Assessment
Your physiotherapist discusses your symptoms, goals, medical history and lifestyle, then completes a thorough assessment. Initial appointments are typically 45 to 60 minutes, so there is time to do it properly.
What We Treat
Running Injury Treatment in London
Most running injuries are not accidents. They are load problems with a date stamp, and they usually appear three to four weeks after something changed in your training. Find the change and the injury becomes solvable rather than mysterious.
Overview
Running and marathon injuries
Runners get injured in patterns. Once you know the pattern, and what in the training block produced it, the treatment is far more obvious than it feels when you are the one who cannot run.
What we see most in runners:
- Achilles tendinopathy: heel pain worst on the first steps of the morning.
- Runner's knee and patellar tendon pain: pain at the front of the knee at a predictable distance.
- Shin and bone stress: load-related pain that worsens through a run, which we take seriously.
- Plantar heel pain: sharp pain under the heel on the first step.
- Proximal hamstring pain: deep pain at the sitting bone, worse on hills and sitting.
- ITB and lateral knee pain: typically appearing at the same point in every run.
We sponsor Alex Leprêtre, a Highgate Harriers runner who has represented England and holds personal bests of 2:15:34 for the marathon, 1:03:28 for the half and 28:53 for 10k. The principles we use with him are the same ones we use with someone chasing a first sub-4 marathon. The numbers change; the method does not.
Running gait and performance reviews use DorsaVi to capture what your legs actually do at speed, which a static assessment cannot show. Physiotherapy builds the plan, and shockwave therapy is available for stubborn tendon pain. See also tendinopathy, knee pain and foot and ankle pain.
Excellent
From 4 five-star Google reviews
Source: Google
I first started using Tom last year to help relieve back pain, he has been extremely helpful and now he's supporting me with sprint and fitness training, whilst helping with any minor injuries. Can't recommend him and his team more highly.
I went to Tom with a shoulder injury that had not improved for several months. Tom is very knowledgeable and quickly identified the issue and put me on a course of exercises that, in conjunction with a couple more sessions, steadily resolved the problem. I would highly recommend him.
Parinita was brilliant! Identified my knee problem immediately, used a range of equipment and exercises not only to strengthen my knee, but to maintain it and improve my running long-term.
Excellent service! Sanchez is a true professional who helped me heal a previous injury. Highly recommend!
Running physiotherapy can help to:
Find the change that caused it
Running injuries almost always follow something: new mileage, new shoes, new session type, a return after time off. We go back through the block to find it, because treating the tissue without changing the load just moves the problem to the next build.
See what you do at race pace
Our running gait and performance reviews use DorsaVi to capture your mechanics at your actual pace. Reviews run at three levels, £80 Base, £135 Intermediate and £185 Expert, so you can match the depth to whether you are troubleshooting an injury or chasing a time.
Keep running through it where we can
Being told to stop for six weeks is why runners avoid physios. Most of the time it is not necessary. We agree what you can keep doing and at what volume, then adjust it at every visit as the tissue tolerates more.
Take bone stress seriously
Not all running pain is soft tissue. Load-related pain that worsens through a run and is tender to press on the bone needs offloading and sometimes imaging. Missing it turns four weeks into four months, so we screen for it specifically.
Build the strength the mileage needs
Calf, hip and glute strength is what lets you absorb the miles. Our clinics sit inside gym facilities, so that work happens with real load in the same building as your assessment rather than as a sheet of exercises you do at home.
Get race-week advice worth having
We sponsor Alex Leprêtre, an England international with a 2:15:34 marathon, so taper decisions, niggle triage and start-line calls are familiar ground. The same judgement applies whether you are chasing 2:15 or 4:15.
Why it happens
What causes running injuries?
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A rapid increase in weekly mileage, long-run distance or session frequency
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Adding speed work or hills without building the base to absorb it
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A sudden change in running shoes or a move from road to trail or track
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Returning to a training block after illness or a lay-off at the previous volume
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Strength deficits at the calf, hip and glutes relative to the mileage being run
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Low energy availability relative to training load, which raises bone stress risk
What happens at your first physio appointment?
Initial appointments are typically 45 to 60 minutes. You leave with a clear explanation of your condition, treatment recommendations, a report explaining it in simple language, and a personalised rehabilitation plan.
Follow-ups run 30 to 45 minutes, and we reassess at every visit rather than selling you a block of sessions up front.
A thorough, honest, and understandable explanation. Then the best treatment to get you back to a level of activity beyond your pre-injury status. If we can't get you better, we will recommend the world's leading healthcare professionals in London that can.
- Founded in 2015 by Tom Astley: 7 clinicians working across 3 clinics in Crouch End, Marylebone and Henley-on-Thames.
- Our team has successfully worked with local, national and international athletes at 6 major multi-sport events, from London 2012 to Gold Coast 2018, and we bring that expertise to everyone who enters our service.
- Rated 4.9 from 88 Google reviews; recognised by 5 major UK insurers, and self-funded patients book online with no GP referral.
Fees and insurance
Book directly online through Splose. Self-funded patients need no GP referral; if you are claiming through insurance, obtain prior authorisation before booking.
- Physiotherapy with Tom Astley: £85 initial consultation, £77 follow-up
- Sports and dance therapy with Laura Fornoni: £75 initial consultation, £70 follow-up
- Shockwave therapy: £230 for the initial consultation plus 3 sessions, then £80 per further treatment
- Running gait and performance reviews: £80 Base, £135 Intermediate, £185 Expert
- Recognised by Bupa, Cigna, Vitality, WPA and Simply Health
How physiotherapy works
from assessment to return to sport
Book today to get an assessment, advice, a report and a rehabilitation plan. We combine hands-on treatment with gym-based rehab to get you well, today, and we reassess at every visit.
Advice and report
A clear explanation of your condition and a report explaining it in simple language, alongside hands-on treatment: manual therapy, soft tissue techniques and joint mobilisation where they help.
Rehabilitation plan
Exercise rehabilitation tailored to your goals and condition, delivered through Track Rehab. Our clinics sit inside gym facilities, so the plan has the equipment and technology it actually needs.
Return
Structured programmes and return-to-sport testing before you go back, so you return safely and confidently. The goal is a level of activity beyond your pre-injury status, not just less pain.
What our physiotherapists treat
- Manual therapy and joint mobilisation
- Exercise rehabilitation through Track Rehab
- Dry needling for stubborn trigger points
- Shockwave therapy for chronic tendinopathy
- Sensor-based running gait analysis
- Sports massage, scar work and soft tissue therapy
- Women's health, Mummy MOT and postnatal rehabilitation
- Post-operative and ACL rehabilitation
- Return-to-sport testing
Treatment approach
How do we treat runners?
Running Gait & Performance Reviews
From £80DorsaVi-assisted gait analysis captures what happens at foot strike and through the stride at your actual pace, which is where the loading problem shows up. Reviews run at 3 levels: £80 Base, £135 Intermediate, £185 Expert.
See treatment detail →Physiotherapy & Sports Therapy
From £75Diagnosis of the specific tissue involved, then a loading and strength plan built around your training block rather than instead of it, so you keep as much running as the injury allows.
See treatment detail →Shockwave Therapy
£230 for 3 sessionsFor chronic Achilles and plantar heel pain that has not settled with loading alone. About 80 % of patients report a marked reduction in pain after 3 to 4 sessions.
See treatment detail →FAQ
Frequently asked
questions
Do I have to stop running completely?
Usually not. Complete rest de-loads the tissue and costs you the fitness you will need to come back. More often we cut volume, change the surface or drop the speed work while loading the injured tissue deliberately. Bone stress injuries are the exception and do need offloading.
I have a marathon in ten weeks. Is it still on?
Often yes, with a modified plan. We will tell you honestly what we think and what the risks are, rather than either writing it off or pretending everything is fine. That conversation is easier the earlier you come in, so book before the taper rather than during it.
What does a running gait analysis actually show?
It shows what your legs do at your real pace under real load, using DorsaVi sensors rather than an opinion about your form. That tells us where the load is going and what to change. A static assessment on a plinth cannot tell you what happens at mile eight.
Why does my injury keep coming back every training block?
Because the tissue was rehabilitated but the load that caused it was not addressed. Recurrence at the same point in successive blocks is a training-design problem rather than a treatment failure, and it is fixable once you look at the block rather than the symptom.
Related What We Treat
Get Started
Book a physiotherapy appointment
in Crouch End, Marylebone or Henley.
Tom Astley Physiotherapy • Park Road Pools & Fitness, Crouch End, London N8 8JN
BookAppointments typically available within 1–2 weeks