MSK Diagnostic Ultrasound
A musculoskeletal ultrasound scan shows tendons, muscles, ligaments, joints and bursae in real time, and allows them to be examined while you move.
At Meyer Physio, our services are built around accurate diagnosis, targeted treatment, and integrated rehabilitation. Using musculoskeletal ultrasound alongside expert physiotherapy, we provide a complete pathway from assessment to recovery — the clinician who assesses you performs your scan, explains what it shows while you are still in the room, and then treats you.
Why choose diagnostic ultrasound?
High-resolution MSK ultrasound allows real-time assessment of:
- tendons, muscles and ligaments
- joints and effusions
- bursae and soft tissue pathology
- dynamic, movement-related pain
It is used to clarify a diagnosis, guide treatment decisions, and support referrers and second opinions.
Its particular strength is that the examination is dynamic. Rather than looking only at a still image, we can watch a tendon or joint while you move it — which sometimes reveals changes that are difficult to appreciate at rest, and lets the findings be matched to the exact position and movement that reproduces your pain.
Ultrasound scans are safe, non-invasive and painless, and involve no radiation exposure.
Which areas can be scanned?
Ultrasound is well suited to the structures that lie within reach of the probe, which covers most of the peripheral joints and soft tissues:
- Shoulder — rotator cuff tendons, the subacromial bursa, calcific deposits
- Elbow — the tendon origins involved in tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow
- Wrist and hand — tendon sheaths, ganglion cysts, the median nerve at the carpal tunnel, the small joints
- Hip — gluteal tendons, the trochanteric bursae, fluid within the joint
- Knee — the patellar and quadriceps tendons, Baker’s cysts, joint effusion
- Ankle and foot — the Achilles tendon, the plantar fascia, Morton’s neuroma
- Muscle and tendon tears — hamstring, calf and Achilles injuries, and the haematomas that can follow them
A full list of what we assess and treat is on our conditions page.
What happens at your appointment?
Every appointment is a full hour. The scan is not a separate errand you are sent away for — it happens within the assessment, as part of working out what is wrong.
You will have:
- a specialist MSK assessment, in a 60-minute appointment
- a diagnostic ultrasound examination where it is clinically indicated
- an immediate explanation of the findings
- a formal written ultrasound report
- referral for MRI, X-ray, blood tests or a specialist opinion where that is required
- a treatment plan based on the clinical and the imaging findings together
Ultrasound can be booked as a standalone diagnostic scan, or as part of a combined assessment and treatment plan.
We use the findings to guide what happens next — whether that is conventional physiotherapy, or a procedure such as an ultrasound-guided injection or an aspiration, both of which are performed under the same imaging.
Who performs your scan?
Your scan is performed by Suegnet Meyer, an Advanced Practice Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist and MSK Sonographer.
Suegnet spent two years working in an NHS radiology department developing her diagnostic ultrasound practice. In musculoskeletal imaging that experience matters more than the equipment: ultrasound is operator-dependent, and the value of a scan rests on the person choosing where to look, how to move the limb while looking, and what the image means alongside the clinical examination.
Because the same clinician assesses you, scans you and then treats you, the reasoning behind the diagnosis does not have to be handed between people. You get the explanation at the time, from the person who found it.
Do I need a scan?
Not everybody with musculoskeletal pain does.
Changes in tendons and joints become more common with age and are regularly seen in people with no pain at all, so a scan is useful when it is likely to answer a clinical question or change what we do — not as a routine addition to every appointment. Where ultrasound is not the right investigation, we will say so and recommend the one that is.
Read more about whether you need an ultrasound scan →
Scans for other clinicians and second opinions
We accept referrals from GPs, consultants, physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors and sports therapists, and provide a written report for the referring clinician.
Patients also come for a second opinion on a scan or a diagnosis they have already had elsewhere. Details for professionals are on our clinician referrals page.
What does it cost?
Every appointment lasts a full hour. Where a diagnostic scan is needed, that appointment is charged at the scan rate, which replaces the standard consultation fee rather than being added to it. Current prices are on our prices page.
MSK diagnostic ultrasound in Weybridge
Meyer Physio provides musculoskeletal ultrasound scans at its clinic on Baker Street in Weybridge, Surrey, with assessment, scanning, ultrasound-guided treatment and rehabilitation all in one place.
What that means in practice is that you leave the appointment knowing what was found, what it means and what happens next — rather than waiting for a report to reach somebody else.
You can come to us directly — no GP referral is needed to book, and there is no waiting list.
*All images are used with permission from Meyer Physio patients.
Written by Suegnet Meyer, Advanced Practice Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist and MSK Sonographer. HCPC registered [PH55635]. Chartered Society of Physiotherapy member [66175]. Last reviewed: 31 October 2026.