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
Tennis & Padel Injury Treatment in London
Racket sport asks your shoulder, elbow, hip and calf to do explosive things at short notice, often after a week at a desk. Padel has brought a lot of people back to a court who had not sprinted in years, and the injuries have followed accordingly.
Overview
Tennis and padel injuries
Tennis and padel share an injury profile: repeated overhead load, hard changes of direction on an unforgiving surface, and a lot of players whose weekly training is the match itself.
What we treat most in racket-sport players:
- Tennis elbow: pain on the outside of the elbow, worse gripping.
- Shoulder pain: rotator cuff and subacromial pain from serving and overheads.
- Calf and Achilles injuries: the classic push-off injury, particularly in mid-life players.
- Knee pain: from repeated lunging, splitting and changing direction.
- Low back pain: from the rotation and extension the serve demands.
- Hip and groin pain: from lunging and wide court coverage.
Emma Spong works with the British Tennis performance team and has provided physiotherapy on the Grand Slam tour at Wimbledon, the French Open and the US Open. The demands she manages there are the same demands a Saturday club player puts through the same tissue, just at a different volume.
Physiotherapy leads the plan, shockwave therapy helps with stubborn elbow and Achilles tendon pain, and soft tissue therapy supports recovery between matches. See also shoulder pain, tendinopathy 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!
Racket-sport physiotherapy can help to:
Draw on tour-level experience
Emma Spong works with the British Tennis performance team and has covered the Grand Slam tour at Wimbledon, the French Open and the US Open. The tissue demands are the same at club level, so the assessment is built on what actually breaks in racket sport.
Sort out a stubborn elbow
Tennis elbow responds to progressive loading and to changing grip and volume, not to rest. It takes months, and we will say that at the start. Where it has already dragged on, shockwave is available in clinic alongside the loading programme.
Serve without paying for it
Shoulder pain from serving needs the irritated tissue settled and the overhead capacity rebuilt. Both, not one. Our clinics sit inside gym facilities, so the loading work happens with real resistance in the same building as your assessment.
Come back to padel properly
Padel has brought a lot of people back to sprinting and lunging after years away, which is exactly the setup for calf, Achilles and groin injuries. We build the tissue up to what the game asks rather than treating each injury as it arrives.
Know a tear from a rupture
Sharp calf pain pushing off is usually a muscle tear and occasionally an Achilles rupture, and the two need very different management. Getting that assessed quickly is the single most useful thing you can do after that specific injury.
Stay in the season
Most players want to keep playing while they get better. Usually they can. We agree what you play, at what volume, and what to leave out, then reassess it at every visit as the tissue tolerates more.
Why it happens
What causes racket-sport injuries?
-
Repeated overhead serving and smashing load through the shoulder
-
Gripping and repeated wrist extension, the mechanism behind tennis elbow
-
Explosive push-off and change of direction, which is where calf and Achilles injuries happen
-
Taking up padel quickly after years away from sprinting sport
-
Playing only matches, with no strength or conditioning between them
-
Hard court surfaces and a rapid increase in weekly playing hours
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 racket-sport players?
Physiotherapy & Sports Therapy
From £75Assessment of the specific structure and of the demand your game puts on it, then a loading plan built around your playing schedule rather than pausing it entirely.
See treatment detail →Shockwave Therapy
£230 for 3 sessionsFor stubborn tennis elbow and Achilles tendinopathy that has not responded to loading alone, alongside the rehabilitation rather than instead of it.
See treatment detail →Soft Tissue Therapy
Price on enquiryHands-on work through the forearm, shoulder girdle and calf between matches, which helps players stay in a season rather than dropping out of it.
See treatment detail →FAQ
Frequently asked
questions
Why did padel injure me when tennis never did?
Padel gets people sprinting, lunging and pushing off again in a way they may not have done for years, and it is easy to play a lot of it quickly because games are social and short. The tissue has not been prepared for that load. It is very fixable.
Do I have to stop playing to fix tennis elbow?
Usually not entirely. We normally modify grip, load and playing volume rather than stopping, then load the tendon deliberately. It is slow, taking months rather than weeks, and it responds far better to consistency than to rest followed by a full return.
I felt a sharp pain in my calf pushing off. What is that?
That mechanism, in a mid-life racket-sport player, is most often a calf muscle tear, and occasionally an Achilles rupture. The difference matters a great deal. If you could not walk properly afterwards, get it assessed quickly rather than waiting to see.
Can you help me serve without shoulder pain?
Yes, and it usually needs both parts: settling the irritated tissue and building the shoulder's capacity for overhead load. Emma works with the British Tennis performance team, so the specific demands of the serve are familiar ground rather than something we generalise about.
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