Barrow & District Physiotherapy
About us
Hi I’m Les Potter (Bsc with Hons). A registered and chartered Physio based in Barrow.
I am the founder of Barrow & District Physiotherapy.
A question I am often asked…..
Have you always wanted to be a Physiotherapist?
Yes – since the age of 14. I remember watching a VHS tape in 1990 of Barrow AFC player, Paul Ferris received a massage to his knee and thinking wow, that’s really smart as it’s got him running again. Of course Physio as we know it isn’t just about massage, but that was my first early experience.
Paul was regularly in the treatment room and unfortunately retired early from the game due to injury.
Incidentally later in life Paul became a Physiotherapist himself – in particularly at Newcastle United football club.
A few years later I was misdiagnosed by various therapists including a Physio, for what was eventually a diagnoses of greater trochanter bursitis.
The problem was eventually resolved by a sports therapist who had an excellent knowledge of the bodies anatomy and the mechanics of inury and through his own clinical reasoning was able to work out the problem.
Something that hadn’t been achieved previously. The problem was resolved through a combination of ice, massage therapy, exercises and corrective orthotics, as my right leg was shorter than the left leg.
This resolution intrigued me and I began to question why this worked with the sports therapist rather than those previous.
When thinking back to why there had been previous failures with the injury I hypothesised that this was due to the likes of poor knowledge, poor clinical reasoning, resulting in a poor outcome. Quite the opposite to my positive experience with my recovery.
This inspired me to bringing forth a positive injury rehabilitation experience to others.
Therefore I completed a variety of courses which included massage therapy, assessment, treatment and management of injuries to diploma level. During my studies, former Morecambe Physiotherapist David Edge, saw something in me and encouraged me to join a football club to gain experience within sports injury therapy.
I applied for a voluntary position at Barrow AFC in 2005 and obtained invaluable experience in assessing, treating and managing footballing related injuries as well as experience being within a professional hardworking environment with demands.
I continued this role until 2010. My highlights at Barrow AFC were being part of the team at Sunderland and Middlesbrough in the F.A Cup 3rd round and being part of the team during the promotion season of 2008/2009.
The way the club had developed and maintained it’s belief in success, being part of that and having completed the F.A Diploma treatment and management of injuries, helped me believe that nothing in life was out of reach. But hard work, true grit and determination was needed in order to stand any chance of being a success.
I then reflected on what I had and realised I needed to further develop my skills and this led me to apply for a Physiotherapy degree. The stumbling block being despite having gained experience in sports injuries and obtaining suitable qualifications within that field I discovered that I needed to complete an adult learning access to University course – all units needed to be a distinction across 2 years. I achieved my goal of distinctions to gain enough credits to apply for the Physiotherapy degree. But it did not stop there…I had to gain experience working in healthcare and therefore I successfully worked for 2 years as Neuro support worker…I was now able to apply!
My first choice of University was always going to be the University of Salford. And one of my proudest moments was being accepted onto the programme. I had not only met the qualification criteria – I had impressed at interview – they liked what I had said. I’d like to think my desire, never given up attitude and my natural personality had a part in gaining entry onto the course as well as my background knowledge and previous development.
In 2017 I successfully completed my Physiotherapy degree and in early 2018 I was accepted for a role in the NHS, which was my 1st attempt to apply for a Physiotherapy role. My goal was to apply my Physiotherapy knowledge successfully, gain experience and develop and work successfully within a multi-disciplinary team.
I succeeded in this for 3 years within the NHS and gained invaluable experience working with some very experienced Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Nurses, Doctors and Consultants on both a ward and within the Community as a Geriatric Physiotherapist, which focused strongly on falls prevention and reducing hospital re-admission.
But I still had a strong desire to return to a Musculoskeletal environment – treating injuries of all ages, by applying my previous knowledge and experience in working in sports injuries as well as my knowledge and experience in training and working as a Physiotherapist.
Therefore I took a chance and left my Physio NHS role in 2021 to become a self employed Physio in Barrow. It felt both exciting and scary at the same time, but I strongly believed I could do it.
Barrow & District Physiotherapy was born!
I started off with very few clients – nobody knew about me, but nearly 12 Months on from when I left the NHS my Barrow Physio clinic grew rapidly and became more than sustainable.
This of course offered me inspiration.
But what inspires me the most is seeing my clients listen to my advice, apply my advice and work really hard in their own rehabilitation programme, and then making a full recovery and achieving client centred goals.
All of which I feel is really important.
My past experience has helped me to further drive forwards, further develop, further improve, give inspirations to others and to be a good person.
This would not have been possible had I not gained my qualifications and experience in sport of 5 years, as well as completing a Physiotherapy degree followed by 3 experience in working for the NHS.
Learning never stops and my goal now is to be the best Private Physiotherapist that I can be, while bringing quality treatment programmes from this day onwards.