Charlotte Chapman

" I graduated from Salford University in 2006. After a number of different jobs in January 2010 I started my first job as an Exercise Rehabilitation Instructor for the MOD at the Regional Rehabilitation Unit in Aldershot. The RRU is a tri service facility that offers 3 week rehabilitation courses for patients in the Army, Navy and RAF. The facility can treat 45 patients and these are divided into Spines and Lower Limb patients.

My main job role is running one of the three week rehabilitation courses. On the first day of the course each the patients are individually assessed by the course physiotherapist and myself. This initial assessment gives us an opportunity to indentify the patient’s problems and straight away we set the patients goals whilst on the course. The majority of the patients who are referred to the RRU have musculo-skeletal injuries sustained playing sport, at work in the UK or operational duties abroad. We see and treat a huge range of individuals and injuries from Chinook Crew in the RAF injured during an operational flight to a Private in the Army injured playing football.

The patients are with us from 0830 to 1600 everyday. Each day is filled up with a range of exercise classes including mobility, flexibility, strength and cardio. As an ERI it’s an important part of my job role to manage the patients and make sure I plan my classes appropriately which can be tricky, on any course you have a mix of different injuries and abilities. For each patient I also design an individual programme. To help us with this we deliver a number of lectures. One of the aims of the 3 week course is to give the patients as much information about their individual injury as we can, this way the patient can learn about themselves and learn to manage their injury.

When I’m not running a course I help out with the administration duties and also participate in the multi-disciplinary injury assessment clinic (MIAC). These run daily and involve a doctor, physiotherapist and ERI. As a secondary care unit patients can be referred from their unit to us for a second opinion. Within the clinic we discuss our subjective and objective findings and decide on a plan with the patient this can include an MRI, referral for surgery or to come and do a rehabilitation course. The knowledge and experiences that I gained whilst studying Sport Rehabilitation at Salford Uni have enabled me to play a key role in these clinics.

Whilst the job itself can be challenging the patients that I work with are all committed to getting themselves back to full fitness and returning to their duties. It’s an incredibly rewarding job and I am constantly amazed by what the patients can achieve in three weeks "