‘I should have done it years ago’

4 April 2025

Having lived with sciatica for more than a decade, Sergeant Julie Dallison turned to the Police Treatment Centre for help.

Like many North Yorkshire Police Federation members, Julie donates to the charity each month but had not used its services or facilities.

“I suffer quite badly with sciatica, which is very painful, and uncomfortable,” she said.

“I kind of muddled through with pain relief, and got used to it and lived with the pain and the discomfort before I actually went, which isn’t very sensible.

Police Treatment Centre

“It’s from 10 years ago, if not more, and has led to other problems. I had an Achilles injury and I had a knee injury and things were really uncomfortable.”

After hearing ‘rave reviews’ about the Police Treatment Centre in Harrogate from colleagues, Julie decided to call on its services.

“It was absolutely brilliant,” she said. “It was two weeks and you get to the end of the two weeks and you just want to stay. You feel so much better at the end of your time there.

Absolutely outstanding

“The physios are absolutely outstanding. They found things that I didn't know were part of the problem and adding to what I'd already got, which is why I probably wasn't feeling an awful lot better when I’d done bits and pieces before.

“For example, I have got a shorter hamstring on one side because of overcompensating due to injuries.

“So you end up injuring yourself further and don't even realise it until someone finds out the issue.

“They gave me exercises to do that have made it feel so much better.”

The PTC is a registered charity which provides treatment and support for injured and ill serving and retired officers. The treatment includes intensive police-specific physiotherapy and rehabilitation.

Police Treatment Centres

Around 4,000 members of the police family are treated at one of the two Police Treatment Centres in Harrogate or Perthshire in Scotland.

Julie said: “It's helped massively, because you understand your limits and accept it.

“You have it told to you professionally to take your time, take it easy, don't try and rush into things, that it's going to take time to build up to what you were doing before.

“When you've been there, you've been to the gym, you've done the exercises with them, and you get all the additional support such as the wellbeing and the hydro pool, you think ‘wow, this is what I really wanted’.

“I should have done it years ago.

Positive outlook

“It's definitely helped and gives you a positive outlook for going forward. You know you're going to be okay instead of it’s horrendous and you’re never going to get any better.”

Julie has been with North Yorkshire Police for 15 years and moved to managing the team that looks after registered sex offenders in August.

And she said the Force has helped to accommodate her needs while at work.

“The physio advised me to use a wobble stool – which are designed to encourage movement and promote better posture – and North Yorkshire Police got one for me, along with a riser desk.

“If I hadn’t have been to the PTC I wouldn’t have known about it.”

Overcome setbacks

Julie also credits the PTC with helping her overcome a couple of recent setbacks that threatened to stall her recovery.

“I am loads better than I was,” she said. “I am I'm still restricted at the moment, but that's because, to add to everything else, I have a large Labrador which run straight into my leg at full pelt, which wasn't comfortable at all.

“And also in the bad weather, I had a bit of a slippy slide in the car park at work and twisted.

“It’s something I don't do, because I know how to look after my back, but when you're sliding on ice, there's not a lot you can do.

“It gave me a bit of a knock back, but to be able to recover from that as quickly as I have is down to what I've been doing with the PTC.”

She added: “I’ve told every man and his dog to use the PTC. The staff are amazing. It’s absolutely brilliant, all of it.”

More information about the PTC is available on the North Yorkshire Police Federation website.

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