I love my job. I spend my days talking to lots of thoroughly interesting people with personal opinions, perceptions, beliefs & outlooks. I love it. Everyone has their own issues, everyone has their own life experiences & we all view things in different ways. It's what interests me most about my job.
On top of that, I'm fortunate enough to be in a profession where I can help people. Whether it's education about an injury, setting a strategy for physical progression or overcoming a fear, I'm positioned to try & help.
The conversations that I typically have are based around common themes - Pain, injury, rehabilitation, fear, apprehension, concern etc. One of the topics I find myself discussing a lot in clinic is based around FRAGILITY.
"What if I do more damage?"
"What if I make things worse?"
" I don't even remember doing anything but I've been told it's the worst the Doctor has ever seen!"
"How am I injured I don't even remember doing anything, am I that fragile?!"
If you've ever found yourself having these thoughts or conversations yourself, inevitably we end up physically doing less. It's just not worth the risk. I'll just take that extra week off, I'll cancel that holiday, I'll not go to the Gym today.
Then maybe you have a conversation with someone like me & we (HOPEFULLY) send this message:
YOU ARE NOT INHERENTLY FRAGILE!
In fact, YOU ARE EXTREMELY ROBUST!
We aim to rationalise pain & it's protective origins, we start a plan to get going again & things start to get easier.
But the concept of fragility is not purely physical. I myself have my own feelings of fragility. For years now I have tried to send a proactive, positive message to my patients & guide them on their road to recovery. I have repeatedly toyed with the idea of getting this information out on some form of social / online forum but it's my own fear & feelings of fragility that have stopped me up to this point. What if people didn't like it? What if no one read it? What if I offended someone or upset them unintentionally along the way?
I suddenly felt overwhelmingly hypocritical. I was expecting people to overcome their own feelings of fragility but I wasn't doing it myself.
That's why I decided to make this my first blog.
Before I address the "What is Physiotherapy" concept or "Why everyone needs to talk to me today!" This has to be the starting point. (NB These are unlikely to be the topics of future blogs!)
To all those people who have taken on the advice of any Physio or Healthcare professional & challenged themselves physically & worked hard to overcome their issues, this is my tribute to you. I have taken my own advice, joined the ranks and decided to embrace my own apprehensions and do it anyway.
To the people I haven't had chance to meet. Don't settle with what you've got if there are things you'd like to change. The human body is adaptable - it can change. But you have to ask it to change! If you're unsure where to start, a good place would be to ask someone who might be able to help.
I'd love to hear from you, drop me an e-mail if there's anything you'd like to discuss. (But please go easy on the insults i'm still fragile remember!)
Matt