Based at the Health Plus surgery on Queen’s Road, their Jersey Sports Medicine and Shockwave Clinic is designed to give all Islanders easy and affordable access to the latest technology and treatments for issues such as ligament or tendon damage and muscle injuries.
‘What we are trying to do is offer a kind of musculoskeletal medicine service for everyone, young and old, from pro athletes to amateur sports enthusiasts,’ said Garnett. ‘We want to be accessible to all.’
Both Garnett and Howell are two of the few doctors in Jersey who specialise in sports medicine, diagnostic ultrasound and ultrasound-guided injections to treat patients – and you don’t need a referral from your GP to have a consultation with them.
‘We have more tools now to be able to diagnose and treat people better. We’re not labelled as a GP any more; it’s more of a sports medicine specialist,’ said Garnett.
‘We’ll get referrals from other doctors. We’ll get referrals from chiropractors, osteopaths, physios, masseurs, sports conditioning coaches; we’ll get the [Jersey] Reds coming in from time to time, but a lot of it will be people coming in of their own volition because they know what we do. People can just self-refer,’ added Howell.
‘If we can direct patients to the right person first so they can get the best current advice, you’ll be saving money rather than spending twice.
‘For a 20-minute appointment, you’d pay £77, which would include a scan. If you went to your local GP you wouldn’t be accessing the same level of knowledge, it would be a ten-minute appointment and you would still be paying £49. We’re quite happy to discount to those people who need it discounted. We go along with what we feel is appropriate,’ continued Howell.
‘A hell of a lot of training goes with it. In some ways it works better than an MRI scan too. No picture is perfect but you just build up a story of the patient really.’
The doctors use a GE Logiq ultrasound machine to locate and diagnose the musculoskeletal problem, while the shockwave therapy they offer is a non-invasive treatment that involves creating a series of low-energy acoustic wave pulsations that are directly applied to an injury.
‘The shockwave machine uses soundwaves to stimulate healing on tendons, ligaments and even bones,’ said Howell.
‘We can help regenerate tendons, to repair them and make them stronger. There’s enough evidence out there now to support all this. We can pick up hairline fractures in bones that a normal X-ray might not find,’ Garnett added.
For more information about the Jersey Sports Medicine and Shockwave Clinic, visit Jerseysportsmedicine.je or contact Health Plus on 01534 733322 or email info@jerseysportsmedicineclinic.je.
