Going beyond the books!

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”- Oprah Winfrey

Physiotherapy, as far as we have established, is a profession where we urge people to live better. We challenge our patients/ clients and push them towards a better lifestyle. We constantly question their limitations and inspire them to go beyond. While all of this holds true, we often might forget to apply these concepts to ourselves to become a better person and therapist. We, as therapists, should have goals and plans that go beyond possibilities of our own being, that challenge us to be more than what we currently are.

In the process we came up with a list of 10 tried and tested hacks to set us on track to gain experiences and actually live what we preach. This list goes beyond years of expertise or specialties and is applicable to a recent graduate as well as a well known practitioner. We urge you to be more than what you are today, to invest in your experiences as a person and we promise you it will do wonders for your career. We can be much more than our bookish knowledge, if only we dare to.

1. Train for a marathon.

The chances are high that you have volunteered for a marathon or at least come across clients who have post run complaints after a major marathon run.

Marathon training is a completely different experience. It’s not just about the endurance training; it goes deeper in understanding our mental state, our barriers and how we accept change. Understanding that it’s not the sprint that is going to help us reach our goals but persistence is relevant in marathons and every other aspect of life as well. At the end it’s all about falling in love with the process and focusing on the long run.

2. Try a new form of training.

It is extremely normal for us to get accustomed to a specific fitness form. We tend to get comfortable with it and our regime starts getting monotonous.

The only way to add spice in our regimes and to achieve more varied results is trying out new forms. Joining a Pilate’s class or enrolling for yoga at your gym, whatever it is that you’ve always been fascinated by, but you never found the right time. Life is too short to not try a new thing, who knows you might just fall in love with the new form.

3. Go hiking.

This one is really straight forward and this is exactly what you need to hear. We do not need nerds who remember concepts word by word from books; we would rather have adventurous therapists who are living life at their peaks and using their potentials while they can.

You need to explore yourself first to be able to be a good professional and what better excuse to go hiking but this?

4. Volunteer for a social cause.

A lot of fundraising marathons and other such events require physiotherapists as volunteers. Also government facilities require physiotherapists to conduct camps and checkups for different geriatric and specially abled groups. The satisfaction gained by volunteering at such events is unmatched.

It comes with loads of exposure and freedom to interact and treat individuals who might not walk in to our clinics otherwise.

5. Do an observer ship.

This is especially beneficial for those whose colleges don’t offer postings from the second year. Getting a good look at various clinical set ups and their management is an amazing experience when you’re a newbie. One should know that the protocols in the books and their point to point application to a patient is highly inconsistent. The problems encountered in real life situations and solving them on your feet is what a good physiotherapist is all about. It not only improves your way of interacting with the patients but also learn new and exclusive techniques of experienced professionals. You might be worried as to who would entertain a second year student to observe in their clinic, but you only need to ask. You’ll be amazed how supportive and helpful the physiotherapy community is.

6. Build more experiences.

The world belongs to story tellers and this holds true in every profession. A patient does not want to hear the medical terms behind what is wrong with him and how your treatment shall benefit him or her. A tale of a patient who was going through a much difficult ailment who refused to give up and showed flying colors post his rehabilitation shall help much better. This shall not come naturally to you by reading about it in some book or watching it on the internet, this comes with experiences that you have felt and witnessed.

Don’t let tough times haunt you, rather cherish the fact that you are present there and witnessing it than not being there at all.

7. Walk more.

This might be too upfront but this is what it takes. We shall not be listing down benefits of walking here as that is well established by us. What we need to point out is our negligence towards how small adaptations add to us as professionals. Let us build a community of therapists who choose the stairs over lift and who prefer walking/ sprinting between blocks than choosing a mode of transport.

Along with all the health benefits it surely will make us great examples for patients as well as everyone in the community to look up to and learn. Let’s start applying what we have read in books one small step at a time, one small walk at a time.

8. Be able to do 10 unassisted push ups/ pull ups.

It is sad that we being in the physical therapy community often disregard how important it is to be strong ourselves and make sure that we practice what we preach. Most non clinical PT job applications now have separate points for the strength of the candidate. Push ups and pull ups are just the most commonly used testing measures. Overall fitness and strength training can help achieve not just these parameters but much more. Scoring good grades without good physique shall not help you sustain for long, it’s never too late to start on your fitness journey.

9. Try water aerobics.

Anyone who has tried this will tell you what you’re missing on if you’re not one of them. Water aerobics, as the name suggests, is aerobics in waist deep pools mostly performed vertically and does not involve swimming.

It is not only a boon for patients but actually getting a hang of it can do wonders for us as therapists as well. You do not need any memberships for this one, just a pool and your enthusiastic self shall suffice.

10. Present your research at an International Conference.

This might be slightly contradictory to the title of this blog but before you judge think about it. Presenting a research is not just about the hard work that you have to put in but the package of learning’s, failures and getting over them. Also conferences are a great place to meet people with varied mindsets who are doing brilliantly well in our field and to socialize with them.

To sum it up it adds to you as a person and definitely helps in adding up to your resume for future purposes.

Do share this blog with anyone you think this shall be helpful for. Thank you for reading!

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