This post isn’t really about football…How does it feel when the therapist becomes the patient?
I am writing this as the Buffalo Bills are losing (again) with little chance of recovery. And, as I sit at my computer, I am recovering from a back flare-up. It has been with me for 12 years now, since that horse decided she did not like me on her back. The flare-ups have been less frequent recently, only once every two years. It came last Tuesday, out of the blue. The two compression fractures that occurred long ago make my spine unhappy at times. The recovery from this episode was pretty quick, I would put myself back to 90% today. Treatment, self treatment, and time usually works.
I occasionally get asked “how I can relate to my patient’s pain if I have not suffered through it myself?”. I don’t think that it is necessary to suffer all of the maladies of my patients, but it does shed some light. I am wondering if others feel this way?
I’ll recover, hopefully with a long interval until the next time. Not sure of the Bills will. How have you done? Has pain given you new insight into the plight of your patients?
Walt Fritz, PT
I had pain and was a patient before I became a therapist. It is still frustrating to meet therapists who don’t get it and expect you to just grin and bear it, don’t get how it affects you cognitively, and suggest you aren’t doing your home program. The last thing you want is for someone to be condescending about self treatment. You’re trying to hang in there and be a good patient and then they have the gall to infer you may not be doing enough. There is a difference between being supportive and riding someone’s back. It may be hard to learn, but it’s something we should all strive for.
Support is the key, not bullying. Having had pain certainly gives one a better perspective.
I have had many injuries, some of them fairly extensive. Occasionally I have that same back flare up from two compression fractures of L-1 and L-2.
I think it has enabled me to have a lot more empathy and I really can relate to my clients going through similar issues. On the other hand it also enables me to be “stern” with a client who is giving me every excuse in the book as to why he/she can’t exercise or do the maintenance exercises that they were given to do.
Telling them my ‘life story” tends to be an inspiration, especially when they see me working as a massage therapist.
The issue of professional boundaries with my clients often keeps me from sharing too much with them. But a teaching moment is just that and at times I will use my story as well.
“Man learns through experience, and the spiritual path is full of different kinds of experiences. He will encounter many difficulties and obstacles, and they are the very experiences he needs to encourage and complete the cleansing process.”
Sai Baba