Old man yells at clouds… why people should be shown what they CAN do and not just told what they CAN’T do.
This blog is about my biggest pet peeve: Most of my patients have a laundry list of things they have been told they CAN’T do. There are legitimate issues that require specific protocols that may limit specific activities, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. For example, don’t walk on a broken leg, but that’s not what this blog is about.
These are real things I’ve had patients report to me when I ask them to tell me their story.
I’ve had patients told to give up biking with their kids because it’s bad for their posture, even though they have no pain or discomfort biking.
I’ve had older patients told not to practice squatting (not even to go to the toilet?!) because it is bad for their knees.
I’ve had patients told not to eat certain foods because it will slow down their recovery (from a strained muscle?!).
I’ve had patients told not to lift weights anymore because it’s bad for their joints (all of them I guess?!).
I’m not ripping on these patients. Most of the advice is probably well-intentioned, and truth be told it could help reduce some pain. The problem is, sometimes we end up with such a long list of things we have been told we can’t do, that it gets hard to find anything we CAN do. Our world shrinks and shrinks and pretty soon we’re scared of our own shadow.
The bigger picture
Now this all might sound like an old man yelling at the clouds (that is me like 28% of the time) but I’ve seen this negative attitude and unnecessary restriction cause problems. I’ve had patients stop training for their sport, stop getting down on the floor to play with their grandkids and even quit jobs because they are scared about what might happen if they don’t follow the rules they’ve been given. In a perfect world, these patients should be shown what they can do, given a road map to get back to the activities they want to do, and receive appropriate guidance and care to ensure they accomplish their goal in a timely manner.
Most of my patients come to me because they have pain. My job as a chiropractor is to help with pain in muscles and joints, especially back and neck pain. I’ve got a lot of tools to help with pain and most people do really well within 6-12 appointments - that is great, but it’s not the entire picture.
Consistently, I find that when I talk to patients and get them to tell me their WHOLE story, the pain isn’t the biggest issue. The pain is certainly an issue, and I’m not downplaying that, but the biggest issue is that the pain is stopping them from doing an activity they love.
Most of my patients want out of pain so they can get back to their lives. When they are told to stop doing everything to avoid pain, sure they won’t have as much pain, but they aren’t really living their lives the way they want either!
This is why I make a huge effort to spend the time, scale back activity until we find something tolerable, and then build things up slowly. I don’t ever want to tell a patient they can’t do something - my job is to find what they can do and overtime ensure they can do the stuff they really really want to do (ideally with no pain, but at the very least with a tolerable and manageable level of pain).
Our treatment philosophy at Highlands Wellness is very simple: Calm Things Down, Build Things Up. We accomplish this by assessing, educating, mobilizing, and strengthening. Each patient’s journey will look a little different, but ultimately the goal is helping patients live their life in a way that is meaningful to them.
If this sounds like something that could be helpful to you or someone you know, please get in touch.
