Falls prevention physiotherapy at home in Tower Hamlets

Worried about falls, or finding estate stairs, busy markets and canal paths harder than they used to be? A Chartered Physiotherapist, registered with the HCPC, visits older adults at home across Tower Hamlets, from Bethnal Green and Bow to Wapping and the Isle of Dogs. We work on strength, balance and stamina to help you stay part of the life around you: a walk in Victoria Park, the stalls on Roman Road or Chrisp Street, an afternoon at the Idea Store, or a stroll along the Regent's Canal. Every programme starts with a falls risk assessment at home.

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Homes in Tower Hamlets

Many people in Tower Hamlets live in flats. Large council estates were built after the war bombing, with tower blocks, low rise blocks and long open walkways. In Bethnal Green, the Boundary Estate around Arnold Circus is made up of brick tenement blocks from around 1900. In Wapping, old riverside warehouses have been turned into flats, and around Canary Wharf and along the Thames there are newer towers. That can mean lifts that are sometimes out of action, several flights of communal stairs, heavy fire doors, landings with no handrail, and a walk across the estate before you even reach the street. Inside, some flats and maisonettes have their own staircase too. A physiotherapist who comes to your home can see all of this first hand. Every visit starts with how you get around your own home and building, and we practise the stairs and steps you actually use, at a pace that is safe for you.

Where we visit in Tower Hamlets

We offer physiotherapy home visits across the borough, including Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Stepney, Shadwell, Wapping, Limehouse, Bethnal Green, Mile End, Bow, Old Ford, Poplar, Blackwall, the Isle of Dogs, Canary Wharf and Cubitt Town. That covers postcodes E1, E1W, E2, E3 and E14, and parts of E20. There is no travel charge anywhere in London.

Coming home from hospital

Many people in Tower Hamlets are treated at The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, with outpatient appointments at Mile End Hospital, and are then supported by NHS community teams. SteadyMotion is an independent private service, separate from the NHS, so we can work alongside your NHS care, while you wait for it, or after it ends. After a fall, a broken hip, or a hip or knee replacement, we work on your walking aid, strength, balance and the stairs at home. Read more in our guide to home physiotherapy for older adults.

Getting out and about again

Everyday life in Tower Hamlets often happens close to home. People want to get back to the markets: Roman Road, Chrisp Street, Whitechapel, Watney Market and Bethnal Green, or the flowers on Columbia Road on a Sunday. They want to visit an Idea Store in Whitechapel, Bow, Chrisp Street, Canary Wharf or Watney Market, swim or exercise at York Hall, Poplar Baths, Mile End Park Leisure Centre or Tiller Leisure Centre, or get to the East London Mosque, Christ Church Spitalfields or another place of worship. Tower Hamlets has a lot of water and green space too: Victoria Park, Mile End Park and its Green Bridge, the Regent's Canal and Hertford Union Canal towpaths, the Limehouse Cut, the Thames Path through Wapping, and the river views from Island Gardens and Mudchute. Towpaths are narrow and shared with cyclists, and some bridges have steps. For travel there are the District and Hammersmith & City lines, the Central line at Bethnal Green and Mile End, the Elizabeth line at Whitechapel and Canary Wharf, the Overground and the DLR. We practise stepping aside on a path, kerbs, station stairs and the walk across the estate, step by step, on the routes you actually use, to help you get out with more confidence.

What a programme can look like

These are examples, not real clients. Every programme is planned around the person and what they want to get back to.

Example: Saturday on Roman Road. Starting point: someone who went to Roman Road Market every Saturday but stopped after a fall, worried about the crowds and the kerbs. What we work on: walking speed, balance when stopping and turning, stepping on and off kerbs, and carrying shopping, then walking the route together. The goal: market day on Roman Road again.

Example: the canal to Victoria Park. Starting point: someone who loved walking along the Regent's Canal to Victoria Park but felt unsteady on the narrow towpath with bikes passing. What we work on: balance on uneven edges, stepping aside calmly, steps at the bridges, and the stamina for the distance. The goal: the canal walk to the park again.

Example: home to Poplar after a hip replacement. Starting point: someone home after a hip replacement, living on the fourth floor of an estate block with a lift that is not always working. What we work on: the walking aid indoors and along the walkway, the lift, a few flights of the communal stairs with rests, and getting in and out of bed and a chair. The goal: getting down to the street and back safely.

Example: the DLR to Island Gardens. Starting point: someone who has become generally unsteady and stopped taking the DLR to sit by the river at Island Gardens. What we work on: station stairs and lifts, standing balance on a moving train, walking on paving and grass, and getting up from a bench. The goal: a trip to the river again.

Other areas we visit

We also visit older adults at home in nearby the City of London, Hackney, Newham, Southwark, Lewisham and Greenwich, and across the rest of London, with no travel charge.