How I work with you

When you come to my London clinic, my aim is to get a really good overall assessment of your shoulder problem and understanding of how it’s impacting on your life and the things you love doing.

I will ask you lots of questions about your day-to-day life and physical activities, and then I’ll examine you carefully, watching how you move and how your shoulder joint moves.

You may then need some radiological investigations, which could involve an MRI or an Ultrasound Scan. Putting all this information together, I’ll be able to give you an accurate diagnosis – which is the starting point for your treatment plan.

Sometimes, as part of your treatment an injection may be required. This is performed by one of our consultant radiologists using ultrasound guidance so that you can rest assured that the needle is placed accurately to target your pain.

I appreciate that you have a busy a life and my team will work together to try and get most of these assessments done within a week, if not on the same day (with prior planning).

Most shoulder conditions require a short course of physiotherapy or osteopathy. I work closely with expert therapists and clinicians, and anyone else involved in your care – it’s very much a team approach, with you at the centre.

What if shoulder surgery is needed?

If surgery is needed to fix your shoulder, I’ll take you slowly and carefully through all the options, the pros and cons, so that you feel fully informed, and comfortable in your choice of treatment.

People describe as being a very careful surgeon – as well as being meticulous inside the shoulder, I’m even obsessive about ensuring the best cosmetic appearance on the skin surface. I always use hidden sutures and take extra caution to match up any tattoos that may be at the incision site.

Our journey together continues with your follow-up care. I’ll be supporting you throughout your rehabilitation, liaising with your physio, your sports doctor, your strength and conditioning coach, ensuring that all is going to plan, and that you’re progressing well.

I greatly believe in being available to answer your questions and my advice would be to write these down beforehand and bring a list of questions with you to the consultation, so that you don’t forget to ask anything. I consider myself to be very approachable (with a super helpful admin team, too!).

The key principle in my practice is that you are the most important person in the room at all times. I see my role as getting to the correct diagnosis, then giving you the information that you need so that we can make decisions together about your shoulder, and then putting together a treatment plan that suits you.

It’s your shoulder, your treatment and your choice.

A bit about me and my experience

I’ve been a lifelong learner. I qualified as a Doctor in 1996 from Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, and trained as a surgeon in London. I have a PhD (focusing on mechanical injury and proteins), and this led to my life-long love of learning and teaching. I’ve a Certificate in Adult Education and gained a Masters in Orthopaedic Biomechanics.

I’ve been fortunate enough to gain a lot of experience at many prestigious institutions; I completed fellowships in shoulder surgery at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and after my fellowship at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, I went on to become a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon there in 2013. Along the way I’ve completed a lot of research. I have published my work in high profile scientific journals and presented at and organised several international shoulder meetings.

I’ve taught medical students all the way through to consultant level surgeons.

I have continued my passion for teaching by setting up an online anatomy course with my colleagues Professor Vishy Mahadevan and Gill Harris – TheFunkyProfessor.com

I regularly post content on Instagram @funkyanatomy and our YouTube channel, The Funky Professor.

As well as all that, I’m married to another surgeon, we have twin daughters, and two dogs who like to think they are also our children.