THE SKEPTICS

Oh! The nonbelievers.  Sometime in your job you will probably have to work with a nonbeliever or a skeptic. That is the individual and many times the consumer who just does not believe your job is important or that the products or services you provide are necessary.

  I love the skeptic, or maybe I should say,  I love to prove the skeptic wrong.

"Hello,  My name is Becky and I will be your Physical Therapist.  I see that you had a menisectomy surgery (knee surgery, not necessarily minor but not too complicated.)  about a week ago and the doctor is now ordering physical therapy twice a week for one month."

She replied with an attitude,  "Hi, yes I had surgery a week ago and I am doing just fine.  I do not need physical therapy.  I think you are in cahoots with the doctor and I do not think this is necessary. I think it is all a scam to get my money.  I came today, but I will probably not come again."

Ok then.  A skeptic walked in and a believer will walk out.  Just wait.

I could tell by the way she was walking that she had some weakness in the knee.  I knew just the right test to win her over.

"Okay, let me know do an evaluation,  I will do electrical stimulation to decrease the swelling and teach you some exercises.  After we are through, we will discuss the need for future appointments."

She replied,  "Ok, but I do not need physical therapy.  It is all a scam."

During the evaluation, I asked her to lift her leg with her toes pointing outward, keeping the knee straight.  She attempted the movement and was unable to lift the leg.  The muscle required to perform this activity, the vastus medialis, was completely atrophied or shrunk up and was not strong enough to lift the leg.

Her response was, "Well shit,  I can't do it.  I guess I do need physcial therapy".

Ahhhh, One skeptic down, One new believer.

This individual recovered fully.  She is able to golf and bowl with no problems and has become a good friend of mine.  An extremely good outcome.

Don't let a skeptic get you down.  Rise to the challenge and prove your importance.

Hell Calling

Physical Therapy can be a bit brutal.  The therapists work on joints that may be stiff and not wanting to move and it will hurt some, okay it might hurt a lot.  And the phrase "no pain, no gain" is correct many times. However, we are not evil and we do not receive instructions from Hell.

A male teenage patient came to me for physical therapy after a car accident.  He was severely injured in the accident and due to this he was a very angry young man and was not dealing with his problems in a productive manner.  However, he did have a good sense of humor in a rather sarcastic way.

I was seeing this young man for a frozen shoulder due to damage from the accident.  During one specific therapy session he was not in a good mood and  was tired of me  hurting him while I moved the arm.

He very cleverly stuck the hand that I was not working with into his pocket. His cellphone was in that pocket  and without me  realizing it he set off the ring tone on his phone.  He answered the phone as if someone was on the other line.

"Hello" he said, "yes she's here.  Just a minute."
He then handed me the phone and said, "It's Hell, they want to talk to you."

Without hesitation, I took the phone, put it up to my ear and listened to nothing and then said into the phone, "Okay, he will back to you shortly.  We are almost through."

You have to expect the unexpected and have a little fun. As angry as he was, I got a little bit of a smile from him and the rest of the session went smoother.

So if you get a call from hell, just stay calm.  It might be a wrong number.