The Fife Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy Service provides outpatient physiotherapy and rehabilitation services for patients, either as a first treatment or after orthopaedic surgery e.g. after knee ligament reconstruction or knee replacement surgery. 

Musculoskeletal conditions range from those that arise suddenly and are short-lived, such as fractures, ligament sprains and muscle strains; to more lifelong conditions e.g. osteoarthritis.

Musculoskeletal conditions typically cause pain and limitations in movements and overall level of function.  Poor musculoskeletal health can cause reduced physical capability e.g. weak grip strength, reduced walking speed, inability to go up and down stairs and poor standing balance.

The musculoskeletal physiotherapy is currently provided at 11 sites across Fife including:

•    Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy
•    Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline
•    St. Andrews Community Hospital
•    Adamson Hospital, Cupar
•    Whyteman’s Braes Hospital, Kirkcaldy
•    Dalgety Bay Health Centre
•    Randolph Wymess Memorial Hospital, Buckhaven
•    Glenrothes Health Centre
•    High Valleyfield
•    Skeith Health Centre
•    Cowdenbeath/Rosewell Health Centres

Any new physiotherapy referral received for you, either from your GP or the Orthopaedic Service, is prioritised in order of need at a Central Booking Office at the Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, and an appointment will be arranged at an appropriate site for your condition and location.

The service also provides some Advanced Practice Physiotherapy (APP) Orthopaedic Outpatient Clinics at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy and Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline.  The adult and paediatric APP Orthopaedic Clinics include spinal, shoulder, knee and hand subspecialties.  These are run by experienced physiotherapists who have undertaken specialist training in orthopaedic and musculoskeletal conditions.

In addition, some GP have access to Advanced Practice First Contact Musculoskeletal Physiotherapists locally, which do not provide traditional first line musculoskeletal physiotherapy, but clinically assess, provide self-management advice, investigate, prescribe and refer on to other Services, if necessary, often in place of General Practitioners (GPs). This helps the GPs to manage other non-related musculoskeletal/orthopaedic conditions.