The last article was about the development of physiotherapy and the possibilities it has today thanks to this. I would like to go into this in more detail. Most European countries have academised physiotherapy in recent years. This has also given these profession new opportunities to gain the status in the health system that it needs in order to deal with the existing problems in the care of sick people as optimally as possible. I would like to illustrate this with an example from my daily work.
I have an initial appointment with a patient whose prescription tells me that he suffers from chronic back pain. He is now sitting opposite me and is amazed at how much I want to know from him. Up to now, he has always spoken much more briefly with doctors or therapists. I am interested in what his daily work routine is like, how he spends his free time, what he thinks about his pain and how he deals with it. I explain to him that it is important for me to find a long-term solution together with him and that this requires cooperation at eye level. One of the first statements I make to many patients at the beginning of the therapy is: "I can't make you healthy (many still think physiotherapists have healing hands ;)), but I can help you understand why you have the problems and what YOU can do about it".
In the following therapy sessions, we talk a lot about the topic of pain and how it arises. This helps those affected to deal with it and to classify it correctly. Patients often equate pain with damage to the body. However, in most cases it is more of a warning signal from the body. In the case of back pain, we know today that it never has just one origin, but many influencing factors (sleep, psyche, nutrition and physical activity) which in sum produce the pain we feel. With this knowledge, affected patients can adapt their everyday life and thus increase their quality of life.
Overall, You could say that modern physiotherapy should value not only reducing patients to their diagnosis, but to grasp the overall situation of the respective person. With this basis and the expertise from the medical field, a successful, sustainable therapy can emerge.
You have your own complaints and are looking for physiotherapy?
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Yours Dominik
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