Suite F7, International Commercial Centre, Gibraltar

Tel: (00350) 41576 or Fax: (00350) 41578

Three specialists have joined forces to give a comprehensive muscular-skeletal consultancy service at The Foot and Orthopaedic Clinic.

"It was - and is - quite usual for a patient to come to me with a suspected foot problem: but on examining him or her I would realise that the pain was caused by elsewhere in the body, perhaps there was something wrong with the knee or back that was affecting the foot, and I would want to refer them to a physiotherapist or an orthopaedic surgeon or chiropodist", as consultant podiatric surgeon Christopher Lees told me. "But now we have three specialists in the one clinic - and it's working well".

Specifically, Christopher has been joined in his ICC practice by the UK-trained Gibraltarian chartered physiotherapist Francis Cassaglia and the French orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Erik Thomsen, who studied at the University of Paris.

Christopher himself studied in the UK and USA and has been a podiatric surgeon for 25 years, between the three of them they have enough letters after their names to start a few new alphabets!

Christopher and Francis have an established reputation amongst people with foot, muscular or bone pains, both in the local community as well as those who come from the Costa Del Sol and even Portugal and the UK to see them. Francis has also travelled to Andorra and Venice as the physio for the Gibraltar Basketball Selection.

Dr. Thomsen is quickly establishing a similar name for himself in treating Knee, shoulder, hand and back problems; he spent some time at St. Bernard's and at a local private clinic; and now has a consultancy post at the La Linea "Residencia" as the town's hospital is known locally.

Whilst they cover all types of muscular-skeletal problems (which basically means anything that isn't an organ) they all agreed that many patients tend to be those with sporting injuries, although of course each has his regular specialties: bunions, hammer toes and ingrowing toenails, for Christopher, back advice and treatment for Francis.

Erik Thomsen' work tends to be in similar areas to those of Francis, the important distinction being he is a surgeon qualified to carry out any necessary operations on affected joints.

The clinic on the first floor of the ICC is equipped to carry out most operations under local anaesthetic, whether by Erik or Chris and they are associated with the Marbella High Care hospital if more elaborate procedures are needed.

Joint surgery is usually preceded by the use of an arthroscope, which allows a full inspection of the workings of a knee for instance, by means of a very small opening in the joint.

Whilst physio Francis gives treatment in his own right, he is also the ideal man-on-the-spot to provide post-op care for Erik and Chris as well as having his own following in the sporting community. All three specialists are supported by Kate Crawford the resident fully qualified nurse.

The popularity of this three-in-one coordinated service means that appointments are always necessary, although as Christopher clarified "We will always see anyone if it's an emergency". Similarly, outside of clinic hours there is a 24-hour service for genuine emergencies when the clinic's telephone is diverted to one of the three specialists.

To sum it all up, if you have a muscular or bone pain, or movement difficulty anywhere from your little toe to your neck, you're sure to find the right treatment at the Foot and Orthopaedic Clinic

Tel: (00350) 41576