Blog post produced and written by Clinic Manager and Lead Sports Massage Therapist Jason Dodd. Here Jason explains the new trend occuring in the healthworld as a result of having to stay at home during these strange but important times. Many clinics have now turned to hosting online (or virtual) appointments to ensure the needs of many patients are still catered for when they are unable to leave the house due to the restrictions in place.
With society coming to an unnatural halt in the last few weeks, things have changed drastically for us all. Our clinic doors are shut and we have had to find new ways of working with our patients, because the fact of the matter is quite simple; Just because society has changed does not mean our pain has changed.
To accommodate for the changes we have taken all or appointments online. We know this is different and strange to many of you but we don’t always need to use hands on therapy to make a difference. Don’t get me wrong, hands on manual therapy can certainly make a difference to pain, we don’t doubt that. However, in a time when we cannot perform hands on treatment, what can you do differently that will help to reduce your pain and improve your function?
That is where our online appointments come in. They are conducted exactly the same way as usual but instead of visiting the clinic you get to stay within your own home. As a result of this, your therapist will have to give exercise for you to at home with the equipment you have at home. Sometimes gym programmes can be set and its not always as easy as it seems getting to the gym after hard days at work…..but with home exercise programmes combined with some therapist creativity, you can get some really strong, evidence based rehabilitation happening right under your home roof!
And if you don’t believe us that it works, take a look at some of the amazing feedback regarding online appointments from those who have experienced it already. We have taken the main heading points rather than give you the whole transcript of the conversations that took place;
Evelyn: “I was at home, I could relax, I could feel okay about what I was doing and I didn’t feel intimidated at all.”
George: “You are in your own home environment. It does remove those clinical constraints…it does engage a more relaxed environment in which to talk. I think Skype is quite an effective way of receiving information, advice, and direction from a physio.”
Nathan: “It’s nice to be in your own environment to do this, it makes the sort of follow up and the repetition of the exercises easier, too, because you’re doing them in the same room as you had the Skype session, and you’re using the same equipment. And there’s that element of familiarity, which makes life easier as well. I would recommend it to anybody, and I have. As I said, I’ve spoken to a number of people about it and how it works and I think it’s a great concept.”
Diana: “Because you’re in your own environment and that’s where you live and that’s where you’ve got to do your exercises anyway when you’ve finished with your physio. So it’s not as if now I’ve got to go home and find a spot where I do my stuff. It was just really good because I was in my own environment.”
Roy: “That was just as efficient doing it online as it would have been in the rooms.”
Lois: “I think it’s absolutely brilliant. I think it’s great, yeah.”
Carol: “If I needed something for anything else in the future, I’d love to be able to just ring up and book a Skype appointment and run with it.”
Jade: “It was easier on my body. I didn’t have to do any massage or anything like that. I thought it was good.”
Rachel: “I think it works wonderfully and I would definitely recommend it.”
So, you can hopefully see that there are some benefits to having online consultations. Given the situation we currently find ourselves in, this could be the future of how many appointments are conducted, not just here at Bodylogics.
If you are in pain and wanted to discuss anything you have read here then feel free to reach out to us. One of our expert clinicians will be on hand to offer help and guidance about what to expect and you may actually find a new way of helping to solve your pain and symptoms which will transform you as a person.
Whilst you are here, why not check out our ‘working from home tips’ on our recent blog post here.
