Rob Leather Physiotherapy home
07534 334970 Book online
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Number 9, Barshaw Business Park, Leycroft Road, Leicester LE4 1ET

Sports physio in Leicester for injury, pain and recovery after surgery

Specialist physiotherapy for sporting and everyday injuries, for all ages and all levels. We listen to your goals, find the cause of the problem and give you a clear plan to recover.

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Physiotherapist mobilising a patient's upper back on a treatment couch
Who we see

Expert care for sporting and non-sporting injuries

Our aim is to meet the specific needs of every client who comes through the door. Our therapists have extensive knowledge of both sporting and non-sporting injuries and how to manage them well.

Many of our clients have been injured through sport or physical activity. Pain is usually the main complaint, but just as often it is not being able to perform, train or work at your normal level. We are very good at finding the cause and choosing the most appropriate course of treatment.

We combine current, evidence-based physiotherapy with over 12 years of providing physiotherapy and sports medicine to professional teams and organisations, including:

  • England Cricket
  • Leicestershire County Cricket Club
  • Leicester Tigers
  • Leicester Riders Basketball
  • Denstone College
What we treat

The injuries and complaints we see most often

From a sudden sports injury to pain that has built up over months at a desk, these are the conditions we treat most often in the clinic.

  • Low back pain
  • Low back disc problems and sciatica
  • Stress fractures of the low back
  • Neck pain, whiplash and headaches
  • Postural and work-related back and neck pain
  • Shoulder pain and impingement syndrome
  • Arm pain and nerve entrapments
  • Golfer's and tennis elbow
  • Hip and groin pain
  • Thigh, hamstring and calf muscle strains
  • Knee and patella pain
  • Achilles and patella tendon injuries
  • Ankle sprains
  • Lower limb biomechanical injuries: flat feet, running pain and ITB syndrome
What to expect

Your first appointment, step by step

Every client gets a thorough assessment and a plan built around their goals, whether that is a return to sport or getting through the day without pain.

  1. Medical history

    We take a thorough history of your condition, including any relevant past medical history.

  2. Physical assessment

    We assess your injury and your functional ability, so we understand how it affects what you do.

  3. Diagnosis

    An accurate clinical diagnosis, with a clear explanation of the likely cause and what is needed for a full recovery.

  4. Personalised plan

    A treatment and management plan for your injury, delivered in the clinic or the gym depending on your needs.

Your treatment plan will often include

  • Manual therapy
  • Soft tissue massage
  • Rehabilitation programmes
  • Acupuncture or dry needling
  • Electrotherapy
  • Training plans for a successful return to activity
About our training plans
Physiotherapist using hands-on manual therapy on a patient's shoulder blade
Manual therapy

Hands-on treatment, when it is the right choice

When it is indicated, our therapists take a hands-on approach to your treatment. We regularly use a specialised form of hands-on physiotherapy called manual therapy, which often includes:

  • Joint mobilisations
  • Spinal manipulations
  • Muscle active release techniques
  • Trigger point release
  • Assisted range of motion
  • Resisted muscle activations
  • Stretching of muscle, neural tissue, joints or fascia

What manual therapy aims to do

  • Improve tissue extensibility
  • Increase motion of the joint complex
  • Mobilise and manipulate soft tissue and joints
  • Encourage muscle relaxation
  • Change muscle function and activation
  • Modulate pain and reduce guarding
  • Reduce soft tissue swelling and inflammation
  • Correct movement restrictions
Acupuncture and dry needling

Fine needles for pain relief and better function

All of our therapists are fully trained and registered acupuncture and/or dry needling practitioners. The two techniques are similar, and your therapist will explain which suits your problem.

Acupuncture needles placed along a patient's upper back

What is acupuncture?

Acupuncture is a system of complementary medicine, rooted in traditional Chinese medicine and among the oldest healing practices in the world. Fine needles are inserted through the skin at specific points along what are considered to be lines of energy (meridians).

Inserting the needles triggers a release of endorphins, which helps balance the body's energy levels and results in pain relief. Acupuncture has been shown to give excellent results in helping to treat:

  • Chronic pain
  • Knee osteoarthritis
  • Headaches and migraines
  • Neck pain and tension headaches
  • Low back pain
  • Joint pain
Therapist inserting a fine needle into a tight muscle at the top of the shoulder

What is dry needling?

Dry needling also uses thin needles, this time to treat muscular pain. The needle targets specific tight or painful spots within a muscle, known as trigger points or "knots".

A trigger point is a painful point in the muscle that can be felt as a nodule or band, and pressing on it reproduces your pain. Trigger points can also refer pain elsewhere, in a pattern typical of that particular muscle.

Dry needling aims to stimulate and release these trigger points, releasing endorphins, reducing pain and improving how the muscle works. The needle can bring on a small twitch response in the trigger point, which often gives immediate pain relief and better function in the problem area.

Ask about acupuncture
Electrotherapy

Electrotherapy to support your recovery

We occasionally use electrotherapy to aid your recovery. The term covers a range of treatments where an electrical device is applied to the body to help it heal.

  • Ultrasound

    Uses sound energy on the injured area to enhance the healing process. It is particularly effective for acute tendon and ligament injuries.

  • Interferential

    Uses electrical impulses to stimulate the tissues, giving pain relief and reducing swelling, with the aim of restoring normal movement and function.

  • Compex muscle stimulation

    Portable muscle stimulators widely used in sport for physical preparation, muscle recovery, injury prevention and pain treatment. After surgery, or a period of immobilisation following a significant injury, Compex can help prevent muscle wasting, improve muscle function and reduce pain.

Physiotherapist guiding a patient through a leg stretch with a resistance band
Rehabilitation and post-operative rehab

Rehabilitation built around your goals

We use up-to-date rehabilitation programmes, delivered in our fully equipped rehabilitation gym. Our approach aims to restore normal function in the injured part of your body through:

  • Developing normal movement patterns
  • Resolving muscle imbalances
  • Building strength and muscle control
  • Targeting the sport-specific or work-related needs of the client
  • A full return to sport or work

We specialise in personalised rehabilitation programmes. If you need one, you will be given a plan to suit you, which can range from a home exercise programme to an extensive gym programme.

Conditions we rehabilitate

Our rehabilitation skills cover a wide spectrum of conditions and injuries, such as:

  • Post-operative rehabilitation
  • Achilles and patella tendinopathy
  • Lower back stress injury
  • Back, neck and postural pain
  • Shoulder dysfunction
  • Knee and ankle ligament injuries
  • Running biomechanics and overuse injuries
  • Muscle injuries

Rehabilitation after surgery

Our experience in elite and non-elite sport gives us the tools to plan your recovery after an operation. We take a full history of your condition and procedure, and set goals with you at the first assessment, whether that is a return to sport or living pain free day to day. Common operations we rehabilitate include:

  • Knee and hip replacement
  • Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction
  • Knee arthroscopy for cartilage or ligament surgery
  • Ankle fusion
  • Shoulder reconstruction
  • Ankle ligament reconstruction
  • Surgery to repair bone after a fracture

After injections and pain procedures

We have strong links with the local sports medicine and pain departments, whose less invasive procedures need specific rehabilitation plans, such as:

  • Joint injections: steroids and hyaluronic acid
  • Spinal injections: epidural and facet joint
  • Nerve ablations for the lower back
  • Tendon injections: platelet rich plasma (PRP) treatments
Physiotherapist stretching a patient's hip and lower back as she lies on her side
Specialist programmes

Leading experts in complex sports injuries

We use knowledge and specialist techniques gained at the cutting edge of elite professional sport to get successful outcomes for these often complex and debilitating injuries. It is one of the reasons we are among the most sought-after physiotherapy services in the East Midlands.

Illustration of the Achilles tendon at the back of the ankle, highlighted in red

Achilles and patella tendinopathy

Achilles and patella tendon pain can be debilitating and very difficult to resolve. Clients usually describe a gradual onset of pain, caused by overuse such as running, jumping or repetitive movements at work.

Tendinopathy is a failed healing response within the tendon, which causes the tendon to work abnormally and leads to pain and swelling. Tendons have a limited blood and oxygen supply, so recovering pain-free function often takes a significant period of time.

We have developed a very successful rehabilitation protocol for tendinopathies: a five-stage progressive loading programme that stimulates healing in the tendon and allows a full return to sport. Every stage is objectively measured, so each progression is appropriate and well timed according to your pain.

The five stages of our progressive loading programme

  1. Isometric loading

  2. Heavy slow resistance (HSR) loading

  3. Introducing plyometrics (bouncing and jumping)

  4. Controlled introduction of sport or work-specific activity

  5. Graded return to sport

Back, neck and postural pain

Lower back pain is the complaint we treat most often. It is often linked to posture and daily habits at home and work, with pain related to posture and muscle imbalances.

We specialise in corrective therapy for every aspect of back pain. We identify the causes and aggravating factors, examine your movement, posture and muscle imbalances, and set out a clear pathway to rehabilitate your back. Most often this includes a core strength training plan you can do at home or at work, built on keeping the core controlled during daily activities.

Common complaints we see

  • Posture-related back or neck pain
  • Disc-related lower back pain ("slipped disc")
  • Sciatica
  • Facet joint pain in the lower back
  • Whiplash
  • Neck pain involving nerve entrapment

Lower back stress injury

A lumbar stress injury is a specific injury to the lower back, most commonly seen in adolescent and developing athletes. It happens when bone in the spine is put under repeated stress, and shows up as lower back pain.

Sports and activities linked to it

  • Cricket, especially fast bowling
  • Football
  • Tennis
  • Gymnastics and ballet

These injuries vary in severity. They often start as bony bruising (oedema) and, if left unmanaged, can develop into a stress fracture of the vertebra. If we suspect a stress injury, we will often use MRI or CT scans to get a clear diagnosis of the stress response.

Cruciate ligament rehabilitation

Cruciate ligament rehabilitation is one of our specialist areas. We use the techniques we learned working in elite professional sport to guide you through recovery from knee ligament injuries.

After anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, we take a full history of your injury and surgery, then set clear goals with you at your first assessment, so your rehabilitation has a direction from day one, whether that is a return to sport or living pain free.

Rehabilitation after surgery
Specialist network

Quick access to the right specialist

If your injury cannot be managed by physiotherapy alone, and needs a specialist opinion or onward referral, we have excellent relationships with leading experts locally and nationally.

We will arrange for you to see the most appropriate specialist for your condition, so your injury is managed by the best possible practitioners and your care stays seamless.

  • Sports medicine consultants and specialists
  • Orthopaedics and surgery
  • Radiology

    Including X-ray and MRI scanning.

  • Podiatry and biomechanics

    Including our own podiatrist. About podiatry

Prices

Physiotherapy prices

Your first visit is an assessment session. We are a recognised provider for private medical insurance, and can provide pre-authorised physiotherapy and rehabilitation programmes through your cover.

See all prices

Physiotherapy

  • Assessment session 30 to 45 min £48
  • Treatment session 60 min £96
  • Treatment session 30 min £48
  • Remote video consultation 30 min £38

Payment is taken after every session by cash or any major card (debit card preferred).

Book your physiotherapy assessment

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