Old Quarter Physiotherapy Clinic

16/12/2025

Hello everybody,

I hope you are all looking forward to a break over Christmas. I will be in the clinic on Dec 22nd, Dec 30th and then back into the regular routine on January 5th.

I plan to keep some emergency slots for the 22nd and 30th so if you’d like to book for either of those days I’d recommend booking now!

Enjoy the break 🎄

Patrick

19/11/2025

It has been a pleasure meeting locals in the clinic over the last few months.

I see all sorts of injuries and conditions but a particular area of interest is running related injuries.

Whether you’re completing a couch to 5k or training seriously for a race I would be happy to help if you’re struggling. Niamh was kind enough to leave a review describing how I tend to manage such injuries.

If you think I can help, feel free to message here or you can find my details on the clinic website - https://www.oldquarterphysio.ie

Thanks,

Patrick

Carrigtwohill Community Centre
Carraig Mhor Athletics Club
Carrigtwohill All Weather Pitch

07/11/2025

This is brilliant to see!

If you’ve been thinking about getting more active and want some company to get started this looks perfect.

I look forward to joining the group at some stage over the six weeks 👊

𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 - 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 🍗🍗🍮🍷

Carraig Mhór AC will host a social jogging/walking program in Carrigtwohill starting Thursday 13th November. Meet-up will be Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:00 AM at the lake (we will be the ones in the yellow t-shirts!).

Christmas TRIMings is for all adults, any ability, any age, any gender and fitness level. We will be meeting for 6 Weeks on this pre-Christmas programme.

No running experience is required. A personalised training consulation for everyone will be included.

Come by yourself or with a friend, drop the kids to school, bring the pram - we will cater for all!

There is no cost for anyone that is a member of any Athletics Club already. Cost for non Athletics Ireland Members is €26.50 - this will cover cost of athletics Ireland registration and insurance.

DM page if interested

Carrigtwohill GAA Healthy Club Carrigtwohill Athletic Club C2H 2040 - Carrigtwohill 2040

05/11/2025

An incredible achievement for Dave last month when he completed his first Ironman in Barcelona.

Committing to an Ironman is a mammoth undertaking for anybody, that’s amplified when you have a challenging full time job and a young family.

I was consistently impressed by how Dave organised his week to gradually increase his training load. We both knew this had to happen to attempt the event. Inevitably, the body protests at some stage and Dave was no exception. Over a 9 month period we met 5 times, mostly for different body parts! The theme of our sessions was quite similar though.

We needed to identify the source of Dave’s problem early to understand if continuing to train was appropriate or if an area needed stricter offloading.

Thankfully, Dave had a good feeling for what he could train through and what needed a break. My role was to guide this process. We needed to modify his training programme at times but he never stopped swimming, biking or running completely. For most issues we were able to identify specific structures that needed more isolated loading. The videos highlight some posterior cuff work for a cranky shoulder and a toe elevated heel raise to help a sore foot tendon (flexor hallucis longus).

Providing Dave with parameters of what is a good idea to train through and when to stop was also essential. For example, if an issue becomes sore and continues to get worse as the activity goes on then it’s usually best to stop. On the other hand if an issue stays “stable” at a low level of discomfort or pain then continuing can be okay.

Looking back on the case I think it was a good example of collaborative problem solving. We usually discussed what was acceptable to change in his plan and worked from there. I think Dave would have been looking for a new physio pretty quickly if the classic “rest it for a couple of weeks” approach was taken.

An Ironman is beyond what most people aspire to do (me included!) but this type of approach should be scaled to everyone I believe.

I look forward to seeing what Dave tackles next and if this type of physio support sounds like it may suit you I’d be happy to help 👊

25/09/2025

It’s always nice to receive positive feedback from new patients.

I met Richard in mid July after he had been struggling with an injury for six weeks.

After our assessment we were able to confirm a diagnosis and put a plan in place. This involved specific advice about the injury and suitable exercises to help ease symptoms.

Thankfully, Richard improved within the timelines we outlined in our initial appointment and he’s now back working, running and swimming without any bother.

If you have an issue that you think physiotherapy can help with I’d be happy to speak with you.

You can find whatever information you need at the website below.

Thanks!

https://www.oldquarterphysio.ie

16/09/2025

It was a pleasure to work with Rory recently.

Rory is a fit and strong 42 year old who regularly weight trains and has a background of team sports. Rory’s training knowledge is also quite good and he regularly talks through his training with knowledgable strength and conditioning coaches

Rory has been involved with endurance sport intermittently over the years and has always tried to keep some sort of running in his training programme. Unfortunately, this has been hampered with recurrent calf cramping and muscle strains.

After gathering the relevant history it came to light that Rory had received advice in the past that he should be “up on his toes” when running. Rory consciously tried to adopt this approach while running.

Our video analysis confirmed that Rory was landing towards the front of his foot and looking more broadly we could identify Rory’s running technique just didn’t look like it was natural to him.

We discussed how a forefoot landing increases load through his plantarflexors (achilles tendon, soleus and gastrocnemius). We trialled swapping to a more natural foot strike, for Rory this was more towards his heel. This would be the case for most people, a natural forefoot striker is quite rare.

Rory felt comfortable with this change so we agreed to start a progressive running plan. This started in a walk / run pattern and built up to continuous running for 30mins.

Thankfully, this approach has worked well for Rory. It’s not always this straightforward but cases where a small changes make a big impact are extremely rewarding.

If you think a running analysis is something you need I’d be happy to help 👊

#

26/08/2025

This is an important time of year for looking after your health.

For a lot of people September is associated with "getting back into routine". This naturally occurs as school holidays come to and end and summer is winding down.

Going back to previous classes or exercise habits is a good move but it can be hard to get going. It's common to lose some fitness if you fall out of an exercise routine and this can lead to aches and pains you usually wouldn't have. If these prevent you starting it's very easy to shift your starting point to, "sur I'll get going in the new year".

Having a physiotherapist assess whatever is holding you back can be a brilliant way to ease back into a routine. Typically, the problem can be solved and an individualised programme can help you move towards a group session or your own longer term plan.

I am based in the Carrigtwohill Community Centre and have availability to help if this sounds like your scenario.

Let's get off to a good start this September!

Thanks,

Patrick

https://www.oldquarterphysio.ie/

Carrigtwohill Community Council

07/08/2025

Delighted to see Feidhlim come through this race so well. Claiming a third place spot is an outstanding achievement considering the interrupted build up to the race.

Feidhlim is a well informed endurance athlete and any consultations we have are very much a case of coming up with a plan together.

This time around it involved managing his running workload, identifying what type of cross training could be most effective and ensuring his strength work was on the money.

This was a key target for the year and Feidhlim accepted he wasn’t going to be able to have a perfect build up. Adjusting the plan to allow as good a performance on the day as possible worked out well 🥉

Enjoy the celebrations and key back room member

28/07/2025

Nice outcome for Darren here.

We met 10 days ago as Darren was recovering from an ankle injury.

We put a programme together with the view of helping Darren return to running.

A two week follow up was planned to trial more aggressive impact exercises and start a return to running programme.

Thankfully, Darren got in touch before this follow up to report his ankle was feeling good and he even managed to trial a short run where he didn’t have any ankle issues.

Advice was provided about gradually building up and now Darren is free to self manage his return to typical running volume.

One session which consisted of an assessment, appropriate advice and a tailored exercise programme has played a nice part in helping Darren get back to running.

I regularly speak to people who have been brought back for multiple physio sessions without a clear plan. If I can help someone get back to what they want to be doing in one or two sessions that’s a good result for me!

16/07/2025

*Behind the Scenes at Old Quarter Physiotherapy*

Consent to share ✅

Dave is an active 42 year old who works in Stryker and has young children. He had shoulder pain for 3 months before coming to physio.

In our first session we took a detailed history and went through a comprehensive assessment. From here, our working diagnosis was that Dave had rotator cuff tendinopathy. We discussed treatment options and Dave liked the sound of a progressive loading programme.

We set this up on day one, video 1&2 were part of this plan. Dave worked on the exercise every second day.

We met 4 weeks later and Dave felt his shoulder pain had reduced by 75%. He now had minimal trouble with his shoulder at work and it didn’t bother him sleeping.

We progressed his programme (video 3) and aimed to have him back to the gym at the end of the school holidays.

At this point we agreed to an email follow up in another 4 weeks. All going well, Dave will not need to come back to physio.

In this case, ruling out a serious cause of shoulder pain, explaining what was going on and setting up an appropriate exercise programme was the key to a good outcome.

If you have a problem you’d like some help with you can DM me here.

Thanks for reading,

Patrick
Old Quarter Physio Clinic

24/06/2025

I’m nearly finished my second month working from the and I’ve been delighted with the trust that has been shown in me. I have met nearly 50 new patients with most of them being locals.

These appointments have included sports injuries, back pain, arthritis and post operative rehabilitation.

I plan to continue in Carrigtwohill long term and become a valuable addition to the community.

If you have a problem you think I can help with please get in touch, I have availability within 48 hours in most cases.

Thanks to Ronan and Ciarán for their recent reviews too.

You can call me on 083 3820 063 or visit https://www.oldquarterphysio.ie/ to book an appointment.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Patrick Carroll
Chartered Physiotherapist

08/06/2025

*Shared with consent

Ciarán is a 40 year old runner who completed the Paris marathon on April 13th. After the race Ciarán developed pain at the front of his right shin, this was severe and limited his walking for a few days. Ciarán gave it some time to settle down but when he tried to get back into running the shin pain was stopping him.

We first met 10 days after the marathon. Ciarán had a slight limp and there was clear swelling low down at the front of his shin. He had tried running three days beforehand.

Ciarán had tenderness over a focal area of about 2cm at the front of his shin. This was enough to be suspicious of a bone stress injury. We ordered an MRI scan that day. looked after Ciarán well and we had results 6 days later.

Scan results confirmed a low grade bone stress injury of the anterior tibial shaft. We had already begun offloading and limited Ciarán’s step count.

We met again two weeks later and Ciarán reported a good improvement. He now had no pain walking and had completed a 45min walk without symptoms.

At this point we introduced the exercises you can see in the videos above. This was to prepare Ciarán for a return to running. We wanted to stimulate osteogenic cellular responses and short bouts of impact activity coupled with muscular contractions of the calf complex are excellent for this. Ciarán was encouraged to cross train on the bike too. I’ve been completing a course on running injuries designed by , this was a perfect chance to put this knowledge into practice.

When we met two weeks later Ciarán reported a positive response to the impact exercises and mentioned he felt good enough to trial a short run / walk session. He did not experience any shin pain. We reviewed the possible contributing factors to this injury and highlighted that a sports dietician consultation would be worthwhile. Maintaining strength training as running volume increased was also identified. Ciarán suggested supplementing his running with bike work to manage his training load during his next marathon build, this can be an excellent option.

A good outcome for Ciarán following an evidence based intervention ✅