Working in rehab outside of chiropractor offices common? Possible?

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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on July 15, 2017 at 12:34am

Uhm, anything is possible. And I'm sure it has happened before. But it's unlikely that a medical doctor is going to hire you right out of massage school. Sense there are probably other therapists out their with 7 to 10 years or more experience that would jump at the chance to work in a medical clinic. It's been a dream of mine to work with a medical doctor for a long time. It finally happened to me after 30 years. The vetting process I went through....There is no way anybody could have done it right out of massage school. Only someone with experience could have.
My second interview..... I got a call at 8 am in the morning. I was working in a spa at the time from 1pm to 6pm that day. So I was very much asleep when that call came in. It was the doctor that interviewed me, in front of his staff( two physicians assistants, another medical doctor several nurses , technicians and support staff). It was a serious interview. Afterwards, they thanked me for coming in. Ok back to the 8am phone call. The doctor said that he had a patient he wanted me to see. Boy I knew this was a test. Of course during the 45 minute interview I had talked myself up( and I am confident in my skill set). I asked him when he wanted me to come in.? He said " Can you be here in a half hour?" " I said yes."
When I got to the the clinic.. I was introduced to the patient. A young lady was sitting in a chair , crying and her body was shaking. The doctor explained the procedures he had done to her( he is an anesthesiologist/ pain management doc) which helped part of her condition, but she still could not turn her head but a few degrees either way. He wanted me to work on her. I then was escorted into another room where I signed paperwork saying that they( the medical clinic) would not be responsible if something bad happened to the patient as a result of whatever I did.
After that ,the patient, doctor, nurse and I went into a vacant treatment room that had an exam table. The doc turned to me and asked. "How long do you need?" I just looked at him and said. " uhhh?" Then he said. Is an hour enough?" I said "yea." Of course I had no clue as to how long I needed or if I could help this young lady at all? She was obviously hurt. And her problem was not just a kink in the neck. She was in serious pain. I thought.. We'll I'm not going to get hired. But I gotta try to help this poor women. The nurse stayed in the room with me and the patient. That was a good thing because she was a wittiness as to what happened. I will spare you all the details. The doctor came back into the room an hour later. The patient was no longer crying or shaking. She was sitting up on the table, calm, smiling and said. "Doctor, I can turn my head and it doesn't hurt." The doc took me to his office and said your hired.
All that being said I did work briefly in a physical therapy clinic but left there to work with a chiropractor. I here what you are saying when it comes to chiropractic. But they do hire people right out of massage school. And you can get experience that way. I worked with a chiropractor for ten years.
A lot of things depend on the right place at the right time. But ten years ago, I could not have helped that patient. My advice, and I don't know if it's the best advice? Take whatever job you can get when you get out of school. And go from there. Why don't you visit a physical therapy clinic.. ask them to give you tour. ?

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