As above definitely GP. If yours is anything like ours they’ll just send you away to come back in a few weeks if you are still having trouble. I have had great success ignoring this and demanding an immediate physio referral. I’ve been very assertive explaining I’ve been suffering a while, tried the usual ‘fixes’ etc.
It is worth checking who the physio is that you are referred to on the NHS though. My surgery have a contract with a company who specifically offer Sports rehab, so ideal for me. They’ve always been incredible. However I’ve also made the mistake of using the Physio’s I can access via my local Minor Injuries Unit. They specialise in rehabbing older people back to basic activity and as a competitive endurance athlete they’ve been no help to me! Following a crash (in a cyclist) where I injured my calf, one of them advised me to not ride my bike for 6 months!! He didn’t even touch my leg. I couldn’t put weight on it. I got a second opinion from a friend who’s an Osteopath. I was back on the bike in a few days and walking pain free after a week. She gave me a realistic exercise/ stretching programme so I could achieve that. Goodness only knows what state I’d be in if I’d have followed the other physio’s advice!! Certainly in need of a lot more than physio!!
Both DP and I are competitive endurance athletes, amateur ones. Our experience with NHS physio’s have been very mixed. Some incredible where they’ve supported us back to our competitive sport. Others not, they’ve been working merely to getting us mobile and nothing more. Few seem to be hands on anymore. In my opinion that’s essential with any sporting injury (apart from lost skin!), over tight muscles need to be massaged and released off.
My local run shop specifically employs a physio who specialises in running injury and problems. Local Facebook running pages and clubs are good places to seek out suitable physio’s. Also if you have friends and family who run and have used a specific physio to rehab a running injury.
I think it’s really important you pick a physio (or osteopath) who specialises in running (like I said you may be lucky in that you can access one via your GP). It’ll be important you have a full assessment, they work out why and how you got injured and then treat you and prescribe exercise/ stretching to correct and strengthen. Then it’s less likely to happen again.
As already stated properly fitting shoes are super important, especially if it turns out that is the cause of your injury.
Running can be one of those frustrating sports where it’s very easy to unintentionally over do it, by doing too much too soon and picking up injury. Although my main sport is cycling, I do also run, usually in the off season. I have a recurrent running injury. I’ve got a huge engine from cycling, but not the muscles to cope with running. So I push too hard, run too fast and bang, ouch! It’s been fine the past 18 months as I’ve eased myself back in with a version of couch to 5k.