“How do you describe a session where you go there hoping for a muscle remedy or cure; feel your muscles being professionally crunched; definitely feel pain but also great improvement within 24 hours; are cured in the number of sessions suggested & walk away happy! You can't - but this is what happened for me and 5 other friends I recommended visit Martin. Thanks” – Gus M , London

I never guarantee how long your problem will take to resolve but will give you my best assessment based on my experience. If you are coming for a one-off appointment with a problem that can be all but eradicated in one go, naturally you will notice a big difference immediately afterwards. If you have come for a course of treatments, you will probably notice the biggest change after the second session but should still feel an improvement after the first and should be confident that you are on the right path before you leave the first time.

If you arrive knowing exactly what your problem is and, provided that I can fix it in one session, I take a brief case history and then fix your problem. The following things are common to single treatments and courses of treatment:

- all information given by you is kept in the strictest confidence, including your contact details which I do not share with anyone
- typically, my work is not a spectator sport, by which I mean that you will be asked to push here, pull there, see what this feels like and stop doing that – for example
- fixing the problem is paramount but understanding how you got it and how you can modify postural/training habits to avoid it are equally important
- where appropriate, I will give you rehabilitative exercises to do at home

In the above scenario we are talking about a specific muscular problem that can be eliminated in one session so please click the “Muscle/joint problems” button left to see how I approach this type of work.

If your problems are more skeletal or structural, we are likely to be at the start of a 4 to 6 session adventure. I’ve probably dealt with all the component aches, pains and sensations that you have many times before, but I have probably never dealt with the exact combination of things that you have and have never dealt with you, so it’s a bit of an adventure for both of us.

In the first session we will talk through all your aches and pains, go briefly through your recent medical history and look at what type of physical activity you do (or used to do!). The notes I make during this conversation are your case history. I’m not interested in your diet, bowel movements or how many children you have and do not need your doctors address (etc). I simply need to know who you are, how what you have affects you and what you are doing which may be making it worse.

We then discuss how I see the problem and what I suggest doing to rectify it. Assuming that it all makes sense to you and you are happy to proceed, I leave you to get undressed and hide under a blanket on my treatment table. What follows is pretty much an MOT of your muscle and skeletal systems to see what works and what doesn’t, during which I’ll give you a running commentary on what I see and what I am doing. I’ll then give you my assessment of what has happened, what it will do to you and how long it will take to fix. By now a few lights of recognition should be flashing which should reassure you that we’re talking the same language. Time permitting, I’ll make a start on the corrective work with massage, mobilization or manipulation. When you’re dressed again we’ll recap on what I’ve found and the way forward. I will usually have some observations/suggestions about your current physical activities and will probably give you a couple of exercises to work on before the next session.

You pay for the session then you leave. Hopefully, with a smile on your face.

If you do not think my work is appropriate, you are under no obligation to come back - that’s never happened yet! If anything changes or if you have any problems or concerns between appointments, all you have to do is call or email and I can deal with the problem before your next session.

At each subsequent session we very briefly discuss any changes, get stuck in to the work and modify the exercises you need to do before the next session. What work we do each week is determined by what I saw at the end of the previous session, by what I see at the beginning of this one and by your feedback regarding any changes between the two.