Recently a friend asked me to drive them to A&amp;E as HE thought he had ‘trapped nerve’ in his neck which gave him agony with any movement of his head or upper body..

..OUCH!

Poor guy, anyway the receptionist (bless her) was definitely NOT particularly pleased to see us, from the expression on her face anyway, and the clear lack of joy in her voice spoke volumes as she asked the compulsory questions listed on her screen, without lifting her gaze…

<i>“name..?”</i>

<i>“address..?”</i>

<i>“who is your doctor..?”</i>

<i>“why are you here..?”</i>

Then she suggested we “<i>take a seat” </i>with the tone of someone so incredibly sad, or maybe it was simply boredom? It really made you wonder how she got through each day?

There we settled to wait amongst all the other sufferers, as even more sloped, crept, limped and shuffled in, got their 2 minutes of joy with the sad receptionist and then meandered to their seat.

The sign on reception said <b><i>approx 2 hours waiting.</i></b>

Some 47 mins later someone called us in to ask again <i>“what is wrong?” s</i>he made some more notes on HER screen and sent us back to the seating area to wait for the NEXT call. I wondered what the difference in notes might be from those the receptionist made..?

1hr 51 mins after this we were called through to an examination room

“<i>YAY”</i> my friend said …actually it was more of a sarcastic Bells Palsy type drawl “…<i>yaaay</i>…” due the pain he was feeling if he moved his jaw.

Another 26 mins after entering the examination room a lady in blue scrubs came through. Interestingly she too did not appear <i>that</i> pleased to see us and asked for the 3rd time that day <i>“what is wrong?”</i>

Now my friend is what you might call stocky and muscular in frame and stature and so upon seeing him it was clear she had made up her mind about the cause of his issue as she almost immediately asked, while looking him up and down..

<i>“do you go to the gym..?”</i>

<i>“how often do you go..?”</i>

<i>“did you do it while exercising..?”</i>

This was before she had physically examined him or asked about any previous history, oh wait no she didn't ask him that question at all, also before she asked what his job entailed physically or anything else.

Ah no hang on, she didn't even ask him any details of that either!

Just if he used the gym and how often…YOU KNOW what I was thinking, right!?

I only just managed NOT to say <i>“ffs!?!?!”</i> out loud.

She then proceeded to prod and poke his neck and glands with no warning of what she was going to do and without even looking at his reactions (she actually turned her head away from him as she did this) nor even taking her time to be tender. This caused him to yelp out in pain at the sudden discomfort. Trust me this dude is NOT a yelper!!

Once she had caused him further suffering she suggested to simply..

“… <i>have a massage… try to relax</i> …<i>.and keep moving.. ” </i>

(*In my head i am thinking...<i>"but you just implied movement was the cause...????? How does the person know which movements are good and which are bad???")</i>

He then explained that I was a Biomechanics Coach™ and manual therapist and had suggested he come to A&amp;E due to the severity of the pain, so she then went on to say..

“..<i>well OK then I can give you diazepam and some extra strong pain killers but just try and relax you shoulders and neck..”</i>

LIKE HE COULD JUST RELAX BY CHOICE!!

Now before I continue I just want to say one of the things I LOVE about being British is the fact we actually have an NHS. How much I appreciate that the NHS gets slagged off and is under funded and staff are over worked and under paid and all of that stuff!!

I am ON their side seriously

BUT

This was really really quite disappointing and annoyed that the impression she was giving was that the fact he exercised was a bad thing and the cause of his suffering!! This guy trains literally, at most, 45 mins 3 x timer per week and yet he works over 50 hours a week.

Now I don’t know what kind of a day any of these professionals had that day and I am quite sure they are faced with crazy schedules and miserable people all day every day, BUT to barely even smile, to make assumptions and to give the impression that exercising was the cause of his agony, made me feel such frustration, maybe I was feeling THEIR frustration that MAYBE they don't feel they have anything more to offer!?

Just a small sign of empathy would have worked wonders and I would have expected more questions but it did make me realise the HUGE GAP between US and THEM is still far to wide. We should try and understand each other better.

As a Biomechanics Coach™, manual therapist I was demonstrating MY duty of care by suggesting he get checked out due the level of pain he was in. While massage well may help, the implication that exercise was bad for him and the cause of his pain was, in my opinion, unfair and unjust.

KNOWING when it is our remit or not is vital but I really wish we were working together more.

This particular professional, on this particular day, was giving him the impression  that his exercise routine was the cause of his pain and yet also saying he needed to keep moving. Yet this advice was without guidance on the difference of the reasons why.
The way she dealt with him, was like she was just 'dealing with another one' and while she may well have been right in her diagnosis and suggestion, her manner was not. In MY opinion it was inappropriate and misleading.

What I had done as a Biomechanics Coach™ was assess him to understand which exercises were good or bad for him because THAT'S WHAT WE DO, this trip to A&amp;E was my attempt at duty of care to him to rule out anything clinical or sinister with the support of someone medically trained. What she could have just done was just make my job harder ...

Let's try to communicate better, more efficiently about what we do and the benefits of exercise shall we!

Do you want to join me and a leading community of professionals in the UK who are on a mission to improve inter professionals relations and communication?
We offer massive amounts of support to all of our learners and have joined forces with likeminded associations, like the Sports Therapy Association, who feel the same.

Register your interest in the Intrinsic<a href="https://www.www.biomechanicseducation.com/membership/intrinsic-biomechanics-association-membership/"> Biomechanics Association HERE</a>

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