Boutique private physiotherapy · Canterbury
A boutique three-clinician clinic on Northgate, Canterbury. One full hour for your first appointment. A written plan you take home. The same clinician, every session.
One hour £85 Same clinician throughout
A short note, before we go on
You’ve stopped running.
You’ve cancelled the round of golf.
You’re three weeks into “it’ll get better on its own.”
Let’s not waste another three.
What we treat
Same body parts. Different lives. Knee pain in a marathon-trainer is a different problem to knee pain in a desk worker, and both are different to knee pain after an ACL repair. Find yourself below.
For runners
Patellofemoral pain, ITB syndrome, shin splints, Achilles tendinopathy. We watch you run. We work out what the body is doing. We give you the load-management plan that actually fits your training block.
For desk workers
The familiar tightness that gets blamed on “posture”. Usually it’s an under-loaded back, an over-shrugged shoulder, or a hip that stopped helping. We assess, treat, and give you the four exercises that actually move the needle.
For golfers & racquet players
Rotational sports demand a strong, well-organised core and free hips. When something in that chain is unhappy, the swing tells on you. We diagnose where, treat the cause, and rebuild rotation properly.
After surgery
ACL reconstructions, knee replacements, rotator cuff repairs, shoulder stabilisations. We coordinate with your surgeon’s protocol, then build you back through the milestones, week by week.
For new mothers & pelvic health
Six weeks in or six years on. Sophie leads a quiet, evidence-based pelvic-health practice with the time to listen and the discretion to get it right.
For staying active later
Whether it’s the garden, the grandchildren, the Saturday hike or the parkrun streak. Strength and mobility are the most under-prescribed medicines for the second half of life. We’ll write you a proper one.
Three steps, in order
The signature of the clinic
No clinic in the city shows you what their treatment plans look like. We’ll show you ours. Below is a real plan from this winter, with the patient’s name removed.
Northgate Physiotherapy — Canterbury
Diagnosis
Right-knee patellofemoral pain. Onset traced to a load increase in your half-marathon training block (week 9: 38 km → 52 km). No ligamentous involvement. No imaging required at this stage.
Course
Six sessions over six weeks, reassessed at session four.
Milestones
Home work
Single-leg sit-to-stand — 3 × 10 each side
Builds tolerated quad load through the symptomatic range.
Wall-sit — 3 × 30 sec
Trains isometric strength without aggravating the joint.
Slow eccentric step-down — 3 × 8 each side
Loads the patellar tendon under control. Slow on the way down.
Review point
At session four, if you are not measurably better, we change the plan. We do not keep treating the same way and hope.
Discharge target
Run the half on October 12th.
Your first hour, in full
A full hour is uncommon in private practice, never mind the NHS. It is the single most expensive thing this clinic does. It is also the reason patients leave with a plan instead of a guess.
00:00 – 00:10
Where it hurts. When it started. What you’ve already tried, and what hasn’t worked.
00:10 – 00:30
Movement testing, strength, range of motion, special tests. We arrive at a working diagnosis you can repeat back to a friend in plain English.
00:30 – 00:45
Hands-on work to move pain in the right direction today. Mobilisation, soft-tissue work, dry needling where indicated, neuromuscular re-education.
00:45 – 00:55
A written treatment plan you take home. Diagnosis, course, milestones, home work, the review point, your discharge target.
00:55 – 01:00
Whatever you didn’t catch. Whatever we missed. Anything you want to say with no clock running.
The clinicians
The clinician who first assesses you is the clinician who treats you for the course. No handovers, no “next available physio”. If your physio is on leave, we book you forward, not sideways.
Senior Physiotherapist
HCPC PH00 1142 · MSc Sports Medicine
Twelve years in MSK and sports practice, including five seasons covering a National League rugby side. James leads on post-op rehab, shoulder stabilisations and runners’ programmes.
Lead Physiotherapist & Clinic Director
HCPC PH00 0817 · MSc Advanced Musculoskeletal Practice
Anna founded Northgate to practise physiotherapy the way she always wanted to: one patient at a time, properly examined, with a real plan. She takes a particular interest in chronic low-back pain and complex knee presentations.
Specialist Physiotherapist
HCPC PH00 3308 · PgCert Pelvic Health
Sophie leads our pelvic-health practice and runs the postnatal recovery clinic on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. She trained at Guy’s and worked in tertiary women’s health before joining Northgate in 2024.
Pricing, published
No “from £…”. No tiered “principal vs. associate” pricing — you see the same clinician throughout, so you pay the same rate throughout. Insurance billed direct where applicable.
Initial assessment
One full hour, with a written plan.
Follow-up session
Treatment, progression, plan review.
Course of six
Five follow-ups paid up front, after assessment.
Pelvic health initial
With Sophie. Discreet, unhurried, evidence-led.
Recognised by Bupa, AXA, Vitality and Aviva. We invoice your insurer directly where your policy allows.
What patients have said
I’d cancelled my marathon and was in tears about it. Anna told me, on day one, exactly what was wrong and exactly how long it would take to put right. Six weeks later I ran the rescheduled race.
Three other places had told me “just rest.” James actually examined the shoulder, found a tendon problem, and gave me a sheet of three exercises. Two weeks in, I could lift my arm without wincing.
What I noticed first was that nobody was rushing. Sophie spent the full hour. I left with a written plan and, for the first time in eight months, the feeling that someone was actually paying attention.
Discharged after five sessions instead of fifteen. I’d been warned by a friend that physios string you along. Northgate did the opposite — they let me go the moment I was better.
The point of all of this
And then —
you’re back to it.
Back on the start line. Back on the course. Back at the morning kettle, lifting the kid up, finishing the round, finishing the climb. That’s the entire point of every plan we write.
Things people ask
No. Physiotherapy is a primary-contact profession in the UK — you can self-refer and book directly. Some private medical insurers require a GP letter; we’ll tell you on the phone if yours does.
One full hour. Not “up to 60 minutes.” The room is yours for an hour. Your clinician’s diary is held for an hour.
At session four we reassess against the milestones we wrote at session one. If you are not measurably better, we change the plan, or we refer you on, or we refund any sessions you have paid for and not yet used. We do not string people along.
For the typical MSK presentation: four to eight. We will tell you, in writing, after your first appointment. If we think it’s two, we’ll book two. If we think it’s ten, we’ll tell you why.
We are recognised by Bupa, AXA Health, Vitality and Aviva, and bill most policies directly. For other insurers, we provide an itemised invoice you can claim against in the usual way.
On-street parking is metered along Northgate (free after 18:00). The Pound Lane car park is a five-minute walk and is free for the first hour after 14:00 on weekends. We’ll send a reminder with your booking confirmation.
Visit the clinic
Address
14 Northgate
Canterbury, Kent
CT1 1BL
Hours
Mon — Thu08:00 — 19:00
Friday08:00 — 17:00
Saturday09:00 — 13:00
SundayClosed
or book online — we’ll confirm within the hour
Email the clinic