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6 Common Mistakes People Make When Booking in with a Physio

6 Common Mistakes People Make When Booking in with a Physio

7 out of 10 people seeing this article will experience back pain at some stage in their life. Along with headaches and neck pain, it is the one of the most common reasons to seek medical help. Whether it be back pain, neck pain or a sporting injury, at some stage it will be likely you will need help from a physio.

Over the years we have helped thousands of people with their injuries, and these are some of the common issues that our patients have made before attending our clinic

  • Turning to Doctor Google

In todays day and age, there is an abundance of information with social media, youtube and all other formats. Acute back pain can be debilitating, and you will wonder if it will ever get better. Depending on what you look up you could self diagnose a tumour or a muscle spasm. This uncertainty can add even more stress and worry, with you not knowing if you will ever get better.

The role of your physio should be to help ease this burden, helping you understand exactly what is going on with your body and what you need to do to get out of this situation.

  • Not expecting plan

As the saying goes “If you fail to plan you plan to fail….”

Your physio should help map out a nice clear journey so that you understand exactly what needs to happen each step of the way to not only get out of pain, but to help you prevent it happening again.

  • Expecting your physio to ‘fix’ you

“A good practitioner will help give you the tools to really take care of your body…”

People will often ring up asking to be “fixed”. The challenge with this perception is that it is an extremely disempowering position to take. If your practitioner says they can fix you, they are creating a lifetime patient. Every time you “break” you need to call them to “fix” you. A good practitioner will help give you the tools to really take care of your body, wellbeing and help you thrive.

  • Expecting machines to help you get better

Anybody can go to chemist warehouse and buy a TENS (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) machine these days for under $70. Why would you pay a university trained physio more than $70 to stick a TENS Machine on you.

The research shows that there is no long lasting change with them. Though they may help reduce pain temporarily, you are better off investing your time and hard earned cash on a physio that will educate you on how to manage your pain, and get you moving better.

  • Not having “time” to do your rehab exercises.

We are creatures of habit. Installing new habits can seem unnecessary and even frustrating. Why do you need to do your exercises? Your goal is to move better.
Better movement is essential to unload those painful tissues or joints, and help strengthen the appropriate muscles.
The only way to achieve this is by doing the exercises. Your physio should be able to break it down into small, easy to execute steps, that make performing them easy.

  • Expecting to get better in 2 sessions

Often you will put up with pain, until you no longer can… Sometimes it may be weeks or months until we see someone who presents with their back pain, yet the expectation is “i want to be fixed straight away” and not expecting a plan or journey.

“Be patient and trust in the process”

The reality is that there are likely to be numerous factors why you are experiencing pain. It may be poor movement patterns, poor conditioning or a repetitive movement at work / home / gym. Either way it is unlikely that you will be able to undo months or even years worth of dealing with pain, in a single session. Some complex cases can take weeks to help you even start feeling better. Be patient and trust in the process.

Take home message
Being in pain sucks. But having someone you trust,  guide you through the process, and having you in a better place than pre-injury should always be the goal.

If you are having any of the above issues, and need some help getting though it, get in touch and we will be more than happy to help guide you through it.

 

Yours in Health,
The YHS Team

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