a community of practitioners

Do you request the client's weight on intake form?

I've just joined a wonder Wellness Center and am very happy there...except for this one thing. The intake form asks for the clients height and weight. I've requested an explanation from the owner, and am waiting to hear back.

In the meantime, I thought I'd ask here, do you request your client's weight on your intake form and why? I think it would be a deterrent for larger people who may feel uncomfortable sharing that information. Obviously, we all know what overweight looks like. What's the point of making them spell it out for you? Is it a matter of table capacity?

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Abram Herman on August 17, 2012 at 9:40am

Exactly! I don't feel like it would be an MT's role to bring something like this up, hence, there's no need to take down weight information on an intake form. Since diagnosis is out of scope, I can't imagine a situation where the MT will find something out by knowing weight history/change that the person's doctor wouldn't have caught.

Travis Cottam said:

I agree. I think it would make almost anyone uncomfortable. We should tell our clients about a mole or skin condition that we notice a change in. However, "I noticed you have put on some weight." is not a conversation opener I want to have with ANY client. They know...

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on August 17, 2012 at 1:58pm

I agree with everyone in here..So not challenging or arguing...But Im reminded of the time when I worked briefly in a physical therapy clinic..This was maybe 25 years ago.... We had a patient that slipped on a wet floor while in the grocery store.. She hurt her knee durring that fall. A group of her friends told her to go see someone holistic, because the MDs would just want to give pain meds and do surgery... So she went to a chiropractor for three months two or three times a week....Well after that didnt work her other group of friends told her to go see a real doctor instead of that quack...So she goes to the Orthopedic doc that owend the physical therapy clinic that I had just started working in.. There were three physical therapists in that clinic and I was the massage therapist....They had her sit in this sophisticated chair and hooked up electrodes to her knee for analysis....Everyone was hovered around analyzing the extent of her knee injury.. They also sent her to me for a half hour massage...After the massage she sat up , looked at me and said...."I guess massage doesnt work either." But I saw a clinically obese women....about a 200lb overweight...Thats why her knee hurt... But no one...Not the chiropractor, the Orthopedic MD, or the Physical therapists told her she needed to loose weight...And I wasn't going to tell her....Id get fired right away....The reality is...a weight loss program would have been the best therapy for her knee.. But she didnt get that...So from my perspective, I saw that this fancy clinic that I worked in was not really set up to help people.. So I quit that day....Sorry, Im kind of off the subject,, It just reminded me of that,

Abram Herman said:

Exactly! I don't feel like it would be an MT's role to bring something like this up, hence, there's no need to take down weight information on an intake form. Since diagnosis is out of scope, I can't imagine a situation where the MT will find something out by knowing weight history/change that the person's doctor wouldn't have caught.

Travis Cottam said:

I agree. I think it would make almost anyone uncomfortable. We should tell our clients about a mole or skin condition that we notice a change in. However, "I noticed you have put on some weight." is not a conversation opener I want to have with ANY client. They know...