Patient story: Matthew Philpott

I first went to the Hatt Clinic for manual therapy during the final year of my PhD. Before the pandemic, I cycled into work every day where I was spent a lot of time on my feet in the lab and also played a lot of sports too so I was never sat down for very long to be honest.

About halfway through the first lock-down, I started to experience loads of back pain. This wasn’t something I expected at my age but I think it was a combination of poor office furniture, lack of movement, and the added stress of being in the final year of a PhD and also trying to find my first job during the pandemic.

In hindsight, I wish I’d booked in for manual therapy much sooner as it got to a point where I was actually struggling to sleep at night because I was so uncomfortable. The lack of sleep then started to impact my mood during the day and also made me less productive at work which made me even more stressed, so it started to become a bit of a vicious cycle.

I’d heard about Hatt’s through a friend as they’d been treated by the team for years for a variety of different ailments and I’m really glad I took their recommendation.

I didn’t quite realise how much I needed the team at Hatts until after my first appointment. I actually felt so much better after just one session and slept better than I had in months which was such a relief. It became clear that I’d left it way too late to see a manual therapist as the tension in my muscles was pretty deep at this point. After my first session, I booked in for another four weekly sessions to get on top of the issue and now I’m visiting every 4 to 6 weeks on average I’d say.

I’ve seen most of the manual therapy team at Hatt’s now and I genuinely can’t recommend them enough. Their sessions are very different from what I’d experienced before in a spa treatment massage for example. They really listen to you and focus on what your body needs most. They use loads of different techniques to relieve muscle tension and reduce any pain that you’re experiencing. I also got given some exercises to do at home which helped me keep on top of the progress thatwe’d made in our sessions which was really very helpful.

I live in Bristol so I travel an hour each way to have treatment with Hatt’s but it’s so worth it! They have Saturday and evening appointments which work really well with my routine and I honestly don’t think I’d go anywhere else now.