Physiotherapist / Masseur-Kinésithérapeute

To follow on from my last post. All those British companies who are employing British physios or masseurs/eus. Remember the regulations in France are that those people should be fully registered with the Minister de Santé, with an Authorisation de Exercise, then they must be registered within their Department of choice e.g. haute savoie in Annecy, then they must have a minimum of two french insurances, one to cover the client, one to cover the physio (if they do something to be sued for). After all that you could employ the physio. It makes no difference if just massage, a British tax registered company etc etc. Of course I am always available at the above Tel. No.

Tags: British Companies employing Physios to work in France

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With the snow slowly arriving in Les Gets, just a not to all those physios, either who have jobs with British companies, working in France or who are intending to work on their own this winter. Remember, you will be working illegally, you are not covered by your CSP insurance to work in Europe(unless you are fullly registered in the country, then they will cover you for the firs 6 wks work, until you get your French etc insurances! Working through British companies as an employee is ok for other types of jobs, however, the health profession is subject to other regulations (in order to protect clients), both in France and Britain, imagine the paperwork to work in Britain.

Tags: Physios working in France

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Finally, the pistes are closed in Les Gets and Morzine, if you are still keen, Avoriaz is open another week.

Thanks to all the clients this year, hope I have been of help and to those reading my blogs, sorry if I moan sometimes, its easier on the blog.

Hope to see some of you back in Les Gets for the summer, people often think it is cold here in summer, but it is regularly 36 degrees and we have an olympic swimming pool in Morzine, the lakes at Les Gets and Montriond if you prefer a bit colder.

This year Les Gets and Morzine are doing a special pass for people using the lakes and lifts and many other animations, for only one euro per person per day!

Of course there is the VTT and downhill bike rides open as ever, the passes are more expensive for you guys though, sorry.  Remember you can get all your bike parts fixed, fox clothes  and lots lots more at Nevada Sport, and if you are unfortunate enough to twange your collar bones etc, please give me a call. 

Until then keep up the sport and prepare for the next time.

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Just remember, when you are skiing, don’t put your mobile phone in your pockets located over your ribs, I can’t tell you how many cracked rib people I have seen over the years as they fell forwards onto their phones!  Or any bulky wallets, camera’s etc I guess as all can injure you on impact, best to either put in a bag (don’t get it caught on the chairlift though when you sit down…., that’s another funny story for another day), or put in the lower pockets of your jacket/fleece.

Still loads of snow here in Les Gets and the Porte du Soleil, so if you see any bargain flights don’t hesitate to come.

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Following on from my wee tip on making sure you have holiday insurance, I recently heard it is over 1000€ for a helicopter, so think about that when you are economising.

Having been woring for nearly 5 years here in a “station de ski” and after having spent nearly 13 years specialising in sports injuries, one gets a certain feel and degree of experience in diagnosing things.

Some important information for you though, I wish I had a pound (or euro) for everytime I hear someone saying, “its not broken though”! I was the same when I broke my leg, hearing the crack and everything, I wasn’t sure either if it was broken, as the pain wasn’t that bad (turned out to be tibia, fibula and ankle!) 

My point, often things are cracked, here I see alot of cracked ribs as people fall on their poles, cracked biceps tubercle’s (coracoid tuberle), these often get injured when people fall on their shoulders and many more.

I don’t claim to replace Doctor’s or x rays in any way, I usually advise after checking, if I think a possible crack or fissure, to get an x ray. However, if you are not sure, it is alot quicker and cheaper if you give me a call, at least to check.  Of course if you feel a definate crack of course straight to the Doctor’s. A last note on X rays, in fact there needs to be over 30% change in density of a bone i.e. a good crack, before you will see it on an X ray, imagine the tiny bones in finger and toes!!

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Recently, I have heard as happens every year, there are a number of people claiming to be physios, working in the area providing massages and more scarily physio treatments. 

Some facts for your to know, firstly, you should always, as I have previously explained in my pages on the legal bits, ask if your physio is registered within the French system, when you are about to book a session, if so they will have a “feuille de soins”, receipt, with an official number, their name, address etc, similar to the Doctor’s ones.  This is firstly, to know that your physio has a certain standard of physiotherapy skills and not only a masseur(eus), beutician etc. I have picked up patients for physio after having deep massages, where they suffer neck and shoulder problems later! 

Secondly, it is extremely important when putting in a claim for your fees which can be over  100’s€ if you need a few sessions, as most Insurance companies are asking for the official paperwork, i.e. the registered number, before they will pay up.  You are of course paying for your insurance, so why not be able to claim the sometimes weightly fees back after an injury,  I recently had a couple who’s insurance company would also cover the cost of sports massage for them whilst on holiday, but only with the registration number.  I hope for more of these checks, being fully registred and having to pay all the charges throughout the year here in order to live and work in such a lovely area, it is a bit gauling to see others pocketting their gains and going.

Thirdly, is for the insurance, some people are claiming they are either Chartered Physios in Britain, or are insured masseurs in France.  Unfortunately, neither of these types of people are legally working as masseurs in France, therefore, any insurance bought by them would be nul if tried to claim.  As I previously explained in my page, legal bits, one must  be fully registered within the French system of health care as a Kinésitherapeut (Physio), before being allowed to do either physio or massage, legally,  in France.

Finally, a note to those of you who may be running Chalets/businesses/living in France, take care if you are advising your clients to use someone not registered in France, for massage or physio, as if your client tries to sue the physio/masseur, which unfortunately is something of a growth industry throughout the world, they will not, presumably be able to get any justice with the physio and you know the next door they will knock at, yours!

Finally, finally, spare a thought to those of us who are working hard all year to make ends meet, the winter for us is the time where tourists are here and we can work harder to gain  a living, so why should outsiders be allowed to take the profits from this area away and are contributing nothing to the area/system here? Support the local people please as if they go the whole area suffers.

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Again more snow in Les Gets, more than some of the higher resorts now, (guess that will be global warming too).

It never fails to amaze me how, every year I visit clients who have not taken out any holiday insurance when coming on a ski holiday!  Its not always young skint students who don’t want to fork out another £40 for insurance, but people from all walks of life.

Just to fill you in on some of the facts here.  If you hurt yourself (or someone else hurts you!), on the piste, if drastic you may need the helicopter to take you down to the bottom of the piste and an ambulance to a hospital some distance, that you have to pay right away and well over 500 euros, most Insurance companies will reimburse all, but you need to pay at the time, whilst lying there in agony.

If, hopefully, you have just a small injury, but unable to walk/ski down, you will have to pay directly the skidoo guy/doctor, usually around 100€, right away and make  sure you get a receipt for your insurance.

If, you are able to get down to the bottom of the piste, but need an ambulance to get to the Doctor’s surgery, I heard recently it cost 480€, to go what would be a 15min drive!!

At the Doctor’s you may need an X ray to determine if anything is broken,  medication, splints, crutches etc, there will be little change out of 200€ for all that.

I understand that many credit card companies offer annual holiday insurance as part of their credit cards and often this covers up to 17 days skiing.  I am sure for one week skiing you can find cheap insurance on the internet now.

So really think before you decide not to take insurance, even if it cost 100€, that would be hardly the price of a knee brace on a ski holiday!

Another option is to buy insurance when you get your ski pass, the Carte Neige, I think per day it works out at around 5€ extra and it covers the helicopter and all.

P.S. for those of you who think your E111 will cover everything, think again, the E111 is for emergency treatment, hospital, operations etc, it will not cover, helicopter’s, ambulance and Dr bills and definately not Physio, sorry.

P.P.S When skiing, remember to take your credit card, E111 and insurance card/info, you never know and remember nice underwear, I was glad I had be decent things on when I broke my let in 2004.

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Once again it is snowing in Les Gets and within school holidays, sun is due tomorrow.  I am reliably informed that there is over 2m of snow on the piste now, so should be enough thankyou until the end of the season.

However, with all this snow and the “flat light”, i.e. where you can’t see the piste in front of you because everything is white, take care on these days if you have a history of back pain, especially if you know you have a slightly bulging disc, (herniated disc), in your back.  I am finding is that on these days people do not see little dips or bumps in the piste, they are not ready to take the shock and contract their muscles as usual and hit the hole, resulting in a shock being transmitted through the body and often pinching the disc.  I can almost predict that the next day I will be getting calls from people with spasm in their backs and unable to move very easily.

Of course take care, and help yourself also by buying goggles which have firstly a double layer of plastic in screen, in order to reduce misting up and they should also have a yellowish or slightly orange tint, this greatly increases what you can see on the piste, (or course you can find all these at Nevada Sports in Les Gets). We are also lucky here in Les Gets as we have piste’s with trees either side of the piste, not only very pretty, but you will be able to see more in a flat light with the trees next to you as they create shadows.

Finally, if you are unlucky enough to have your back spasm like this, please get the cold onto it as soon as possible, i.e. ice pack wrapped up in a  damp towel for 5-10 mins and repeate regularly, this will greatly reduce the inflammation and get you straightened up quicker.  Of course you should quickly too, I will probably Acupunture it also, as this  is one of the best treatments to reduce inflammation, spasm and is a natural painkiller.

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For all those getting excited about coming to Les Gets, Morzine and St Jean d’Aulpes for their February holidays, this is for you.  We hava just had another 50cm of new snow, more forecast this week. 

Remember, firstly, you need to keep your ski boots tight, not so tight they cut the circulation though, I usually tighten in phases, first clips, then when I have walked to the lift, then at the top of first run etc, as the day and week goes on, you usually find your feet shrink a bit with skiing everyday.  Gradually tightening I think lets your circulation adapt, I see people having problems with pain in their feet, when they tighten too fast, too soon, (remember good ski socks, never use the sports sock with the ribs, you will have friction rib marks on your shins for a month after, painful, Thierry will be happy to advise/sell you some at Nevada Sports in Les Gets

However, don’t on the other hand think skiing with your boots a bit loose is a good thing either, remember the ski bindings nowadays are designed to release on various falls, backwards, sideways etc, which has vastly reduced the broken legs. However, the force when you fall needs to be directly translated via the boot to the binding, therefore, if your boots are too loose, there is a delay, possibly resulting in another injury, such as ligaments as your leg bends with the force insted of ejecting out of the ski binding.

Also with the snow being a bit deeper, remember it transforms, that’s to say it goes a bit heavier as the warmth of the day/sun hits the pieste, so don’t be thinking its the same one run after another, watch those knees and turn like you mean it!

One further thing whilst I remember, I see alot of clients after injury, first day, first or last run and after they have had lunch, you can work out why, just take a little more care at these times.

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Recently, I have seen a few injuries, varying from shoulder injuries to back strains.  One thing, if you injur yourself, seek help from a physio or qualified person earlier, rather than later, as often things can be calmed down or fixed more easily, the earlier we see them.

On a ski holiday lasting one week, I had someone who has spent the best part of the week in lots of pain from there knee cap (patella), I was called at the end of the week and by strapping and giving some advice the pain was almost zero for skiing and would have greatly reduced the heartache I am sure if seen earlier.

Stay tuned for the next wee tip.

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