by Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS
For the past few years, we have talked more and more in the physical wellness and rehab world about how the words that we use really do matter. A younger me would have told you that picking words that are “less abrasive” is just semantics and a bunch of crap. But, with age comes wisdom (and lots of gray hair).
Now, more than ever, I believe that the words that we use and the actions that we take are really, really important. I was reminded of that fact this week when interacting with an athlete that I have worked with for several years at the university.
This athlete runs track and cross country and while at home due to COVID, she developed some hip pain. She saw a physician at home who sent her to a local physical therapist. As she began to consider a return to campus, she moved her care to a local physical therapist in Springfield where our campus is located.
As school and workouts began to resume, she came to me to transition her care and she shared with me what she had been doing and the care that she had been receiving and she was very excited about it and really felt confident about the process. In fact, she was nervous to go away from what she learned to enjoy and trust with regards to her care.
As I asked her about her care, she described her diagnosis and her therapy as being really innovative and top notch. She really felt like they had gotten to the bottom of her issues. Her excitement lead to a lot of excitement on my end because I alway love to learn something new and if they have found a solution for hip pain, I’m all in!
I began communicating with her therapist and gathering notes and information in an effort to gain knowledge and extend this innovative and effective care.
What I received, honestly, was a very simple and what I consider as a very standard hip program. It contained a few standard modalities and exercises such as clam shells, mini squats and leg raises. To be clear, I’m not saying that the program is wrong or bad, but what I am saying is that it isn’t nearly as innovative as was described to me.
As I unpacked this in my mind, it became very clear to me that for this young lady, what we do with her isn’t nearly as important as how we do it and how she feels when she does it. If she feels safe, comfortable, and most of all, important and loved, then she is going to improve. If she doesn’t feel those things, then she probably won’t get better.
The challenge for me is that I work in a high volume, collegiate setting where 400+ student athletes need care every day, so finding that one on one time where I can really make this one athlete feel important and loved is going to be really challenging. But, I firmly believe that if I don’t make that commitment, she won’t reciprocate and we will get nowhere.
With everything going on in our world, please take time to talk with your clients and patients. Find out what makes them comfortable and uncomfortable. Show them how much you care about them. Regardless of your affiliations in the this world, I think we can all agree that our country is more divided than ever. If you say or do something that makes your patient the least bit uncomfortable, they likely won’t make the improvements that you are hoping for. They will automatically revert to a threat mode. That may or may not be your fault, but we need to all recognize it and own it if we expect to make a difference.
Things like race, politics and religion are in the forefront of many people’s minds right now. I’m not suggesting that you discuss those topics in a therapy session (quite the opposite actually). But, those things provide a lens that each of us use to view our world. To be effective, we need to use each other lens’ and see the world together.
The key is to be positive and caring. Try hard not to get frustrated and tired. It is difficult for all of us, but it is going to be a huge key going forward. Choose your words and actions wisely. Take the extra step to love people on purpose.
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