New-patient appointments are open through late October, including Thursday evenings.

Request a time
Willow Craft Chiropractic
A chiropractor's hands working along a patient's lower back during a treatment session.

Spinal and musculoskeletal care

Careful hands, measured progress.

A small chiropractic practice for backs, necks and the everyday mechanics that stopped cooperating. We assess before we treat, explain what we found in plain language, and send you home with two or three things to do rather than twenty.

Start here

Start with where it hurts.

Most people arrive with one specific complaint, so the first appointment is built around it. Here is what we look at for the concerns we see most often.

Lower back and sciatica

Stiffness on waking, pain that bites when you stand up from a chair, or a line of ache running down one leg.

We assess

Lumbar and pelvic movement, nerve tension tests, hip flexor and glute function, and how you load the leg when walking.

Neck, jaw and headaches

Headaches that start at the base of the skull, a neck that turns further one way, or jaw tightness after a long week.

We assess

Upper cervical and first-rib movement, jaw opening, breathing pattern and the deep neck flexors that hold your head up.

Shoulder and upper limb

Pain reaching overhead or behind your back, plus pins and needles in the hand that come and go.

We assess

Shoulder blade control, rotator cuff strength through range, thoracic extension and nerve sensitivity from the neck down.

Hips, knees and gait

A hip that clicks or catches, knee pain on stairs, or a run that has felt lopsided for months.

We assess

Single-leg balance and control, hip rotation, calf and quad capacity, and footwear against the surfaces you train on.

Pregnancy and postnatal

Pelvic and low-back discomfort through pregnancy, and the gradual return to lifting and exercise afterwards.

We assess

Side-lying and seated comfort, pelvic load tolerance, breathing and abdominal pressure, with treatment adjusted by trimester.

Desk and device strain

Mid-back burning by mid-afternoon, wrists that ache after a heavy week of typing, shoulders that creep upward.

We assess

Your actual working setup, how long you hold one position, grip and forearm tolerance, and which breaks are realistic for your day.

How we work

Four methods, used on purpose.

Nothing here is applied automatically. Each visit uses whichever of these gives your presentation the clearest progress, and we tell you why we changed approach when we do.

Hands-on joint work

Precise, low-amplitude adjustment where a joint has lost movement, with lower-force instrument or mobilisation techniques when a firm adjustment is not suitable or not wanted. You are told which one we are about to use.

Soft-tissue release

Focused work through muscle and fascia that is guarding around an irritated joint — usually glutes and hip flexors for low backs, upper traps and forearms for desk-driven pain.

Rehabilitation loading

Two or three exercises at a time, written down with sets, days and a progression marker, so the tissue gets stronger instead of only feeling looser for a day.

Movement review

We re-film or re-test the movement that hurt at the start — the squat, the reach, the first hundred metres of a run — so improvement is measured rather than remembered.

A person on a mat holding a supported stretch during a guided rehabilitation exercise.
Home programmes are kept to two or three movements and reviewed at every visit, so you always know which one matters most this week.

Your first visit

Fifty minutes, in three parts.

If you have never seen a chiropractor, this is the whole sequence. There are no surprises waiting in the room.

History and goals

What happened, what makes it worse, your general health and medications, and the one activity you most want back. We also check whether chiropractic is the right starting point at all.

About 15 minutes

Assessment and explanation

Movement testing, joint and muscle examination, and neurological screening where it is relevant. You then get the findings and a likely timeframe before anything is treated.

About 20 minutes

Treatment and plan

First treatment on the same day in most cases, then your home programme and an honest view of how many visits the problem is likely to need.

About 15 minutes

Wear clothing you can move in — shorts or leggings and a t-shirt are ideal. Bring any scans or specialist letters you already have, and a shoe you wear most days if the problem is in your hip, knee or foot.

Portrait of a chiropractor in a clinic consulting room.

Who you'll see

Dr Imogen Hale, chiropractor.

Willow Craft is a single-practitioner practice, which means the person who assesses you is the person who treats you at every visit. Appointments are not stacked across rooms, so your session keeps its full time.

  • Master of Clinical Chiropractic, with postgraduate study in musculoskeletal rehabilitation.
  • Particular interest in persistent low-back pain and the return to running or lifting after injury.
  • Additional training in care through pregnancy and the postnatal year.
  • Refers on to physiotherapy, exercise physiology, podiatry or your general practitioner when that is the better path.

“A plan you can repeat at home on a busy week is worth more than a perfect plan you abandon by Thursday.”

Practical detail

Visit details, before you ask.

Consulting hours
Monday to Wednesday, 7:30am – 6:00pm. Thursday, 10:00am – 7:30pm. Friday, 7:30am – 2:00pm. Saturday mornings on alternate weeks.
Appointment lengths
First visits are booked at 50 minutes. Follow-up visits are 25 minutes, and extended rehabilitation reviews are 40 minutes.
Access
Ground-floor practice with step-free entry, a wide treatment-room door, and a low-height table for anyone who finds climbing onto a standard bench difficult.
Fees and claiming
Fees are confirmed in writing when your appointment is booked, so there is nothing to work out on the day. On-site claiming is available for most private health funds.
Changes and cancellations
Please give at least 12 hours' notice so the time can be offered to someone on the waiting list. Short-notice changes for illness or flare-ups are never charged.
Referrals
No referral is needed to book. If you have been referred by a general practitioner or specialist, we will write back to them with our findings when you ask us to.

Questions

Questions people ask first.

Do I need a referral before booking?

No. You can book directly. A referral is only necessary if it is required by a particular insurer or workplace scheme, and we will tell you during the first appointment if that applies to your situation.

Does an adjustment hurt, and what is the clicking sound?

Most people describe it as brief pressure followed by relief. The sound is gas moving inside the joint capsule as surfaces separate slightly; it is not bone grinding and it is not a measure of how well the treatment worked. If you would rather avoid that technique entirely, we use instrument-assisted or mobilisation methods instead.

How many visits will I need?

You will get an estimated range after the assessment rather than an open-ended schedule. A straightforward recent strain often settles within three or four visits. Longstanding problems usually need a short block of treatment followed by a strengthening phase you mostly run yourself, with occasional reviews.

Can I be treated while pregnant?

Yes. Positioning is adjusted with side-lying support and a table that opens up through the abdomen, and techniques are chosen for your trimester. Tell us at booking so the right amount of time is set aside, and let us know about any obstetric advice you have already been given.

Is chiropractic care appropriate for children?

We see school-age children and teenagers, most often for sports strains, back pain from heavy bags, or growth-related knee and heel pain. Techniques for younger patients are gentle and low-force, a parent stays in the room, and we refer to a paediatrician or general practitioner whenever a presentation sits outside our scope.

What if I feel sore afterwards?

Some stiffness for a day after the first treatment is common, similar to the feeling after unfamiliar exercise. Gentle movement, warmth and your home exercises usually settle it. If soreness is sharp, spreading, or lasts beyond two days, contact us and we will adjust the approach at the next visit rather than repeating the same thing.

Will I need X-rays or scans?

Usually not. Imaging is requested only when the examination points to something that changes the treatment decision, such as significant trauma or findings that need specialist review. Routine spinal imaging for everyone is not part of how we practise.

Appointments

Request an appointment.

Tell us what is bothering you and roughly when you are free. We reply with the first two or three times that suit, along with the fee for that appointment type.

  • Enquiries are answered within one business day.
  • Nothing is confirmed until you reply to accept a time.
  • If your concern is outside our scope, we will say so and suggest who to see.
  • For sudden severe pain, loss of bladder or bowel control, or weakness in a limb, seek urgent medical care rather than waiting for a reply.
How long it has been going on, what you have already tried, and the activity you want back.