Specialist Neck Physiotherapy

Neck pain can be particularly disruptive — affecting sleep, concentration, work, driving and confidence in everyday movement. Symptoms may also include headaches, stiffness or pain, tingling or numbness extending into the shoulder or arm. 

Specialist neck assessment and rehabilitation are available at our Emsworth and Rowlands Castle clinics, delivered by Mike Saegert and Kathryn Palmer. Both are experienced spinal clinicians working at Band 8a specialist level and assess the full range of neck and cervical-spine conditions, including persistent or recurring pain, cervical radiculopathy, disc and joint-related presentations, neck-related headaches and problems that have not improved with previous treatment.

Our focus is on high-level assessment, clear diagnosis and evidence-based rehabilitation, helping you understand what is contributing to your symptoms and giving you a structured plan for treatment and recovery. 

More Than an Exercise Programme

Our spinal clinicians provide specialist assessment, diagnosis and rehabilitation, with access to imaging referral and interpretation and coordinated onward referral to pain-management, spinal injection or surgical services where clinically appropriate.

Why Neck Problems Require Specialist Assessment

The cervical spine is closely linked to the nervous system. Pain may arise from joint irritation, disc sensitivity, nerve involvement, muscular guarding or altered movement control.

Symptoms such as headaches, arm pain, tingling or stiffness often overlap between conditions. Imaging findings such as disc bulges or degenerative change are common and do not always explain symptom severity.

Generic exercises or overly cautious management can sometimes prolong symptoms by reinforcing protective tension or fear of movement.

Specialist assessment evaluates irritability profile, neural sensitivity, joint mobility, muscle coordination and load tolerance. It considers how your neck behaves during sustained positions, rotation, lifting and functional activity.

Accurate differentiation allows rehabilitation to be targeted at the factors most relevant to your symptoms rather than applying broad treatment strategies.

Explore Neck Conditions

Select the condition or rehabilitation pathway most relevant to you below to find out more. If your condition is not shown, we can still help. If you are unsure what is causing your symptoms, a specialist assessment can help identify the most likely source of your pain.

What Makes Our Neck Service Different

Neck assessment and rehabilitation is delivered by experienced physiotherapists working in  Band 8a specialist roles within the NHS alongside their private practice. Their clinical work includes complex spinal presentations, neurological symptoms, persistent pain, post-operative rehabilitation, imaging pathways and close collaboration with medical and surgical teams. 

This level of experience is particularly valuable when symptoms have persisted despite previous treatment, nerve-related symptoms are present, imaging needs to be interpreted alongside the clinical picture, or the diagnosis is not immediately straightforward.

Many individuals attending with neck pain have previously received general advice or exercises without lasting improvement. This is rarely because recovery is not possible. More often, the contributing mechanical and neural factors have not been thoroughly assessed.

Specialist evaluation examines how your neck behaves under load — including sustained postures, rotation, neural tension and movement control. It also considers how stress, previous injury and protective guarding may influence symptom persistence.

Rehabilitation is structured around graded exposure, movement refinement and restoration of confidence.

For disc-related or nerve-sensitive presentations, management respects irritability while maintaining controlled movement. In joint-driven pain, progression restores mobility and balanced muscle activation. In persistent mechanical neck pain, rehabilitation focuses on improving tolerance to work, driving and sustained positions rather than avoidance.

Programmes are individualised and progression is guided by symptom behaviour and functional milestones rather than fixed timelines.

Care is guided by advanced clinical reasoning and specialist experience rather than protocol-driven or generic rehabilitation approaches.

Where clinically appropriate, we can request and interpret imaging to help clarify the diagnosis. Scan findings are considered alongside your symptoms, neurological examination and response to movement rather than relying on the report wording alone.

We can also liaise with appropriate pain-management and spinal services when interventions such as facet-joint injections, nerve-root blocks or a specialist spinal opinion may be appropriate. This integrated approach helps ensure that rehabilitation, further investigation and onward referral are coordinated around your individual clinical needs.

Book Your Specialist Neck Appointment

Specialist neck and cervical-spine appointments are available at our Emsworth and Rowlands Castle clinics. Both clinicians provide specialist assessment and rehabilitation across the full range of neck conditions.

Assessment includes detailed evaluation, clear explanation of the likely source of your symptoms and an individually tailored treatment and rehabilitation plan.

Online booking is available for self-funding spinal appointments with Mike Saegert in Emsworth and Kathryn Palmer in Rowlands Castle. If you have WPA insurance, please contact us before booking.

Our specialist spinal clinics run on Fridays, and appointments may book several weeks in advance. If no appointments are showing online for your chosen clinician, please contact us, as additional availability may sometimes be possible.

Prefer to Speak to Us First?

If you are unsure which clinician to book with, would prefer not to book online or have a question before arranging your appointment, please contact us and we will help direct you to the most appropriate specialist.

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 0330 133 9090

Or complete the enquiry form below and we will get back to you.