Massage is not our specialism

On my degree course, if I remember right, we did exactly 0 minutes of massage practice or teaching. I know that’s a bit of a shock to many, but to be honest, we spend more time learning how to spot scary stuff that we don’t want to miss with clients, and on clinical reasoning practices than the hands on treatment. Massage is a tiny piece of what we do, and I usually say to people that if you want to get a massage it will probably be far better from a massage therapist or sports therapist. 

Massage to a physiotherapist is a adjunct, or a tool in the toolbox that can help piece the puzzle back together, but if the majority of your time is spend in a physios room having massage, then in most cases you probably aren’t getting all you can from the appointment. 

To call yourself a physiotherapist you need a degree in physiotherapy and be registered with the HCPC

I saw a friend of mine mentioning someone in his local area advertising as a physiotherapist, and I know how he feels. We do years of training, jump through hoops (ask Tyler about this) and have to maintain levels of professional development to register as a physiotherapist which is actually a protected title. It’s hard to see someone who runs on with a sponge to a football match calling themself a physiotherapist when they haven’t earnt the right!

However, more than this, its unsafe for patients. Going to see a physiotherapist who is registered ensures they have at least met the minimum standards, and anyone who isn’t, hasn’t. If you want to check if your ‘physiotherapist’ is registered, then you can check here if they aren’t on the list, they aren’t a physio.

Physios just tell you not to do stuff

No! This is so wrong. When I speak to my patients about this, I liken it to siting in the back of the car and telling my mum it hurts when I push my elbow, to which she would reply; ‘well don’t push it then’.

Yep, logical, sound advice, but it doesn’t sort the problem. If you want to run, you need a plan to run, if you want to climb the stairs you need a plan and if you want to poke your elbow without pain, you need a plan!

In every instance we will always try to keep you doing things, after all it’s one less thing to get back to. But it is 100% our job to help you find a way to do the things that you want to do, not take them away or ban them.

Physio is just for when you are injured

I actually have a few clients who don’t have an injury at all. Some are working with me to try to reduce their risk of injury, and some are working with me to improve their performance. We work virtually and face to face.

Ultimately, physiotherapists are experts in how the body moves and functions and working on this is what we do, se we take it way past treating an injury.

Once I see a physio I’ll need to keep going back for life

I remember talking to a client years ago. They told me that they would be seeing me forever now, but I told them; ‘not if I can help it’. I think they initially thought I was being rude, and so I explained that if they were coming to see me forever, I hadn’t done my job, and also, it’s a TERRIBLE advert!

Think about it, if someone tells you they have been seeing their physio for 10 years for their back pain, doesn’t it make you question whether the treatment is working!!??

Physio should be a relatively short term intervention and if things aren’t going the right way, you should be referred to someone who may be able to help more effectively. 

So there’s my 5 things, simple and I feel a lot better for getting them off my chest! 

Thanks for reading.

Josh