An example of when to listen to your doctor or not. (in this case the client should have)
I had a client come in one afternoon after hearing I had done some amazing things for some friends of hers and their pain.
She came in complaining that she couldn’t straighten her leg and that she brought x-rays. She came in on crutches and gave me the pictures I excused myself and went outside to look at the pictures in the sun, since I didn’t have a light box. The first couple due to the angle didn’t show anything the rest was like WOW!
I go back in and asked her some questions. Like how did this happen? (car accident) and how long ago? (a week) What her x-ray showed was a missing or snapped patella tendon and that her knee cap was sitting about 4 inches above where it should have been. This tendon is the one that attaches to just below the knee and allows your knee to hinge.
So, I had her take a seat on my table and asked her one simple thing, to straighten her leg. She then proceeded to take her hands and straighten the leg. (I must admit I let out a small chuckle)
I then asked, under its own power. She obviously couldn’t, I then went on to ask her to do the same with the other leg which she managed quite easily of course. I then went on to explain in great detail the mechanics of the knee and why she could not straighten it and why I could not help and only a surgeon could. After explaining all this in great detail in a very understanding way, until I hope it got through to her.
She thanked me for explaining and that the doctor never spent the time to go through it with her and just told her it needed to be done. I never found out what she did, but I hope I got through to her.
A lot of people don’t understand and others will avoid the knife at any cost.
I will tell people after a couple of sessions that if we are not seeing improvement it may be above my pay grade or need to take a look at it from a different point of view. But we can find the solution.
Another example of, should or shouldn’t I get Surgery. (This was a no, at least not for a long while anyway)
At the time that this client came to me he had exhausted what he thought was every avenue when it came to his back. He had started interviewing surgeons because they could not find what was wrong with him and he couldn’t deal with the pain any longer. Another client I was working with at the time had told him about me and they happened to be in the gym at the same time and the one introduced me to the other. It took a lot of convincing but we decided to set up an appointment for the next day, but I also had 20 minutes of free time at that moment so I was able to convince him to come back and get worked on.
Come to find out this is one of those that the glass is half empty kind of people and he was definitely not expecting much from a trainer who he had just met to be able to help him, since he had been to a lot of professional’s that couldn’t do a thing for him.
After a quick assessment and treatment, I asked him to put himself in any position that gave him pain. He asked if I was trying to show off. Lol. Just trying to get a handle on your pain for our next session tomorrow. He kind of huffed and bent over. He said he guessed it was a bit better and left to get ready for his golf game.
The next day when he showed up for his appointment with a bit of a smile on his face. He started off saying he didn’t want this to go to my head but he had for the first time in 2 or 3 months broke 80 mainly because he had little to no pain. As we began our next session and delve deeper into the source of his back pain, which was by the way created by the hips, he started to get angry, not at me but all the other professional’s and thousands of dollars that he had spent on his back trying to find a solution and why hadn’t any of them knew about this.
After that I had a client and friend for life, or at least until he moved away. (he still is a friend)
The one good thing about having a client that everyone knows as a skeptic and negative about most things. When he finds something that works for him and got him out of pain, people will listen, I must have gotten at least 12 people in for treatment that month, all because he told them what I did for him.
A small recap on this client he did eventually go in for surgery (8 years later) and not for his back even though that is where he felt his pain, but for his hip. (hip replacement)
This is one of the many reasons you want to try many different avenues of treatment, because where you feel the pain is not necessarily the source of that pain. (I have worked on people’s calves and released back pain) and there usually is one or more different types of treatments that may work for you.
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