How To Know If You Are On The Right Track With Your Patients
Every therapist doubts themselves at some point. I get countless emails asking me what to do if you’re not quite sure you’re on the right track?
Today, I’ll tell you how you know you’re on the right track and how to keep yourself there…
Know Your Patient’s Goal
In your first session you want a clear understanding of where your patient wants to get back to. Once you have that understanding, you always have a reference throughout your rehab process.
When you know your patient’s goal it is easy enough to work backwards and map out what needs to happen in each session. Keeping on top of your plan and progressing will make each step of the way easier for both you and your patient.
Don’t Treat Session By Session!
The issue I see a lot is when a therapist is clearly treating session by session. Their head is fixed on the issue and they keep going. They get short-term results but the symptoms are back the next day and when the patient asks ‘when will I be able to run again’ they don’t have an answer.
What we do at the Pro Sport Clinic immediately is to get a clear understanding of where the patient wants to be, a clear picture of their story and of what we need to undo. With this information we can make a clear graded exposure plan.
Just Because Someone Is Pain Free Doesn’t Mean They Are Ready To Run…
To get your patient back to where they want to be you have to get a clear graded exposure plan in place. This way you can truly understand if a patient is ready to run by session 5 or not…
If you’re doing the same in session 2 and 3 as you were in the first then I’d question whether you were on the right track. You should be doing less and less hands on as you go on. This should be the starting point for loading tissues and so you should be able to gradually build.
Have Your Plan In Place
You should be able to map out where your patient should be by the 5th and 6th sessions.
At the Pro Sport Clinic I expect to know the exact plan in place. If the plan isn’t in place then I know there is a certain amount of guessing and working session to session. Working session to session is the quickest way to get overwhelmed and reduce patient ‘buy in’.
Once you have a structure in place from the initial assessment you can have your treatment plan in place. When you have that you can implement your plan with no stress and no doubt over whether you’re doing the right thing.
Click here for more information on the Go-To pillar system.
