Immediate Steps To Improve your Practice

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Provide Patients with an Augmented Treatment

Something that I am always aware of when I am working with patients is that my words and actions have an influence on the treatment. The magnitude of a patients response may be influenced by mood, expectation, and conditioning. This is why I try to create a positive and supportive experience for each patient.

"The magnitude of a patients response may be influenced by mood, expectation, and conditioning."

A Window of Opportunity

Think- Notebook

What a patients sees, hears or feels can trigger neurohumoral reactions within their body which may then translate into 'a window of therapeutic opportunity'. There are many ways that therapists can leverage this effect for the benefit of patients. Some tips I learnt early in my career from my mentor Dr. Anthony Lombardi was to

  • Exude confidence 
  • Present your self in a warm manner
  • Dress in a unique way
  • Choose words carefully (The way we speak has the potential to act as a placebo or nocebo) 

Take Home

The ultimate goal of any treatment is to give patients confidence in their abilities to feel better and move better. You can help this by choosing words and actions that can encourage this confidence.

 

Big Things in The Works

I encourage you to check out the resource page or the mind your body blog for more ways to improve your massage therapy practice.