About us
Ellie Marchant opened Riverside Physio in 2012 after seven years in an NHS orthopaedic team, where the pattern was always the same: people got their pain settled and then were sent home before anyone rebuilt the strength they had lost.
Every treatment room here opens onto a rehabilitation gym, because the exercise half of the job is not homework we hand you at the door. You do the first set with us, with weight, and we write down the number so the next session has something to beat.
We are a small team on purpose. You see the same physiotherapist through your course, you get their direct email, and if we think physiotherapy is the wrong answer for your problem we say so and point you at the right one.
The team
Registration numbers are printed here so you can check any of us on the HCPC register before you book.
Clinical director, musculoskeletal physiotherapist
HCPC PH074512
BSc Physiotherapy Cardiff, MSc Advanced Musculoskeletal Practice. Fourteen years in practice, seven of them in an NHS orthopaedic team.
Sports physiotherapist
HCPC PH089341
BSc Sport Rehabilitation Bath. Six seasons pitchside with a National League rugby squad. Runs the gait clinic on Wednesdays.
Physiotherapist, clinical Pilates lead
HCPC PH061208
BSc Physiotherapy Southampton, APPI clinical Pilates. The one nervous first-timers ask for a second time.
Physiotherapist, shockwave and needling
HCPC PH098776
BSc Physiotherapy Brighton, AACP member. Nine years spent on tendon pain that other people had given up on.
How we work
Day one
We test, we tell you what we think is going on in plain words, and we treat in the same session. You leave with two or three exercises, not twelve.
Week one to two
Hands-on work, load management and short daily exercise. The aim is sleeping better and moving without guarding.
Week three to six
The part most plans skip. We add weight, speed or distance every week and re-test the numbers so progress is visible.
Week six onwards
Back to your sport, your job or your garden, with a maintenance plan and an open door if it flares.
Questions
No. Physiotherapy is a self-referral profession, so you can book directly. If you are claiming on private medical insurance, your insurer may still ask for a GP referral, so check your policy before the first visit.
We hold slots each morning and evening for new patients. The average wait for a first assessment is three days, and there is usually something the same week.
The assessment can reproduce your pain briefly, because we need to find it. Treatment should not leave you worse than you arrived. If something is too much, say so and we change it.
Something you can move in, and shorts if the problem is in your leg. There is a changing room if you are coming straight from work.
We are recognised by Bupa, AXA Health and Aviva. Bring your policy number and authorisation code to the first visit and we invoice the insurer directly.
Most people need between three and six. We give you our estimate at the end of the first assessment, and we say so if we do not think physiotherapy is the right answer for you.
Forty five minutes, 7 Kingsmead Square, and a plan you can read.