The job we as physiotherapists and aspiring physiotherapists are required to do is very clear, we are required to reintegrate people back into society and try and get them to function as close as possible to their previous level of function (“What do Physiotherapists do?”, 2018). This sounds simple and straight forward, and in a perfect world it would be. The picture above was made by merging different pictures together, the books refer to our knowledge we gain throughout our years studying, on top of it is a olden day scale, the money on the scale is lower than the empathy, this is an indication that the money is heavier or outweighs empathy, this represents our current clinical practice views, currently in so many instances, our greed for many and worldly things outweigh how we think, feel or care for others.

Many a time we focus on the physical disability or function that the patient struggles with, we find the problem, provide a solution and treat our patient by giving them exercises, home programs and a quick massage or electrotherapy session. Thereafter we send our patients home , with the greatest satisfaction in our hearts and we think our services were so beneficial to the patient. Once our patients leave, they have to go back to the same stressful jobs, the same stressful situations, with the exact state of mind. How often do we consider the fact that our state of mind can influence our pain behavior, how often do we speak to our patients about the actual reason behind their stiff neck, or lower back pain (“Pain and your emotions: MedilinePlus Medical Encyclopedia” , 2018). We are often so focused on completing our subjective assessment, a checklisted interview and objective testing that we forget these people are also human.

Why do we spend so many hours studying, why do we practice our techniques and modalities, why do we take pride in our jobs? do we truly do this for the sake of the patient? Do we truly treat a patient with a long term goal, or does our long term goal just consist out of discharging our patients with a simple home exercise program? Do we spend so much time preparing to be a great physiotherapist for the patient or is it simply just a way of making a living. Do we just work towards a salary or do we actually still have humanity and care in our hearts. How often do we involve a social worker in our treatment plan to evaluate how they can better the patients living circumstances, how often do we refer them to a psychologist to assess their emotional state or mental state, how often do we go beyond physiotherapy and actually try to get to the root of the problem .

We spend 4 years, sometimes more to study and graduate with a BSC.Physiotherapy degree, we then go into a hospital or clinical setting and ask our patients what is troubling them, if what they are saying does not relate to our books we tend to disbelieve them, because if their pain behavior does not relate to the book it could not possibly be the truth can it? We often forget that before these books and information was gathered, referred pain or neurological testing or muscle spasms did not make sense either, we often forget that physiotherapy is not about a recipe we should follow, we often forget that these people are real live people just like us, and just because they do not sit on a stack of books or have all the knowledge that we think we have, they are human nevertheless, and although they do not understand what we are doing, does not mean they do not understand their pain and what they are feeling. It is time for us to stray away from just getting our treatment done, writing our notes and filing them for reflection on another session, it is time for us to feel with the patient, listen to the patient, help the patient and be an actual benefit to the patient be it physically or emotionally, afterall we do believe in holistic approach to healing, so let us start to practice what we preach and not just see our patients as a dollar sign, a way of making a living or surviving.

What do Physiotherapists do?. (2018). retrieved from https://healthtimes.com.au/hub/physiotherapy/8/guidance/nc1/what-do-physiotherapists-do/467/

Pain and your emotions: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. (2018). retrieved from https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000417.htm