Shoulder and upper limb physiotherapy in Paris 3rd

Upper limb physiotherapy covers the shoulder, upper arm, elbow and forearm. A doctor may prescribe sessions in situations such as:

• shoulder pain, including rotator cuff tendinopathy
• shoulder stiffness, for example frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis)
• shoulder instability or dislocation
• elbow tendinopathy, such as tennis elbow (lateral elbow pain)
• recovery after a fracture or an operation on the shoulder, arm or elbow

Rehabilitation aims to reduce pain, improve movement and strength, and support your return to everyday tasks, work or sport.

The first session starts with a physiotherapy assessment. The physiotherapist asks how the pain started or what operation you had, reads the prescription and any scans, then checks your range of movement, strength and the tasks you find difficult. Goals are then agreed with you.

Follow-up sessions combine, as needed, mobility, strengthening and endurance work for the shoulder, arm and forearm. The practice has a treatment room and a large exercise area with wall bars, suspension straps, an exercise bike, a rowing machine and exercise balls. Romain Rajkumar provides explanations, advice and exercises to do at the practice and at home. After surgery, the stages and their timing follow the surgeon’s protocol.

A doctor first makes the diagnosis and prescribes the sessions. Talk to your doctor if shoulder or elbow pain has lasted several weeks, wakes you at night or makes reaching overhead difficult. After a fracture or surgery, the surgeon or doctor decides when rehabilitation starts.

See a doctor promptly, or go to the emergency department (urgences), if you have:

• severe pain after a fall, with visible deformity or inability to move the arm
• sudden weakness or numbness in the arm or hand
• a hot, red, swollen joint, or a fever
• redness or discharge from the scar, or a fever, after an operation

If you have chest pain, which may spread to the arm or jaw, call 15 or 112.

To be reimbursed by the Assurance Maladie (French national health insurance), physiotherapy sessions are prescribed by a doctor. Bring the prescription to your first session, together with your Carte Vitale, your mutuelle (top-up insurance) certificate and any recent scans or reports (X-rays, ultrasound, MRI, operation report). Your mutuelle may top up the reimbursement. The practice is conventionné (contracted with the national health insurance) and offers tiers payant for the Sécurité sociale share.

A session costs €38 to €42. An assessment fee of €20 to €23 is added at the first session. Appointments are booked on Doctolib. Consultations take place in English or French at Cabinet Beaubourg, 50 rue Rambuteau, 75003 Paris (5th floor, with a lift). Practice phone: 01 48 04 32 84.