massage and bodywork professionals
a community of practitioners
Football and Therapy
Time for my secret: I am a Buffalo Bills fan. Born there, met OJ Simpson when he was a rookie, and have followed
them ever since. I follow no sports except the Bills. My wife can’t
figure it out, why stick with a team that nearly always loses? I try to
tell her that they made it to the Super Bowl four years in a row. But
they lost four years in a row. Every season starts with hope, but the
first game of each season begins a cycle that is not unexpected.
I was thinking of this this morning, as I read the write up on their loss yesterday in the paper, and how it
compares to therapy. Most patients respond quickly to Myofascial Release
and their outcomes are great. Others take much longer than I think they
should. Slow progress is often troubling to me, as I think all should
respond in a similar fashion.
A client this morning reinforced this, as this person was not responding as quickly as I had hoped. I voiced my
concern and she assured me that there was definite progress and she was
quite pleased. It was my impatience that was the issue. I’ve worked in
this field long enough to know that I can’t predict how a person will
respond, but I still get impatient when someone does not. My stuff, not
theirs.
Maybe this need for patience should carryover into my football viewing, but it gets tough. How do you react to patients that are slow to respond?
Walt Fritz, PT
Views: 92
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Rajam K Roose on
-
It sounds more like you want to carryover the patience you have for your football team over into your practice, rather than the other way around!
Although most folks respond quickly to my work, I have changed my mindset to believe that the slower responses are the more normal ones. That change has helped me considerably when a client takes longer in healing. And, when someone responds quickly, I've changed my mind to be surprised instead of expecting it.
It's more of a problem for me when a client is impatient and think they aren't showing improvement. Fortunately, I keep really good records of everything they tell me, how easy they forget when they first came in and couldn't sleep well or perform certain activities that they can now do and yet they still feel like there's no improvement b/c there is some residual discomfort or pain. So all I can do is gently remind them of how they have indeed improved and stress the need for patience on their part.
-
Permalink Reply by Walt Fritz, PT on
-
Rajam,
Thanks for the reply. I like that image of expecting less and being surprised by more.
Lisa,
I am assuming you are a Dallas fan? I can think of o such therapy for me...
© 2024 Created by ABMP.
Powered by
