.  I returned a couple of days later and was given a shoulder injection under ultrasound. It was that quick and easy, I was literally cycling a sportive in the Pyrenees a week later.

Dr Jack concluded:
“I can honestly say that I’ve never felt better. There’s a good chance that I’ll need surgery down the line but for the foreseeable future, I have some of the best clinical champions behind me who are proactively watching my back and keeping me active.”

An initial consultation with the Joint Solutions Clinic practitioners is priced from £545. For more information on opening hours and treatments or to book a consultation, please call The Edinburgh Clinic on 0131 447 2340 or visit www.edinburghclinic.com.