It is story time again! Earlier this week I saw a new patient who told me that his lower back recently began to bother him again, after a couple of years without any pain. So I asked the question that I ask all of my patients - "Why do you think that it started to hurt?" His response to my question was incredibly revealing to me... He said "My hip is out." I asked sarcastically "Well, where did it go?" He looked at me like I was crazy, but I learned a lot about him from that one response.
The next thing that I asked him was what he had done in the past to treat his lower back pain, but I already knew the answer. I knew that he had seen a chiropractor or done a course of physical therapy in the past. How did I know that? No person comes up with "my hip is out" on their own, until they are told that by a rehab professional. Let me let you in on a little secret your hips are not going to "go out" without a SIGNIFICANT trauma! Our body is not unstable. Humans are not a game of Jenga or a house of cards! We are built to live for a long time and built to be able to move through the duration of our lives. This is a great example of the importance of the words that we use. You will NEVER (and I do not use that word often) hear me tell a patient their hip is out. Those words do not help patients to understand that we are not fragile, we are robust, strong beings that will not fall apart!
He did admit that he had been through a course of physical therapy several years ago and that it had helped but did not get rid of his pain. So I asked why he was coming to our office instead of returning to the PT office that he had gone to. He told me that his Family Doctor told him that he should come to our office because we would be able to help him "get out of pain quickly and stay that way." I smiled at his answer because I knew that he got it! Now it is time for him to get to work learning some exercises to treat his pain, so that it NEVER comes back!
The next thing that I asked him was what he had done in the past to treat his lower back pain, but I already knew the answer. I knew that he had seen a chiropractor or done a course of physical therapy in the past. How did I know that? No person comes up with "my hip is out" on their own, until they are told that by a rehab professional. Let me let you in on a little secret your hips are not going to "go out" without a SIGNIFICANT trauma! Our body is not unstable. Humans are not a game of Jenga or a house of cards! We are built to live for a long time and built to be able to move through the duration of our lives. This is a great example of the importance of the words that we use. You will NEVER (and I do not use that word often) hear me tell a patient their hip is out. Those words do not help patients to understand that we are not fragile, we are robust, strong beings that will not fall apart!
He did admit that he had been through a course of physical therapy several years ago and that it had helped but did not get rid of his pain. So I asked why he was coming to our office instead of returning to the PT office that he had gone to. He told me that his Family Doctor told him that he should come to our office because we would be able to help him "get out of pain quickly and stay that way." I smiled at his answer because I knew that he got it! Now it is time for him to get to work learning some exercises to treat his pain, so that it NEVER comes back!
Movement is my Medicine,
