Sports Injury Clinics in London

Dr Eleanor Tillett, Consultant in Sports and Exercise Medicine

“Whilst seeing an elite athlete take Olympic Gold is amazing, seeing any patient achieve their goal is equally special"

Eleanor Tillett was awarded a Master’s in Sports Medicine in 2003, and then went on to complete a specialist training course in Sport and Exercise Medicine. Since 2003 Eleanor has been the Team Doctor of the British Figure Skating Team. She has also worked within various other elite sports, including Team GB at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, England Women’s Football and GB Women’s Basketball. In addition she has worked at many sporting events, including the London Marathon, London Triathlon, World University Games, Youth Olympics and Youth Commonwealth Games. Eleanor currently works as a Consultant and Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Medicine at University College London Hospital. There she leads the MSc programme in Sports Medicine, Exercise and Health and supervises research in various related areas.

"As a former national level figure skater I have always enjoyed sport and exercise. Being on the receiving end of specialist care as an athlete led to a fascination with the field and now I couldn’t imagine working in any other discipline. It is one of the few areas of medicine where we truly get to work as part of a multidisciplinary team, to the benefit of the patient. This sharing of skills is one of the best aspects of the specialty.

Working with elite athletes is exciting. The aim is to figure out not only what is causing their pain, but why it happened in the first place. This can be a real challenge sometimes as the underlying cause may be subtle. However, whilst seeing an elite athlete take Olympic gold is amazing, seeing any patient achieve their goal is equally special as I know the hard work and dedication they have put in to their training and rehabilitation. If I can help them in any way along this path, then I know I’ve done my job. By applying what we’ve learnt from preventing and treating injuries in elite athletes, we can help anyone with musculoskeletal pain that might be limiting their activity. ‘Activity’ may mean different things to different patients; from running the marathon, to doing their job or playing with their children, but the principles remain the same. I don’t just treat the symptoms but look at why the problem arisen in the first place and analyse how to prevent its recurrence.

Outside of work, I enjoy being active and still skate when I can. Living near Wales with my partner affords us ample opportunities to enjoy outdoor pursuits, particularly hill walking."