A MAN from Chipping Sodbury who was struggling with a knee injury is now back at work thanks to surgery and a physio app.

John Weir, a national advisor on future proofing the nation’s forests, found that a damaged knee was preventing him from doing his job.

Mr Weir has spent his working life in forests, from chainsawing as a young man to managing the Welsh timber harvest.

Now he travels around the UK advising landowners and local authorities on how they can take steps to protect the countryside from climate change.

He said: “I have been very active all my life and that has taken its toll.

"Walking on the uneven forest floor, together with problems with arthritis, had left my right knee in a state.

"I put up with the pain for a long time. I had physiotherapy and I tried to carry on, but eventually it was getting hard to work. Driving, which is crucial to my work, was especially painful.”

Mr Weir’s GP referred him to Emersons Green NHS Treatment Centre, where he had surgery on his knee.

The centre is known for having pioneered an enhanced pathway that sees patients up on their feet and working with physiotherapists within hours of a joint replacement.

They often return home within 24 hours, reducing the risk of deep vein thrombosis and hospital-acquired infection.

Mr Weir said: “It was exceptional.

"I was out in under 24 hours and recovering in the comfort of my own home.

"Everyone was very professional and upfront about what I would experience and what I would need to do to help my recovery.

"My consultant explained that using Care UK’s free Pocket Physio app - and following the exercises set by the centre’s physiotherapists - would speed up and improve the quality of my rehabilitation.”

Mr Weir threw himself into his rehabilitation, using the swing seat in his Chipping Sodbury garden to stretch his leg and attaching a poster of exercises to his conservatory wall.

It paid off.

The physiotherapists were amazed at his recovery.

He was driving within two weeks, back at work within three weeks and in the forests again within two and a half months, tackling the uneven surfaces with ease.

He said: “I spend my working life trying to persuade people to build-in the science around climate change into their long-term thinking and planning. This surgery has helped me to get back on the road quickly and putting in the miles pain free.”