Clinical Profiles - Carolyn Hirons
Name: Carolyn Hirons
Position (specialist area): HPC Registered Physiotherapist, Specialist in Amputee/Prosthetic Rehabilitation. She has a particular interest in the use of exercise to maintain independence and a healthy mind and body after amputation.
Contact details: chirons@pacerehab.com Tel: 0845 450 7357, fax: 0161 428 5852
Location: Based at Cheadle, Cheshire
Career: Carolyn has worked in the specialist field of rehabilitation following amputation since 1990. She worked for 15 years in the NHS with individuals following amputation in the acute setting, on rehabilitation wards, as outpatients and within the community and their work environment. She has also worked within a regional specialist unit. During her career, she spent 3 years teaching physiotherapy undergraduates at the University of Salford, and continues to have educational responsibilities. Since 2005 Carolyn has been employed in the private independent sector within the multi disciplinary team at Pace Rehabilitation Ltd, in Cheadle.
Qualifications: Carolyn Hirons is a Health Professions Council (HPC) Registered and Chartered Physiotherapist. In 1988, she gained her Associateship in Physiotherapy and in 1998, her Masters Degree in Health Practice.
Memberships: Carolyn is a member of The Society of Chartered Physiotherapy and the following clinical interest groups:-
• PhysioFirst (Organisation of Chartered Physiotherapists in Private Practice)
• MLACP (Medico-Legal Association of Chartered Physiotherapists)
• BACPAR (British Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Amputee Rehabilitation)
• ISPO (International Society of Prosthetics and Orthotics)
• BALASA & Limbless Association: Amputee Support Network Groups
• ACPET (Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Exercise Therapy)
• Directory of Expert Witnesses
Recent activities: In 2007, Carolyn presented her findings on preventing falls after amputation and on correcting movement control in prosthetic use at the ISPO World Congress, in Vancouver.
Other: Carolyn has a number of publications to her name:
• Book chapter in Tidy’s Physiotherapy, 14th edition, aimed at undergraduates
• ‘Falls in Patients with Lower Limb Amputations: Prevalence and Contributing Factors’ Kulkarni et al, Physiotherapy Feb 1996, vol 82, no 2, pg 130 – 136.
• ’Review of Falls-related Injuries’ Kulkarni, Hale, Reilly Critical Reviews in Phys & Rehab Med 1999, vol 11, no 1, pg 63-74
• ‘Do psychological measures predict the ability of lower limb amputees to learn to use a prosthesis?’ Larner, Van Ross, Hale Clin Rehabil, 2003; 17: 493 -498