At Theralife Clinics, we specialise in low-dose radiotherapy for benign conditions, including osteoarthritis, plantar fasciitis, tendonitis, bursitis, Dupuytren’s contracture, and Ledderhose disease. While the treatment approach is similar across these conditions, the decision of whether and when to treat is highly individual.
This article explains what happens during your initial consultation, what questions you may be asked, how your doctor may examine you, and how we determine whether radiotherapy is appropriate for you.
Ahead of your visit, you will be asked to complete a short questionnaire. This allows your consultation time to be focused on understanding your symptoms, your condition, and your priorities rather than gathering basic background information.
What we’re most interested in are:
Different people deal with benign musculoskeletal problems in different ways. All of the following are important to know when thinking about radiotherapy treatment:
Different people worry about different things: pain, function, and what might happen in the future. All of these worries are reasonable and play a role in the decision-making process.
We will ask you questions to find out what things that you are doing (or not doing) may make the condition better or worse. We are also interested in how the condition is affecting your normal daily activities, hobbies and work activities.
You may be asked about:
We will also discuss work and leisure activities – mainly to find out what the condition is interfering with, but also, there may be some things that would be useful to modify to stop the condition from getting worse. This may include:
These questions help us understand how your body is put to use every day and how significant some of your movements or activities are to you as an individual.
For some individuals, even small changes in function can have a significant impact. This includes musicians, sportspersons, tradespeople, and those whose job or hobby requires accuracy or repetition of movement.
For these people, early intervention can be taken to maintain function and avoid further deterioration as part of a proactive strategy to maintain long-term mobility and performance.
We’ll want to know when you first started feeling unwell and how things have changed since then. It is normal for people not to always remember exact dates and times. We’re not looking for exact dates, but for patterns that show up over time.
Besides that, we’ll ask if you’ve had:
This helps you figure out what options you have right now and what might work best in the future.
The test is thorough and well-planned. We will look at your areas in several different ways to look at:
Careful examination helps detect the areas that are affected and to what extent. Every test is specific to the person and the condition under assessment.
We may take pictures of the affected areas. These offer us:
This helps many people, especially if we choose to observe them rather than treat them right away.
Radiotherapy does not aim at undoing the structural damage or permanent deformities that have already been advanced. Other treatment methods can be better in situations where there is already serious joint destruction or a permanent contracture.
Radiotherapy does not aim at undoing the structural damage or permanent deformities that have already been advanced. Other treatment methods can be better in situations where there is already serious joint destruction or a permanent contracture.
If radiotherapy is not appropriate for your case, we will state the reason and provide alternative management options, including the need to refer you to other specialists.
Depending on the particular condition, low-dose radiotherapy is most effective when:
Used at the right time, radiotherapy can reduce inflammation, relieve pain, and slow or stabilise disease progression in the conditions treated at Theralife Clinics.
If radiotherapy is recommended, we will take time to explain:
You will be asked to sign a consent form, and the treatment area will be carefully planned and marked. Treatment is delivered in two short courses:
Each session takes around 10 minutes. The treatment itself is painless and does not make you radioactive.
Most patients tolerate low-dose radiotherapy very well. Some short-term effects could be:
This feels like a light sunburn and goes away on its own in a couple of weeks. Some long-term effects are:
The chance of getting skin cancer from radiation is very small, and it’s a lot smaller than the chance of getting skin cancer from being in the sun every day.
Progress is usually reviewed around three months after treatment, often with a follow-up questionnaire. The full benefit of treatment may continue to develop for up to a year. Patients are always welcome to return for in-person review if needed.
At Theralife Clinics, treatment is based on timing, clinical opinion, and each person’s needs.
Some patients attend early, motivated by understandable concerns about the future. Others arrive later, when radiotherapy is no longer the best option. Our job is to help you make those choices, whether that means getting treatment right away, keeping a close eye on things, or finding another option.
Experience matters when managing benign conditions. Above all, we aim to ensure that every recommendation is made with care, clarity, and your long-term well-being in mind.
Start your journey to reduced pain and better mobility - get in touch with our team today.
