So how do PHYSIOS look after themselves?

How do Physios look after themselves? 

Everyday, as physios we get asked “how do you look after yourself when you are using your body all day?”

So Catherine is here to answer all your questions….

 

When you need treatment, what do you do?

See a physio! We are so lucky at Performance Medicine that we work with such amazing colleagues. The most difficult thing for us is that we don’t like taking precious appointments away from our patients – we are all martyrs in this profession and we would rather give our appointment time away to someone else.

So if things aren’t looking good and some spiky ball, foam roller or basic exercises aren’t helping me, I will usually book a session in on my day off so I can get a great treatment experience

 

How do you look after your hands when you use them all day?

Just like dancers need good technique and singers need good technique and musicians need good technique to prevent themselves getting sore and to make sure they are working the most efficiently, physios and myos are exactly the same!

This is why we have up/down beds: to protect our bodies.

I like to have professional development sessions in-house where we practice techniques on each other so that those observing me can make sure I working safely for myself as well.

 

Don’t you get tired?

Sometimes I get tired if I’ve been treating the exact same body part all day.

It’s a bit like the gym, where if you exercised exactly the same muscle group all the time it would get tired.

Luckily every person I see is different and I have lots of variety in my day. Even if patients have similar problems, each person has different treatment goals, so no two treatments are exactly the same.

 

How often do you exercise?

Everyday.

I used to tell all my patients they should exercise every day and then not do it myself and I really felt the effects of a sedentary lifestyle and hypocrisy. I now integrate some form of exercise everyday, even if it’s just an after dinner walk with my family for 45 minutes. We are all super busy, but we cannot let that get in the way of our health and well being. Check out the photo above of the Performance Medicine team enjoying some Barre exercise together. 

 

So there you go, a brief insight into our bodies….

One of the most important things about being a health professional walking the walk 🙂

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Catherine Etty-Leal